Filmmakers Alan Adelson and Kate Taverna will visit Washington College for a screening of their documentary In Bed with Ulysses on Wednesday, November 19, at 4:30 p.m. in Norman James Theater, William Smith Hall. Sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series, the movie screening is free and open to the public. A Q&A session with the filmmakers will follow.
The book Ulysses is considered a great masterpiece by the author James Joyce. In Bed with Ulysses tells the personal story of Joyce as he battles marital insecurity, failing eyesight, alcoholism, and other struggles to write a novel that would reinvent modern fiction.
Elizabeth Foley O’Connor, an assistant professor of English at Washington College and a Joyce scholar, reviewed the 2012 documentary for James Joyce Quarterly. “In Bed With Ulysses exudes a deep appreciation of Joyce’s insight into the human condition, especially the myriad complexities of love,” she wrote. “The film’s evident affection for the novel and effortless charm make it worth watching both for those new to the novel and those who can recite passages by heart.”
New York Times reviewer Andy Webster wrote that the film “strips away the academic clutter surrounding that kaleidoscopic novel to reveal the vital human pulse between its lines. It does so with staged readings of the livelier passages (not, I emphasize, re-creations of them), period footage and insightful commentators (including the Irish novelists Colum McCann and Edna O’Brien), not to mention humor and a palpable enthusiasm.”
For more on the film, including a trailer, visit https://inbedwithulysses.com.
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