LEADER
Wendy O’Brien is a philosopher and avid reader. With over 30 years’ experience teaching in post-secondary education, she’s given talks and led seminars on creativity, beauty and wonder as responses to the existential crises of our times. Working at the intersection of philosophy, literature and the visual arts she has offered seminars and talks at Humber College, Oxford University, Harvard, The Art Gallery of Ontario, The Women’s Art Association, Classical Pursuits and The International Festival of Authors. In 2020 she retired from academe to focus her attention on The Wonder Project, a long-term investigation into the concept of wonder and its relation to artistic excellence, natural beauty and scientific discoveries.Wendy will be leading the CP tour Songs of Wandering: 20th-Century Irish Literature in August/September 2026.
BOOK
Edition recommended but not required:
The Cambridge Ulysses: The 1922 Edition With Essays and Notes by James Joyce, Edited by Catherine Flynn
(Cambridge University Press, 2025)
ISBN-13: 978-1009568449
Participants are encouraged to have at the ready a copy of Homer’s Odyssey available to them to help in understanding Joyce’s project herein. All other relevant support materials will be sent to our readers via links or as PDFs.
This seminar will be read-as-you-go, as you will read and discuss part of the work each week.
SEMINAR DESCRIPTION
Join philosopher and avid reader Wendy O’Brien as she guides you on a journey through the streets of Dublin and across the pages of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Considered by many to be the greatest of all modern novels, its experimentation with the style, language and structure of the “epic,” transformed not only literature but also our understanding of place and of the modern self. Just how and why will be a topic of discussion as we walk/re-walk the streets of Dublin with Leopold Bloom and Stephan Daedalus as we read/re-read the pages of this masterpiece.
PRACTICAL DETAILS
All online seminars are priced in Canadian dollars.
Once you register, you’ll get an order confirmation. We’ll send you the Zoom link and a welcome letter from your leader about 3 weeks before the seminar starts.
This seminar is a great way to deepen your tour experience! If you are registered for our August/September 2026 Ireland tour, save big on the Ulysses online seminar. Participants who intend to register for the Ireland tour can take the discounted seminar price. In the event you are not able to book the tour, Classical Pursuits will charge for the remaining balance of your payment.
Classical Pursuits will record this seminar, and make each session privately available to registered participants for up to two weeks after that session.
Online seminar payments are nonrefundable. Discount codes must be used at the time of purchase.
Seminar group sizes are a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 12. See full terms and conditions for Classical Pursuits online seminars. By registering for a seminar, you agree to abide by our code of conduct.
