Had James Joyce paid more attention to the American college semester system, he might have chosen a more agreeable date than June 16 for what we now call “Bloomsday.”

That is, of course, the day on which Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus traversed the streets of Dublin through the pages of Ulysses. This year, Boston College will correct the late Mr Joyce’s negligence. By declaring this a moveable feastday—and shifting it to Sunday, April 17—we’ll be able to gather our students all the more certainly into the celebration of all things Joycean.  And not just students, but the public.

Professor Moran’s public lecture will introduce us to the background to Ulysses; we’ll have a dramatization of the famous Christmas dinner scene performed by the Here Comes Everybody Players under the direction of Jean Sheikh; you’ll be welcomed into a series of introductory workshops Ulysses For The Total Beginner for Ulysses newbies; throw in live music and songs from Joyce’s works, a documentary depiction of Dublin in 1904, an all-day relay reading of the novel, and a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment is guaranteed—even if we haven’t got the date quite right.

All the event listed below  are, of course,  free and open to the public.

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Our sincere thanks to the Institute for the Liberal Arts whose financing makes this all possible

Sunday April 17th. Beginning at 1.45 in Connolly House:

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Formal Opening by

THE VICE-CONSUL GENERAL OF IRELAND, DEIRDRE Ní FHALLúIN

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Introduction by

PAUL DOHERTY, Professor of English at Boston College

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VIVACIOUS JOYCE

an open lecture on Joyce and his curious early interests with

Professor PATRICK MORAN, Wake Forest University

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Professor JOSEPH NUGENT

will introduce

JOYCEAN MOMENTS

dramatisations and readings from A Portrait and Ulysses

introduced and contextualized by

BRIAN O’DONOVAN

of NPR’s A Celtic Sojourn, performed by

The Here Comes Everybody Players

with songs from Joyce’s works by

tenor

BRENDAN BUCKLEY

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ULYSSES FOR THE TOTAL BEGINNER

a series of workshops on how to read Joyce taught by

Kelly Sullivan: What’s Ulysses all about?

Becky Troeger: A Musical Joyce

Dathalinn O’Dea: Joyspeak Today

Andrew Kuhn: Ulysses–Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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TALKING ULYSSES: A RELAY READING

Stately plump Buck Mulligan…

Beginning at Page 1 our students will lead you through the novel–or as much of it as we can manage….

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FAITHFUL DEPARTED

A fascinating short documentary film on Joyce’s metropolis, based on the collection of period photographs by William Lawrence, creating a photographic impression of Dublin on June 16th 1904

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