A great way to acquaint yourself with Joyce’s ‘world of words’, Bloomsday celebrations are held every year around the world on June 16th — the anniversary of the date on which the events of Ulysses are set. To find out more about this extraordinary holiday, go here.

Heff

For obvious reasons the 2020 live show here in Santa Fe had to be cancelled, but in its place, the Lannan foundation commissioned a third Bloomsday lecture by the great James A. Heffernan (pictured – I blogged about his last visit in 2014, one year before I started hosting my own Bloomsday show. Read all about that here). The original plan, of course, was that he would give his lecture in person, but enter COVID-19, and serious changes of plan had to be made. Jim’s adjustment was flawless, though; he pre-recorded his insights and included a dramatization of Hamlet act I scene v by his son Andrew, a professional stage actor and filmmaker.

The title of the lecture was Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, and the Ghost of Shakespeare in Chapter 9 of Ulysses. You can view the full lecture by visiting the Lannan Foundation’s website (linked above), and as part of the day’s festivities, we at JoyceGroup Santa Fe conducted a live question/answer session with Jim, also available to listen/view via the same link.

So enjoy, and we’ll see everybody next year!