Bloomsday celebration in Croatia
News
17 June 2022
Pula was the first city James Joyce and Nora Barnacle lived in after leaving Ireland in 1904. He worked as an English teacher and his students were mostly cadets of the Austro-Hungarian navy. While his stay was only a few months long, the city has in recent years sought to emphasise the connection.
On June 17, Pula held its first Bloomsday since 2019. This year’s festival was prepared by the Pula Tourist Board, with some support from the former organisers and the Embassy. The Embassy organised to have the Department’s Joyce documentary shown the evening before on the regional television station.
The day itself began with a performance of Joyce‘s childrens story ‘The Cat and the Devil’ by a local drama group. This was followed by readings from Ulysses in many different languages over several hours by the Mayor, cultural representatives from the city, and students of the University of Pula. Ambassador Dowling also did a reading.
There followed a lecture at the city library by a distinguished emeritus Professor of English from the University of Zagreb on the importance of Joyce. That evening, Ambassador Dowling launched the exhibition ‘Ireland in 10 words’ at the city library, speaking on Joyce and the importance of language in Ireland.
A film was shown as part of the festival, while that evening there was Irish music in the main square. Throughout the day, Joyce was celebrated in the bars and cafes of the city.
Ambassador Dowling also hosted a Bloomsday reception on 14 June in Zagreb to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ulysses publication. Guests included the Irish community, the diplomatic corps, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and cultural contacts. After a speech by Ambassador Dowling, there were readings by students from the English Department of the University of Zagreb, Mihael Željko Crnčec and Lucija Relić, and Irish community member John Hamill. Guests were entertained throughout the reception by music from Patrick Walker and Hrvoje Sudar. As a farewell gift guests were given Ukrainian honey, a reference to the theme of bees running throughout Joyce's works including Ulysses.