...Welcome (light and bright air entered)

or Bloomsday 2012 (what is that?)

After teaching James Joyce's "Araby" this past semester, my respect for his work was rekindled. I reread a lot of his collection (Dubliners) just for the "fun" of it and even went back to read my favorite episode from Ulysses. 

Page from the manuscript of Ulysses (facsimile) (Source: Ulysses.html)

Note: I have not read all of Ulysses. I can only handle it in small spurts, and if you know Joyce's work -- you know what I mean. (There's a pun in there somewhere too.)

I happened upon the LiberateUlysses website and decided to help celebrate by tweeting sections from Penelope (the last episode of Ulysses, my aforementioned favorite). I expected to have 24 tweets (in honor of the 24 hours the novel covers), but only ended up with 16 text tweets (and one photo tweet).

Nevertheless, it was fun and inspirational. And after I put together my entire twitter feed, I came up with an interesting interpretation of Joyce's work. Read it for yourself:

"...there's nothing like a kiss long and hot down to your soul, almost paralyses you... ...I wish somebody would write me a love-letter, his wasn’t much and I told him he could write what he liked... ...I love flowers, I'd love to have the whole place swimming in roses... God of heaven, there's nothing like nature -- the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing...  I'll read and study all I can find or learn a bit off by heart...so he won't think me stupid... ...[W]hy can’t you kiss a man without going and marrying him first you sometimes love to wildly (when you feel that way)... ...I wonder is he awake thinking of me or dreaming (am I in it)...  ...[H]e said...the sun shines for you today, yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt what a woman is... ...my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath, yes he said was a flower of the mountain yes so we are flowers...  [T]hat would do your heart good: to see rivers and lakes and flowers--all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up...  ...O that awful deepdown torrent O and the sea: the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees... ...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls... ...I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another...  ...I asked him with my eyes to ask again, yes and then he asked me would I? [Y]es to say yes, my mountain flower...  ...I put my arms around him, yes, and drew him down to me...[Y]es and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."

Of course, I added the punctuation because (famously) the entire section is missing punctuation except for the last sentence -- it does end with a period. 

I'm satisfied with my Joycean endeavors this day. Yes.

~~J