June 16, 1904: Bloomsday

On this day in 1904, James Joyce went out for the first time with his future wife, Nora Barnacle – a calendrical date he would later use for the setting of his novel Ulysses.

Ulysses is modeled on Homer’s Odyssey, but takes place in a single day. Each year, Joyce lovers reenact Leopold Bloom‘s journey through Dublin, and stage readings of the work around the world. It was published as a serial in a magazine called The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920.

Made into a book in 1922, the tome was considered “smut” in the United States and therefore banned until 1933, when the ruling in United States v. One Book Called Ulysses found that coarse language is only obscene when it refers to lust.

Joyce hated Dublin, and moved with Nora to the Continent soon after meeting her.

For more on Bloomsday, visit The Paris Review.

Image: unknown, via Irish Central