Bloomsday Bloomed!

Unsurprisingly, the focus around here for the past week was Bloomsday. Everything went really well; thank you to all of you who packed the house for Ulysses 101 on Monday, Declan Kiberd’s talk on Tuesday, and for the readings themselves yesterday.

The fact that we moved to our Bloomsday rain location spared the city from a single drop, despite the ominous forecast, so thanks again to all of you for handling the change of venue with grace. Much of my Bloomsday was spent on the street near the museum redirecting folks and it was great to get to talk to so many Joyce enthusiasts! I also evangelized about Ulysses to anyone who looked like they might have a passing interest in talking to me, so hopefully I made a few Joycean converts.

A few photos from the event are below, but I also wanted to provide a few Joyce links to stories you may have missed:

First, you may have heard about the controversy over Apple’s having censored Robert Berry’s Ulysses Seen ipad app, requiring him to redraw several images containing nudity. Regular Bloomsday attendees may remember Berry’s work from our 2008 Bloomsday, when it was displayed at the museum and inserted into the Bloomsday Herald.) Anyway, Apple reversed its decision just in time for Bloomsday and WHYY recorded a great piece that appeared yesterday on All Things Considered. The segment includes a clip from our Bloomsday and an interview with former Rosenbacher Mike Barsanti. The National Archives has also posted the original 1933 court decision unbanning the novel itself on its Facebook page, so check it out!.

Also, if you didn’t see this Tuesday’s New York Times, you might want to check out the Op-Ed on Bell Telephone’s attempt in the 1950s to broaden its employees’ horizons by having them read Ulysses.

Now a few pictures:

Thanks again to everyone who attended/read/worked/volunteered for Bloomsday and now it’s time to go ahead and mark your calendars for next year!