admin
-
Ep. 66 – Potato I have.
This week, we’re talkin’ ‘bout ‘tatoes! Kelly and Dermot unpack the deeper symbolism behind Leopold Bloom’s idiosyncratic hobby of carrying a potato upon his person. Topics include Tayto crisps, Stephen and Bloom’s parallel lost keys, Bloom’s potato as a protective object, why the potato may actually possess magic powers, the potato as Odysseus’ moly, the…
-
Who Was the Real Paddy Dignam?
“—As decent a little man as ever wore a hat, Mr Dedalus said. He went very suddenly.” This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the characters in Ulysses. You can listen to a podcast discussion of this topic here. Ulysses’ sixth episode, “Hades,” centers around the funeral of…
-
Ulysses & The Odyssey: Hades
Part of an occasional series on the Homeric parallels in James Joyce’s Ulysses. The Odyssey, Book XI: Odysseus travels to the underworld and meets the prophet Tiresias, who reveals the ultimate fate of Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus has a chance to speak to other souls in the underworld, including his mother, a parade of…
-
Ep. 65 – Old Tweedy’s Big Moustaches
Who was Molly Bloom’s father, Major Brian Cooper Tweedy? Far more than meets the eye. Topics in this episode include Michael Caine and Zulu, what the heck a footleaf is and other lovely minutiae, the origin of the Blooms’ jingly-jangly bed, Major Brian Cooper Tweedy and his military career, Molly’s time in Gibraltar and her…
-
Ep. 64 – 7 Eccles St.
Organ meats: the breakfast of champions. In this episode, we cover the opening pages of Ulysses’ fourth episode, “Calypso.” Topics include who eats organ meats, how Bloom’s thoughts are different from Stephen’s thoughts, the humbleness of “Calypso,” what mundane actions tell us about a character, kidneys as a correspondent organ in “Calypso”, art as the…
-
Ep. 63 – Calypso
Welcome to the next stage of your journey! This week we cover the parallels to “Calypso,” the fourth episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses and Book V of Homer’s Odyssey. Topics include how Leopold Bloom and Odysseus are similar, how they’re different since Bloom is really a sideways Odysseus, Bloom as a feminine man, the danger…
-
Sweny the Alchemist
“ Sweny’s in Lincoln place. Chemists rarely move.” Ulysses, p. 84 To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here and here. Leopold Bloom’s observation that chemists rarely move has turned out to be oddly prescient. As Dublin has evolved as a city since 1904, much of Bloom’s hometown would…
-
Ep. 62 – Altman the Saltman (w/Vincent Altman O’Connor)
In our last episode, we discussed people from James Joyce’s life who influenced the creation of Leopold Bloom. However, we left one question unanswered – why were none of these men from Dublin? Didn’t Joyce know any Jewish people in Dublin? Vincent Altman O’Connor’s research into this very question and the biography of his ancestors…
-
Ep. 61 -Who Was the Real Leopold Bloom?
James Joyce based many characters in Ulysses on friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies, but what about Leopold Bloom? Who were the real people in Joyce’s life who inspired the creation of one of literature’s greatest protagonists? Topics in this episode include people who Joyce thought looked like Leopold Bloom, the story of Alfred Hunter, why…
-
Ep. 60 – The Holy Office
They both lived in a Martello Tower, sure, but what else do James Joyce and Bono have in common? We take a short break from analyzing Ulysses to take a look at one of Joyce’s early poems – “The Holy Office.” If you love 100+ year old gossip, strap in! This one gets dishy. Topics…