#OTD in 1904 – Bloomsday | On this date, James Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle; ultimately, it became the date on which everything takes place in his masterpiece, Ulysses.

Today is Bloomsday when Leopold Bloom, the main character in James Joyce’s Ulysses takes a long rambling walk around Dublin. Joyce picked this date as it commemorates his first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle. Precocious as a writer, Joyce was also precocious sociologically. He had his first sexual experience at the age of […]

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#OTD in Irish History | 16 June:

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St. Colman McRoi, a sixth-century abbot in Dublin. Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 […]

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#OTD in 1904 – James Joyce meets the love of his life, Nora Barnacle.

Nora Barnacle was born in the city of Galway, but the day of her birth is uncertain. Depending on the source, it varies between 21 and 24 March 1884. Her birth certificate, which gives her first name as “Norah,” is dated 21 March. Her father Thomas Barnacle, a baker in Connemara, was an illiterate man […]

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#OTD in 1883 – Execution of Joe Brady for the murder of Lord Cavendish in Phoenix Park.

Brady was one of the Invincibles – a Fenian splinter group – that murdered the Chief Secretary of Ireland on his first day in the country. Four others were executed for the murders. Brady by all accounts was a mountain of a man. The Times wrote after his execution. “He was brought up as a […]

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#OTD in 1882 – Birth of novelist, short story writer, and poet, James Joyce, in Dublin.

Born in Dublin, James Joyce, contributed to the modernist avant-garde and is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century. James Joyce published ‘Portrait of the Artist’ in 1916 and caught the attention of Ezra Pound. With ‘Ulysses,’ Joyce perfected his stream-of-consciousness style and became a literary celebrity. The […]

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#OTD in 1941 – James Joyce, considered by many to be one of the most important modern authors in English because of his revolutionary approach to the novel, dies in Zurich.

When I die Dublin will be written in my heart. –James Joyce James Joyce published ‘Portrait of the Artist’ in 1916 and caught the attention of Ezra Pound. With ‘Ulysses,’ Joyce perfected his stream-of-consciousness style and became a literary celebrity. The explicit content of his prose brought about landmark legal decisions on obscenity. Joyce’s relationship […]

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#OTD in 1904 – Bloomsday | On this date, James Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle; ultimately, it became the date on which everything takes place in his masterpiece, Ulysses.

Today is Bloomsday when Leopold Bloom, the main character in James Joyce’s Ulysses takes a long rambling walk around Dublin. Joyce picked this date as it commemorates his first date with his future wife, Nora Barnacle. Precocious as a writer, Joyce was also precocious sociologically. He had his first sexual experience at the age of […]

Read More

#OTD in Irish History | 16 June:

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast day of St. Colman McRoi, a sixth-century abbot in Dublin. Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce during which the events of his novel Ulysses (which is set on 16 June 1904) are relived. It is observed annually on 16 […]

Read More

#OTD in 1904 – James Joyce meets the love of his life, Nora Barnacle.

Nora Barnacle was born in the city of Galway, but the day of her birth is uncertain. Depending on the source, it varies between 21 and 24 March 1884. Her birth certificate, which gives her first name as “Norah,” is dated 21 March. Her father Thomas Barnacle, a baker in Connemara, was an illiterate man […]

Read More

#OTD in 1883 – Execution of Joe Brady for the murder of Lord Cavendish in Phoenix Park.

Brady was one of the Invincibles – a Fenian splinter group – that murdered the Chief Secretary of Ireland on his first day in the country. Four others were executed for the murders. Brady by all accounts was a mountain of a man. The Times wrote after his execution. “He was brought up as a […]

Read More