Join us in the Rosenbach’s historic Library as we look at Joyce’s celebrated novel to uncover the impact of ancient epic poetry on the structure of Ulysses. We will then engage in a close examination of a brief section of the novel to learn how Joyce reconstructs ancient poetic wordplay in a tour-de-force of erudition, competition, and Modernist innovation.

The Rosenbach's verdant urban hideaway (our backyard garden) connects us to the grottoes of antiquity that influenced French and Italian gardens, fine art, and design after the discoveries of the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea in the 1480s and Pompeii in 1599. These artifact-filled European gardens provided refuge from summer heat and the possibility of transformative encounters, both human and divine. In this program, we will discover the ancient myths found in the Rosenbach's garden sculptures and connect them to the literature inside our building that present and reinterpret ancient themes, including works by Homer, Sappho, Catullus, Shakespeare, Wheatley, and Joyce.