Stephen Dedalus

  • Ep. 155 – On this side idolatry.

    Ep. 155 – On this side idolatry.

    You naughtn’t to look, missus, so you naughtn’t when a lady’s ashowing of her elemental. Topics in this episode include Old Ben’s critique of Shakespeare, bardolatry, Shakespeare as a symbol of English supremacy, how Plato is like Charybdis, formless spiritual essences, seeing ourselves as others see us, the paintings of Gustave Moreau, and so much…

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  • Lapwing

    Lapwing

    Near the end of “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, Stephen realizes his lecture on Hamlet is rapidly disintegrating before his eyes. Not only are John Eglinton and the rest wholly unconvinced by his arguments, but he also has Buck Mulligan nipping at his heels, undermining him at every opportunity. Stephen looks to the heavens…

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  • Ep. 154 – Folly. Persist.

    Ep. 154 – Folly. Persist.

    Satan comes forward a sinkapace. Topics in this episode include Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, Goethe’s thoughts on Hamlet translated through Thomas Lyster, Elizabethan dances, Sir Toby Belch, Monsieur de la Palice and a hilarious French pun, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Stephen’s six brave medicals, Marie Corelli’s The Sorrows of Satan, Cranly, Medical Dick and Medical Davy,…

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  • A Shakespearean Ghoststory Part 3: Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund

    A Shakespearean Ghoststory Part 3: Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund

    This is part three of a three part series about searching for real-life “ghosts” by prying  into Shakespeare’s personal life. You can read part one here and part two here. Near the end of “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, Stephen finally arrives at the rousing conclusion of his Shakespeare theory: not only did Shakespeare…

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  • Decoding Dedalus: Saint Thomas’ New Viennese School

    Decoding Dedalus: Saint Thomas’ New Viennese School

    This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a passage of Ulysses and  break it down line by line. The line below comes from “Scylla and Charybdis,” the ninth episode of Ulysses. It appears on page p. 205-206 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at the passage…

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  • Ep. 152 – Scylla and Charybdis

    Ep. 152 – Scylla and Charybdis

    Here be monsters. We crack into Ulysses’ ninth episode: “Scylla and Charybdis.” Topics in this episode include: a great philosopher’s thoughts on Shakespeare, Dermot, another great philosopher’s, thoughts on Shakespeare, Odysseus’ encounter with Scylla and Charybdis, the geography and currents of the Strait of Messina that likely inspired the story of Scylla and Charybdis, the…

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  • Decoding Dedalus: He drew Shylock out of his own long pocket.

    Decoding Dedalus: He drew Shylock out of his own long pocket.

    This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a passage of Ulysses and  break it down line by line. The line below comes from “Scylla and Charybdis,” the ninth episode of Ulysses. It appears on page p. 204 – 205 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at…

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  • The Chap that Writes like Synge

    The Chap that Writes like Synge

    Irish playwright John Millington Synge moves like a phantom through the pages of “Scylla and Charybdis”, Ulysses’ ninth episode. We get an allusion here, a namedrop there, but he never appears in person. Despite this absence, he is not spared the roasting that other Dublin literary types like Æ Russell, Richard Best and John Eglinton…

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  • An Intimate Portrait of Mr. W. H.

    An Intimate Portrait of Mr. W. H.

    After Buck Mulligan’s raucous entrance in “Scylla and Charybdis”, Ulysses’ ninth episode, Stephen Dedalus struggles to regain composure and continue on with his theory of Hamlet. In the midst of this disorder, Mr. Best chimes in to share one of his favorite Shakespeare-inspired texts: “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” is a short story by Oscar…

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  • Decoding Dedalus: Yogibogeybox in Dawson chambers.

    This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a passage of Ulysses and  break it down line by line. The line below comes from “Scylla and Charybdis,” the ninth episode of Ulysses. It appears on page p.191-192 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at the passage that…

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