Lecture by Robert Spoo

“James Joyce’s Ulysses in New York: A Counterfactual View from Fifth Avenue”

James Joyce’s Ulysses was famously first published as a book in 1922 in Paris, France, by the American bookseller Sylvia Beach (who had lived in Princeton as a young woman and is buried here). The centenary of this momentous literary event has recently been celebrated throughout the world. But what if Ulysses the book had first been published, not in Paris, but in New York, New York? After all, it came close to happening just that way. The history of Ulysses—and of New York’s role in modernist literature—would have been vastly different had Joyce’s masterpiece debuted from Fifth Avenue or West 40th Street rather than the rue de l’Odéon in Paris.

This talk by Robert Spoo, Princeton’s Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Professor in Irish Letters, will perform the thought experiment of substituting New York for Paris as the birthplace of the unexpurgated Ulysses. Along the way, a lively cast of characters will take the stage: lavish patrons, overworked lawyers, timid and courageous publishers, a shameless literary pirate, censors and smuthounds, and the famous Irish author himself. Spoo co-chairs the 2024-25 Fund for Irish Studies Series with Jane Cox, Director of the Program in Theater & Music Theater in the Lewis Center.

Admission: Free and open to the public; no tickets required.

Accessibility: The Stewart Film Theater is an accessible venue. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at least one week in advance at LewisCenter@princeton.edu