The exhibition titled International Joyce, aims to introduce Vietnamese readers to the early life, career, works and influences of the writer through large posters covered in ‘Cliffs notes’ and photo-shopped photographs. Unfortunately, there were no readings of Joyce’s works and his books were not available for sale or rent. If Joyce were alive, he might have found it amusing that his literary genius is being celebrated without actually offering access to his literature.
International in his vision and impact, but always spiritually rooted in his native city of Dublin, Joyce could be said to represent the spirit of modern Ireland.
Through the 2.2m by 1.2m posters at the exhibition, visitors read watered down versions of Joyce’s family, school days and travels across Europe, with particular focus on the story of the 16th of June,1904, the date on which Joyce and Nora Barnacle had their first date which was later immortalised by Joyce in Ulysses.
Ulysses is possibly Joyce’s most famous work and is the story of a day in the life of an ordinary Dubliner named Leopold Bloom. Occurring in a single day and place, it is an interconnected maze of different narrators, some anonymous, each with a different perspective and literary style. As with Finnegans Wake, it features the “stream of consciousness” style pioneered by Joyce.
Other works of his mentioned on the posters are Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegans Wake. “With these seminal novels, he influenced authors as diverse as Salman Rushdie, Thomas Pynchon, Margaret Attwood and Mario Vargas Llosa,” said Irish Ambassador Maeve Collins in a speech.
A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man was translated into Vietnamese by Nguyen The Vinh, a prominent James Joyce scholar in Viet Nam.
“I very much hope that this exhibition will expose Joyce to a wider audience who will savour his understanding of the humour and tragedy of everyday life,” added Collins.
Accessible, informative and moving, this exhibition will be of interest to anyone who has never heard of Joyce. The bland nature of the exhibit and unavailability of Joyce’s books will however leave most wanting more.
The exhibition is held at l’Espace, the French Cultural Centre in Ha Noi and will run till September 20. After the opening ceremony, the 79 minute-movie Dubliners directed by John Huston in 1987 was screened.
The exhibition will also be held in Da Nang City from October 1-10 at the English Language Institute, 158 A Le Loi Street.
Finally, the exhibition will be on display on October 20-30 in HCM City at the University of Social Science and Humanities, 10-12 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, District 1. — VNS
