Leopold Bloom
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Who Was the Real Reuben J. Dodd?
“ I never liked Jimmy Joyce. He used to drink the altar wine.” – Reuben J. Dodd, Jr. This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the characters in Ulysses. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. The Dublin of Ulysses is…
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Ep. 69 – Met Him Pike Hoses
We do our best to take Molly’s advice and tell it in plain words – what is metempsychosis? Topics covered in this episode include Boylan’s bold hand, whether or not cats are kosher, moustache cups, secret letters, “La Ci Darem La Mano”, an orangekeyed chamberpot, how Molly can be both Calypso and Penelope, Joyce’s personal…
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Ep. 68 – The Orientalism Show
Why is Leopold Bloom so captivated by the “mysterious East”? In this episode we discuss the Orientalist motif in Ulysses, with a focus on “Calypso.” Topics include what is Orientalism?, how Orientalism manifests in Irish culture, the blurred continuum between Irish and British culture, Edward Said, why the “Orient” is really a dream, the Whig…
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Ep. 67 – The Ferreteyed Porkbutcher
This gland is your gland; this gland is my gland. Bloom finally makes it to the butcher to buy his kidney! In this episode, we discuss the geography (or joggerfry) of Bloom’s neighborhood, Larry O’Rourke’s, Bloom’s idea to build a tramline from the quays to the cattle market, bartenders who become rich, the art of…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…