Keiran Cooke writes of the sad demise of Bewley's in Dublin here.

Excerpt:

Now Bewley's - once described by the Irish poet Brendan Kennelly as "the heart and hearth of Dublin" - has closed, another victim of rising rents and changing tastes in the Irish capital. Goodbye to romantic memories of sitting in front of the fire and gazing dreamily out into an eiderdown of fog. Goodbye to the ghost of James Joyce, licking his fingers over sticky buns and drinking the only cup of coffee in the country that didn't taste like heated-up bog water.

Dan Harper has a nice Joyce quote in his recent Santa Cruz Sentinel article though I must take issue with his topic. He writes about the oppressive cold of Santa Cruz California. As a former Californian who is spending her first winter in the wilds of Northern Idaho I'd like to tell me Harper the following: "I know cold. Cold is a friend of mine. Mr. Harper, Santa Cruz is not cold!

The Oregon Register-Guard recommends James Joyce’s Dublin as a hot Christmas pick. Excerpt below:

"James Joyce's Dublin: A Topographical Guide to the Dublin of Ulysses," by Ian Gunn and Clive Hart, allows readers to trace, step by step and place by place, the meanderings about Dublin on June 16, 1904, of Leopold Bloom and dozens of other characters in James Joyce's landmark novel. (Thames and Hudson Inc., 160 pages, with 121 illustrations, $45)

I'm moving to Idaho. Got a job with the
Federal Defender's office .

I probably won't be able to resume
posting on a regular basis until the end
of November. But please make use of
the archives for the past year.

Moscow or Bust!

Sorry to be so lax in posting. I have a job
interview in Idaho on the 20th and am semi-
preparing to relocate. So I doubt I'll start posting
again for the next few weeks.

Unemployed for seven months...wish me
luck.

Brendan Kilty is a fine man, as you will
learn if you read this article from
The Australian.

An excerpt:

“JAMES Joyce devotee Brendan Kilty was so
outraged when he learned wreckers were to
demolished his idol's childhood home in
Dublin that he went to the site expecting to
join a throng of protesters.

"I was the only one there," he said yesterday
as he recalled the 1998 demolition of 2
Millbourne Avenue, Drumcondra. “

The DVD of Sean Walsh's Bloom will be released
in the US this week. For information on getting
a copy:

e: info@ulysses.ie
w: http://www.ulysses.ie

Here’s an interesting article (though
difficult to read due to weird graphics)
about the various versions of Ulysses.
It's called “Haveth Versions Everywhere
or Here Comes Everybody’s Edition of
Ulysses”

Here’s a book I’d love to have:
Joyce in Art: Visual Art Inspired by
James Joyce. The book is a companion
to the exhibition of the same title (at the RHA
in Dublin), curated by the author for 16 June
2004, the centenary of Bloomsday.

It is the first historical account of visual art
inspired by James Joyce and includes works
by Man Ray, Brancusi, Eisenstein, Matisse,
Motherwell, Scully, Beuys, Christo, Bacon,
Hamilton, Cage, le Brocquy, Cooke and others.

Tomorrow is James Joyce Meetup Day
when you can meetup with other local people
interested in discussing the works of the Irish
author, James Joyce. The website lists members
and towns. Apparently the meetups are help
the first Tuesday of every month at 8PM in a
variety of towns in the US and Europe

You can read about a new docmentary entitled
"Following James Joyce ... Dublin to Buffalo" here.

An excerpt:

The film traces the Irish-born author's travels from
Dublin to Paris and to Pola, Croatia; Trieste, Italy;
and Zurich, Switzerland -- all cities where he
made his home at some point. It charts also the
fate of two collections of Joyce's manuscripts,
notebooks, private library, correspondence and
family portraits -- one rescued from wartime
Paris, a second procured from Joyce's friend and
publisher, Sylvia Beach -- as they made their way
to an unlikely final destination: Buffalo.

I may be getting a job in Idaho. The prospect
of relocating has caused me to sell some of
my treasures including many of my James Joyce
books. I’m selling them all together as a lot
which you can view here.
I’ll also be putting up my James Joyce Yearbook
for sale (the book that Buddenbooks is selling for
$800). If you are interested in any of these items
you can contact me at :
noseyflynn@digital-crocus.com

"Why Joyce’s Words are for Nora’s Eyes Only" is
the title of an interesting commentary in the
Observer by Stephanie Merritt. There’s an
excerpt below or you can read the entire thing
here.

