"Joyce is like the nuclear explosion in literature. People are still suffering from the radiation effects." -- Irish senator David Norris.Hear, hear! A curious event occurs every June 16 in Dublin - Bloomsday - that only reminds the world how crazy the literary types are. It's a celebration of James Joyce's 1000 page epic Ulysses, a book about everything, or nothing. The story revolves around a day (June 16, 1904) in the life of Leopold Bloom, a sad sack guy who wanders through Dublin, thinks about some stuff, encounters a few friends, and eats a lot of innards. Thrilling, I know. And I do because I took an entire college class on it.
Apparently it's so riveting that a certain class of people - let's call them pretentious - feel compelled to reenact the damn thing every year. Some probably managed to get through the book (professors, grad students, Joyce enthusiasts), most probably lied about getting through it (professors, grad students, Joyce enthusiasts). Whatever floats your literary boat.
