The United States Vs Ulysses - (Modern Plays) by Colin Murphy (Paperback)

About the Book

A bawdy courtroom drama telling the true story of the New York trial that liberated James Joyce's seminal novel from American censorship and made Joyce a cultural icon.

Book Synopsis

The country's on fire! The Klan on the march again. Fascists organising - in America!

And books are being burned.

It's 1933, and James Joyce's sexually explicit Ulysses has been banned in the US for a decade. But now a hungry young publisher and an ambitious lawyer have teamed up to take on the puritans. Can they convince the judge that Ulysses is not obscene? And what will happen when Ulysses gets under their skin-and Molly Bloom gets into their heads?

The United States vs Ulysses is a bawdy courtroom drama telling the true story of the New York trial that liberated James Joyce's seminal novel from American censorship and made Joyce a cultural icon.

This edition was published to coincide with the North American premiere from Once Off Productions at the Irish Arts Center, New York in May 2025.

About the Author

Colin Murphy writes plays about politics, and journalism. He is the author of a series of plays on Irish political history: Haughey/Gregory, on the 1982 "Gregory Deal", Inside the GPO, on the Easter Rising, Guaranteed!, on the bank guarantee of 2008, and Bailed Out!, on the subsequent crisis and Troika "bailout" of 2010, all produced by Fishamble. He adapted the latter two for screen, as The Guarantee and The Bailout (both produced by John Kelleher Media). He adapted the Charlie Bird book A Day in May for the stage. His verbatim dramas, Jack Duggan's War and Judging Shaw (based on Fintan O'Toole's book of the same name) have been staged by ANU Productions. His short film Leave to Remain was made for RTÉ Storyland (produced by Treasure Entertainment). He writes a weekly column for the Sunday Business Post.