Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation.

You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read. hello and welcome to bookworm this is michael

silverblatt and today my guest is shamus heaney it's an unusual show we're speaking from the

marion hotel in dublin at the rejoice festival which is a festival in celebration, not of the

100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses, but the 100th anniversary of the day on which

Ulysses takes place, a single day.

One of the great areas of emphasis is to stress how wide and various Irish writing is.

And the Nobel laureate, Seamus Heaney, could not really be considered a Joyceian.

He's a remarkable Northern Irish poet.

And I wondered really at this point, what does Ulysses mean to you?

Well, it's a kind of Irish book of life by now, Ulysses.

It's, if you were sent to a Well, it's a kind of Irish book of life by now, you know, this is.

If you were sent to a desert island, as I once was, on a BBC program,

there's a program called Desert Island Discs,

you're allowed one luxury, and I wanted a pair of Doc Martin boots so I could kick the rocks. But I was asked for one book, a difficult one.

But actually for somebody from Ireland, Ulysses, it has got everything.

It's got the volubility, the learning, the affection, the disaffection.

It's got the history, it's got the language and the languages.

And it's got the different levels of engagement with this city and this country.

...