JJQ

The James Joyce Literary Supplement has announced a call for papers for the 18^th Irregular Miami J’yce Birthday Conference themed “Joyce in England.”  The conference will run from January 31^st through February 2^nd, 2013 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.  The CFP lists possible topics:

• English characters in Joyce 
• Joyce and the English language 
• Joyce and subversion 
• nationalism & imperialism 
• emigration/immigration 
• Joyce visiting England 
• Joyce and English contemporaries 
• Joyce and Shakespeare 
• Joyce and Cardinal Newman 
• English politics and Joyce 
• BUT ALL JOYCE TOPICS ARE WELCOME! 

To submit paper and panel proposals or with any questions email Timothy Sutton at MiamiJoyce2013@gmail.com.  Proposals should include:

—Author and affiliate institution 
—Paper/Panel title 
—Max. 300 word abstract 
—Panel Topics Due: August 1, 2012 
—Paper Proposals Due: October 15, 2012

Follow conference updates at the James Joyce Literary Supplement’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JJLSmiami

As St. Patrick’s Day comes around once more, the general celebration of all things Irish (or even vaguely Irish) brings with it a burst of notices and activity around Joyce’s work.  Some of the highlights include:

-In early 2010 artist Stephen Crowe began an ambitious and fascinating project entitled Wake in Progress in which he is illustrating sections of Finnegans Wake.  View some of the work here.

-From November 8th through December 9th  The Court Theater will be holding performances of a musical adaptation of Joyce’s “The Dead.”  Music and lyrics by Shaun Davey and Richard Nelson will provide an interesting take on Joyce’s famous story.  Charles Newell will direct.  Access more information on this and other of Court Theater’s productions here.

-Brigid McLeer’s art project, “One + One,” began on March 9th and will run through April 26th at Highlanes Gallery on Saint Lawrence St. in Drogheda.  McLeer’s project is part video, part drawing and weaves together diverse sources including French filmmaker, Jean Luc Goddard’s work and Joyce’s Ulysses.  Find more information on the exhibit here.

BBC Radio 4 will again be broadcasting a reading of Ulysses for this year’s Bloomsday celebration.  The production will be directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jonquil Panting.  They are currently recording the different parts with Andrew Scott as Stephen Dedalus and Henry Goodman as Bloom.  Speaking the part of Stephen will provide Scott with an opportunity to play a role he was cast for in the film version of Ulysses, Bloom.  Production stopped in 2001 when things didn’t work out and later resumed with Hugh O’Conor in Scott’s place.  Here is a link to more information at The Examiner’s website.  Also, a link to BBC Radio 4’s Drama Newsletter.

James Joyce is apparently making his way into the American debate about healthcare.  In a decision handed down from the Unites States District Court for the District of Columbia (Catholic Health Services Initiative–Iowa Corp. v. Kathleen Sebelius), Chief Judge Royce Lambeth decried the impossible density of the legal prose he had been asked to interpret.  ”Picture a law,” he writes at the start of a nineteen-page decision, “written by James Joyce and edited by E.E. Cummings.  Such is Medicare statute.”  Helpfully, he provides a footnote for the Joyce reference: “The Court clarifies, however, that by making this analogy, it is referring not to Joyce’s early work, such as Dubliners or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but his later period, specifically Finnegans Wake.”  He apparently reserves judgment on Ulysses, saying nothing about the garbled legal prose at the start of “Cyclops.”