Ulysses-themed cyclists mark St Patrick’s Day Parade and novel’s century

A hundred Ulysses-themed cyclists have taken part in a St Patrick’s Day Parade to mark the novel’s 100th anniversary.

Spectators in Dublin were taken on a journey by bicycle, illustrating the places taken by Leopold Bloom as part of the Joyce-Cycle.

Molly Bloom’s soliloquy and bed by bicycle were a central part of the parade, with many cycling and recreating their favourite quotes.

Special guest and writer Martina Devlin gave a speech and read an extract from Ulysses.

She said: “One of the landmark days in my life was when I learned how to ride a bike.

“I was about six when my father taught me, holding on to the back of the saddle to keep me upright.

“I remember my brothers standing there watching with their friends, and everyone cheering when I managed to get the momentum.

“It felt as if I was flying. There have been other landmark experiences since then, of course, but that sense of freedom and achievement has never left me.

“I felt as if I was on the road to somewhere.

“Joyce wrote the most passionate, captivating, manipulative, rapturous soliloquy in the entire history of soliloquies for his character Molly Bloom.

“It expresses female desire in all its playful, erotic confidence. And he was inspired to do that by Nora Barnacle.

“She was a woman and a half – just like Molly.”

Donna Cooney, artistic director of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, said she was “delighted to be back in the parade again this year” for “another wonderful … pageant with Joyce-Cycle” and “celebrating 100 years of James Joyce’s Ulysses on bicycles”.

She said “Leopold Bloom’s epic journey through Dublin” would be “brought to life with cyclists of all ages in amazing period costumes on an array of beautiful bikes”.