Ronan O’ Donnell
Joycean Village Celebrations are set to take place in Ballsbridge, Irishtown, Ringsend and Sandymount for Bloomsday this year.
Bloomsday of course celebrates the life of James Joyce, his book Ulysses and the city of Dublin where the book’s story is set on 16th June, 1904. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in the book and the plot follows Leopold and his friend, Stephen Dedalus as they roam through Dublin and experience its many sides over one day.
The book’s structure is based on Homer’s Odyssey and uses a different style for each of its 18 episodes – it is considered one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century but also by many, the world’s most notoriously difficult-to-read novel!
This year actually marks the centenary of the publication of Ulysses in 1922 and Dublin City Council’s South East Area Community Team have been working closely with the James Joyce Centre, Ballsbridge Living Tidy Towns, the Iris Charles centre, Ringsend & District Historical Society and local centres/businesses to present this series of Bloomsday events in Dublin 4 which will include street theatre, tours, literary readings and live music.
