Translator Leevi Lehto spent a decade on the new version of the 800-page book, for which Joyce invented many of his own words. He also imitated many styles of writing, while echoing the Greek myth of Odysseus in a frequently bawdy tale set in the streets, pubs and brothels of Dublin.
The sprawling story is set on June 16, 1904, incidentally the day that Finnish nationalist Eugen Schauman assassinated Russian Governor-General Nikolay Bobrikov in Helsinki. Joyce mentioned the event in Ulysses.
The only previous Finnish version of the 1922 book was hurriedly done in about six months by poet Pentti Saarikoski in 1964, an attempt that many Joyce aficionados have considered somewhat lacking.
Day of events in Helsinki
Lehto will be interviewed and will read from his translation at Helsinki's Vallila Library on Saturday at 1pm. This will be followed by a "Joyce karaoke" event featuring cartoonist Pertti Jaarla among others.
At befits the spirit of the book, the action then shifts to a pub. The karaoke continues at 2.30pm at a bar on Vaasankatu.
At 4pm, there's a musical matinee in Joycean style at Kallio Library, this time featuring Finnish-Irish tenor Niall Chorell and satirical troubadour M.A. Numminen.
Two hours later, the Finnish-Irish Society hosts an evening at an Irish pub on Yrjönkatu featuring actors Frank Boyle and Brendan Humphries with music by the Helsinki band Kill Kelly.
