Worcester County Poetry Association /1 Ekman Street, Worcester, MA 01607 / 508-797-4770 / wcpaboard@yahoo.com
BLOOMSDAY 2007
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The day features a changing cast of characters - much like Ulysses. Everyone is welcome to read or listen. Some participants drop in for one or two sessions and those with more stamina (and free time) will make a day & night of it.
We try to add new sites each year while revisiting perennial favorites like Ben Franklin's. Our outdoor sites don't always have seating, so you might want to bring along a chair. There are no admission fees for these sites but you have to pay for your own meals. (Except the tea & scones - those are on Don Reid! Buy a book instead.) The episodes we plan to read at each site are listed. Always check back on June 15 for last minute schedule updates!
Bloomsday is an annual ramble where participants read through various parts of James Joyce's Ulysses. Lots of cities around the world have been holding some sort of Bloomsday celebration for decades. The Worcester version involves readings in several locations approximating the sites visited by the characters of the novel in their own ramble through Dublin, June 16, 1904.
WCPA celebrates the spoken word, the written word, and the literary history of Worcester - or makes history by starting a new Worcester tradition like Bloomsday. Sometimes, one of our members has a passion for a particular author or literary event like Bloomday and the entire community is welcome to join in. We've had a lot of fun doing this over the years. If anyone has comments about past Worcester Bloomsday celebrations, we'd be happy to post them. Just email us!
is maintained by Aida Yared. Using historic photos, newspapers, advertising, postcards and an amazing amount of research, 1904 Dublin as Joyce experienced it
You will spend hours lost in Jorn Barger's amazing labyrinth of Joycean links.
More to come!
Worcester Bloomsday FAQs
What does the WCPA Bloomsday Committee do? The committee charged with setting the itinerary for June 16. We think about where we've been, where we'd like to go next and spend a lot of time thinking about what hasn't worked in the past and why. (Bars sound good in theory but they don't like to turn down the TV.) Once we have a workable itinerary, we match the readings to the location. And before we advertise the locations or post them to the website, we visit each site. We also plan other activities, which vary from year to year, like films and lectures. Then we update the website, design and print flyers, notify the press and hope for good weather.
Can I participate if I haven't read the book? Absolutely! Every year, eveyone says they will read the whole book before the next Bloomsday....but they never get around to it. No problem. Enjoy the celebration of language - there won't be a test.
Do I need to own a copy Ulysses to participate? No, you don't need a copy - lots of folks will share their own copies with you so you can follow along and even read passages if you want to.
Does it cost anything? Do I need to be a WCPA member? No and no. Everyone is invited to participate and the places we visit do not have admission fees. We would love to have you join the WCPA to show your support for the organization but it isn't a requirement. Just show up. No cost, no registration, no strings. You will have to buy your own food if you participate during the mealtime readings.
I have to work that day - can I just come during lunch or after work? Yes, please stop by one of the sites during the day, even if it's just for an hour or so. It's very informal. We try to keep to the schedule, so you can generally find us more or less where we say we're going to be.
Need more information? There are a lot of good websites describing the book and the Bloomsday phenomenon. Some are listed on this page. If you know of a good one we should add, please let us know.
We're tracking down photos and itineraries from past Bloomsdays and will add them as they become available! If you have any photos from previous Worcester Bloomsday rambles,
Dinner. Participants read their favorite passages.
Vasa Hall, Ekman Street
Episode 15: Circe
9:30am
11:30am
1:30pm
3:30pm
5:30pm
7:30pm
10:00pm
"-- The Lord forgive me! Mr Power said, wiping his wet eyes with his fingers. Poor Paddy! I little thought a week ago when I saw him last and he was in his usual health that I'd be driving after him like this. He's gone from us."
Ulysses, Episode 6 (Hades)
Raising a glass to Paddy at Fiddler's Green, 2006.
Bancroft Tower
Welcome to Worcester Bloomsday 2007!
