And the year of James Joyce continues. Last night, "The Next Joyce Century: Still Fearing and Loving 'Ulysses'" opened with a panel discussion in Hubbard Hall. The symposium will continue this afternoon with a roundtable discussion in Massachusetts Hall.
The symposium, which is the culmination of the semester-long "Ulysses Project," was organized by Professor of English Marilyn Reizbaum. Reizbaum also serves as the director of the gay and lesbian studies program.
The symposium welcomes three Joycean scholars to Bowdoin who, along with Reizbaum, will cover four different topics related to "Ulysses."
"The speakers represent three generations of Joyce scholars," said Reizbaum.
Last night, Bowdoin welcomed President of Sarah Lawrence College Karen Lawrence; Professor of English, Global Literature and Culture Joseph Valente from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo); and Assistant Professor of English Damien Keane, also from SUNY Buffalo.
Lawrence, who has served as president of the International James Joyce Foundation, delivered a talk entitled "Something Old, Something New," which reflected on how old Joyce manuscripts are "bringing new life" to current studies on his works.
Valente, whose scholarship on Joyce has been featured in a number of journals, collections and publications, discussed how history affects the way the novel will be studied in the context on the current world and the age of media and technology.
Keane's lecture was entitled "His Remastered Voice." Given his focus on Irish writing, modernism and sound media, Keane brought an entirely different perspective to the discussion.
Reizbaum opened the evening with introductory and anecdotal remarks in her talk, "Secret Joyceans".
"I am just excited to hear more and it sounds like there are some pretty incredible Joycean Scholars coming," said Laura Kerry '12. Kerry, who is an English major, is currently enrolled in "Joycean Revolutionaries," a 300-level, half-credit English seminar that Reizbaum has been teaching this semester.
The class takes an interdisciplinary approach to learning and understanding "Ulysses," and is the result of cross-departmental collaboration between Reizabum and members of the visual arts and dance departments.
Chair of the Art Department Mark Wethli led the "Joycean Revolutionaries" class in undertaking a visual approach to "Ulysses," and Senior Lecturer in Dance Paul Sarvis will also lead the class in a physical interpretation in the coming weeks. The class has also worked with Daniel Hope of Special Collections to further enhance its coursework.
"I love to do interdisciplinary when possible," said Reizbaum.
Regarding the interdisciplinary aspects of the course, Kerry noted that "the art history was interesting in itself, and put it into a greater [modernist] context."
Kerry commented on the dance portion that the class will soon undertake.
"It's a very physical book," she said. "It's about movement through a day and there are lots of overlaps in space and time...we are going to translate that into dance and choreography."
The year-long dedication to James Joyce and his work, which is hailed by some as the greatest work of the 20th century, came as a result of Reizbaum's interest in exploring the complexity of the novel.
"I always joke about...['Ulysses' being] the greatest novel no one has ever read," she said. "My idea was to put that out there for the general public."
"You do get the sense that you have to attack it and dive in," said Kerry of the complexity and depth in "Ulysses."
The symposium will continue today at 4 p.m. with a roundtable discussion in the faculty lounge of Massachusetts Hall. The event is free and open to the public.