From Athens to Dublin, Europe celebrates 100 years of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ with a traveling festival

One hundred years after the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses, a major work of world literature, a multidisciplinary arts festival has embarked on an odyssey in 18 European cities around the themes of the Irish writer’s book, which are still relevant today. From Athens to Dublin, via Budapest, San Sebastian (Spain) or Marseille, actors, directors, stage directors, writers, photographers, musicians and even gastronomy specialists offer creations, performances and debates around Ulysses.

Published in Paris in February 1922, the novel by James Joyce (1882-1941) recounts the wanderings of Leopold Bloom, an ordinary Irishman whose adventures recall those of the hero of Homer’s Odyssey on his return from Troy, but in Dublin .

The centenary of this work, considered one of the most important in English literature, was celebrated this year with enthusiasm in Ireland. “What interested us was Joyce as a European figure more than Irish”explains to AFP Liam Browne, one of the artistic curators ofUlysses, a European odysseyartistic project which has obtained more than 1.7 million euros from the Creative Europe program of the European Commission for a total budget of three million euros.

“In his imagination, James Joyce interacts with Dublin to write his novels, but in fact his daily life took place in European cities, in connection with other artists”, he continues on the sidelines of one of the performances of the project in Marseille. Cramped in his native Ireland where conservative Catholicism dominates, James Joyce lives in Paris, where he meets Valery Larbaud, the poet TS Eliot, in Trieste (Italy) Zurich where he is buried.

To celebrate one hundred years ofUlyssesLiam Browne and his sidekick Sean Doran from Arts over Borders (Ireland), associated with the Dutch producer Claudia Woolgar from Brave New World have therefore imagined soliciting artists in 18 European cities to create performances “committed to society and social issues”.

“We didn’t just want a celebration of a novel that’s 100 years old because we think Ulysses is still relevant today given the topics covered in the novel.“, conservatism, exile, nationalism, place of women…, continues Liam Browne. In Marseille, Saturday October 1, the Irish and British artists Gethan and Myles, associated with the Marseille theater collective ildi!Eldi, thus put on the show We All Fall / Story on migration and exile, two themes intimately linked to Joyce.

The event took place at the Jeanne Barret workshops, installed in a former 19th century warehouse transformed into an artistic center and a place of reception for the inhabitants of the popular district of Les Crottes in the north of Marseille. Actors, migrants and spectators took part together in a show recalling the crossings of the Mediterranean where thousands of men and women try to reach Europe fleeing persecution or poverty. Thousands die, others arrive safely and must then write a story to try to obtain asylum…

Arriving in Marseille from Afghanistan, Sudan, Algeria, Guinea or Syria, several exiles who are learning French and rebuilding their lives in France have taken part in this creation. “It seemed impossible to us to talk about them without them being actors in this show”, points out Sophie Cattani, co-founder of ildi!Eldi. The project continues across Europe until June 2024. The odyssey will end in Ireland, in the south in Dublin, then in the north in Derry where women artists from the 18 participating European cities will come.