This post was originally published at the Free Library of Philadelphia blog. Nearly 100 years ago today, on February 2, 1922, bookstore-maven-cum-publisher Sylvia Beach stood anxiously waiting on the platform at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris for the arrival of some very precious cargo on its way from Dijon: two copies of …
Artist Elaine Byrne will give an overview of her research interests, focusing on some of her recent projects and featuring video clips from some of her recent video work. Employing sculpture, video, and photography. Elaine Byrne’s artwork examines overlooked histories, historical texts, and artworks as a platform to confront difficult political or social issues in the present day.
Join us on beautiful Delancey Place for the Rosenbach’s annual Bloomsday celebration on June 16, the day the world celebrates Leopold Bloom’s fictional journey through the streets of Dublin, as imagined in James Joyce’s epic Ulysses.
The first edition of Ulysses, published in 1922, carried a note of apology: “The publisher asks the reader’s indulgence for typographical errors unavoidable in the exceptional circumstances.” Beyond these typographical errors, the published novel departed widely from the text written by James Joyce. Working with a team of dedicated collaborators, Hans Walter Gabler examined Joyce’s notes, the manuscript (which resides at the Rosenbach), serial publications of the first 14 chapters, and more to compile a new readable edition of the novel and a record of the text’s growth from fair copy to first edition. This edition, though controversial, has become the standard for Ulysses readers.
For this year’s Bloomsday and the rest of this summer, the Rosenbach’s partner desk display in the historic library is filled with objects that show classic literary influences on James Joyce’s Ulysses. Starting with his introduction (at age 10) to Homer’s Odyssey through Charles Lamb’s school edition, we see that the characters and language of …
The first annual Bloomsday Essay Contest invited graduate and undergraduate students in the tri-state area to submit their best essays on Ulysses or another Joyce text. The winners were announced during the Bloomsday celebration on June 16, 2017. The 2017 Bloomsday Essay Contest award for an outstanding paper written by a graduate student was presented …
The first annual Bloomsday Essay Contest invited graduate and undergraduate students in the tri-state area to submit their best essays on Ulysses or another Joyce text. The winners were announced during the Bloomsday celebration on June 16, 2017. The 2017 award for an outstanding paper written by an undergraduate student was presented to Katie Paulson …
What is Bloomsday? June 16 is the day the world celebrates James Joyce and his literary masterpiece, Ulysses. The celebration is called “Bloomsday” after one of the main characters, Leopold Bloom. As the residence of the complete manuscript of Ulysses, the Rosenbach has celebrated Bloomsday for more than 20 years. The main event features readings from Ulysses, …
Once James Joyce had finished Ulysses, he embarked on “Work in Progress,” the project that would occupy him for the remaining seventeen years of his writing life. Finally titled Finnegans Wake when it was published in 1939, the book has since been recognized as the most challenging, inventive, playful, polyglot book of the twentieth century.
With June 16 merely days away, we’re getting serious about Bloomsday here at the Rosenbach. Certainly more serious than Ulysses: this novel may contain passages of great beauty, but it also contains moments of great silliness. Consider “Calypso,” the fourth chapter and the reader’s first introduction to Leopold Bloom. “Calypso” features many of the themes and literary techniques that established …