Making Light :: Bloomsday :: comments

Bloomsday

Today is Bloomsday 100. But you already knew that, right?...

Bloomsday -- comment #1 from Anne

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:09:35 -0500

Even Google is celebrating!

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:09 PM by Anne

Bloomsday -- comment #2 from Xopher

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:13:17 -0500

Yeah, I've been wishing people a happy Bloomsday all day. But I mostly get "what?" as a response.

Sigh.

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:13 PM by Xopher

Bloomsday -- comment #3 from Claude Muncey

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:17:11 -0500

Historical re-enactments at the Guiness storehouse, with libations available. Definitely the way to celebrate Bloomsday.

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:17 PM by Claude Muncey

Bloomsday -- comment #4 from Stefan Jones

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:29:31 -0500

Wow. I've been scooped. I jumped here to post this in this open thread:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/opinion/16WED4.html

Think of it as a coolness test, Xopher.

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:29 PM by Stefan Jones

Bloomsday -- comment #5 from Xopher

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:34:06 -0500

Good idea, Stefan. Everyone at work flunks.

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:34 PM by Xopher

Bloomsday -- comment #6 from Skwid

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:50:45 -0500

Great idea, if the idea is furthering my own perception of myself as Ye Lorde o' Uncool...

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:50 PM by Skwid

Bloomsday -- comment #7 from the Other michael

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 14:59:55 -0500

The last three Bloomsdays I organized a loosely organized 24-hour reading of Ulysses; I'm taking a break this year. It's marvellously relaxing, but interspersed with twinges of guilt and loss.

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Posted June 16, 2004 2:59 PM by the Other michael

Bloomsday -- comment #8 from Suzanne

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:05:51 -0500

I got so overexcited about Bloomsday 100 that I called my Joyce-hating mother at work to make her go look at the little James Joyce on the Google main page.

-sigh- I wish to hell I could do something with other obsessed people today.

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Posted June 16, 2004 3:05 PM by Suzanne

Bloomsday -- comment #9 from Lynn

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:13:00 -0500

There are plenty of authentically Joycean ways to celebrate Bloomsday, most requiring a partner and/or beer. I plan to celebrate by performing the dangerous act for which James Joyce is most notorious. Yes, I know it has landed plenty of people in jail, although some people only start doing it when they're imprisoned. Not a few people have been killed for doing it.

I'm going to write.

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Posted June 16, 2004 3:13 PM by Lynn

Bloomsday -- comment #10 from Tom Whitmore

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:33:59 -0500

riverrunning past allpresent to a joious commodious circuit making the joyceobrianwillisian thunderclap most expressive with exhos of Swanns in Flanders field talking of hundreds as the women come and go

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Posted June 16, 2004 3:33 PM by Tom Whitmore

Bloomsday -- comment #11 from Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:44:55 -0500

Dang.

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Posted June 16, 2004 3:44 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Bloomsday -- comment #12 from Bob Devney

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:46:10 -0500

Tom:

Yes I say yes I know yes.

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Posted June 16, 2004 3:46 PM by Bob Devney

Bloomsday -- comment #13 from Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:05:09 -0500

Thunderclap?

bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronnton
nerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoo
hoordenenthurnuk!perkodhuskurunbarggruauya
gokgorlayorgromgremmitghundhurthrumathunar
adidillifaititillibumullunukkunun!klikkakl
akkaklaskaklopatzklatschabattacreppycrotty
graddaghsemmihsammihnouithappluddyappladdy
pkonpkot!bladyughfoulmoecklenburgwhurawhor
ascortastrumpapornanennykocksapastippatapp
atupperstrippuckputtanach!thingcrooklyexin
everypasturesixdixlikencehimaroundhersthem
aggerbykinkinkankanwithdownmindlookingated
!lukkedoerendunandurraskewdylooshoofermoyp
ortertooryzooysphalnabortansporthaokansakr
oidverjkapakkapuk!bothallchoractorschummin
aroundgansumuminarumdrumstrumtruminahumpta
dumpwaultopoofoolooderamaunsturnup!pappapp
apparrassannuaragheallachnatullaghmonganma
cmacmacwhackfalltherdebblenonthedubblandad
dydoodled!husstenhasstencaffincoffintussem
tossemdamandamnacosaghcusaghhobixhatouxpes
wchbechoscashlcarcarcaract!ullhodturdenwei
rmudgaardgringnirurdrmolnirfenrirlukkilokk
ibaugimandodrrerinsurtkrinmgernrackinarock
ar!

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:05 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Bloomsday -- comment #14 from Larry Brennan

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:26:32 -0500

Ahh, Ulysses. One of the great works that I know enough about to pretend that I've actually read. Must admit that I've been sufficiently intimidated by its reputation that I've never even held a copy. Surely I can't be the only one in this boat.

