Bloomsday: a history of dedication and heavy drinking

From the tribute of devoted fans to heavy sessions by Samuel Beckett and Flann O’Brien, the day of James Joyce’s Dublin epic has become a global phenomenon

In June 1924, James Joyce wrote to Harriet Shaw Weaver of how “there is a group of people who observe what they call Bloom’s day – 16 June”. Joyce was referring to the date on which Ulysses is set, in 1904 – a date which the author chose to mark the first time he went out with the woman who would become his wife, Nora Barnacle. The day is now marked with celebrations of the novel around the world.

Back in 1924, however, Joyce told Weaver that “they sent me hortensias [hydrangeas], white and blue, dyed”, adding somewhat gloomily, “I have to convince myself that I wrote that book. I used to be able to talk intelligently about it.” (He’s even gloomier when he mentions his current project, Finnegans Wake, telling Weaver: “If ever I try to explain to people now what I am supposed to be writing, I see stupefaction freezing them into silence.”)

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