Eire odyssey

I've read it and read it. I've seen the fil-lum. And I still don't know what it's about,” the venerable Dublin woman told Irish TV news.

- Jane Clifton

As unpromising a review as this sounds, the enduring incomprehension that many - possibly most - readers experience attempting James Joyce's Ulysses has done the novelist’s legacy no harm. Quite the contrary, as every year the book is commemorated exhaustively, and not just in Ireland.

Performative Joyceanism almost certainly predates Jane Austen-mania, first being launched as Bloomsday in 1954, generating decades of spin-off events and dressing up.

The June 16 anniversary of protagonist Leopold Bloom's opaquely eventful walk through Dublin long ago stretched to Bloomsweek, which takes more like 10 days. People routinely dress in starched 1904 costume, at the least donning a flowery hat or straw boater to show respect. They attend readings, lectures, plays; artistic, musical and even running tributes; and follow Bloom’s route - many features of which still exist, though the Confectioners’ Hall is now a Footlocker. Dublin alone ran 130 official events this year, but every district and town has its own programme.