Nonetheless, happy Bloomsday all.

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:26 PM by Larry Brennan

Bloomsday -- comment #15 from Andy Perrin

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:28:55 -0500

I'm in Larry's boat.

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:28 PM by Andy Perrin

Bloomsday -- comment #16 from Linkmeister

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:39:17 -0500

Andy, me too. I'm bailing.

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:39 PM by Linkmeister

Bloomsday -- comment #17 from Xopher

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:40:07 -0500

Me too.

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:40 PM by Xopher

Bloomsday -- comment #18 from Nancy C. Hanger

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:54:48 -0500

Elric woke me by saying, "Do you know what day it is?"

"What's the date?" (Because I'm in production, I live in the future and never know the date.)

"June 16th. Do you know what day it is?"

"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes."

We laughed together. I'm glad I'm married to someone who laughed in response, knowing why I said it and where the reference comes from.

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:54 PM by Nancy C. Hanger

Bloomsday -- comment #19 from Stefan Jones

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:56:54 -0500

Ulysseus for Dummies:

http://www.bway.net/~hunger/ulysses.html

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:56 PM by Stefan Jones

Bloomsday -- comment #20 from Tom Whitmore

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 16:59:15 -0500

(What makes you think I've actually read it? We could have Bruce Pelz call for the reference director....)

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Posted June 16, 2004 4:59 PM by Tom Whitmore

Bloomsday -- comment #21 from Peg Duthie

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:19:08 -0500

My local public library lured visitors up to the Rare Book Room, where they had a supply of cotton gloves on hand for anyone who wanted to browse through their copies of the Limited Editions Club (illustrations by Matisse) and Arion Press (illustrations by Robert Motherwell) editions of Ulysses, as well as Liz Cole's project-in-progress - a pop-up version of Finnegan's Wake.

And lunch was on the house: gorgonzola-apple sandwiches, olives, salad and Banbury cakes (based on chapter 8, IIRC).

*happy Peg*

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Posted June 16, 2004 5:19 PM by Peg Duthie

Bloomsday -- comment #22 from Toni

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:28:57 -0500

"And the all gianed in with the shoutmost shoviality. Agog and magog and the round of them agrog."
Finnegans Wake

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Posted June 16, 2004 5:28 PM by Toni

Bloomsday -- comment #23 from Linkmeister

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:37:32 -0500

What's really regrettable about my not reading it is that my mother wrote her senior thesis (or something) about Joyce; she's been wallowing in all the news articles since yesterday, and I have to nod appreciatively, all the while knowing I'm a fraud.

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Posted June 16, 2004 5:37 PM by Linkmeister

Bloomsday -- comment #24 from Michelle Sagara

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:38:18 -0500

Maybe it was because I was a teenage girl, but when I hit the famous monologue, I pitched the book across the room in a snarly fury and never picked it up again. Many people have said I should have overlooked this obviously male portrayal of a woman, but I said "look all these -male- critics are all leaping sideways in their delight at how -realistic- this portrayal is, so I -can't-". If it helps, I liked his short stuff.

But then again, Uncool R Us (does anyone know how to get a backwards R here?)

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Posted June 16, 2004 5:38 PM by Michelle Sagara

Bloomsday -- comment #25 from jam

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 18:13:53 -0500

"Historical re-enactments at the Guiness storehouse"

Umm. Historically, the only thing that happened 100 years ago today was Joyce walked out with Nora Barnacle and, as far as I can tell through the euphemisms, she jerked him off. I doubt if this was re-enacted at the Guiness storehouse.

This is an odd sort of fannishness, to pretend that the events in the books (or other media) are real. Trekkies, notoriously, do so. Janeites, occasionally (I just got the JASNA AGM brochure). Joyceans, but just for Ulysses.

It's hard to see what the common factor is.

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Posted June 16, 2004 6:13 PM by jam

Bloomsday -- comment #26 from Mary Kay

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 18:47:04 -0500

It's been impossible to escape. It seems like I've been aware of the approach for at least a week now. I've never read Ulysses, or any other Joyce, but I like to think that someday I might.

MKK

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Posted June 16, 2004 6:47 PM by Mary Kay

Bloomsday -- comment #27 from Marilee

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 20:26:40 -0500

I've never read it, don't plan to, but I know it's Bloomsday. Hard to miss if you read periodicals at all.

Peg, I was at one of the libraries today to get Tunnel in the Sky (we've been discussing it on rasfc in opposition to Lord of the Flies), having checked the online catalog this morning to make sure it was still there. When I stopped at the desk to ask where they keep juvenile SF, she insisted on looking it up to find out. Turns out all the juvenile fiction is alpha-by-author.

