Searching for the soul of the city
Bloomsday and James Joyce Hotspots in Dublin
By Hans Karssenberg
16-06-2007 /views: 8047 in past 12 months.
Who does not know what a certain Leopold Bloom did on 16 June 1904 in Dublin? After all, for more than 1,000 pages writer James Joyce accompanies his hero on his confusing wanderings through the city and he does it with such detail, that one could rebuild old Dublin based on the novel.
Bloomsday
Bloomsday is the commemoration observed annually on 16 June in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Irish writer James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in Dublin in 1904. The day is one of celebration among culture-lovers in Dublin and the festival, organised by a foundation that commemorates the writer, now runs for a week. The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, and 16 June was the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked to the Dublin village of Ringsend.
Bloomsday: Dublin's Streets filled with Joyces and Mollies, on the right Senator David Norris surrounded by them
Bloomsday was first celebrated in Paris in 1929, and since 1954 in Dublin as well. Since then, there are several celebrations all over the world.
The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub crawls and general merriment, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in Great George Street. Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom's route around Dublin via landmarks such as Davy Byrne's pub. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel, some lasting up to 36 hours.
> See also more on Bloomsday on WikiPedia
Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 1882-1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its highly controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939) as well as the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).
Joyce himself did not stay in the city on the Liffey, for by moving to the continent around the change of the century he followed his colleague George Edward Moore’s motto: “An Irishman must leave Ireland, if he wants to stay himself.”
Although he spent most of his adult life outside Ireland, Joyce's fictional universe is firmly rooted in Dublin and provide the settings and much of the subject matter for all his fiction. In particular, his tempestuous early relationship with the Irish Roman Catholic Church is reflected through a similar inner conflict in his recurrent alter ego Stephen Dedalus. As the result of his minute attentiveness to a personal locale and his self-imposed exile and influence throughout Europe, Joyce became simultaneously one of the most cosmopolitan and one of the most local of all the great English language writers.
> More on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
Streetscapes
Dublin honours Joyce not only with the annual festival, but also in many parts of the city.
Photo: Bjaglin
Take for instance the project in the Guinness Brewery, an other Dublin icon. Visitors of the Guinness Storehouse can go to the sixth or seventh floor, to the top floor Gravity bar, for a free pint and a 360 degrees view of Dublin.
Quotations from the works of Joyce are etched on the glass walls, matching to the part of the city they look out on.
1. Martello Tower, Sandycove
They halted while Haines surveyed the tower and
said at last:
--Rather bleak in wintertime, I should say.
Martello you call it?
Billy Pitt had them built, Buck Mulligan said,
when the French were on the sea. But ours is
the omphalos.
Ulysses, Telemachus
photo Gak
2. Adam and Eve’s
riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of
shore to bend of bay…
- ‘Finnegans Wake’
3. St. Stephen’s Green
But the trees in Stephen’s Green were fragrant
of rain and the rainsodden earth gave forth its
mortal odour…
- ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’
4. Trinity College, Dublin
The grey block of Trinity on his left, set heavily
in the city’s ignorance like a great dull stone set
in a cumbrous ring…
- ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’
5. Wellington Monument
The snow would be lying on the branches of the
trees and forming a bright cap on the top of the
Wellington Monument.
- ‘Dubliners’ – The Dead
6. 7 Eccles Street
At the housesteps of the 4th of the equidifferent
uneven numbers, number 7 Eccles Street, he
inserted his hand mechanically into the back
pocket of his trousers to obtain his latchkey.
- ‘Ulysses’ - Ithaca
(7 Eccles Street is the fictional home of Leopold and Molly Bloom in "Ulysses". It was razed to the ground and made way for the Mater Private Hospital. But the literary connection is acknowledged by a large bronze plaque next to the hospital entrance. Some fine (restored) Georgian architecture can be found on the opposite side of the street.)
photo: Ipinseel photo: Contraquien photo: Calexico7
"Prick with the stick"
Then, of course, there is the famous Joyce statue on North Earl Street. Lovingly called "The Prick with the Stick", Joyce in typical attire seems to gaze at Dublin life hustling and bustling by, the General Post Office and the Spire. The statue by Marjorie FitzGibbon was commissioned by local business associations.
