Literary road trip of 18 European cities to celebrate James Joyce

In 2022, the centenary of James Joyce's Ulysses, 2 arts festival curators acceptable retired connected an odyssey crossed Europe.

Their purpose was to beryllium that Joyce's masterpiece is much than the large Irish caller - that it is quintessentially European.

Seán Doran and Liam Browne are celebrating Ulysses implicit 2 years and crossed 18 cities.

The novel, published connected 2 February 1922, is acceptable connected a azygous time successful Dublin and mirrors Homer's Odyssey.

Doran and Browne wanted a solemnisation of Joyce's caller that stretches acold beyond Ireland's shores.

Ulysses: A European Odyssey (UEO) is simply a solemnisation that zigzags crossed Europe, stitching unneurotic communities and ideas; creation and lived experience.

The men, some from Londonderry successful Northern Ireland, are known arsenic Arts Over Borders.

They made their sanction arsenic arts festival curators nether the sanction DoranBrowne.

They created the Happy Days Enniskillen International Becket Festival; Lughnasa Friel Fest and A Wilde Weekend.

But with UEO, their ambition took flight.

"Joyce was the quintessential European," said Liam.

"Most of his big beingness was spent successful mainland Europe.

"Trieste - erstwhile helium was determination - would person been a melting cookware of nationalities.

"Dublin was the metropolis of his imagination, but the carnal places wherever helium was eating and sleeping were European cities."

Joyce's listing of Trieste, Zurich and Paris astatine the extremity of Ulysses was precise deliberate, helium said.

The men secured €1.72m (£1.48m) successful EU backing for the €3m (£2.58m) task done Creative Europe, the European Commission's flagship civilization programme.

When they met prospective partners for their project, it was wide that galore viewed Ulysses arsenic European too.

Each metropolis celebrates 1 of the 18 episodes successful Ulysses mirroring the Odyssey.

It was fitting that the task launched successful Greece successful September 2022, with an Irish twist.

Sing To Us O Muse featured Irish instrumentalist Liam Ó Maonlaí and Greek vocalist Chrysoula Kechiagioglou.

They sang successful Greek and Irish astatine sunrise successful show of the Acropolis.

The archetypal task brought unneurotic Palestinian and Syrian refugees, artists, scholars and a civilian technologist to speech astir the Joycean themes of migration, memory, histories and governmental and municipality landscapes.

In October, the spotlight switched to Marseille for a show astir migration and integration, staged successful a metropolis that has sheltered 100,000 immigrants.

No substance that immoderate of those taking portion crossed Europe person not work Ulysses.

"Joyce saw it arsenic a caller for each antheral and woman," said Liam.

"He was not penning for academics. There is simply a batch of humour and quality warmth successful the book.

"A batch of our partners had not work it, but they are going and speechmaking it now."

Each metropolis has a circumstantial Joycean taxable - from migration to intelligence wellbeing, from sex state to the conception of location and connected to the pistillate imaginativeness successful Molly Bloom's soliloquy - and each ringing existent successful the 21st century.

These are modern themes contempt the clip gap, helium pointed out.

The organisers said it was important that radical who bash not usually prosecute with the arts would beryllium welcomed.

This is not an "arts-only" project.

Public spaces had to person a relation arsenic they bash successful Ulysses - a library, a hospital, a school, a cemetery and the precise metropolis streets.

"Joyce believed that engaging with the metropolis is simply a signifier of civilising you... you alteration and enrich yourself arsenic a person," said Liam.

"Each metropolis has a nationalist lawsuit successful a nationalist space."

All of the organisers met for the archetypal clip successful Trieste successful October. Before that, due to the fact that of the pandemic, they met connected Zoom.

That carnal gathering was some "extraordinary and joyous", said Liam, determination was "a fantastic consciousness of togetherness".

Next year, the Joycean travel gathers pace.

The cities that diagnostic successful the task see Dublin, Derry, Zurich, Trieste and Paris arsenic good arsenic Vilnius, Budapest, Marseille, Berlin, San Sebastian, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Cluj, Zurich, Groningen, Eleusis, Oulu and Lisbon.

There volition beryllium events to inspire, questions gathered astir the aboriginal of the arts successful Europe and opportunities for artists to travel.

In 2024, the travel volition gully to a adjacent successful Ireland - successful Joyce's autochthonal Dublin and, ultimately, Seán Doran and Liam Browne's location metropolis of Derry.

The prime of the second is ironic, fixed that, post-Brexit, Northern Ireland is nary longer successful the European Union.

But the men built an statement with their funders.

"Joyce's caller ends with the celebrated Molly Bloom soliloquy," said Liam.

"Derry is simply a pistillate city. Remember the garment factories? It was the women who were the breadstuff earners - the men were unemployed.

"The powerfulness has lain with the women."

The words Molly Bloom utters, her "yes," echo down the years successful his autochthonal city.

"In Derry, radical greet each different by saying 'yes', helium pointed out.

"It was large that Creative Europe saw that and accepted it."