"A wide-awake city of tech firms, theatres and tourist attractions, Dublin is one of the EU’s richest metropolitan areas; it is also the only large western European capital without a metro. No Dubliner would have been more frustrated with the situation’s absurdities, and MetroLink’s slow progress, than Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce’s Ulysses."
The article, by Dermot Hodson, gives a close reading of Leopold Blooms travels around the city, and his thoughts on how public transport in Dublin could be improved: "Ulysses is a peripatetic story. For 17 or so hours, Bloom walks across Dublin, encountering friends, acquaintances and foes .... Bloom covers nearly nine miles on foot. It is little wonder how tired he is by the time he climbs into bed next to Molly."
An interesting piece. Hat tip, Tony Smyth in the comments in Tuesday's post.
1 comment:
One of the problems for Dublin (where I grew up) is that everything funnels into a small area. There is only one Metro line north/south and, incredibly, it is shared with the mainline train from Belfast. It used to be that there were only 4 coaches on this metro line . Why? because the stations were too short for any more! They have since been lengthened, but it used to be in morning rush hour that crowding was much worse than in Tokyo. Also big trucks run along the roads either side of the Liffey. Far too much industry is sited around Dublin. Result is that the roads are clogged up. They need a Leopold Bloom to sort it out!!
Post a Comment