Bloomsday - Seattle 2018

Our annual Bloomsday readings started in 1998. After concluding Ulysses in 2013, we started afresh four years ago. This year, we’re reading the second half of Chapter 8, “Lestrygonians”, and all of Chapter 9, “Scylla and Charybdis”.

Chapter 8.ii: Lestrygonians

We pick up where we left off last year in the middle of Chapter 8, as Leopold Bloom is searching for lunch. He enters Davy Byrne’s peaceful pub, gaining respite from the hubbub of Dublin. Joyce, as ever, is preoccupied with “the significance of trivial things”, through which we learn more about Bloom’s past and how others see him.

Chapter 9: Scylla and Charybdis

In Chapter 9, Stephen Dedalus is holding forth in the National Library of Ireland, giving the performance of his life to an audience of Irish writers and scholars who were part of the Irish Literary Revival of the early 20th century. Stephen is an outsider, desperately trying to assert himself in front of these gatekeepers of Irish culture. He shares his elaborate theories on the life of Shakespeare, why the bard left his second-best bed to his widow, Anne Hathaway, and the fatherlessness of Hamlet.

Reading at the Seattle Central Library, June 16th, 2018

2:30pm on Saturday, June 16th, 2018,
The Seattle Central Library,
Level 4, Room 2 — Howard S. Wright Family & Janet W. Ketcham Meeting Room,
1000 Fourth Ave,
Seattle, WA 98104

Map.

Donations towards costs of posters and props are welcome. Please arrive before 2:30pm to find a seat. The reading will take about two hours.

Please RSVP to the Facebook event.

Poster

We encourage you to download Leon Mattigosh’s Lestrygonians/Scylla & Charybdis poster (PDF, 1MB) and post it around town.

Press Release

This is our twenty-first year of Bloomsday readings. (Press Release).

Commentary

Lestrygonians (Chapter 8)

• Text of Chapter 8
• The Joyce Project: Lestrygonians
• Kennesaw Guide
• Cliff Notes
• Sparknotes
• The Joyce Portal
• The Sheila Variations
• Joyce Images
• Shmoop Summary and Analysis
• Groden Notes
• Joyce’s Moraculous Sindbook: Suzette Henke — “Lestrygonians” and “Sirens”: Food for Men and Gods

Scylla and Charybdis (Chapter 9)

• Text of Chapter 9
• The Joyce Project: Scylla and Charybdis
• Kennesaw Guide
• Cliff Notes
• Sparknotes
• The Joyce Portal
• The Sheila Variations
• Joyce Images
• Paul Debraski
• Shmoop Summary and Analysis
• Groden Notes
• Joyce’s Moraculous Sindbook: Suzette Henke — “Proteus”: The Art of Perception, “Scylla and Charybdis”: The Artist as God

Miscellaneous

• The Modern Word
• James Joyce’s Ulysses: Where It’s Always June 16, 1904
• RTÉ 25-hour broadcast of Ulysses (history)

Other Wild Geese Events

See our archives for details of our previous readings.

2018 Bloomsday Press Release

21st Annual Staged Reading / Bloomsday Celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses

The Wild Geese Players of Seattle join Bloomsday celebrations across the globe honoring Ulysses’ author James Joyce. Our 21st annual staged reading of selections from the book will be held on Saturday, June 16th, 2018 at 2:30pm at the Seattle Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104, Level 4 – Room 2 – Howard S. Wright Family & Janet W. Ketcham Meeting Room.

Bloomsday (Bloom’s day, named for Ulysses’ main character, Leopold Bloom) is a worldwide commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce and refers to the 24-hour period of 16th June 1904 in which Ulysses is set. The book follows the wanderings of Bloom, a Jewish everyman, and Stephen Dedalus, a young writer and Joyce’s alter ego, as they wander the streets of Dublin.

Join us for a taste of Ulysses, in small bites. This year’s reading features Chapter 8, “Lestrygonians”, and Chapter 9, “Scylla and Charybdis”. In the book, both chapters take place in the early afternoon.

We pick up where we left off last year in the middle of Chapter 8, as Leopold Bloom is searching for lunch. He enters Davy Byrne’s peaceful pub, gaining respite from the hubbub of Dublin. Joyce, as ever, is preoccupied with “the significance of trivial things”, through which we learn more about Bloom’s past and how others see him.

In Chapter 9, Stephen Dedalus is holding forth in the National Library of Ireland, giving the performance of his life to an audience of Irish writers and scholars who were part of the Irish Literary Revival of the early 20th century. Stephen is an outsider, desperately trying to assert himself in front of these gatekeepers of Irish culture. He shares his elaborate theories on the life of Shakespeare, why the bard left his second-best bed to his widow, Anne Hathaway, and the fatherlessness of Hamlet.

The Wild Geese Players of Seattle have presented staged readings of Irish literature by writers such as James Joyce and W.B. Yeats since 1998. We are a diverse group of people with an interest in Irish literature, and most of us are either Irish-born or have Irish connections. We believe that poetry and certain novels are best read aloud, that some words are better heard than read.

For more information, visit the Wild Geese Players’ website www.WildGeeseSeattle.org, like our Facebook group, or follow @WildGeeseSea on Twitter.

Follow-up contacts:
George Reilly, Director,  WildGeeseSeattle@gmail.com
Claudia Finn, CFinnSeattle@gmail.com