On their first first date, Nora Barnacle stood James Joyce up. Two days later -- June 16, 1904 -- Joyce got his second first date, and the date upon which he would eventually base Ulysses. The ways in which Nora Barnacle was and was not Molly Bloom continue to be discussed -- in Brenda Maddox's 1988 biography Nora: The Real Molly Bloom, for example, and the 1999 film based upon it -- but many agree that had Nora not been the woman she was, neither Joyce, nor Bloomsday nor Ulysses would be what they are. ... FULL STORY »
