This is an archived page. Images and links on this page may not work. Please visit the main page for the latest updates.

 
 
 
Read my book, TEACHING BEAUTY IN DeLILLO, WOOLF, AND MERRILL (Palgrave Macmillan; forthcoming), co-authored with Jennifer Green-Lewis. VISIT MY BRANCH CAMPUS AT INSIDE HIGHER ED





UD is...
"Salty." (Scott McLemee)
"Unvarnished." (Phi Beta Cons)
"Splendidly splenetic." (Culture Industry)
"Except for University Diaries, most academic blogs are tedious."
(Rate Your Students)
"I think of Soltan as the Maureen Dowd of the blogosphere,
except that Maureen Dowd is kind of a wrecking ball of a writer,
and Soltan isn't. For the life of me, I can't figure out her
politics, but she's pretty fabulous, so who gives a damn?"
(Tenured Radical)

Friday, June 16, 2006

Bloomsday '06

After the controversial Bloomsday centennial in ‘04, UD found uncontroversial Bloomsday ‘05 a bit of a letdown.

‘06, though, has managed to generate a bit of heat: Some Dubliners are pissed that official Bloomsday events have been cancelled out of respect for Charles Haughey, whose funeral will take place today (see “Bloomsday Funeral” post below).



From today’s Boston Globe:

In what some see as a mark of respect, and some Joycean purists consider sacrilege, official commemorations marking Bloomsday, the single day in 1904 that forms the narrative in James Joyce’s great novel Ulysses, have been canceled today in Dublin because they coincide with the funeral and burial of Charles J. Haughey, Ireland’s most colorful and controversial prime minister.

Bertie Ahern, a Haughey protégé who is now Ireland’s longest-serving taoiseach, or prime minister, issued a statement saying it was appropriate that Haughey would be laid to rest on Bloomsday.

‘‘His affinity with the arts, his own extraordinary, colorful life were every bit as interesting as Joyce’s fictional hero Leopold Bloom,’’ Ahern said. ‘‘Being buried on Bloomsday is a coincidence I believe that Charlie would have deeply enjoyed.’’



But some, including David Norris, one of Ireland’s leading Joyce scholars, say the decision by the board of the James Joyce Centre in Dublin to cancel its annual Bloomsday festivities, while well-intentioned, is actually doing a disservice to the memory of both Joyce, arguably Ireland’s greatest writer, and Haughey, unquestionably Ireland’s most controversial leader.

‘‘At the end of the day, Charlie was a great Joycean,’’ Norris said in a telephone interview from Dublin, where he is a senator and lecturer at Trinity College. ‘‘I am quite confident that Charlie would never have dreamed of canceling Bloomsday. You can’t cancel Bloomsday. That’s like saying you can cancel Monday or Tuesday. And on the 16th of June, in Dublin, it will always be Bloomsday.’’

Indeed, Haughey was, like many Dubliners, one for keeping the day every 16th of June. A reporter once observed Haughey in a southside Dublin pub, having imbibed considerably more than the one glass of burgundy that Leopold Bloom consumes at Davy Byrne’s pub, recite from memory a long passage from Ulysses. Mr. Haughey’s companions cheered lustily, and he bowed gallantly. [Of course I love this story. Can’t help wondering, though, how accurate Haughey’s drunken recital was…]



Norris noted that Haughey died on June 13 and will be buried on June 16, as did Paddy Dignam, a character from Ulysses whose funeral is the focus of Chapter 6.

‘‘It’s a wonderful example of life imitating art,’’ said Norris, attributing to Haughey the ability to control the timing of his own death. ‘‘I think Charlie did it deliberately.’’

In the book, Bloom suggests Paddy Dignam had a quick death, the best way to die. In real life, Haughey suffered from prostate cancer for a decade, and in 2003 had to sell his beloved 300-acre estate, Kinsealy, in North Dublin to settle the tax bills that arose from disclosures that he accepted at least $12 million in kickbacks from business interests. All the while, tribunals investigating corruption tarnished his legacy, making him a figure more tragic than anything Joyce dreamed up. [There’s plenty more tragic than that in Ulysses.]

Norris acknowledged it was Haughey’s genuine appreciation of Joyce that led him to have a soft spot for Haughey, whose politics swung considerably to the right of his. He noted that Haughey did much to support the arts, creating tax breaks for artists.

‘‘Charlie was many things,’’ he said, obliquely referring to the scandals. ‘‘But he was a great lover of life, and Charlie would be the first to tell you that life must go on, that the show must go on, and that Bloomsday must go on.’’



Norris said he thought it would be more appropriate to hold a moment of silence in Haughey’s memory during Bloomsday festivities. Despite the decision by the James Joyce Centre, Norris said he and others will carry on the annual tradition of dressing up in period costume, holding readings at various spots across Dublin and in Sandycove, the seaside village in South County Dublin where a Martello tower is the setting for the first chapter of Ulysses.

‘‘I am going to perform,’’ Norris said. ‘‘I think Charlie would approve.”