|
Making Ready for Bloomsday Centenary
June 16, 2004 is the 100th Anniversary of Leopold Bloom’s Fateful Walk
Bloomsday, plans are already afoot for next year’s “Bloomsday
Centenary.” Ireland’s Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism
John O’Donoghue has set up the Bloomsday Centenary Coordinating Committee,
to plan the event which will hopefully lure James Joyce fans and tourist
dollars to the Dublin author’s home turf. Bloomsday is the fictional
day, June 16, 1904, on which the character Leopold Bloom traverses Dublin
City in Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses. In the decades since the internationally
acclaimed work was published, Bloomsday has caught the public and literary
imagination and has become the day on which fans of Joyce celebrate the
man and his unique work.
“I am very conscious of the importance of the upcoming centenary
of Bloomsday. It will bring a special focus, nationally and internationally
on Joyce and his works,” O’Donoghue said. He added that “In
advance of the centenary a special effort is needed to make sure that
the many proposed events are coordinated so that the most interest and
enjoyment can be generated both at home and abroad. This is particularly
important given the fact that the National Library of Ireland now holds
one of the most important collections of Joyce manuscripts in the world.”
The original handwritten manuscript of Ulysses makes its home in America.
It is in the Rosenback Museum in Philadelphia, having been purchased in
1924 for $1,975.
|