Joyce Tower
This is just another Martello Tower on Ireland's coast, fortresses built for defense against Napoleon's fleet. What sets it apart is not the fact that nude men bath in its shadow and in public view (at the "40 Foot") - but a short stay that Joyce enjoyed there as a guest of Oliver St. John Gogarty. Joyce also choose the tower as Mulligan, Dedalus and Haines' starting place in "Ulysses". Today the tower holds a museum dedicated to all things Joycean. Curiously Joyce fled the tower after being shot at by his host.
The James Joyce Bridge, photo Gregory Palmer
Bloomsday: Dublin's Streets filled with Joyces and Mollies, on the right Senator David Norris surrounded by them
Bloomsday was first celebrated in Paris in 1929, and since 1954 in Dublin as well. Since then, there are several celebrations all over the world.
The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub crawls and general merriment, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in Great George Street. Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom's route around Dublin via landmarks such as Davy Byrne's pub. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel, some lasting up to 36 hours.
> See also more on Bloomsday on WikiPedia
Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 1882-1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922) and its highly controversial successor Finnegans Wake (1939) as well as the short story collection Dubliners (1914) and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916).Joyce himself did not stay in the city on the Liffey, for by moving to the continent around the change of the century he followed his colleague George Edward Moore’s motto: “An Irishman must leave Ireland, if he wants to stay himself.”
Although he spent most of his adult life outside Ireland, Joyce's fictional universe is firmly rooted in Dublin and provide the settings and much of the subject matter for all his fiction. In particular, his tempestuous early relationship with the Irish Roman Catholic Church is reflected through a similar inner conflict in his recurrent alter ego Stephen Dedalus. As the result of his minute attentiveness to a personal locale and his self-imposed exile and influence throughout Europe, Joyce became simultaneously one of the most cosmopolitan and one of the most local of all the great English language writers.
> More on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
Streetscapes
Dublin honours Joyce not only with the annual festival, but also in many parts of the city.
Photo: Bjaglin
Take for instance the project in the Guinness Brewery, an other Dublin icon. Visitors of the Guinness Storehouse can go to the sixth or seventh floor, to the top floor Gravity bar, for a free pint and a 360 degrees view of Dublin.
Quotations from the works of Joyce are etched on the glass walls, matching to the part of the city they look out on.
1. Martello Tower, Sandycove
They halted while Haines surveyed the tower and
said at last:
--Rather bleak in wintertime, I should say.
Martello you call it?
Billy Pitt had them built, Buck Mulligan said,
when the French were on the sea. But ours is
the omphalos.
Ulysses, Telemachus
photo Gak
2. Adam and Eve’s
riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of
shore to bend of bay…
- ‘Finnegans Wake’
3. St. Stephen’s Green
But the trees in Stephen’s Green were fragrant
of rain and the rainsodden earth gave forth its
mortal odour…
- ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’
4. Trinity College, Dublin
The grey block of Trinity on his left, set heavily
in the city’s ignorance like a great dull stone set
in a cumbrous ring…
- ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’
5. Wellington Monument
The snow would be lying on the branches of the
trees and forming a bright cap on the top of the
Wellington Monument.
- ‘Dubliners’ – The Dead
6. 7 Eccles Street
At the housesteps of the 4th of the equidifferent
uneven numbers, number 7 Eccles Street, he
inserted his hand mechanically into the back
pocket of his trousers to obtain his latchkey.
