I generally limit myself to one post when I run interviews on Monday but I'd probably lose the keys to this site if I failed to direct you to John Banville's Bloomsday essay from the closing page of the New York Times Book Review. (And personally, if Tannenhaus is going to make moves like giving Banville Laura Miller's real estate, we're gonna have to like the guy. A lot.)
Cronin was the instigator of another Bloomsday event in 1982, when writers from around the world were invited to Dublin to celebrate Joyce's own centenary. Among the many notable artists who came was -- yes -- Borges, who by then was in his 80's and totally blind. He was collected from the airport by a couple of volunteer meeters-and-greeters, who deposited him in his suite at the Shelbourne Hotel and went off to do more meeting and greeting. When they returned, late in the day, Borges was still in his room, and in fact had not left during the intervening hours. What was he to have done, Borges asked, since he did not know the city or anyone in it? Ever since, when I hear talk of Bloomsday celebrations, that, I am afraid, is the image that springs immediately to mind: an old, blind writer, one of the greatest of his age, sitting alone in a hotel room overlooking an unseen St. Stephen's Green.
Hey Mark, This is very interesting. I suppose Banville thought it would be rude to bring this up at the Symposium, or maybe he doesn't like to repeat himself. He read from his new novel, The Sea. You would have been in heaven. It's hot as balls in this net cafe so I'm heading back to the pub...
Posted by: Jim | June 14, 2004 at 10:10 AM
Hey Mark, This is very interesting. I suppose Banville thought it would be rude to bring this up at the Symposium, or maybe he doesn't like to repeat himself. He read from his new novel, The Sea. You would have been in heaven. It's hot as balls in this net cafe so I'm heading back to the pub...
Posted by: Jim | June 14, 2004 at 10:11 AM