Which Irish Author wrote Ulysses?

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Every year, on June 16^th, a strange event occurs on the streets of Dublin…

Passersby will witness crowds dressed in Edwardian clothing, street acting, pints being shared and more.

What’s all of this in the name of we hear you ask?

Chiefly, the famous Irish writer James Joyce and his masterpiece, Ulysses, but more of that later…

Who Wrote Ulysses?

The Emerald Isle is famed as being an island of storytellers.

Walk into any pub, café or home (not without asking!) and you’ll find Irish of all ages indulging in stories old and new but James Joyce might be the most famous Irish storyteller of all.

Joyce, a Dublin native from Rathgar, was born in 1882 and spent his formative years in the city before eventually emigrating to the European continent in self-imposed exile with his new partner Nora Barnacle in tow.

Before an untimely death in 1941 Joyce published enough for more than one legacy. The Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegan’s Wake all come to mind but the jewel in the crown will always remain his masterpiece, Ulysses.

220Px Revolutionary Joyce Better Contrast

Ulysses

Ulysses, first published as a completed works in 1922, is a modernist avant-garde masterpiece focusing primarily on the trials and tribulations of the protagonist Leopold Bloom.

It’s set on an ordinary day, 16^th June 1904, in Dublin and features a ragtail cast including Leopold, Molly Bloom, Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus. On top of that it acts like a whistle stop tour of Dublin including sites like Sandymount Strand, Martello Tower, Westland Row, Davy Byrne’s Pub, the National Museum and National Library!

The novel features everything from stream of consciousness, puns and parodies to commentary on Irish-English relationships and the very minutiae of daily life and was even subject to an American obscenity trail in 1921 before official publication!

Unlike many novels, this is something that has to be read and experienced on a personal level. We would highly recommend it.

Bloomsday

All of the above leads us nicely to Bloomsday!

As we hinted at the beginning, on June 16^th every year passersby will witness certain Dublin streets in full celebration of Joyce and his most famous work, Ulysses.

The day is a celebration and commemoration and features dramatisations, pub crawls, Edwardian costume, readings and much more!

Bloomsday was first celebrated as far back as 1924 and then grew increasingly popular from the 50^th anniversary, in 1954, onwards and continues to this very day!

Have you ever celebrated Bloomsday or read Ulysses? Let us know!

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