James Joyce’s Ulysses was first legally published in the United States in 1934 after its obscenity ban. Joyce had originally published the novel in Paris in 1922, but American authorities treated it as obscene after an episode containing sexual material appeared in the magazine The Little Review.
The U.S. legal dispute centered on United States v. One Book Called Ulysses. In 1933, Judge John M. Woolsey ruled that the complete novel was not obscene when judged as a whole. The decision rejected the idea that isolated passages should determine a work’s legality and recognized the novel’s literary purpose.
The ruling opened the way for Random House to publish the first authorized American edition. That edition appeared in 1934, making the year of publication different from the year of the decisive trial-court ruling. This distinction explains why 1933 can appear in historical discussions, while 1934 is the answer to a question about first U.S. publication.
Ulysses had first appeared in book form in Paris and is set largely in Dublin on June 16, 1904, a date now celebrated worldwide as Bloomsday.