OBSERVER: A Day With James Joyce’s Ulysses
Bloomsday in Melbourne’s Dr Steve Carey and Associate Professor Frances Devlin-Glass present A Day With James Joyce’s Ulysses on Sunday, August 24 from 10am – 4.30pm at 3ZZZ, 309 Albert St, Brunswick.
Ulysses was published in Paris on James Joyce’s 40th birthday, February 2, 1922.
This interactive course, a mix of presentation and discussion of text, assumes no prior knowledge of Ulysses, although having read the extracts recommended will certainly help to make your day a richer reading experience.
The organisers believe that while Ulysses is not for everyone, it is for anyone and that most readers need only minor assistance over the obstacles it represents.
And also that it is a treasury for life, to be enjoyed almost as a different text as one is exposed to life’s exigencies. It may have turned 100 years old, but it is still very much our contemporary and still unfolding for those who love it.
The event will offer time for questions to be answered and input invited if wished. .
To be covered on the day:
• Why is Ulysses supposedly a ‘classic’? What does that mean, anyway?
• Why is a book set in Dublin 1904 called Ulysses? (And if it’s based on the Odyssey, why isn’t it called Odysseus?)
• Is the book truly obscene? How did it get banned even before it was published?
• What is Joyce’s ‘Stream of Consciousness’ technique and why is it so important?
• Bits of the book seem really difficult to understand. Is Joyce just being wilfully obscure, or is there some point to all this?
• And much, much more …
This event is a fundraiser for Bloomsday in Melbourne, enabling covering the costs of presenting Bloomsday theatrical productions. Every cent is going straight to them.
To contact the organiser, please email Steve Carey: steve.carey@11degrees.org
Cheryl Threadgold