Radio Bloomsday 2013: In Search of a Father

Welcome to Radio Bloomsday 2013:  In Search of A Father!  This year's broadcast occurs on Sunday, June 16th from 7pm to 2am on WBAI 99.5FM in New York City and on wbai.org anywhere in the world and coincides with Father's Day in the United States.  In celebration of Father's Day, we are focusing our program on the many ruminations on fatherhood that Joyce's characters express throughout his epic novel.   The photo above is of James Joyce and his grandson, Stephen.

Some of the scenes in Ulysses that we will be highlighting this year include Bloom's tender relationship with his daughter Molly, his painful memories of his own father's suicide and his son's death at 11 days old.  Bloom also stands in as a surrogate for Stephen Dedalus, the young poet and school teacher whose own father is a violent, angry drunk.  Simon and Stephen's contentious relationship was modeled on Joyce's own relationship with his alcoholic father, who like Simon was not able to support his growing family.

We have an extraordinary all star cast for you this year that we will be announcing shortly.  Also stay tuned for news on an exciting new take on Molly Bloom's monologue!