On 8 April 1848 Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti died. Donizetti (1797-1848) was one of the great composers of bel canto opera. Among his best-known works are L’Elisir d’amore (1832), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), and Lucrezia Borgia (1833), all of which are referred to in Joyce’s works. Born in Bergamo, Donizetti came to international attention […]
Tag archives: Sirens
On this day…22 February
On 22 February 1917 an anonymous patron offered Joyce a gift of £200. The offer came in a letter from Slack, Monro, Saw & Co., a firm of solicitors in London. Writing on behalf of a client who wished to remain anonymous, they informed Joyce that they had been instructed to send him a cheque […]
Guest Blog: Fathers of Western Thought
Fathers of Western Thought continue their guest blog for the James Joyce Centre, with songs and lyrics based on Ulysses. These songs are based on Wandering Rocks, Sirens and Cyclops, the tenth, eleventh and twelfth episode. Modernism Modernism (Wandering Rocks) by FathersOfWesternThoughtJJ Instrumental All Is Lost, Now All Is Lost, Now (Sirens) by FathersOfWesternThoughtJJ Lyrics […]
Leopold Bloom
The everyman hero of Ulysses, Joyce’s reworking of Odysseus. Bloom is 38 years old, Hungarian Jewish from his father (Rudolf Virag) and Irish Catholic from his mother (Ellen Higgins). He currently works as an ad canvasser for the newspaper The Freeman’s Journal, but he’s had other odd jobs throughout his life. He spends the day […]