"A Pineapple Revolution": The North American James Joyce Symposium "Joyce Without Borders," Mexico City, Mexico, 12-16 June 2019

Abstract

"A Pineapple Revolution":The North American James Joyce Symposium "Joyce Without Borders," Mexico City, Mexico, 12-16 June 2019 Layne Farmen and Emma-Louise Silva Emma-Louise Silva: Antwerp-Mexico City After sixteen hours of sitting in cars and planes, Mexico City beckoned, and although my suitcase had not arrived, each layer of my exquisite bowl of Sopa Azteca, from the rich broth to the silky sour cream, smooth avocado, and chile pasilla, swiftly enticed me to forget other chapters of my journey. Reassured by the fact that I had packed my beloved copy of Ulysses in my hand luggage, nothing could get in the way of the sun-goldened Casa Universitaria del Libro (CASUL), the nineteenth-century mansion in Colonia Roma Norte where James Ramey, Aurora Piñeiro, Argentina Rodríguez, and Mario Murguía were to host the "first annual gathering of Joyceans in the global south." Layne Farmen: Tulsa-Mexico City "Be aware that sporadic demonstrations are common and often result in roadway disruptions. Clients are recommended to bypass any encountered protest action in order to mitigate delays to itineraries." [End Page 21] Though in the past I have only attended conferences underfunded and alone, in 2019 I arrived in Mexico with five family members and a much more responsibly managed credit line (thanks TU!) Overall they did the sight-seeing while I attended the conference, but before the Joycean fun began I was able to stand in awe before Diego Rivera's murals in the Palacio Nacional de México and walk through the hallowed home of Frida Kahlo, where art and politics operate without borders. As my section heading attests, while this artistic pilgrimage filled my spirit, my e-mail was also bursting with ominous words of warning from University travel services. The repeated cautions about political demonstrations intrigued me, to the extent that I was excited when I heard a megaphoned loud voice in the streets during my first day in the city. As we walked, my trilingual brother-in-law informed me that what we were hearing was in fact the spirited advertisement of a fruit salesman, the rallying cry of "piña fresca." I was justifiably mocked for the duration of the trip, me and my "pineapple revolution." Emma-Louise "Por su seguridad y confort, le sugerimos usar los taxis del Hotel"/"For your own safety and comfort, take the authorized car-service from this Hotel." Whereas Joyce condensed a day in Dublin into Ulysses and put "[a]llspace in a [n]otshall" into Finnegans Wake (FW 455.29), Rivera's aim was to present Mexico's rich historical and cultural heritage in grandiose works of art: carrying Ulysses in one's backpack while trekking to Rivera's murals takes sightseeing in Mexico City to a Santiago de Compostela level. Despite the cautionary vibes felt in many hotels (as exemplified by the subtitle above), my "trek" to Rivera's "Historia de México a través de los siglos" (1929-1935) involved dismissing the taxi drivers and taking the plunge into the CDMX subway that was championed by many participants en route to the symposium. Ostensible "be careful" warnings were brushed aside by the Joyceans in "el DF," in terms of travel, food, walking the streets at night, and talking to "strangers." Perhaps this was due to CASUL, its courtyard butterflies, and its open windows that allowed for a borderless coexistence between Joycean exchanges and the mariachi bands, ice-cream vans, and "pineapple revolutions" passing by outside. Layne "This is an automated email to advise a 'level 3' incident has occurred potentially affecting your travel." [End Page 22] The university library at CASUL was an intimate and warm venue that felt open and connected to the surrounding city and simultaneously compact in order to facilitate conversation and collaboration. It was entirely possible to spend a moment to myself on the upstairs balcony and then immediately be involved in a sort of Joycean mosh pit downstairs (the biggest being at the opening reception, where the wine seemed never ending). In a Friday panel entitled "Joyce's Idiolecturing," Paige Miller expanded upon her exciting research into linguistic plurality and Molly Bloom's "translanguaging" in...