Sweny's Pharmacy representing Sweny's Pharmacy in James Joyce's Ulysses and Dublin on 16 June 1904

Ulysses is James Joyce's most famous novel and a landmark work of modernist literature. It describes a day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin. He visits numerous places, such as Sweny's Pharmacy and Davy Byrne's, which Joyce himself experienced in Dublin in the early 1900s. Although Joyce spent most of his time in exile, the process of writing Ulysses was an intense engagement with this city, enabling him to characterize the various places in Dublin in nuanced ways. The partly fictional character of the main protagonists is embedded in the atmosphere and identity of the real place in such a way that the real and fictional places merge and become virtually indistinguishable. The place is made accessible to others even if they are not in Dublin themselves. Not only is the content remarkable but also the form chosen by James Joyce. This is evident in the way the novel parallels the narrative around a single daily in the life of Leopold Bloom with the journey of Homer's Odysseus. The novel contains numerous references to other literary works as well as historical and (at that time) contemporary events, often requiring the reader to actively decode the text's layered meanings. This approach is reflected stylistically, as the text is rich in wordplay and abounds in neologisms that challenge and delight attentive readers. Most notable among the stylistic variety is the stream of consciousness technique. Due to its complex and multifaceted nature, Ulysses is said to be approachable only through repeated readings and long reflection. It is therefore not surprising that it took Joyce many years to write Ulysses, with initial ideas emerging in 1906 and the main work beginning in 1914. Ulysses was first published in 1922 (Slocum and Cahoon, 1953, pp. 24ff). The novel describes how Leopold Bloom visits Sweny's Pharmacy (Joyce, 2022, Episode 5, pp. 80ff, Episode 15, p. 419). It is characterized as a memorable and trustworthy place. Its owner and chemist Sweny, for example, offers Bloom to pay for the purchase later. Mundane habits and everyday occurrences, such as forgetting a recipe, take centre stage, characterizing it as a place of everyday life. The place is timeless and its owner a wise, old, and peculiar chemist who is supposed to treat himself. This portrayal of the place unfolds on an aesthetic and emotional level, thus drawing the reader into the place in many ways. Typical of Ulysses is the reference to various sensory impressions, such as the different scents and aromas in the pharmacy. A pharmacy called Sweny's actually exists in Dublin. It was established in the mid-19th century as 'F. W. Sweny & Co. Ltd.' by Frederick William Sweny. Its description in Ulysses makes the reader mentally construct the fictional place while referring to many of the characteristics that we ascribe to the actual Sweny's Pharmacy in 1904. Despite the actual existence of the place, its portrayal deviates from the real pharmacy due to the fictional story that unfolds there. The real Sweny's Pharmacy ceased operations only in 2009 and became a blend of historical site, museum, book shop, literary club, and place for social exchange. The original furnishings remained, thus creating a vintage, venerable, and time-honoured atmosphere reminiscent of past days. Joyce enthusiasts buy lemon soap there, wrapped in paper, to quote (at least technically) what Leopold Bloom did on 16 June 1904. The numerous old and tiny bottles, containers, vessels, and tinctures mentioned in Ulysses and the wooden drawers containing secrets make you feel like you can never fully comprehend the place, contributing to its mysterious and magical atmosphere. The items being stacked in a small space and the multitude of sensory impressions create a dense and intense atmosphere. When entering Sweny's, the place appears detached from the outside world, a place to unwind. You leave behind the sounds of the street, the laughter of passers-by, and the noise of cars starting up. Instead, you are greeted by old jazz music and the sense of time passing slowly in this place. Sweny's displays many of Joyce's works to keep them alive, including numerous editions of Ulysses, with volunteers sometimes reading them aloud. It is a portal-like place where Joyce enthusiasts immerse themselves into Joyce's world and pay tribute to his works. For them, this place carries both literal and symbolic weight as it forms part of the novel's meticulous mapping of Dublin. This identity is further strengthened through self-reference. Visitors can buy postcards showing present-day Sweny's, stamped with the original stamp, and they can add their name and thoughts to the guest book. They can view paintings, photographs, and newspaper articles hanging on the walls, depicting the present-time place and referring to its place-making. Such self-reference contributes to reinforcing the identity of this place, the latter thus being regularly visited by Joyce enthusiasts and mentioned in travel guides and on the Internet. It appears multi-layered and complex, like Ulysses. It is unique in its kind. Due to its strong identity in relation to Joyce and Ulysses, it not only denotes the Sweny's it was in 1904 but metaphorically primarily the fictional place from Ulysses. As the latter forms a typical part of Dublin on 16 June 1904, it has also become an iconic representation of this city (Sweny's, 2025).