James Joyces' Ulysses chronicles the wanderings of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day: Thursday, June 16, 1904. The 16th has become known as Bloomsday, and literary types and fans of Joyce celebrate the occaision with pub crawls, readings, and re-enactments.
In New York City, we've got Bloomday on Broadway at Symphony Space where, for the last 29 years, actors and avid Joyceans read from the work. The event ends with the complete, uncensored, monologue from Molly Bloom. This year, it was performed by Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan. (Lowbrow alert: she played the mysterious old woman who seemed to be pulling the strings in ABC's Lost).
If you missed the event, or WNYC's live broadcast, get comfortable and be ready to be transported into Molly Bloom's bedroom.
Listen here.
Molly Bloom's Monologue
Are you more of a visual person? Ulysses Seen might be more up your alley. It is a graphic adaptation of the novel and like the original, it has a censorship story of its own.
When the art for the graphic novel was first submitted to Apple as an iPad application, the company balked at a few panels containing nudity. But Apple changed its mind just in time for Bloomsday.