Davy Byrne's pub is a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
located at 21 Duke Street,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
. It was made famous by its appearance in Chapter 8 ('
Lestrygonians') of
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
's 1922 modernist novel ''
Ulysses'', set on Thursday 16 June 1904. The main character, advertising canvasser
Leopold Bloom
Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/Odysseus in Homer's epic po ...
, stops at around 1 p.m. for a
gorgonzola cheese sandwich and a glass of
burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...
while wandering through Dublin.
The pub has since become a pilgrimage point for fans of the novel, who, like Bloom, stop and have a cheese sandwich and a glass of wine. The pub is particularly popular on
Bloomsday
Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June, the day his 1922 novel ''Ulysses (novel), Ulysses'' takes place in 1904, the date of his first sexual en ...
, an annual 16 June celebration of both the book and James Joyce.
Joyce also mentioned the pub in the short story "
Counterparts" in ''
Dubliners
''Dubliners'' is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. It presents a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century.
The stories were wri ...
'' as a bar visited by the office clerk protagonist named Farrington following an altercation with his senior at the office. It is also mentioned in ''
Green Rushes'', a short story collection by
Maurice Walsh.
Excerpts from ''Ulysses''
:''He entered Davy Byrne's. Moral pub. He doesn't chat. Stands a drink now and then. But in leapyear once in four. Cashed a cheque for me once.''
:''What will I take now? He drew his watch. Let me see now. Shandygaff?''
:''—Hello, Bloom, Nosey Flynn said from his nook.''
:''—Hello, Flynn.''
:''—How's things?''
:''—Tiptop ... Let me see. I'll take a glass of burgundy and ... let me see.''
:•
•
•
:''—Have you a cheese sandwich?''
:''—Yes, sir.''
:''Like a few olives too if they had them. Italian I prefer. Good glass of burgundy take away that. Lubricate. A nice salad, cool as a cucumber, Tom Kernan can dress. Puts gusto into it. Pure olive oil. Milly served me that cutlet with a sprig of parsley. Take one Spanish onion. God made food, the devil the cooks. Devilled crab.''
:''—Wife well?''
:''—Quite well, thanks ... A cheese sandwich, then. Gorgonzola, have you?''
:''—Yes, sir.''
:•
•
•
:''Davy Byrne came forward from the hindbar in tuckstitched shirtsleeves, cleaning his lips with two wipes of his napkin. Herring's blush. Whose smile upon each feature plays with such and such replete. Too much fat on the parsnips.''
:''—And here's himself and pepper on him, Nosey Flynn said. Can you give us a good one for the Gold cup?''
:''—I'm off that, Mr Flynn, Davy Byrne answered. I never put anything on a horse.''
:''—You're right there, Nosey Flynn said.''
:''Mr Bloom ate his strips of sandwich, fresh clean bread, with relish of disgust, pungent mustard, the feety savour of green cheese. Sips of his wine soothed his palate. Not logwood that. Tastes fuller this weather with the chill off.''
:''Nice quiet bar. Nice piece of wood in that counter. Nicely planed. Like the way it curves there.''
See also
*
List of pubs in Dublin
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davy Byrne's Pub
Ulysses (novel)
Pubs in Dublin (city)