Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes: A Celebration of James Joyce, Ulysses, and 100 Years of Bloomsday »

On the fictional morning of June 16, 1904—Bloomsday, as it has come to be known—Mr. Leopold Bloom set out from his home at 7 Eccles Street and began his day’s journey through Dublin life in the pages of James Joyce’s novel of the century, Ulysses. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday, Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes offers a priceless gathering of what’s been said about Ulysses since the extravagant praise and withering condemnation that first greeted it upon its initial publication.

From the varied appraisals of such Joyce contemporaries as William Butler Yeats (“It is an entirely new thing. . . . He has certainly surpassed in intensity any novelist of our time”) and Virginia Woolf (“Never did I read such tosh”), to excerpts from Tennessee Williams’ term paper “Why Ulysses is Boring” and assorted wit, praise, parody, caricature, photographs, anecdotes, bon mots, and reminiscence, this treasury of Bloomsiana is a lively and winning tribute to the most famous day in literature.

Library Journal

Whether Ulysses truly is the 20th century's finest English-language novel is debatable. Undeniable, however, is that it is the only piece of literature that enjoys an annual celebration. Not even Shakespeare's works command such fealty (ever heard of Hamletday?). Besides worldwide public readings, hordes gather in Dublin every June 16 to retrace the paths traveled in 1904 by Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus from Martello Tower to Eccles Street. A printed toast to Bloomsday's 100th anniversary, this slim volume-the title is almost as long as the book-provides thumbnail sketches of the big U's tempestuous early history and old Kinch himself. The real meat is a collection of brief quotes from past literary luminaries on the book's quality or lack thereof: W.B. Yeats couldn't finish it, Edith Wharton dubbed it "unimportant drivel," and it "bored" Virginia Woolf, but Hart Crane gushed that it was "the epic of the age," and expatriate drinking buddy Hemingway burped up that Ulysses was "a most wonderful goddamn book." A tasty extra is an overview of domestic and foreign centennial celebrations with sponsors' email addresses and URLs. Though light on scholarship, the book is great fun for hardcore Joyce heads. Should you buy it? Yes. [For the views of some contemporary authors on Ulysses, see "Front Desk," p.17.-Ed.]-Michael Rogers, Library Journal Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.