S.J. Stubbs Lecture in English Literature

Colm Tóibín – Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities, Columbia University

Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, although set in Dublin, was written in three other cities, Trieste, Zurich and Paris. In each of these cities, Joyce imagined his own city. During the composition of the book, the very center of the city where it was set was destroyed in the 1916 Rebellion, just as the First World War radically changed the Europe in which Joyce had taken refuge. Thus, although the book is set in 1904, it is infused with the history of the time in which it was written. The city was being unmade by history just as Joyce was making it in words. The irony of this re-created the very tone and structure of the great novel.

Thursday, March 11, 2021

4:30-6:00 PM EST

This is a virtual event. Zoom details provided with registration confirmation: uc.rsvp@utoronto.ca

Please RSVP by Friday, March 5, 2021