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Who was the Real Mr. Deasy?
To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the characters in Ulysses. For all posts on Mr. Deasy, click here. “You will see at the next outbreak they will put an embargo on Irish cattle.…
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The Pre-Decimal Money System
As I start digging deeper into “Nestor” and beyond in Ulysses, I thought it might be handy to have a quick reference for the pre-decimal British currency amounts found in the novel. I have concluded this is world’s most confusing system of currency (prove me wrong, Internet!), but this chart should take some of the…
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The Women of Ulysses: Mr. Deasy’s Perfidious Women
Part of an occasional series on the women of Ulysses. For all posts on Mr. Deasy, click here. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. In “Nestor,” the second episode of Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus finds himself in a discussion with his employer, Mr. Deasy. They have reached a…
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James Joyce’s Poetic Rage
To put it nicely, James Joyce was a prickly pear. It’s well known that he left Dublin for continental Europe in 1904, never to return. His exile was self-imposed, but that didn’t stop him from metaphorically backing out of the room with two middle fingers raised. This reaction was simultaneously over-the-top and kind of justified.…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey: Telemachus
I am now writing a book based on the wanderings of Ulysses. ‘The Odyssey,’ that is to say, serves me as a ground plan. Only my time is recent and all my hero’s wanderings take no more than 18 hours. – James Joyce, 1918 For a discussion of this topic, check out our podcast episode…
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Ulysses CCD: Mulligan Mocks Mass
To hear a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Part of an occasional series on Catholism in Ulysses. In 2017, I was a founding member of the Ulysses Support Group at T.C. O’Leary’s pub in Portland, Oregon. Our goal was to read the entirety of Ulysses aloud between two Bloomsdays. On…
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Poetry in Ulysses: The Ballad of Joking Jesus
-We oughtn’t to laugh, I suppose. He’s rather blasphemous. I’m not a believer myself, that is to say. Still his gaiety takes the harm out of it somehow, doesn’t it? For all posts on music and poetry in Ulysses, visit this page. In “Telemachus,” Stephen Dedalus and the boys head down to the sea beside…
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Decoding Dedalus: Heresies in “Telemachus”
This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a paragraph of Ulysses and give it the ol’ Frank Delaney treatment – that is, break it down line by line. As an aside, if you haven’t listened to Frank Delaney’s excellent podcast, Re:Joyce, go treat yourself. His page by page analysis…
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The Women of Ulysses: Mother Grogan and the Milk Woman
To hear a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Part of an occasional series on the women of Ulysses. Mother Grogan pops up a couple times throughout Ulysses. She is a reference to an anonymous folk song called Ned Grogan. I couldn’t find a recording of it, so I suppose it’s…
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Who Was the Real Buck Mulligan?
—He’s in with a lowdown crowd, Mr Dedalus snarled. That Mulligan is a contaminated bloody doubledyed ruffian by all accounts. His name stinks all over Dublin. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the…