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Posted June 16, 2004 8:26 PM by Marilee

Bloomsday -- comment #28 from John Farrell

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 08:57:27 -0500

Mary Kay,
It's been impossible to escape. It seems like I've been aware of the approach for at least a week now. I've never read Ulysses, or any other Joyce, but I like to think that someday I might.

Start with his short stories (Dubliners). I believe had Joyce never written anything after The Dead, he would still be as celebrated as he is for Ulysses (much as I liked it). One of the best short stories ever, IMHO.

I read also, somewhere--perhaps in one of the late John Gardner's books, that in his later years Joyce had regrets that he'd stopped writing straight fiction like his earlier stories to spend so much time on Ulysses (large swaths of which I think are clever but also empty).

For what it's worth.

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Posted June 17, 2004 8:57 AM by John Farrell

Bloomsday -- comment #29 from Keith

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:11:52 -0500

I've only managed to get about three chapters in to Ulysses. One day though, I shall finish it.

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Posted June 17, 2004 11:11 AM by Keith

Bloomsday -- comment #30 from Xopher

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 11:16:44 -0500

My ambition is to read Finnegan's Wake someday. I'm warming up to that task by learning to read Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

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Posted June 17, 2004 11:16 AM by Xopher

Bloomsday -- comment #31 from Bruce Adelsohn

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:10:30 -0500

Missed the day. Rats. But here's another cool Bloomsday reference:

http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/images/comics/DorkTower346.jpg

(FWIW I've taken four honest runs at Ulysses and never gotten more than halfway through. Someday I shall try again, when I don't have to deal with kids and work and hobbies and ... :-D

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Posted June 17, 2004 12:10 PM by Bruce Adelsohn

Bloomsday -- comment #32 from Seth Ellis

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 13:57:29 -0500

I was made able to read Ulysses by reading the Borges essay in which he admits that not only has he never read Ulysses all the way through, he doesn't think it's possible, or at least desirable. It's one of the things he admired about the book. Being Borges, he got a lot of good stuff out of it about reading the book as wandering in a city, the nature of narrative and the character of the reader, and so forth. If it's okay by Borges, it's okay by me; so I read part of it.

Elsewhere, Borges said he couldn't imagine a reader of Finnegan's Wake in the same way that he couldn't imagine the fourth dimension; he understood it was theoretically possible, but he couldn't conceive of what such a thing might be like.

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Posted June 17, 2004 1:57 PM by Seth Ellis

Bloomsday -- comment #33 from Henry Wessells

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 14:51:53 -0500

I was reading at KGB yesterday evening and thought to make a science-fiction nod to JJ, and so recited James Blish's "A Prayer for James Joyce" (1970):

Poolybacky, soofleshing dimily o'er whalepath, kenning our nighsride to ashehrnities, grant him his day our mournfille newmare; typette us not in darkling kittifishies; and lave us lightly ni ogs annirate; not lent ere curite this airiwohning crepusquus.� Gull his travails swiftly to wrist; he connicht alpemore.� Wiss brunt offliction.� Yrs navely, Apselorse (his chronic exegete).� Uhmn.

It helps to pronounce the W as V in a couple of spots.

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Posted June 17, 2004 2:51 PM by Henry Wessells

Bloomsday -- comment #34 from Smoot

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 01:09:30 -0500

Remembering a New Yorker Cartoon...
Child being read a bedtime story:
"Daddy? Could you please read the part where he dreams of life outside of Dublin, again?"

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Posted June 18, 2004 1:09 AM by Smoot

Bloomsday -- comment #35 from plover

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 01:17:42 -0500

Recircleround withall and to alewheelcoomb.
Hopinhand carrolling exstaltation - affictions liveloren pricklitness. All down!
Wakering blowsy scentyear ion. Hale Viconteur!

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Posted June 18, 2004 1:17 AM by plover

Bloomsday -- comment #36 from Janet Brennan Croft

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 09:32:14 -0500

Didn't Blish use Joyce's invented language from Finnegan's Wake in "Spock Must Die!" when Uhura needed an unbreakable code? I seem to remember a discussion of the origin of the word "quark".

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Posted June 18, 2004 9:32 AM by Janet Brennan Croft

Bloomsday -- comment #37 from Dan Blum

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 11:29:33 -0500

Didn't Blish use Joyce's invented language from Finnegan's Wake in "Spock Must Die!" when Uhura needed an unbreakable code? I seem to remember a discussion of the origin of the word "quark". Yes, he did. Apparently Uhura was an expert in it, and there were other experts floating around Starfleet, as they got a response in the same language (of course Starfleet Academy's strength in the liberal arts is well-known).]]>

Posted June 18, 2004 11:29 AM by Dan Blum