The “United States v. Ulysses” is a bawdy courtroom drama that tells the true story of the New York trial that liberated James Joyce’s “Ulysses” from American censorship and made Joyce a household name. “Ulysses” had been banned on first publication in the States, and for ten years the only copies available were contraband or bootlegs. That was until a hungry young publisher and an ambitious lawyer teamed up to take on the puritans. Can they convince the judge that “Ulysses” is not obscene? And what happens when Ulysses gets under their skin – and Molly Bloom gets into their heads? The play contains dialogue from the actual trial and the novel itself.
Joyce Room opens at 1:00 – the play reading will start at 2 PM and run about an hour.