Santa Barbara Celebrates
James Joyce and Ulysses
Bloomsday, Censorship,
Dirty Books, and Dirty Minds
By Nick Welsh & Indy Staff
James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, one of the most impactful ever written in the English language, will be celebrated on June 16 in an event known as Bloomsday. From Australia to Santa Barbara, devoted fans will mingle with the mildly curious to listen to readings from the book that was originally banned and burned in the United States for being pornographic until a federal judge finally declared it safe for American ears. In the following article, Nick Welsh tells the story of how the book became a legend, and how the same impulse to ban writing that disturbs, surprises, confuses, shocks, or tells stories outside someone’s comfort zone is still alive and well in this country. But so is the desire to protect and enjoy the freedom of expression and to read amazing writing.
Love at First Gasp
The OG of Censored Texts
By Nick Welsh
It was a first date that rocked the world.
Though that date — an evening stroll through the streets of Dublin — took place more than 100 years ago, the world remains, to this day, very much rocked by its seismic reverberations.
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