- First serialized: The Little Magazine (March 1918 to Dec 1920)
- Book publication: Paris: Shakespeare & Company, 1922
- Exhibition “James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Law” (April 15 to May 18, 2025)
- Aidan Hickey’s paintings inspired by Ulysses.
by Ursula Zeller, adapted for the website by Martin Mühlheim
It was in Paris, on February 2, 1922 – the day of the author’s 40th birthday – that James Joyce finally held in his hands the book version of his novel Ulysses.
Three Main Characters on a Day in Dublin
Ulysses is loosely modelled on Homer’s Odyssey. However, the novel’s plot does not cover ten years but tells the story of a single day that nevertheless contains an entire world. The commonplace events depicted in the book take place on June 16, 1904 and revolve around Leopold Bloom, an Irishman with Hungarian-Jewish roots, his wife Molly and the aspiring young author Stephen Dedalus.
In 18 chapters, Joyce follows their various ways, byways, and detours through Dublin and, in doing so, creates a detailed portrait of his hometown under British rule, characterized by Catholicism, nationalism, and the Irish Literary Renaissance.
An Ordinary Day as an Epic Experiment
We observe these Dubliners as they get up, eat, and drink. We follow them as they attend morning mass, stroll around the city, work, go to the pub, or bury their dead. We hear them debating, arguing, and singing, and we look over their shoulders as they write love letters. We witness the birth of a child and read about amorous adventures and a visit to a brothel. Eventually, we see them get tired and go to bed. So far, so banal.
However, it is impossible to capture the magic and brilliance of Ulysses with a mere summary of its plot. Its language and form can be considered a second set of protagonists, and they not only provide much of the action but increasingly take center stage. Each of the novel’s 18 chapters has its own tonality: from realist prose to dadaist-surrealist stage drama to passages employing the stream-of-consciousness technique.
