Ok, I was proud of this one. If you scanned the QR tag through any suitable piece of software (see here for tips) then what would have been revealed to you would have been a set of geo-coordinates and the question "What would Leo eat?" The co-ordinates pointed to a location in Dublin, very close to Davy Byrne's Pub, a fine establishment that has been in existence for quite some time. One of the most interesting things about Davy Byrne's (other than the fine food and drink) is that it figured in one of my very favourite books: James Joyce's Ulysses. The book consists of a fascinating stream-of-consciousness narrative of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom. He has lunch at -- you guessed it -- Davy Byrne's. He thinks about all kinds of different foods there (some of which came into me over the etherwaves in the form of close but not quite correct guesses) but what he actually eats is gorgonzola and a fine burgundy (which was the correct answer).
There was a fair amount of circling around the correct answer with this one, and some confusion caused by the fact that there is (and previously unknown to me) a fish and chip joint named "Leo's" not far from Davy Byrne's.
I chose this site for quiz 2 for all kinds of reasons. For one (as mentioned), it's one of my favourite books. For another, Leo's journey is set up against Homer's Odyssey. In fact, if you decide to read the book (it's a bit of a project, but worth the time), the best way to do it is with a copy of the Odyssey at hand. Reading the two in parallel is a fascinating experience. And the Odyssey, as a search for home and hearth (and wife) is of course a perfect pairing with many of the themes of my book.
Another reason for my choice was that I'm fascinated by the strong connection between site and story in this book. The fact that legions of fans descend on Dublin on June 16, Bloomsday -- and the date of the events in the book (the entire weighty tome describes the events of a single day) suggests that I'm not the only one who is tickled by this connection. The story -- a movement through space and time -- lives in the minds of its fans as a route through Dublin. It's like a Songline (more about Songlines in my book).
As if this didn't make Joyce's journey through Dublin a fitting enough site for my little quiz, I was entertained to the point of holding my breath by the hijinks that ensued when the quiz was opened. I sat at my computer in my office, putting urgent business on hold because I'd made this little connection with a few who were following the quiz and bouncing around the planet with me. One follower ended up briefly somewhere in Russia (brrrr....). Several wandered the streets of Dublin looking for food. At one point, there was a brief argument about where we were. And then finally when all the active players who were talking to me landed at Davy Byrne's, there was a brief flurry of excitement over what the heck you might eat there, before the winner of the contest zeroed in on the prize.
Interestingly, the winner hadn't read the book at all. Not only did he circle the space using cybertools, but then he had to take a quick trip through time and narrative space to get the correct answer. Life never used to be like this: we have grown up from a kind of species that, when we wanted to know something, had to get up on our feet and walk somewhere, look around, ask questions. Now our existence is wildly different. How we manage these fundamental differences interests me a lot.
Stay tuned for Quiz 3. It's opening shortly.
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