Thousands to celebrate Bloomsday anniversary

Thousands of people will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday today, the date made famous by James Joyce’s novel Ulysses.

Arts, Sports and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue said it was a unique day in world literature.

“Over a year ago, we set out to create a world class festival that would appeal to everyone from literary neophytes to Joycean scholars. The response has been wonderful and the great thing is it doesn’t end on Bloomsday,” he said.

There are over 80 official events to mark Bloomsday, the fictional date on which Leopold Bloom undertook his journey in Ulysses.

The James Joyce centre in North Georges St has sold more than 1,000 tickets for the early morning Bloomsday breakfast, which will be attended by President Mary McAleese.

“Some people have been in contact with the centre about the centenary celebrations for the last three years,” said spokeswoman Lisajane Duffy.

Not all the breakfast diners will fit in the centre for the live entertainment which includes readings from Ulysses by former TV host Gay Byrne, playwright Gerry Stembridge and musician Ronnie Drew.

But the readings will carry on into the street, which will also host a Punch and Judy show and a cast of Bloomsday players all recreated from the pages of Ulysses.

Joyce is reputed to have boasted that Dublin could be be rebuilt from the pages of Ulysses even if it was destroyed. But in a sign of the all the changes that have taken place since, an hour long recreation of a key scene from the book has been switched to another location.

In Ulysses, two elderly Dublin women climb Nelson’s Pillar and spit plum stones on the citizens below. But since the pillar was blown up in 1966 by the IRA, this “Parable of the Plumes” will be held at the Millennium Spire instead.

Members of three north inner city local community groups will take part in the parade at 8pm, disguised as giant puppets, circus tricksters and street performers from 1904 Dublin.

The Davy Byrne’s pub on Duke Street, where Leopold Bloom had a glass of Burgundy and a gorgonzola sandwich, is preparing itself for an influx of hungry visitors.

“We normally get 150 people on Bloomsday but we’re expecting double that amount this time,” said manager Frank Doyle.

The Royal Hibernian Academy has opened an exhibition of Joyce-inspired art by internationally acclaimed artists, while 19 previously unknown Ulysses draft notebooks have gone on show at the National Library.

The National Museum of Ireland is planning to display an important Burmese statue of the Reclining Buddha from its collections, which was seen by Joyce during his time in Dublin and subsequently turned up twice in the pages of Ulysses.

There will also be a day-long street festival at the Sandycove Tower, which also featured in Joyce’s book.

Bloomsday celebrations are taking place in at least 40 cities worldwide, including Chicago, Sydney, New York, Paris and Tokyo.

Joyce wrote Ulysses for Nora Barnacle, who he met on 16 June 1904, but she never read it.