“I believe ‘Ulysses’ is the most famous unread book in the world,” says Johnny Robinson, the proprietor of Finch’s Restaurant in Falmouth and a huge Joyce fan. “Unlike most novels, you’re trying to read it as a novel, but it’s not set up that way.”
However, if you stop by the restaurant during June, you’re sure to get a mini-introduction to the author and the book. That’s because Robinson has added a selection of Joycean delights to the menu.
These include offerings like fried oysters with a glass of Guinness, deviled crab, sautéed lamb kidneys, baked apple of discord and cottage fruit cake. Each is paired with the particular passage from “Ulysses” that inspired the dish.
“He loved his food, you see,” Robinson says of Joyce.
“Ulysses,” which is probably Joyce’s best-known work, chronicles one day in the life of protagonist Leopold Bloom as he travels around Dublin, Ireland. Published in 1922, the book was initially banned in the United States and other countries due to its sexual content.
“It’s really earthy and bawdy,” Robinson says when describing Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in the book’s final chapter (or episode, as Joyce called it). “It’s around here that the book was banned for.”
Today the book is celebrated on Bloomsday, a boozy festival in Dublin (and with smaller tributes elsewhere). The holiday takes place June 16, the day in 1904 when “Ulysses” is set.
“Bloomsday is huge in Ireland nowadays,” Robinson says. “It’s like a national holiday.”
It’s also a pretty big deal at Finch’s. Robinson himself is a son of Ireland, having moved to America in the 1980s. He also claims a family connection to Joyce, as Robinson’s grandfather attended Clongowes Wood College at the same time Joyce did.
In addition to the special menu items, you’ll find a table filled with books, memorabilia and recordings by and about Joyce. Robinson gives the restaurant an added Joycean touch by playing early 20th century Irish drawing room music during dinner. He even has a book on display called “The Joyce of Cooking,” which is written by Alison Armstrong and shares Irish recipes inspired by Joyce.
When asked about his motivation for hosting a month’s worth of Joyce-inspired feasting, Robinson had this to say: “I find it hugely rich and it’s an opportunity to introduce people to a culture they’re aware of but not familiar with.”
Want to show off your literary knowledge? Then you’ll respond “yes I said yes I will Yes,” when Robinson asks if you plan to read “Ulysses” anytime soon. (And if you missed that particular reference, those are the famous closing words from the book.)