Bloomsday
Greg
types and their sensible partners. We had a blast. Everyone
contributed a dish and I selected readings from Ulysses for each
person there. We read Ulysses between the main course and dessert. A
couple people read passages from "Araby." Celebrating Bloomsday will
become an annual event for us. Thanks Paigerella for opening up the
Joyce universe.
paigerella
-Paigerella
willarkin
part in a Ulysses celebration, not being of a literary bent. They do
however enjoy being in a pub for no apparent reason, so I inveigled
them to attend an Irish pub in London for what appeared to them a
random gathering but was secretly a tip of the hat to the festival of
Bloomsday, or so I confided to myself in a cunningly subversive way.
Every day is Bloomsday anyway - or at least every day I download the
podcast
Slainte!
Granola Poet
Nice to hear of your Bloomsday experiences from both ends of the
spectrum. I've had quite a time trying to rally any interest in James
Joyce around here, whether among friends or total strangers. After
searching high and low for 6 months, I found two strangers who were
willing to get together read and discuss Ulysses. But they've already
left the area, having discovered that it's decidedly lacking in
culture and education, in spite of being a so-called college town.
Literary enthusiasts in this neighborhood are more likely to get
pelted by paintballs, unless their literature of choice happens to be
Road & Track Magazine or Soldier of Fortune.
So I had myself a large bottle of Guinness and watched "The Crucible"
with Daniel Day Lewis. (Actually I watched the movie with my wife,
but DDL played the starring role in the film adaptation. I think he's
Irish, anyway. At least he portrays many Irishmen onscreen.)
Computer glitches have limited my ability to listen to much of the
podcast lately, or do much posting myself. But as for the next the
reading, I'd rather read FW among real people rather than on line,
and a French masterpiece read in English seems less than ideal, so my
vote goes to Faulkner, Sound and the Fury. (I was secretly planning
to do that one with my local Ulysses group next, but that was before
they all fled the scene.) But whatever you decide, I'm sure it will
be wonderful! I suppose it would be nice to hear Virginia Woolf read
by a woman.
So here's another Limerick. I believe we are still on the Sirens, right?
Episode #11
A hero hears voices out over the oceans
While sirens fill glasses with succulent potions
His eardrum it pounds
With sonorous sounds
And somewhere a street girl seductively motions
Cheers from the Granola Poet : )
willarkin
Daniel Day Lewis was born in London but his Dad was Irish - Cecil Day
Lewis, the poet who became Britain's Poet Laureate - so there is a
nice literary connection there. Daniel had a nervous breakdown playing
Hamlet on the London stage because every night he was picturing, as
his father's ghost, Cecil standing there in all his passed glory -
apparently they had a difficult relationship. Cecil Day-Lewis wrote an
extraordinary poem which seems to me to have immense and obvious
modern - even current - relevance.....
They who in folly or mere greed
Enslaved religion, markets, laws,
Borrow our language now and bid
Us to speak up in freedom's cause.
It is the logic of our times,
No subject for immortal verse -
That we who lived by honest dreams
Defend the bad against the worse.
Paige should read it on the podcast. He also rewrote very cynically
Christopher Marlowe's poem (the opening line was also used by Jonne
Donne so it has appeared in three major poems):
Come, live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
Of peace and plenty, bed and board,
That chance employment may afford.
I'll handle dainties on the docks
And thou shalt read of summer frocks:
At evening by the sour canals
We'll hope to hear some madrigals.
Care on thy maiden brow shall put
A wreath of wrinkles, and thy foot
Be shod with pain: not silken dress
But toil shall tire thy loveliness.
Hunger shall make thy modest zone
And cheat fond death of all but bone -
If these delight thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
Who could resist?
> >> Joyce universe.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Granola Poet
bottom of my heart for the inspirational poetry. I'm always a sucker
for cynical spoofery. I tried a parody of the Lord's Prayer,
somewhere on my blog. Naturally, I think James Joyce did it better in
Finnegans Wake, but how many people actually made it all the way to
page 104? (Not me, I just flip it open once in a while and hope to
find an intelligible gem. Some day...)
I'm way behind on the podcasts, due to major computer intransigence,
but never short on limericks...
"Cyclops"
I once knew a man who was prone to eruption
Lashing about at the eye of destruction
Exalting his land
Libation in hand
Then blinded by no man with no introduction
Forever and always, your granola poet
paigerella
I will read the Cecil Day-Lewis poem on the podcast! I remember having to study Marlowe's poem as an undergrad- thanks for the parody, it's fabulous. Why not read both, first Marlowe, then Lewis?
