NETTING IT OUT

Happy Bloomsday.

Another Bloomsday has snuck up on me, as it does every year.  This most famous of literary days – celebrating the single day in the life of Leopold Bloom wandering around Dublin depicted in James Joyce’s book, Ulysses – has special meaning for me.

When my wife, Nancy, and I were married and planning our honeymoon in Ireland, we each committed ourselves to reading Ulysses before we married.  It was not so much that we felt that Ulysses would provide any special guide to our honeymoon in Ireland. Rather, I think we felt that as much as our getting married was (and has proven to be) a turning point in each of our lives, that committing ourselves to some Irish literature, and one of the more challenging reads that there possibly can be – before we were to meet Irish relatives of mine that we had never met – was an appropriate complement.

So, if you are looking for something really special to do, here is one suggestion.  Commit to reading Ulysses, then Richard Ellman’s biography of the same name, James Joyce, and, finally, perhaps, NORA: The Real Life of Molly Bloom, Brenda Maddox’s biography of James Joyce’s wife, Nora.

Or, if you prefer, just lift a Guinness somewhere, sometime today (preferably after 12 Noon wherever you are) to one of the greatest writers who ever lived.

Happy anniversary, too, to Ron and Nina, special friends for as long as I can remember, and who made a special commitment to each other 30 years ago today.  I think of them every Bloomsday.  Happy Bloomsday to all.

June 16, 2009 - Posted by Robert Eastman | Culture, Ideas | Books