2020 ULYSSES IN PLAGUETIME

A Film Festival in 18 Episodes, 16 June 2020

War was not the only global catastrophe that is part of the background and the rich texture of Ulysses: Joyce was in Zurich and Trieste during the worst of the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918-9, and he narrowly dodged it, perhaps because he was unwittingly socially distancing, by writing and publishing serially some of the most thrilling episodes in the novel. It is a small footnote to history that Joyce biographers seem not to have noticed.

Locked out of theatres in 2020, Bloomsday and its talented theatre director turned their hands to film and social media, and revelled in both this distilled evocation of the novel and the opportunity to play with the new media, in ways we think Joyce would have relished.

THE FILM FESTIVAL

18 (short) films, a hectic-slam version of Ulysses in under 90 minutes. Viewers experience the rollercoaster of an extraordinary and simultaneously ordinary day on Thursday 16 June 1904, a gamechanger, in company with Poldy, Stephen and Molly (and a few more – remember, we were socially distancing, even actors). The films were originally seen according to Joyce's timetable on 16 June. VIEW FILMS HERE.

THE SEMINAR

Hosted by Philip Harvey (assisted by the scripting team of Ulysses in Plaguetime) on Facebook, over 400 participants contributed to an all-day discussion as the films were released. This was the most democratic seminar in the history of Bloomsday in Melbourne. Some of the topics canvassed are reflected on by the host in Analecta.

THE BLOG

For those seeking more about the films and the novel, there's a film-by-film discussion of the constraints and opportunities that the medium of the very short film provided, and an indication of what more is on offer in the novel. Take me to the blog.