While many will argue that James Joyce's Ulysses is one of the greatest masterpieces of modernist literature, few would argue against the view that the Novel is almost completely unreadable. Joyce's masterpiece can be viewed almost as a literary experiment and it is therefore little wonder that discussion of the book tends to be limited to the realm of Academia.
But for one day a year Leopold and Molly Bloom, Stephen Daedalus and the other characters from the Novel can be found walking the streets of Dublin. While it may not be celebrated widely outside the Irish Capital, the 16th of June is Bloomsday, the day Leopold Bloom took his now famous journey through turn of the 20th century Dublin.
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The Irish Times' John Waters introduces 'Ulysses O’Rocks'For Bloomsday this year I found myself standing by the Blackrock Cross in Blackrock's Main Street. As part of the day's celebrations there was a live performance of 'Ulysses O’Rocks' – a play based on the Novel. What made the evening for me was not just the actual production but the introduction which was given by the Irish Times' columnist John Waters. While he accepted that the Novel is effectively an academic work he recalled his enjoyment of listening to the unabridged production that RTE Radio broadcast for 1982's Bloomsday. He argued that this was a book that belonged to and should be enjoyed by everyone. But as many readers have discovered, Ulysses can be hard work. Many have started, few have finished.
While St. Patricks Day has become famous for Parades and Pints of Stout I find it refreshing that Bloomsday celebrates the achievements of a real Irishman and has inspired people to take to the streets of Dublin and perform live theater. Ulysses may remain a fixture on many people's bucket lists but for an hour this evening Dubliners gathered on Blackrock's Main Street to watch a retelling of Leopold Bloom's fictional Journey through Dublin 107 years ago.
Dubliners watching Live Theater in Blackrock to celebrate Bloomsday