"...But I do feel instinctive guilt about wanting to
read the erotic letter written by James Joyce to
Nora Barnacle in 1909 and sold last week at
Sotheby's for £240,800.

It's a hypothetical guilt, since I can't read it;
the anonymous buyer is apparently hobbled
by all manner of clauses regarding publication
or disclosure of its contents, established by
Joyce's grandson, Stephen. He holds copyright
to his works and tried to oppose the sale
because, according to Stephen's wife, these
were private letters which 'have no literary or
historical significance'."

Joyce’s love letter to Nora set a record for
autographed letter sales at Sotheby’s. The
letter sold for 240,800 pounds
($447,298 US) to an anonymous telephone
bidder. I’m dying to know who this person
is and what he will do with it. I’d love to
meet him.

Haven’t found results yet for his spectacles
or his singing medal but will post that info
as soon as I have it.

***JOYCE AUCTION ON THURSDAY***

Just one more lotto jackpot to try before the
Sotheby’s auction of several of James Joyce’s
belonging’s. I got my eye on his spectacles,
or his singing medal, my unemployed eye....
I’ve tried prayer and creative visualization
but so far no change in my economic status.

Also for sale, an important love letter from
Joyce to Nora....maybe:

“A report in Sunday's Observer newspaper 
indicates that the sale of the letter may yet
be blocked by the author's grandson Stephen
Joyce and his wife, Solange, who own
copyright over all Joyce's writings.

Solange Joyce said: "We're not pleased, to
say the least. Those letters are strictly
personal and private, and for a member of
the family. They have no literary or historical
significance."
(from RTE Interactive)

Kit Snedaker has an article in Literary Traveler about James Joyce and Trieste, which she claims
was his favorite city.

You can take a virtual walk of Joyce’s Trieste
here.

According to Cairde Na Gaillimhe of the
Galway Advertiser the Nora Barnacle Bridge
is in a sad state of disrepair:

Cairde has accused the Galway City Council
of failing to maintain the Nora Barnacle
Bridge on the riverwalk by the canal near
Bowling Green, where Nora Barnacle, James
Joyce's wife, grew up.

"Part of this bridge was destroyed by vandals
and thrown in the canal where it has been lying
ever since," according to a Cairde spokesperson.
"Since Galway aspires to be known as a city of
culture, we would request the city restore this
monument to one of its most fabled citizens."

The group has also called for the missing
lights along the riverwalk to be immediately
re-installed and maintained.

In the past week I've received four or
five emails from Shakespeare and Co.
in Paris, not one of which I have been
able to read - something about their
attachments makes them unreadable
( or something about my computer).

It's been frustrating but also fun imagining
what these emails might say.

Worst case scenario - They heard we had
an actress portraying Sylvia Beach at our
Bloomsday Celebration and they have
copyright issues a la Stephen Joyce.

Best case scenario - They've heard
about my great track record as a
former Tower Books employee and want
me to move to Paris and work at their
bookstore.

I'd happily accept, though I would be
just as happy working at the Berkeley
S & Co.

Bloomsday is over. A relief. Things went
better than expected. The three professors
were all interesting, the Men's Choir was
a huge success and the Sirens scene, told
in shadow puppets was creative and funny.
And the "musical" Portrait of the Artist,
disarmingly sincere.

After nine years of Bloomsday
Celebrations I think I'm ready for a break
next year. Though the end result was good,
the process this year was even more
frustrating than usual. I think none of us
enjoyed it.

Hearing all the reports of huge crowds
in Dublin, I quickly came to terms with
missing the JJ Conference. And at the end
of the day was glad to rest my head in
my own bed, my own room, my own
town.

Well, well, well, the big day is here. I find
myself thinking about the bookstore man
at Shakespeare & Co in Berkeley who
introduced himself to me one day after he
caught me perusing the Joyce section of the
store. HE'S at Bloomsday in Dublin today.
I'm here in Chico which is expected to reach
102 degrees today. You can see the forecast
for a beautiful day in Dublin in the sidebar
at the right.

A friend of mine who I thought would be at
Bloomsday today can't make it after all and is
stuck in Sacramento tonight, a place which
has some nice qualities though not much in
the way of culture. He writes about the
General Slocum disaster in his blog.

What does one do when there is no Joycean
place to go on June 16th? Pick up The Good
Book itself, read one of your favorite
passages - (page 27 to start:"ugly and futile:
lean neck and tangled hair"), then make an
offering of gratitude or a prayer of thanks.

Have a lovely day.