- ‘Ulysses’ - Ithaca
(7 Eccles Street is the fictional home of Leopold and Molly Bloom in "Ulysses". It was razed to the ground and made way for the Mater Private Hospital. But the literary connection is acknowledged by a large bronze plaque next to the hospital entrance. Some fine (restored) Georgian architecture can be found on the opposite side of the street.)
photo: Ipinseel photo: Contraquien photo: Calexico7
"Prick with the stick"
Then, of course, there is the famous Joyce statue on North Earl Street. Lovingly called "The Prick with the Stick", Joyce in typical attire seems to gaze at Dublin life hustling and bustling by, the General Post Office and the Spire. The statue by Marjorie FitzGibbon was commissioned by local business associations.
Joyce Tower
This is just another Martello Tower on Ireland's coast, fortresses built for defense against Napoleon's fleet. What sets it apart is not the fact that nude men bath in its shadow and in public view (at the "40 Foot") - but a short stay that Joyce enjoyed there as a guest of Oliver St. John Gogarty. Joyce also choose the tower as Mulligan, Dedalus and Haines' starting place in "Ulysses". Today the tower holds a museum dedicated to all things Joycean. Curiously Joyce fled the tower after being shot at by his host.
The James Joyce Bridge, photo Gregory Palmer
James Joyce Center
The James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great George's Street, is based in a restored 18th century Georgian townhouse, dating from a time when the north inner city of Dublin was at the height of its grandeur. On permanent exhibit is the door to number 7 Eccles Street- home to Leopold Bloom, possibly the most famous address in all literature - and furniture from the apartment of Paul Leon in Paris where Joyce wrote much of Finnegans Wake. Temporary exhibitions interpret and illuminate various aspects of Joyce's life and work.
Joyce Walk
Ulysses in O'Connell Street, photo William Walsh
"Mr Bloom smiled O rocks at two windows of the ballast office "
There is much more, but it is probably best to discover those for yourself.
So, again, Happy Bloomsday!
For more Dublin Cult Up Your City on Inspiring Cities, see:
> Street Art Dublin: Asbestos
> U2 in Dublin
> Happy Bloomsday! James Joyce in Dublin
> Oscar Wilde on Merrion Square, Dublin
> Giant Hares in O’Connell Street, by artist Barry Flanagan
> Inspiring Cities Debate: Potential for Art in Urban Spaces
> Wall of Fame part 1 and part 2
Most of these articles were published as part of Dublin Week in 2007. Follow the link for an overview of the total of 35 articles published.
The James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great George's Street, is based in a restored 18th century Georgian townhouse, dating from a time when the north inner city of Dublin was at the height of its grandeur. On permanent exhibit is the door to number 7 Eccles Street- home to Leopold Bloom, possibly the most famous address in all literature - and furniture from the apartment of Paul Leon in Paris where Joyce wrote much of Finnegans Wake. Temporary exhibitions interpret and illuminate various aspects of Joyce's life and work.
Joyce Walk
The James Joyce Cultural Centre (see above) offers guided walks through Dublin in Joyce's (often fictional) footsteps. If you want a walk on your own, just follow the trail of the 14 pavement plaques installed in 1988 - from the old offices of the "Irish Independent" to the National Museum in Kildare Street via O'Connell Street and Bridge, Trinity College, Grafton Street, Duke Street and Dawson Street.
Ulysses in O'Connell Street, photo William Walsh
"Mr Bloom smiled O rocks at two windows of the ballast office "
There is much more, but it is probably best to discover those for yourself.
So, again, Happy Bloomsday!
For more Dublin Cult Up Your City on Inspiring Cities, see:
> Street Art Dublin: Asbestos
> U2 in Dublin
> Happy Bloomsday! James Joyce in Dublin
> Oscar Wilde on Merrion Square, Dublin
> Giant Hares in O’Connell Street, by artist Barry Flanagan
> Inspiring Cities Debate: Potential for Art in Urban Spaces
> Wall of Fame part 1 and part 2
Most of these articles were published as part of Dublin Week in 2007. Follow the link for an overview of the total of 35 articles published.
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