Join us on Saturday, June 16, for our annual Worcester ramble as we spend the day reading selections from
Solemnly he came forward and mounted the round gunrest. He faced about and blessed gravely thrice the tower, the surrounding country and the awaking mountains.
Ulysses, Episode 1
Bancroft Tower (Bancroft Tower Road)
8:00am to 9:30am
Episode 1: Telemacus
Stately, plump Buck Mulligan........
Bring a chair, a blanket, or an umbrella - rain or shine, we begin the day as Stephen Dedalus does: sleepy and in need of caffeine. (WCPA will spring for the coffee and donuts.)
Antiquarian Book Center (21 Salem Street)
10:00am to 11:30am
Episode 4: Calypso
Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish........
Park across the street, next to the library. The reading takes place at the back of the store. Enjoy the tea and scones provided by our host, Don Reid, and buy a few books!
Coney Island Hot Dog (158 Southbridge Street)
12:00pm to 1:30pm
Episode 12: Cyclops
I was just passing the time of day........
It isn't quiet, it isn't vegan, it's just a Worcester institution we've wanted to visit on Bloomsday for a long time! This was once a favorite haunt of Worcester poets. Check out their website.
First Unitarian Church (90 Main Street)
2:00pm to 3:30pm
Episode 3: Proteus
Ineluctable modality of the visible........
This is our first Bloomsday reading at First Unitarian. We'll be in one of the parlors, so watch for signs. Here's a link to their website, including directions and location of parking lots.
The Stockmal's Garden (4 Woodford Street)
4:00pm to 5:30pm
Episode 17: Ithaca
What parallel courses did Bloom........
Worcester poets will know this address as the childhood home of Stanley Kunitz. We're so excited by the opportunity to read James Joyce in the garden beneath Stanley's pear tree.
Belfry Restaurant (59 Blackstone River Road)
6:00pm to 7:30pm
Dinner is a good time to take a break from the schedule to talk about the day and enjoy some good food. If you have a favorite passage, you are encouraged to share it! website & directions
Vasa Hall (1 Ekman Street, first floor)
8:00pm to 10:00pm
Episode 15: Circe
The Mabbot Street entrance to nighttown........
This is something of a Bloomsday tradition: Nighttown at the WCPA. The Circe episode is one of the most rollicking to read as a group.
What's in Leopold Bloom's Pockets: A Key to Meaning in Joyce's Ulysses
Sara Sullivan, Ph.D., will lead us through an exploration of the occasionally humorous and often baffling array of objects moving into and out of pockets during the course of Leopold Bloom’s day on June 16, 1904.
Vasa Hall, 1 Ekman Street (first floor)
Refreshments. Free & Open to the Public - All are welcome!
Tuesday, June 12, 6:30pm Film
Ulysses
In preparation of our June 16 Bloomsday ramble, we're hosting a showing of the 1967 classic film, featuring Milo O'Shea as Leopold Bloom.
We have a new print of the film and don't expect a repeat of last year's technical problems.
Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Street
Refreshments. Free & Open to the Public - All are welcome!
I moved to the Boston area from California to obtain my PhD from Boston University, attending the university so that I could work with noted Joyce scholar John Paul Riquelme. Ulysses provides the focus for a significant part of my dissertation, which also analyzes the Irish dramatists Sean O'Casey, Samuel Beckett, and Brian Friel, as well as the contemporary poet Eavan Boland.
Although many people considered me a little crazy to write my dissertation on Ulysses, it is (in my opinion) the funniest, most complex, and arguably best novel of the twentieth century, and I could not resist.
I have presented lectures on Ulysses at the International James Joyce Symposium in Dublin for the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday, at the North American James Joyce Conference, and other conferences here and abroad. At the 2005 North American James Joyce Conference, held at Cornell, I invented a successful experimental panel called "Impromptu Joyce" that has been recreated at subsequent conferences.
