Ulysses and the Odyssey: The Connections

This class will focus on the connections between James Joyce’s Ulysses, first published in 1922, and Homer's Odyssey, first performed about 2,700 years prior. We will look at the wanderings through Dublin of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus on June 16, 1904, and how they relate to the wanderings in the Mediterranean of Odysseus and Telemachus. It is not necessary to have read either Ulysses or the Odyssey to enjoy this course, but it may inspire you to give them a try.

Will Rusch has degrees in Philosophy and Math and an interest in history and literature. He was employed as an actuary for over 40 years at insurance companies in Hartford and Boston, before retiring to the Newport area 10 years ago. He read Ulysses for the first time in 1966, which resulted in a lasting interest in this masterpiece.