DUBLIN - The irony is worthy of James Joyce himself. Throughout this spring and summer, the writer who called Dublin 鈥渢he city of failure, of rancour and of unhappiness鈥� will be celebrated here with the most ambitious literary festival in Ireland鈥檚 history.p. The centenary of Bloomsday-June 16, 1904, the date when the action occurs in Joyce鈥檚 nearly thousand-page novel 鈥淯lysses鈥濃�攑rovides the occasion for what鈥檚 called 鈥淩eJoyce Dublin 2004.鈥� That one book about one day in one city is behind five months of events might strike someone as a wee bit curious. But this is Ireland, a country never known to turn its back on a party, and this is Dublin, a city that worships its writers as nowhere else.p. Principal activities for 鈥淩eJoycing鈥� will take place on Bloomsday itself and on days close to it.p. The brewer Guinness, for instance, is sponsoring a Bloomsday Breakfast to greet that Wednesday morn, with lectures, exhibitions, films, broadcast productions, street festivals, concerts and ample time for pub-crawling to follow.p. The preceding Sunday 10,000 souls will be treated to a free breakfast along O鈥機onnell Street in the heart of Dublin. The breakfast menu includes Bloom鈥檚 beloved fried kidneys.p. On the next day, June 14, the National Library of Ireland (located on Kildare Street) opens an extensive exhibit about 鈥淯lysses鈥� and how it came into being. Two years ago, the library acquired a trove of Joyce鈥檚 notebooks and early drafts of his most famous novel. These items, to be shown for the first time, and copy No. 1 of the first edition of 鈥淯lysses,鈥� published in Paris in 1922, will be on display for perusal of Joyce aficionados until July 31, 2005.p. Besides come-one, come-all public occasions, some 130 academic papers will be presented to nearly 500 scholars attending the International James Joyce Symposium during the week surrounding Bloomsday. As with 鈥淯lysses鈥� itself, 鈥淩eJoyce鈥� combines highbrow and lowerbrow concerns.p. Since 1904, when Bloom鈥攐r his creator Joyce鈥攃ould easily stroll throughout Dublin and its succession of interconnected villages, the city has dramatically grown and sprawled, with travel by foot less customary鈥攁nd the gridlock from car traffic a fact of recent urban life tourists must realize and factor into planning.p. But in getting around here any day of the year, it increasingly seems impossible to avoid Joyce. Three separate museums鈥攖he James Joyce Centre (35 N. Great George鈥檚 St.), the James Joyce Museum and Tower (at Sandycove) and the recently opened James Joyce House (15 Usher鈥檚 Island)鈥攁re devoted to his life and work, while the Dublin Writers Museum (18 Parnell Square) helps place him in the context of other Irish authors.p. Fourteen brass pavement plaques鈥攃omplete with quotations and page numbers鈥攁llow visitors to find where significant scenes in 鈥淯lysses鈥� are supposed to have occurred.p. In addition, a large statue of Joyce, dedicated during Bloomsday activities in 1990, looks out on O鈥機onnell Street from its perch on North Earl Street, and a striking bust of the author in St. Stephen鈥檚 Green is strategically positioned to keep a watchful eye on Newman House of University College Dublin, where he studied. A new bridge across the River Liffey sports Joyce鈥檚 name, and at 52 Clanbrassil St. in the old Jewish quarter a city-sanctioned sign recognizes the fictional birthplace of Leopold Bloom with these words: 鈥淐itizen, Husband, Father, Wanderer, Reincarnation of Ulysses.鈥漰. Joyce, who died in Switzerland in 1941 three decades after his last visit to Ireland, took delight in creating complexity. About 鈥淯lysses鈥� he once quipped: 鈥淚鈥檝e put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that鈥檚 the only way of ensuring immortality.鈥漰. The author is a professor at the University of 91吃瓜 who has taught at University College Dublin and is currently teaching in London.
TopicID: 4960