This episode of Blooms & Barnacles takes an esoteric twist as we continue deeper into “Proteus”, Ulysses‘ third episode. Topics include: why Dermot is not impressed with the Library of Alexandria, the length of a mahamanvantara, what the heck a mahamanvantara is, Joyce’s youthful rage put into poetry, Joyce’s youthful interest in theosophy, Pico della Mirandola’s desire to speak to angels, Renaissance magic, hermeticism, , correspondences in Ulysses, and why Dermot thinks Neil de Grasse Tyson is wrong.
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Media recommended in this episode:
“The Holy Office”, James Joyce
Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Frances Yates
“Giovanni Pico della Mirandola” on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
On the theosophists’ influence on cremation: https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/1684-up-in-smoke-theosophy-and-the-revival-of-cremation
“Pico della Mirandola” by Walter Pater
Further Reading:
Carver, C. (1978). James Joyce and the Theory of Magic. James Joyce Quarterly,15(3), 201-214. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25476132
Ellmann, R. (1959). James Joyce. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gilbert, S. (1955). James Joyce’s Ulysses: a study. New York: Vintage Books.
Joyce, S. (1958). My brother’s keeper: James Joyce’s early years. New York: The Viking Press.
Tindall, W.Y. (1954). James Joyce and the Hermetic Tradition. Journal of the History of Ideas, 15(1), p. 23-39. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/y3jt7uwp
“Theosophy.” Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Retrieved April 13, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/theosophy
Comments
4 responses
I have just caught up on all your episodes. You guys are doing a great job. Thanks and hope to see you again in the Tower sometime
Thanks for your kind words, Andrew. Looking fofward to our next visit.
This scholarly continuum may have me riveted to the screen for weeks to come. Gracias.
De nada, John!