A postcard 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. It is unique in its kind. Regular mentions in travel guides and on the Internet, as well as regular visits from Joyce enthusiasts, helped it become iconic (Sweny's, 2025). Volunteers sell, among others, lemon soap and postcards in Sweny's Pharmacy. These postcards quote the name and address of Sweny's as they are mentioned in Episode 5 of Ulysses and as they serve to identify the various places: the fictional one, the one lived in 1904, and the one being lived now. The postcards also display a full-format front view and, as an inset image, an inside view of Sweny's. Besides these, a photograph of James Joyce is displayed. To further strengthen the representational function of the postcard, the number and name of the episode are mentioned in which Leopold Bloom visits Sweny's the first time, and the text 'Ulysses Dublin 1904' is displayed to intensify the connection to Dublin on 16 June 1904, as it was experienced and described by Joyce. When purchasing one of these postcards, the volunteer working at Sweny's Pharmacy uses the original stamp, which was used back when it was still a pharmacy, to stamp an impression on the postcard. This impression resembles the name and address of Sweny's printed on the stamp as well as the typography used on the stamp. The process of stamping manifests in the characters having varying completeness, which is due to the unevenness of the stamp and the resulting differences in contact pressure. These numerous references and the use of the original stamp make the postcard a representation of Sweny's Pharmacy lived in 1904 and of Dublin as experienced by Leopold Bloom on 16 June 1904.