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WonderLiterary fact

James Joyce's novel Ulysses, published in 1922, takes place in Dublin on a single day, 16 June 1904. It follows the advertising salesman Leopold Bloom and the young teacher and would-be writer Stephen Dedalus from morning into the small hours, in episodes loosely modelled on Homer's Odyssey.

Dublin, 16 June 1904

Literature

The story behind the card

Joyce chose the date because it was the day of his first outing with Nora Barnacle, who later became his wife. The novel has 18 episodes, each echoing part of the Odyssey: Bloom is a modern Odysseus, Stephen plays Telemachus and Bloom's wife Molly is Penelope. Joyce changes style from chapter to chapter, including long passages of stream of consciousness, which follows a character's thoughts as they come rather than in tidy sentences. Parts appeared in the American magazine The Little Review from 1918 to 1920, until an obscenity case in 1921. Sylvia Beach's Paris bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, published the whole book on 2 February 1922, Joyce's 40th birthday; in the United States it stayed banned until a court ruling in 1933. Since 1954 readers have celebrated 16 June as Bloomsday, retracing the characters' routes through Dublin.

Türkçe oku
James Joyce'un 1922'de yayımlanan romanı Ulysses, Dublin'de tek bir günde, 16 Haziran 1904'te geçer. Roman, gazetelere ilan toplayan Leopold Bloom'u ve yazar olmaya heveslenen genç öğretmen Stephen Dedalus'u sabahtan gece yarısını geçen saatlere dek izler; bölümleri de kabaca Homeros'un Odysseia'sını örnek alır.
Dublin, 16 Haziran 1904

Joyce bu tarihi, sonradan eşi olacak Nora Barnacle'la ilk kez buluşup gezdiği gün olduğu için seçti. Roman 18 bölümden oluşur ve her bölüm Odysseia'dan bir bölüme karşılık gelir: Bloom modern bir Odysseus'tur, Stephen Telemakhos'u, Bloom'un karısı Molly de Penelope'yi karşılar. Joyce anlatım biçimini bölümden bölüme değiştirir; kimi uzun bölümler, karakterin düşüncelerini derli toplu cümlelere dökmeden, akla geldiği gibi aktaran bilinç akışı tekniğiyle yazılmıştır. Romanın parçaları 1918-1920 arasında Amerikan dergisi The Little Review'da yayımlandı; 1921'de açılan bir müstehcenlik davası bu yayını durdurdu. Kitabın tamamını 2 Şubat 1922'de, Joyce'un 40. doğum gününde, Sylvia Beach'in Paris'teki kitabevi Shakespeare and Company bastı; ABD'de ise 1933'teki bir mahkeme kararına kadar yasaklı kaldı. Okurlar 1954'ten beri 16 Haziran'ı Bloomsday olarak kutluyor ve karakterlerin Dublin'deki yollarını yeniden yürüyor. Türkçeye Nevzat Erkmen çevirdi; kitap 1996'da Yapı Kredi Yayınları'ndan çıktı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Ulysses (novel)
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