BLOOMSDAY IN OSTEND 2022
Published in James Joyce in Ostend by Xavier Tricot (Pandora, Antwerp, 2018)
CELEBRATE
LEOPOLD BLOOM
AND THE CENTENARY OF ULYSSES
IN OSTEND
16 June 2022
Few realise it, but Ostend has its own unique connection to James Joyce. Four years after the publication of Ulysses, the author spent a happy holiday in the city with his wife, Nora, and their two children. It was the summer of 1926. Joyce wrote letters and postcards to his friends while here, many of which survive, as does an evocative set of photographs. This material forms the basis for Xavier Tricot’s detailed account of James Joyce in Ostend.
Ulysses is undoubtedly one of the most famous books about Dublin. Written over seven years in three different cities, and totalling 265,000 words, Joyce’s epic novel depicts the events of a single day in the city. The protagonist is one Leopold Bloom. Dublin has been celebrating Bloomsday on the anniversary of the date that features in the book – 16 June 1904 – since 1954. From small beginnings, it is now a city-wide festival that attracts an international audience. But the festivities aren’t limited to Ireland: Bloomsday is now celebrated by Joyce lovers around the world. This year, the party will be extra special as Ulysses turns 100.
We hope you’ll join us for a day of all things James Joyce!
PROGRAMME
With just ten days to go until Bloomsday on 16 June, it’s time to share the full programme for this unique event. It’s free and everyone is welcome. Make a day of it, or simply join us when you can.
10:30 Opening reception for James by Hans Verhagen at the Ostend Library. An exhibition of eighteen original prints based on Ulysses by James Joyce. More info on Hans Verhaegen, click here.
+ interview with the artist (11:00)
+ launch of the publication Ostende! (11:30). More info on the newspaper, click here.
12:30 Picnic and talk on the beach near the Inside Outside surf club (bring your own food and drinks). Rainy day plan: you’ll find us at the Koninklijke Gaanderijen.
14:00 A James Joyce walk along the seafront towards the west pier and back. The ‘Portiers van de Oceaan’ will read their favourite parts from Ulysses, in different languages. Accompanied by the Dixieland Streetband. For more info on the Dixieland Streetband, click here.
17:00-17:30 Live performance from Joe Mullen (Irish singer-musician) on the beach at L’Océan (seafront / Albert I Promenade nr. 64). More info on Joe Mullen, click here.
Non-compulsory dress code: ‘James and Nora Joyce, Ostend, 1926.’
Everyone is welcome to celebrate Bloomsday in Ostend! Spread the news!
Download the press release by clicking on the links. Available in Dutch and English.
The ‘Portiers van de Oceaan’ are: Dirk Beirens, Philippe Braem, Geert Lernout, Koen Peeters, Helen Simpson, Hendrik Tratsaert, Xavier Tricot, Jef Van Eynde and Lieven Van Den Abeele.
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF A LITERARY MASTERPIECE
On 2 February 1922, Paris bookseller Sylvia Beach – founder of the legendary Shakespeare & Company – published the first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses. It was a brave decision. The editors of The Little Review, an American literary journal that published excerpts of the book, had been tried for obscenity the previous year (effectively banning the book in the US). But Beach was undeterred, writing to her friend Marion Peters:
Dear Marion,
… My shop is a great success and self-supporting and all that sort of thing and just think I am publishing a book now. Ulysses by James Joyce, the greatest book and author of the age. . ..! You probably saw in the papers the uproar caused by the trial of the Editors of the Little Review for printing some of Ulysses in it, and how they were fined $100, and their thumb prints taken. Nine stenographers gave up the typing of the last episode here in Paris and a gentleman from the British Embassy burned a dozen pages . . . he threw ’em into the fire in a rage. Ulysses is a masterpiece and one day it will be ranked among the classics in English literature. Joyce is in Paris, and I told him I would publish his book, after the publisher in New York threw up the job in a fright.
Supported by the Embassy of Ireland in Belgium and Stad Oostende. Production: Exil vzw, Ostend. www.exil.be
