This year marks the100th anniversary of Bloom, a character in Ulysses, a masterpiece by Irish writer James Joyce, wandering the streets of Dublin. Australia, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and the United States are celebrating Bloom Day (June 16). What are the charms of Ulysses and Bloom? I'm going to Ireland for an interview to find out.

Two meals and four lines.

Bloom Day is celebrated in Ireland from April 1 day to August 3 1 day. When I arrived in Dublin, Bloom Day had just passed, but the celebration was still going on.

According to the description in the novel Ulysses,1June, 904, a middle-aged Leopold Bloom and a young Stephen DeDallas (the incarnation of Joyce) wandered around Dublin. Accordingly, on June 16, Dublin Tourism Department designed four hiking routes for "Ulysses fans" from all over the world, which can cover the main story involved in the book.

According to Ulysses, Bloom was a Hungarian Jew who made a living by advertising newspapers. He likes to eat animal offal. /kloc-On the morning of June, 0/6, Bloom bought a pair of sheep kidneys. When he returned to his home at No.7 Ayers Street, he smoked a lamb kidney and enjoyed the smell of shame. The novel's vivid description of Bloom's roast lamb kidney has become the best advertisement to attract thousands of people to Dublin to taste delicious food today. Now, No.7 Ayers Street no longer exists, and countless small restaurants on O'Connell Street, the busiest street in Dublin, have become big kitchens offering "Bloom Breakfast". The traditional breakfast in Ireland is very rich, with two pieces of bacon, three sausages, an egg and a spoonful of vegetables, as well as bread, butter and jam. Bloom's preference for roast lamb kidneys is rarely complimented by Irish people. I asked some Irish friends, and they immediately shook their heads like rattles.

I can't wait to find the road map of "bloom Day". You see, this is No.35 George Street, Peking University, where Bloom passed-1982 has become the Joyce Center, holding Joyce exhibitions all the year round. Bloom's wife is going on a date with her lover. Frustrated, Bloom went to the post office under the pseudonym of Flower to pick up the love letter written by the typist Marlowe. Now, the post office has become one of the landmark buildings of O'Connell Avenue. After reading the letter, Bloom tore it up and ran to church to pray. At noon, Bloom came back from Dignam's funeral, went to Liberty to explain his advertisement to the editor-in-chief, and then rushed to the Evening Telegraph, where he met Stephen.

I searched several times according to the route map, but I couldn't find the two newspapers, but I saw the eye-catching sign of the Irish Independent. I went in to ask, and the uniformed staff said they didn't know. In desperation, I suddenly found a bronze medal on the ground a few steps away from the door of the Irish Independent. The words on it were explained as the address of the Evening Telegraph. Going down from here, there is a sign pointing to the famous "Temple Bar", where many plots in Ulysses took place. Passing by a "Temple Fair Bar Hotel", I found many bars of various colors around, but I didn't see the signboard of "Temple Fair Bar". I didn't know until I asked "Temple Bar" was a general term for this area.

Crossing the O'Connell Bridge, I entered the cultural district of Dublin. There are the famous University of Dublin, the National Museum of Ireland and the National Library. Stephen

Once published a talk about Shakespeare in the library, Bloom came here to avoid his wife's lover.

Most of the participants are from abroad.

As soon as Dublin people saw that I was a foreigner with a "Bloom Day" road map in my hand, they shouted excitedly: "Ah! Are you here for Bloom Day? "

During my four days in Dublin, I asked everyone, "Have you ever participated in Bloom Day?" Government officials, scholars, museum directors, book publishers, company owners, taxi drivers and hotel waiters all answered "no". Finally, I got the only positive answer at Joyce Center. Ellen Mies, a university lecturer from the United States, attended Bloom Day. According to her, tens of thousands of people participated in the "Bloom Day" parade that day, 90% of them came from the United States. Some people still wear Edwardian black clothes, round hats, round glasses and crutches. But she didn't eat free breakfast. She fanned her nose with her hand and said, "The smell of lamb kidneys is really unbearable."

I asked many intellectuals if they had read Ulysses, and the answer was actuallyno. I met five or six Irish women in a house where Joyce lived when she was young. They belong to the reading group, are very interested in Joyce, and even plan to donate money to protect the house. They were very surprised to hear that Ulysses had been translated into Chinese. A lady named Marina told me that Joyce's short stories are not difficult and popular in Ireland, but Ulysses is too difficult to understand. She said: "The novel is full of dialogue, dialogue and dialogue. I really can't stand it. "

An official in charge of international exchange in the Irish Ministry of Culture talked about Joyce and A Day in Bloom, and he knew a lot about Irish traditional culture, but he didn't read Ulysses. He said: "It is too painful to know Joyce through poetry, music and drama without reading Ulysses."

Read Ulysses' tips

Mr. Xiao Gan, a famous writer (one of the translators who translated Ulysses into Chinese) called this book a "heavenly book". When I left Ireland, I saw an article saying that Ulysses was a famous book because it was difficult to understand. Helen, the granddaughter of Joyce's sister, finished reading Ulysses with the help of a reading group. Helen said that to read this book, we should first give up the first three chapters about Stephen and start with the fourth chapter, Breakfast in Bloom. The obscurity of Ulysses seems to be a literary game that Joyce deliberately played with the world. He once said, "I have inserted many riddles and crossword puzzles, which will keep scholars busy for centuries arguing about my intentions." This is the only way to be immortal. "

Joyce's epic has always influenced and conquered readers. Some critics call Ulysses an encyclopedia of modern society.

Ulysses opens a huge social space through Bloom's one-day life. His active O'Connell Street and Phoenix Park are the political centers for Irish national independence. People can not only enjoy "Bloom Day" year after year, but also learn literature and history in many exhibitions and lectures held by Dublin Writers Museum, Joyce Center and Joyce Museum.

Ireland has produced three or four Nobel Prize in Literature laureates. I asked my Irish friends what they thought of Joyce, and their answers were mostly lukewarm: "He is Irish, which represents the Irish nature of writing."

Dublin has no other features. Although people don't really understand Ulysses and Bloom, the muddled imitation just adds special interest to Dublin. ▲