Bloomsday | Zoomsday

The Arts Council of Princeton celebrates the lyrical magic of James Joyce’s modernist masterpiece Ulysses during its first-ever Bloomsday event.

Denounced at its publication as “a heap of dung,” and burned by the U.S. Post Office as an “obscene” book, today it is regarded widely as perhaps the greatest landmark in modernist literature. Join literary figures and friends as they share their favorite passages. Participants include:

— Paul Muldoon, Creative Writing, Lewis Center for the Arts

— Joyce Carol Oates, Humanities Council (Emeritus)

— Colum McCann, author

— Jhumpa Lahiri, Creative Writing, Lewis Center for the Arts

— Sean Wilentz, History

— Esther Schor, American Jewish Studies; English

— Kevin Birmingham, author

Event moderated by Caroline Cleaves, director of development at the Arts Council; cosponsored by the Humanities Council.

Here’s a chance to introduce yourself to a challenging and incandescent work — or to revisit an old favorite.

This virtual community program is free and open to the public. Please register in advance.

Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of Joyce’s life, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June, the day Ulysses takes place in 1904 and named after its protagonist Leopold Bloom. The day involves a range of cultural activities, including Ulysses readings and dramatizations, pub crawls, and other events. Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday, and retrace Bloom’s route around Dublin via landmarks. Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel, some lasting up to 36 hours.