Sunday, June 16, 2013

Bloomsday: The Dublin of James Joyce

Happy Bloomsday!

Today I am in London, England, and not in my beloved Dublin; however, my Edwardian döppelganger is standing in for me, dressed in her best, and ready to celebrate all things Joycean on this Bloomsday.

Bloomsday is the day on which the life of Irish writer James Joyce is celebrated. It is annually observed on 16 June, the date on which the events of his masterwork Ulysses take place. It is said Joyce chose this date for the novel because it is the date on which he enjoyed his first outing with Nora Barnacle, the woman who would become his wife. On that date, the couple enjoyed a pleasant walk to Ringsend, Dublin.

The name of this day of celebration, coined in 1954, is derived from the surname of the principal figure in the novel, Leopold Bloom. The 'action' of the novel takes place over the course of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom.

In addition to pub crawls and other gatherings of celebration, one of the principal activities of the day is a tracing of events which took place in Joyce's extraordinary novel, Ulysses. All over Dublin, and other places around the world as well, groups of people will gather together to read aloud from Ulysses. In New York City, revellers will traipse through Bryant Park, wearing period costumes, carrying parasols, and all delighting in everything Joycean.

In St. Stephen's Green is a bust honouring Joyce.
The quotation, "Crossing Stephen's, that is, my green",  is from his
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
I first encountered the work of James Joyce as an undergraduate reading for an honours Bachelor's degree in English Literature. The first work of Joyce's I read was his book of short stories entitled Dubliners, his novel Ulysses was the second. To be perfectly honest, I was not in love with the text when I first began to work my way through it, but I did feel tremendous pride at the fact that this unusual and challenging novel was written by an Irish born writer. Although it is a work of fiction, within its pages there are many historical figures mentioned, as well as many places from all around Dublin City, and places further afield.

When I began to research my Irish family history, I was surprised to learn that my family is connected to James Joyce, not by blood mind you, but by friendship. Thomas Michael Kettle, a first cousin in my maternal line about whom I have previously written, attended university with James Joyce at the Royal University of Ireland (now called University College Dublin, UCD). Kettle was part of Joyce's group of intimates, which included Kettle's future brother-in-law Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, and the poet and memoirist Oliver St. John Gogarty. How I would love to have been a fly on the wall at one of their gatherings. The family of Mary Sheehy, Tom Kettle's wife, is mentioned in the novel, when Rev. John Conmee greets Mary's mother, Mrs. Sheehy in the street, and asks about Mary's father, M.P. David Sheehy:

He walked by the treeshade of sunnywinking leaves and towards him came the wife of Mr. David Sheehy M. P.
— Very well, indeed, father. And you father?...
Father Conmee was very glad to see the wife of Mr. David Sheehy M. P. looking so well and he begged to be remembered to Mr. David Sheehy M. P. Yes, he would certainly call. 
— Good afternoon, Mrs Sheehy.  (p.180*)

Also, on page 241 of the novel, mention is made of Michael Geraghty, Esquire, of 29 Arbour Hill, Stoneybatter. Since my father, Michael Geraghty, was born in the Arbour Hill area of Stoneybatter, I can always claim a family connection to a fictional character.

As I mentioned, on the pages of the novel Joyce makes reference to numerous places in and around Dublin City. In celebration of Bloomsday, and James Joyce, here are photographs of a few of my favourites along with some of the lines in which they are mentioned in the novel. Click on the images to view larger versions.

Hodges Figgis Bookstore, established 1763.
"What she? The virgin at Hodges Figgis' window on Monday looking in for
one of the alphabet books you were going to write. Keen glance you gave her." (p.40)
Left: Sweny's Chemist; Right: The Hughenot Cemetery.
“Where is this? Ah yes, the last time. Sweny's in Lincoln place. Chemists rarely move.
Their green and gold beaconjars too heavy to stir. Hamilton Long's, founded in the year
of the flood. Huguenot churchyard near there. Visit some day.” (p.68)
Daniel O'Connell: 'The Great Liberator'
“They passed under the hugecloaked Liberator's form.” (p.77)
Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin.
"Do they know what they cart out here every day? Must be twenty or thirty funerals
every day. Then Mount Jerome for the protestants. Funerals all over the world
everywhere every minute." (p.83)
"As he set foot on O'Connell bridge a puffball of smoke plumed up from the parapet.
Brewery barge with export stout." (p.125)
Trinity College.
“Two carfuls of tourists passed slowly, their women sitting fore, gripping the handrests.
Palefaces. Men's arms frankly round their stunted forms. They looked from Trinity to the
blind columned porch of the bank of Ireland where pigeons roocoocooed.” (p.188)
The Bank of Ireland building. (see quote above)
Merchant's Arch.
“They went up the steps and under Merchants' arch.
A dark-backed figure scanned books on the hawker's cart.” (p.192)
“Let me see. Is he buried in saint Michan's?
Or no, there was a midnight burial in Glasnevin.” (p.197)
Prospect Cemetery at Glasnevin, popularly known as Glasnevin.
(see quotation above)
Finn's Hotel, in which James Joyce's wife Nora Barnacle once worked as a chambermaid.
“Striding past Finn's hotel, Cashel Boyle O'Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell
stared through a fierce eyeglass...” (p.209)

