Ep. 58 - Barnacle Goose and Featherbed Mountain

Barnacle geese emerging from barnacles in Topographia Hibernica, by Gerald of Wales

How exactly does God become a featherbed mountain? What the heck is a featherbed mountain? We answer these questions and more in this episode of Blooms & Barnacles!

Topics covered in this episode include Dermot’s hot take on Richard Dawkins, Renaissance magic, theosophy, metempsychosis, Dublin seagulls, linear v. cyclical world-views, Dermot takes on Jared Diamond, consubstantiality, the Stephen seeks freedom from his father, the ichthys symbol, minnows eating spongy titbits, Hamlet, the legend of the barnacle goose, Gerald of Wales, the conundrum that barnacle geese caused the Catholic Church, the immaculate conception of barnacle geese, domestic geese v. wild geese, the Featherbed Mountains, Molly’s featherbed, why Lenehan is the worst, and why Stephen needs the love and support of a good friend.

How exactly does God become a featherbed mountain? What the heck is a featherbed mountain? We answer these questions and more in this episode of Blooms & Barnacles! Topics covered in this episode include Dermot's hot take on Richard Dawkins, Renaissance magic, theosophy, metempsychosis, Dublin seagulls, linear v.

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Barnacle Geese

On the Blog:

Decoding Dedalus: God Becomes Featherbed Mountain

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Media Mentioned in this Episode:

Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Frances Yates

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr.

Further Reading:

1. Day, R. (1975). Joyce, Stoom, King Mark: "Glorious Name of Irish Goose". James Joyce Quarterly,12(3), 211-250. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/25487183

2. Ellmann, R. (1974). Ulysses on the Liffey. London: Faber and Faber. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.65767/page/n39

3. 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

4. Gilbert, S. (1955). James Joyce’s Ulysses: a study. New York: Vintage Books. 

5. Herr, C. (1980). Theosophy, Guilt, and "That Word Known to All Men" in Joyce's "Ulysses". James Joyce Quarterly,18(1), 45-54. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25476336

6. Mitchell Morse, J. (1974). Proteus. In C. Hart & D. Hayman (eds.), James Joyce’s Ulysses: Critical essays (29-50). Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/wu2y7mg

7. Vitoux, P. (1981). Aristotle, Berkeley, and Newman in "Proteus" and "Finnegans Wake". James Joyce Quarterly,18(2), 161-175. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25476353

8. Ichthys image source

9. Barnacle Goose in Topographia Hibernica by Gerald of Wales source