James
Joyce’s 120th birthday to be celebrated in Sarasota
USF Sarasota/Manatee hosts int’l. conference for
first time
(Sarasota,
FL, January 14, 2002) – Sarasota becomes the place to
celebrate literary genius James Joyce’s 120th birthday in
early February when two state universities partner in providing venues to
honor Joyce. On February 1
and 2, 2002, the University of South Florida is hosting
JJ
on the Bay, a James Joyce International Academic Conference, at the
Sudakoff and Hamilton auditoriums, where more than 50 internationally
acclaimed Joyce scholars will present their latest research and theories.
Florida State University, through its operation of the John &
Mable Ringling Museum of Art, is taking part in the conference by
presenting a unique exhibition of Joyce manuscripts.
A third venue for the conference is Selby Public Library, where the
Joyce 120th birthday celebration will take place.
Events at all three venues are open to the public, presenting a
rare opportunity for literature lovers to immerse themselves in the work
of the man widely considered to be the greatest writer of the 20th
century.
More than 50
internationally acclaimed Joyce scholars will present their latest
research and theories at the Sudakoff and Hamilton auditoriums on the USF
Sarasota/Manatee campus, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday
(see attached fact sheet for the presentation list).
Some of these experts hail from such notable higher education
institutions as Harvard University, the University of Chicago, Boston
University, Cornell University and Rutgers University.
A special
highlight of JJ on the Bay will be a unique exhibition of Joyce
manuscripts at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
These manuscripts, which include at least one chapter of
“Ulysses,” are presently in the Rare Books Collection at the State
University of New York at Buffalo. Robert
Bertholf, curator of the collection, and two of his colleagues at the
Lockwood Library, will give a CD-ROM presentation about the Joyce
manuscripts on Saturday afternoon in Sudakoff Auditorium.
The manuscripts will be on view in the Astor Cream Salon at the
Ringling Museum during the conference.
On Friday,
February 1, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., Friends of the Selby Library will host
a 120th birthday party for James Joyce at the Jack E. Geldbart
Auditorium in the Selby Public Library.
Along with a birthday cake, the party will feature a dramatic
reading of the obscenity trial scene from “The Great Sinner,” a play
about James and Nora Joyce by Albee Award-winning playwright Larkin
Maguire, performed by Asolo Theatre Guild Playreaders.
Joyce Scholar Zack Bowen will also sing songs he has written about
Joyce, accompanied by pianist Lisa Frank.
Bowen and
Frank will again perform at the conference’s concluding dinner at Marina
Jack’s Restaurant on Saturday night.
Also featured will be Asolo Theatre actress Tessie Hogan doing a
dramatic reading of Molly Bloom’s soliloquy.
Her husband David Breitbarth will play Leopold Bloom in bed.
Also on February 1, 6:45
p.m., at Sarasota News
& Books, actor Adam Harvey will perform James Joyce’s Finnegans
Wake, Book 1, Chapter 8
(Anna Livia Plurabelle).
“Literature
has earned a place in the pantheon of Sarasota culture with events such as
the Sarasota Reading Festival and Bloomsday,” according to JJ on the
Bay coordinator Joan Saunders. “Now
JJ on the Bay is adding more luster to Sarasota’s reputation as
Florida’s culture capital. If
this were 100 years ago, Sarasota would be the left bank of Paris.”
For more
information on JJ on the Bay, please contact Joan Saunders at 941-925-0453
or saunders@virtu.sar.usf.edu.
Also, the JJ on the Bay web site is www.sarasota.usf.edu/jjonthebay.
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JJ on the Bay
A
James Joyce International Academic Conference
Fact
Sheet
Topics and presenters include:
“’Cyclops’:
Joyce’s Version of the Irish Renaissance” by Zack Brown of the
University of Miami;
“Music:
A Site of Contestation in Joyce’s ‘The Dead’ by Cameron
Bushnell of the University of Maryland;
“[Babe]L
before [Pente]K[ost] and the ‘Misunderstruck aim for an ollo’:
Joyce, Derrida and the Sequence of Translation” by Jared M.
Greene of Harvard University;
“Looking
for Athena in Joyce’s Ulysses” by Keri Ames of the University of
Chicago and Stephanie Nelson of Boston University;
“Privacy
in Bloom” by Michael Groden of the University of West Ontario;
“Potato
I Have: The Talisman of
Leopold Bloom” by Ray Linville of the University of North Carolina;
“Elation
and Modes of Existential Appropriation in ‘After the Race’” by Jim
Leblanc of Cornell University;
“Thirty
Men a Day: Celtic Goddesses
in Ulysses” by Heyward Ehrlich of Rutgers University; and,
“Stephen
and the New Woman Figure in Portrait” by Sherry Burgus Little of San
Diego State University.
Exhibition of James Joyce manuscripts
The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art (Astor Cream Salon)
Both
days: 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Celebration
of James Joyce’s 120th birthday hosted by Friends of the
Selby Library
The Selby Public Library (Jack E. Geldbart Auditorium)
February
1: 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. (Note:
This time is different from what was stated in an earlier release.
Entertainment
includes:
A
dramatic reading of the obscenity trial scene from “The Great Sinner,”
a play about James and Nora Joyce by Albee Award-winning playwright Larkin
Maguire, performed by Asolo Theatre Guild Playreaders.
Joyce
Scholar Zack Bowen will also sing songs he has written about Joyce,
accompanied by pianist Lisa Frank. (Note:
Bowen and Frank will again perform at the conference’s concluding event
at Marina Jack’s Restaurant on Saturday night.
The event will also feature Asolo Theatre actress Tessie Hogan
doing a dramatic reading of Molly Bloom’s soliloquy.
Her husband David Breitbarth will play Leopold Bloom in bed.)
Also
on February 1, at Sarasota News & Books, 6:45 p.m., actor Adam Harvey
will perform James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake,
Book
1, Chapter 8 (Anna Livia Plurabelle).
Cost:
Presentations by Joyce scholars -- $5 per person per
session; $15 per person per day; $25 per person for both days
Ringling Museum Exhibition -- $10 per person
Selby Library Birthday Party --
Free
#
# #
Media contact: Ellen Wile (941) 359-4749;
e-mail ewile@banshee.sar.usf.edu
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