Ep. 109 - The Tower of Silence
Break out the Tantalus glasses - we’re finally getting out of the Underworld!
Engraving of the Mumbai Tower of Silence, 1886
Topics in our final episode covering “Hades” include paying the ferryman, turning a suit, rats, Robert Emmet, the speech from the dock, toxic nostalgia, cremation, the Catholic Church’s position on cremation, quicklime, Zoroastrianism, the Parsi Tower of Silence, the unexpected consequences of a reduced vulture population, the gentleness of seadeath, leaving the Underworld, Mrs. Sinico and “A Painful Case”, Leopold Bloom’s affirmation of life, John Henry Menton, whether JHM ever had a shot with Molly, Mat Dillon’s parties, Tantalus, Tantalus glasses, Ajax revisited, and our closing thoughts on “Hades”.
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Further Reading:
Geoghegan, P. (Feb 2011). Emmet, Robert. The Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved from https://www.dib.ie/biography/emmet-robert-a2921
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/vy6j4tk
Homer, translated by Palmer., G.H. (1912). The Odyssey. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications.
Igoe, V. (2016). The real people of Joyce’s Ulysses: A biographical guide. University College Dublin Press.
Karkaria, B. (2015, Jan 26). Death in the city: How a lack of vultures threatens Mumbai's 'Towers of Silence'. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/26/death-city-lack-vultures-threatens-mumbai-towers-of-silence
McGarry, P. (2021, Oct 25). Catholic Church’s shifting view on cremation seen in new site for urns. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/4ztd9p8p
Schotsmans, E. M. J., Denton, J., Dekeirsschieter, J., Ivaneanu, T., Leentjes, S., Janaway, R. C., & Wilson, A. S. (2012). Effects of hydrated lime and quicklime on the decay of buried human remains using pig cadavers as human body analogues. Forensic Science International, 217(1-3), 50–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.09.025
Schwarz, D. (2004). Reading Joyce’s Ulysses. Palgrave Macmillan.