Joyce To The World

Robert Gogan 21MAY19

t’s one of the most revered books in the world, and yet, it’s probably one of the most unfinished too.

Like so much of the world’s population, GG has had a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses gathering dust upon a bookshelf for decades now, with only the first few pages gaining any signs of wear and tear.

So, what is it about this 1922 creation that just keeps enthralling generation after generation; this Mount Everest of literature loved, cherished and obeyed by those who have conquered it, and simply admired and feared, from across the room, by all those who haven’t…?

Well, that’s what Robert Gogan’s Strolling Through Ulysses sets out to reveal, this comic romp highlighting Joyce’s wicked humour whilst also proving to be far more than just a literary love letter with laughs.

A fan of the book since his teens, Gogan went so far as to publish his own remastered version of Ulysses in 2012, keeping all of Joyce’s text but going to the trouble of adding some merciful punctuation – and even italics for inner monologues – so as to give the reader a paddle or two as they hurtle down Joyce’s rambling streams of consciousness.

And it’s a journey worth taking for us proud natives, given that Ulysses actually contains a reference to our town, as heroine Molly becomes a star. ‘Got big then. Had to refuse the Greystones concert. My son insider her. I could have helped him on in life. I could. Make him independent. Learn German too.‘

As Strolling Through Ulysses returns to The Whale on Friday, February 4th, we caught up with Robert right where Joyce’s novel begins, at the Martello tower in Sandycove – now a fine, and free, museum dedicated to the great writer…

You can find out more about Strolling Through Ulysses here, and grab your tickets for February 4th here.