Stephen Dedalus
-
Decoding Dedalus: Wild Geese
In gay Paree he hides, Egan of Paris, unsought by any save by me. 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 passage below comes from “Proteus,” the third episode of Ulysses. It appears on pages 42 44…
-
La Vie de Léo Taxil
—Qui vous a mis dans cette fichue position? —C’est le pigeon, Joseph. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Midway though “Proteus,” Stephen reminisces on his time as a medical student in Paris. Amongst those reminiscences, two names are nestled. First, on page 41 (Vintage International Edition): But…
-
Mahamanvantara
“I wouldn’t be [Joyce’s] Messiah for a thousand million pounds. He would always be criticising the bad taste of his deity.” – AE Russell To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Hello, dear readers. Let’s have some fun with Sanskrit today. We’re in the thick of it now,…
-
Ep. 14 – A Fox Burying His Grandmother
Dermot and Kelly take on a point of vexation and consternation for any Ulysses fan: what the actual heck does Stephen’s riddle mean? What symbolism lies within? Does he just like torturing children? We throw in some extra John Milton for good measure. Sweny’s Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe! On the…
-
Houses of Decay
The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and…
-
Ep. 13 – The Nostalgia Trap (w/ Tom O’Leary)
Kelly and Dermot welcome Tom O’Leary back to the podcast to talk about the allure of nostalgia. Tom and Dermot talk about what it’s actually like to be an Irish person who left their home country to seek their fortune abroad, nostalgia for their past, Americans’ nostalgia for an Ireland that never was, and how…
-
Ep. 12 – Wings of Excess
Sweny’s Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe! On the Blog: Pyrrhus: A Disappointed Bridge Social Media: Facebook|Twitter Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles: iTunes| Google Play Music| Stitcher Further Reading: Birmingham, K. (2014, June 7). As the world went to war, James Joyce plotted his own revolution. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/as-the-world-went-to-war-james-joyce-plotted-his-own-revolution-1.1820543 Gifford,…
-
Decoding Dedalus: Omphalos
Daedalus in Ulysses was Joyce himself, so he was terrible. Joyce was so damn romantic and intellectual about him. He’d made Bloom up. Bloom was wonderful. – Ernest Hemingway, “On Writing” This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a paragraph of Ulysses and break it down line by line.…
-
Ep. 10 – Nestor
Welcome to Episode 10, our first episode covering episode two of Ulysses, “Nestor.” Kelly and Dermot discuss the political philosophy of Giambattista Vico and his influence on James Joyce, Homeric parallels between King Nestor and Mr. Deasy, and Dermot’s artistic inspiration for his cartoon version of Mr. Deasy. On the Blog: Ulysses & The Odyssey:…
-
Ulysses & The Odyssey: Proteus
This episode contains practically no action. Nothing happens…. – Stuart Gilbert, on“Proteus” Part of an occasional series on the Homeric parallels in James Joyce’s Ulysses. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. The Odyssey: Book 4 Telemachus and co. find their way to the home of Menelaus, the…