Bloomsday

James Joyce's novel Ulysses describes the minutiae of a day in the life of Dublin, June 16, 1904. This Friday Bloomsday (after the main character Leopold Bloom) is celebrated around the world as the anniversary of that imagined day. Many cross the world to enjoy the day in Dublin itself but, if you can't do that, celebrations are in Melbourne here and Sydney here.

An attractive justification of this annual 'Ode to Joyce' is in today's Australian - with emphasis is on Joyce's early writings - Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

I have been interested in Joyce for the few years and posted on the subject when I opened this blog. I have never been able to understand anything of Finnegans Wake but listen to Ulysses regularly via the Jim Norton spoken-word CDs. And listening to CDs is about all I'll get to do this Bloomsday as I have a ***** meeting to attend most of Friday. The concept of opportunity cost is appropriate here. I'll try to make it to Melbourne's Bloomsday that evening.