It's Bloomsday!
Jun. 16th, 2004 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saavedra77Today’s the 100th anniversary of a completely fictional event: June 16, 1904 is the date James Joyce assigns to the stream-of-consciousness slice of Dublin life presented in his novel Ulysses. June 16th has subsequently become known to Joyce enthusiasts & Irish tourism authorities everywhere as "Bloomsday," after Joyce's protagonists Leopold & Molly Bloom. (Fellow protagonist Stephen Daedelus gets short shrift because he's too arty & his name's too long to constitute a decent tag line.)
Then again, like all occasions of Hibernian provenance, you might just think of it as a fine opportunity to lift a Guinness & pretend to gaelic eloquence--as I shall, directly:
(To be truthful, my roots lie in a different Isla Verde & my current buzz--very appropriately--originates from Bacardi, not Guinness, but this is another historia ....)
As I said, this Bloomsday is special, being the first centenary of those inspiring events that never happened in 1904. There are accordingly celebrations all year long in Dublin, certainly, & public readings from Ulysses even in faraway backwaters like this Emerald City of the Pacific Northwest (no relation to either Emerald Isle).
Perhaps more accessibly--& to be sure not coincidentally--a film version of Ulysses also debuted just a few days shy of this Bloomsday, at this year's Seattle International Film Festival. I only had the opportunity to see one film during this year’s festival, but I’m pleased to say that it was this one:
James Joyce famously concluded that Ulysses "could not be made into a film with artistic propriety”--& many a frustrated reader may be forgiven for doubting that prospect, too--but I think that Sean Walsh's “Bloom” amply demonstrates the story & characters' cinematic possibilities. & while the film inevitably streamlines the novel’s walkabout through 1904 Dublin & through the heads of Joyce's characters, it still weaves together everything I love about Ulysses: poetry, pub life, profanity, love, infidelity, the embarrassing depths of the unconscious mind--& all the other stuff that really matters.
Many a film festival debut of course leads to immediate cinematic oblivion, the film never to achieve general release. I think that I can predict with some confidence that this won’t be the case, with “Bloom,” though: it’s got “Crying Game” star Stephen Rea in the role of Leopold Bloom, less famous but much prettier actors as Stephen & Molly, earthy humor, dreamy shots of the Irish sea, nostalgic scenes of old Dublin, a built-in starter audience of literati, & two characters who just can't stop thinking about sex. The critics will go home wanting to make sweet love & write all about its sweetness & the publicity campaign will shortly be marching toward an arthouse near you.
So, if you're the least bit Irish, the least bit literary or cinephilic, or the least bit interested in how we steer our relationships 'round certain familiar rocks & shoals, keep an eye out ...
(Say: "yes I said yes I will Yes.")
Then again, like all occasions of Hibernian provenance, you might just think of it as a fine opportunity to lift a Guinness & pretend to gaelic eloquence--as I shall, directly:
(To be truthful, my roots lie in a different Isla Verde & my current buzz--very appropriately--originates from Bacardi, not Guinness, but this is another historia ....)
As I said, this Bloomsday is special, being the first centenary of those inspiring events that never happened in 1904. There are accordingly celebrations all year long in Dublin, certainly, & public readings from Ulysses even in faraway backwaters like this Emerald City of the Pacific Northwest (no relation to either Emerald Isle).
Perhaps more accessibly--& to be sure not coincidentally--a film version of Ulysses also debuted just a few days shy of this Bloomsday, at this year's Seattle International Film Festival. I only had the opportunity to see one film during this year’s festival, but I’m pleased to say that it was this one:
James Joyce famously concluded that Ulysses "could not be made into a film with artistic propriety”--& many a frustrated reader may be forgiven for doubting that prospect, too--but I think that Sean Walsh's “Bloom” amply demonstrates the story & characters' cinematic possibilities. & while the film inevitably streamlines the novel’s walkabout through 1904 Dublin & through the heads of Joyce's characters, it still weaves together everything I love about Ulysses: poetry, pub life, profanity, love, infidelity, the embarrassing depths of the unconscious mind--& all the other stuff that really matters.
Many a film festival debut of course leads to immediate cinematic oblivion, the film never to achieve general release. I think that I can predict with some confidence that this won’t be the case, with “Bloom,” though: it’s got “Crying Game” star Stephen Rea in the role of Leopold Bloom, less famous but much prettier actors as Stephen & Molly, earthy humor, dreamy shots of the Irish sea, nostalgic scenes of old Dublin, a built-in starter audience of literati, & two characters who just can't stop thinking about sex. The critics will go home wanting to make sweet love & write all about its sweetness & the publicity campaign will shortly be marching toward an arthouse near you.
So, if you're the least bit Irish, the least bit literary or cinephilic, or the least bit interested in how we steer our relationships 'round certain familiar rocks & shoals, keep an eye out ...
(Say: "yes I said yes I will Yes.")
