“When I die Dublin will be written in my heart,” James Joyce proclaimed of his homeland. Ireland has inspired storytellers for centuries, and the Rosenbach is home to an incredible collection of this work. In this program we’ll explore a wide array of holdings, including Bram Stoker’s handwritten notes for his gothic classic Dracula, correspondence from the iconic and incomparable Oscar Wilde, and one of our most famous holdings, Joyce’s manuscript of his Modernist masterpiece Ulysses. The influence of these authors continues far beyond its time and far beyond Ireland’s rugged shores.  

This immersive weekly course will help readers explore (and enjoy) the intricacies, enigmas, and hilarities of Ulysses. First-time readers of the novel will find many resources for understanding this challenging work. For those returning to the novel, this will be a great way to delve into a book whose depths never seem to end.

James Joyce was one of the 20th century’s most complex, influential, paradoxical, irreverent, domineering, problematic, and rewarding writers; Ulysses (pub. 1922) is, if not Joyce’s most difficult work, certainly his most beloved and consequential one. This reading group aims to acquaint first-time readers with Ulysses and to give those already familiar with the novel the opportunity to deepen their engagement with it.