Group Studies Mysteries
of James Joyce's Ulysses
By MARIE BRUCE
W. VANCOUVER - The West Vancouver Library had posted a small sign on its notice board announcing the start of a bi-weekly reading of James Joyce's Ulysses. As I was leaving the library, I spotted the notice and decided to attend the first session.
I was quite surprised to see a large group of over a dozen people with a keen interest and willingness to delve into the mysteries of Joyce and Ulysses. We now meet on alternate Tuesday mornings in the library.
Our retired professor - Joe Ronsley - reads to us and then patiently explains line by line the meaning behind those words. We each have our own copy of Ulysses and follow along with great enjoyment.
James Joyce's world unfolds and the Dublin streets come to life. I lived in Dublin in the early Sixties and vaguely remember those streets, pubs and businesses - some things don't change.
Life is full of surprises and I doubt any of us in the group ever thought we would have the opportunity to read and listen to the immensely difficult Ulysses in such delightful company. With the help of Professor Ronsley all the references and names are explained so the mysteries of Ulysses and Leopold Bloom are no longer so intimidating.
As an Irish woman I am really enjoying the book but I think nostalgia for Dublin and the familiarity of Irish names and place have really added to my experience. No one in the group would willingly miss a session and if anyone cannot come, we even tape the chapter to listen to at home.
It may take over a year for this journey into Ulysses, but we have marked our calendars and booked the room so there is no going back now until we reach the end of the book.
Joe Ronsley is a former Professor of English literature at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he taught early Twentieth Century English, American, and Irish literature - mostly Irish. He has written mainly on Yeats, Joyce, and the Irish playwright Denis Johnston.
He is a former President of the Canadian Association for Irish Studies, and former Vice- President for North America of the International Association for Study of Anglo-Irish Literature. While his primary activity at present involves horticulture and gardens, he is a former President of the Vancouver Rhododendron Society (to which he will lecture on his own woodland garden in March). He is now the current President of the Rhododendron Species Foundation, headquartered near Seattle.
He has recently chaired sessions in poetry under the auspices of The Philosophers' Café and next fall will teach a non-credit course to seniors on Yeats at Simon Fraser, in addition to the current sessions on Ulysses.
|
