Ulysses as virtual reality game – immerse yourself in a Joycean world and gain new insights into hard-to-read novel
VR version created by students in US completes Joyce’s book, says a professor who’s tried it; team behind game, which lets users explore key settings of story, hope for commercial release on Bloomsday, when Dublin celebrates the novel
One of the most celebrated – and notoriously challenging – novels of all time is getting the virtual reality treatment by a class at Boston College.
Nearly a century after James Joyce’s epic Ulysses was published, the team behind the immersive Joycestick is trying to expose new audiences to the works of one of Ireland’s most celebrated authors, while offering a glimpse into how virtual reality can be used to enhance literature, says Joseph Nugent, the Boston College English professor who is coordinating the project.
“This is a new way to experience the power of a novel,” he says. “We’re really at the edge of VR. There’s no guidance for this. What we have produced has been purely out of our imagination.”
Nugent and his students hope to release a version of the game on June 16 in Dublin during Bloomsday, the city’s annual celebration of the author and novel. They showcased their progress at an academic conference in Rome last month.