Wednesday, June 16, 2004

james joyce....

ok,s o james joyce is on my too-read list, but i haven't gotten around to it......for the record....today is the day that joyce immortalized....in fact the hundredth anniversary of june 16, 1904, the day that Leopold Bloom, a Jewish ad salesman who lives on the north side of Dublin wandering around doing errands. , from writer's almanac 'In the morning, he leaves his house on 7 Eccles Street, walks south across the River Liffey, picks up a letter, buys a bar of soap, and goes to the funeral of a man he didn't know very well. In the afternoon he eats a cheese sandwich, feeds some gulls in the Liffey, helps a blind man cross the street, and visits a couple of pubs. He thinks about his job, his wife, his daughter, his stillborn son; he muses about life and death and reincarnation. He knows that his wife is planning to cheat on him that afternoon at his house, and he spends a lot of time thinking about the days when his marriage was happier. ' though the day will be observed around the globe...this year's Dublin 'Bloomsday has been extended into a five-month festival from April to August, full of Joyce exhibitions at museums, plays, songs, reenactments of scenes from Ulysses, academic conferences, and James Joyce look-alike contests. Today, June 16th, thousands of people will retrace the steps of Leopold Bloom as he made his way through the streets and pubs of Dublin.'

in some ways, this book sounds like an elaborate blog.......which essentially traces the writer's steps through both the etheral and the mundane........ironically, with the potential of a worldwide audience i am unlikely to elaborate on personal issues......so mm's blog is at it's root, my life without the details that would make it a joycean novel.......which is ok, because i was really aiming for an austen-like life.........

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