Have a Beautiful Bloomsday

Yesterday, Friday, June 16, was the minor literary holiday of Bloomsday.  It is in honor of the day when most of the action in James Joyce's literary classic Ulysses takes place.  It is named in honor of one of the main characters, Leopold Bloom, who we follow along on both his and returning character from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Daedalus.  While we have never celebrated this day at the store before, we still love the idea.  However, we are not sure how one would celebrate beyond talking about the book and its complex themes and imagery, or perhaps, having a party in the style of early twentieth-century Dublin.   One thing is for sure, we would not be doing anything the characters do from the book.  While most actions are rather harmless, (e.g. taking a walk on the beach looking at pebbles, placing a newspaper advertisement), many are somewhat strange (teaching a class at a Jesuit school, suffering intestinal discomfort after eating at a pub).  Some are just unusual (attending an friend's funeral, becoming a father figure to a young man).  Others are just downright weird (going out drinking with college buddies and talking about midwivery, having a formal question-and-answer session with a friend about third party events as if you weren't a part of them).  Many actions are immoral (making crude puns to your housekeeper, contemplating the love of your husband while having an affair with an actor).  Some are illegal, then and now (performing a lewd act while ogling a young nanny with her charges on a beach, going to a brothel and hallucinating about your dead mother).  We strongly suggest not doing any of these things.  Maybe we can come up with some better ideas for next year.  (Author's note:  I actually had to read Ulysses in college.  We were originally only going to read excerpts, but the professor changed his mind.  Fortunately, the library had enough copies for the seven of us.  I still had to skip a few pages near the end to finish it in time.  Have yet to re-read it.)