*Note: the pagination made mention of for each of the quotes from the novel are from Ulysses by James Joyce, The Gabler edition, First Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1986. Also, the quotations appear exactly as they do in the text, some with little or no punctuation.

Click on photographs to view larger versions.
Copyright©irisheyesjg2013. All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Sepia Saturday #181: Bejewelled

When I viewed the inspiration image for this Sepia Saturday, I thought about those images which feature members of my family wearing jewellery, then I began to consider what it means to say something or someone is bejewelled. The Oxford English Dictionary defines bejewelled as follows:

Bejewelled:
adjective: adorned with or as if adorned with jewels.
verb: to adorn with or as if to adorn with jewels.

"As if adorned with jewels" is the part of the definition which sparked my imagination, and led me to think about some of the beautiful stained glass windows I have photographed in Ireland over the years. The colours which are often used in stained glass windows are what we might think of as jewel-toned, and when you see an array of beautiful windows in a church they certainly appear to be 'bejewelled' precious treasures.

So...for this Sepia Saturday, as my interpretation of bejewelled, I have chosen a few of my favourite stained glass windows found in churches around Ireland.

Be sure to stop by Alan and Kat's blog Sepia Saturday to see how others have been inspired by the theme, and perhaps you will be inspired too.

St. Patrick in stained glass from three different churches,
one each in Mayo, Dublin, and Mayo.
Left to right windows from Mayo, Dublin, and Mayo.
The Rosetta Window of St. Mary's Church, Westport, County Mayo.
A triad of windows dedicated by his children to the 1st Earl of Iveagh.
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
Another triad in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
A triad, with floating windows above, in The Black Abbey, County Kilkenny.
My favourite 'bejewelled' window in St. Patrick's Church Ringsend, Dublin,
the church in which my parents were married in 1954.

Copyright©irisheyesjg2013.
Click on images to view larger versions.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday: The Admiral and the Death Coach


In Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin City, this extraordinary and intricately carved tombstone stands over the grave of Admiral Burton MacNamara and his wife Jane, Lady MacNamara. The heavily shrouded and perfectly crafted mooring post is replete with rope and an anchor.

The stone reads:

In Memory Of
ADMIRAL
SIR BURTON MACNAMARA
Of Tromoro Co. Clare
Who Died 12th Decr. 1876
In his 83rd year

Also of
JANE, LADY MACNAMARA
His Wife
Who Died 16th APRIL 1875

A rather curious story surrounds the death of Admiral Burton MacNamara. In Westropp’s Folklore Survey of County Clare, 1913, the following is recorded:

"On the night of December 11th, 1876, a servant of the MacNamaras was going his rounds at Ennistymon [the family home], a beautiful spot in a wooded glen, with a broad stream falling in a series of cascades. In the dark he heard the rumbling of wheels on the back avenue, and, knowing from the hour and place that no ‘mortal vehicle’ could be coming, concluded that it was the death coach and ran on, opening the gates before it. He had just time to open the third gate and throw himself on his face beside it, at the bank, before he ‘heard a coach go clanking past.’ It did not stop at the house, but passed on, and the sound died away. On the following day Admiral Sir Burton MacNamara suddenly died in London."

In Irish folklore of the 19th century, the appearance of the cóiste bodhar — The Death Coach — is a harbinger of sudden death. Manifestations of these death coaches have been described as black as night, and either highly stylized or very plain. They are said to be drawn by a team of ebony stallions without a driver on board to command their pace, or else driven by a headless coachman brandishing a huge whip to coax a gallop of breakneck speed. This ghostly vehicle, which appears only as a nighttime phenomenon, has been typically observed speeding toward, and then passing by, the residence of a person who is about to die.

Did a death coach serve as a harbinger of Admiral MacNamara's demise? Was it simply a coincidence that a speeding coach passed the MacNamara residence in the dead of night on the eve of the Master's death? One also has to wonder if the appearance of this omen of death was perhaps the result of the overactive imagination of a devoted servant.




Copyright©irisheyesjg2008-2013.
Click on images to view larger versions.


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