It took a character in a book to inspire a holiday almost as popular as St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.
Bloomsday is named after Leopold Bloom, a fictional character in the book Ulysses, written by James Joyce. It is celebrated on June 16, the day Joyce went on his first date with Nora Barnacle, who would later become his wife.
D¢nal Denham, consul general of Ireland, made his second visit to New Mexico on Monday to open an exhibit in the SUB about Joyce.
Denham said Joyce is one of the finest writers to come out of Ireland.
The exhibit will be up in the SUB until Oct. 29.
"It happens to be a place I naturally walk a couple times a week," graduate student Erik Erhardt said. "It gives a lot of people natural access to it without being of such high volume that it's distracting to people visiting the exhibit."
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The exhibit's 22 panels offer a biography of Joyce and have images of the writer and Ireland.
"It's nice little snapshots of his upbringing and of his writing," Erhardt said. "I like the visual power of it."
Erhardt has read most of Joyce's books, which Denham said are known to be controversial.
Ulysses, the dominant publication in the exhibit, was banned in the United States between 1920 and 1933. The panels state Joyce felt it was an artist's duty to represent life honestly, even if it meant discussing sexual behavior, bodily function and religious controversy.
But Denham said it was only right to bring the exhibit to the University because of the extensive work UNM Professor of English Mary Power has done with Irish literature.
Power has been teaching Irish literature at UNM since 1967. She has published dozens of articles on Joyce, including "Molly Bloom and Mary Anderson: The Inside Story."
She said the appeal of Ulysses is that many people try to master it, but few do.
The book has 18 episodes, each of which, Power said, has a different style.
Some are newspaper columns with headlines. The last chapter is well known for its explicit sexual content.
Power said she has not mastered the book, but has spent a lot of time on it.
The Irish government is
sponsoring the exhibit. It made its way to UNM from Mexico City and will move onto Salt Lake City, Denver and Phoenix.
"It will give people who see it real images of Dublin, what it was like, and what he (Joyce) is talking about," Power said.
The exhibit goes with a lecture series presented by UNM faculty members beginning Thursday.