The Siren chapter is really racy. I had no idea that Ulysses could be so scandalous. I mean, some scenes are obscene, but this one just felt... scandalous to read aloud! Who would have thought? Finnegan's Wake will probably be the next podcast... but maybe everyone would like a break from Joyce? Maybe Ulysses, then Paradise Lost, then Finnegan's Wake (I just thought that PL was so beautiful, though others assure me that it was, actually, torturous).
Ciao tutti!
-Paigerella
ps. What do you think of the latest UlyssesPodcast photo?
willarkin
the photo of the irate man throwing Ulysses around, it's rather less
beautiful but a shade more dramatic I suppose!
On Jun 20, 7:12�am, paigerella <isis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I want a poem in my granola.
>
> I will read the Cecil Day-Lewis poem on the podcast! I remember having to
> study Marlowe's poem as an undergrad- thanks for the parody, it's fabulous.
> Why not read both, first Marlowe, then Lewis?
>
> The Siren chapter is really racy. I had no idea that Ulysses could be so
> scandalous. I mean, some scenes are obscene, but this one just felt...
> scandalous to read aloud! Who would have thought? Finnegan's Wake will
> probably be the next podcast... but maybe everyone would like a break from
> Joyce? Maybe Ulysses, then Paradise Lost, then Finnegan's Wake (I just
> thought that PL was so beautiful, though others assure me that it was,
> actually, torturous).
>
> Ciao tutti!
>
> -Paigerella
>
> ps. What do you think of the latest UlyssesPodcast photo?
>
> Latest Podcast Poster.JPG
> 68KViewDownload- Hide quoted text -
Greg
think you should read FW. Nobody in their right mind (other than some
scholar with Joycean aspirations) will read that book by him/herself.
I tried once, made it to page nine and decided to clean our oven.
The photo is lovely, all of them are, and one of the pleasures of this
project.
The Sirens episode is sensual, understated and full of double meaning.
That's what I like about Joyce. You read one thing and your
imagination sees something else.
Are the movies Bloom and Nora worth seeing?
Greg
On Jun 20, 4:44 am, willarkin <asmith6...@aol.com> wrote:
> If you mean the photo posted here, I think it's beautiful. If you mean
> the photo of the irate man throwing Ulysses around, it's rather less
> beautiful but a shade more dramatic I suppose!
>
> > > ? ? ? ? Exalting his land
> > > ? ? ? ? Libation in hand
> > > >> ? ? ? ? His eardrum it pounds
> > > >> ? ? ? ? With sonorous sounds
> > > >> And somewhere a street girl seductively motions
>
> > > >> Cheers from the Granola Poet ?: )
>
> > > >> On Jun 18, 2007, at 5:28 AM, willarkin wrote:
>
> > > >>> Sadly none of my friends could ever be persuaded to knowingly take
> > > >>> part in a Ulysses celebration, not being of a literary bent. They do
> > > >>> however enjoy being in a pub for no apparent reason, so I inveigled
> > > >>> them to attend an Irish pub in London for what appeared to them a
> > > >>> random gathering but was secretly a tip of the hat to the
> > > >>> festival of
> > > >>> Bloomsday, or so I confided to myself in a cunningly subversive way.
> > > >>> Every day is Bloomsday anyway - or at least every day I download the
> > > >>> podcast
>
> > > >>> Slainte!
>
> > > >>> On Jun 18, 2:59?am, Greg < TheLimerickLaure...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >>>> My wife Sandy and I hosted a Bloomsday party for eight English
> > > >>>> major
> > > >>>> types and their sensible partners. We had a blast. Everyone
> > > >>>> contributed a dish and I selected readings from Ulysses for each
> > > >>>> person there. We read Ulysses between the main course and
> > > >>>> dessert. A
> > > >>>> couple people read passages from "Araby." Celebrating Bloomsday
> > > >>>> will
> > > >>>> become an annual event for us. Thanks Paigerella for opening up the
> > > >>>> Joyce universe.- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > >> - Show quoted text -
>
> > ?Latest Podcast Poster.JPG
Greg
big Joyce project, and who wouldn't be, why not read a story from
Dubliners every week or two? Then hit Finnegan's with gusto.