Tuesday 12 February 2019

How I became James Joyce

I don't purport to be a James Joyce expert.

Clareville Day Centre celebrates the various seasonal events (Christmas, Easter, St Valentine's Day, Halloween, St Patrick's Day, etc). One of these is Bloomsday, 16th June. Not always celebrated on the day itself, but on a weekday close to Bloomsday. Clients and entertainers put on their tennis-shoes and straw hats or Edwardian Bonnets and feast on an All-day Joycean breakfast, including kidney and Gorgonzola cheese, if desired.

Well, when I put on my metal glasses and straw hat, it was observed that I looked very like the man himself. So I have been doing the same for the last 18 years, reading excerpts from Joyce's work as part of the entertainment.

Last year, 2018, Bloomsday fell on a Saturday. Clareville celebrated the event on the Friday, and I was invited to be James Joyce for the day itself in Stoneybatter. Towards the end of the day, Conor McMahon turned up with his camera and covered the event.

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