Joyce Meets Barnacle: Bloomsday's Origin Story Begins
James Joyce met Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid from Galway working at Finn's Hotel in Dublin, on June 10, 1904, and they went on their first date on June 16. Joyce immortalized this date by setting the entire action of his novel Ulysses on June 16, 1904, following the wanderings of Leopold Bloom through Dublin in a single day. The novel, published in 1922, was banned in the United States until 1933 for obscenity. It is now regarded as one of the greatest works of 20th-century literature. Bloomsday, the annual celebration on June 16, sees devotees retracing Bloom's steps through Dublin, eating the same foods described in the novel (including a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy at Davy Byrne's pub). Joyce and Nora eventually married in 1931, 27 years after their first walk.
June 16, 1904
122 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on June 16
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