By Peter O‘Neill
The celebration of James Joyce and his works is highlighted on Bloomsday each year, the day on which James Joyce and Nora Barnacle first went walking in Ringsend and which he later immortalised in Ulysses, 16th June 1904. Dublin‘s Bloomsday celebrations include readings, re-enactments and performances from Ulysses in various locations throughout the city. The events are spread over a few days with the highlight and focal point of the week being 16th June itself.
Traditional Dublin celebrations originated in 1954 when a small band of Dublin writers set out in horse-drawn cabs from the Tower in Sandycove with the intention of visiting all the locations of the novel. Their Odyssey met shipwreck in a series of city pubs long before its completion, but it set a pattern for future celebrations. Today wandering Joyceans go to the places where Ulysses is set, to reconstruct the events of the novel through readings, dramatizations and chance encounters.
Like their predecessors and many of the characters of Ulysses, they find much feasting and singing along the way and are likely to end up in good company. The essential items of equipment are an imaginative and joyous approach to the events of Ulysses, and a copy of the book itself. It has also become customary to dress up, usually (but not necessarily) in something approximating to 1904 costume. The Bloomsday Festival 2003 will run from 12th to 16th June. Program details are available on the James Joyce Centre web page. On Bloomsday there is no set itinerary, and many private or ‘unofficial‘ activities take place in addition to the scheduled events. It is customary to roam the city, attending meals and readings, visiting pubs and places mentioned in the novel, or generally celebrating in some manner, no matter how obscure, which is appropriate to the day.
Bloomsday events are not, of course, unique to Dublin and take place in an increasing number of cities around the world.
In Brazil Bloomsday celebrations will take place in Natal-Rio Grande do Norte; Rio de Janeiro; Santa Maria - Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo:
São Paulo-SP (16th year)
Finnegans Pub, Rua Cristinao Vianna, 358 - Pinheiros t. 0xx11 3062-3232
From 19h00 onwards, with the launching of two publications, one, a commemorative book
on the Portuguese vocabulary used in the translation of Finnegans Wake and, Volume 6
of Finnegans Wake adapted by Donald Schuler-RS. Readings of fragments of Joyce
followed by a live show of traditional Irish music presented by Irish Dreams .
Rio de Janeiro-RJ (5th year)
- The Irish Pub, Rua Jangadeiros 14A - Praça General Osório, Ipanema. 19h00 - 21h00
t. 0xx21 2513-3044. Co-ordinated by Prof. Emerita Bernardina da Silveira Pinheiro.
- Escola Letra Freudiana (R. Barão de Jaguaribe, 231, Ipanema, tel. 2522-3877)
Readings by local actors Cristina Mayrink and Roberto Lobo from 20h30. Entry Free.
Santa Maria-RS (9th year)
Ponto do Cinema, 18h00 - 22h00 Full details
Co-ordinated by Prof. Dr. Aguinaldo Medici Severino
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