Ep. 92 - Hades

The parallels between Bloom and Odysseus’ journeys to the Underworld.

Tiresias appears to Ulysses during the sacrifice, Henry Fuseli, 1780-85

Topics include a summary of Chapter XI of The Odyssey, Bloom as sideways Odysseus, the neighborhoods of Glasnevin and Sandymount, Paddy Dignam and his “apoplexy,” Elpenor, Martin Cunningham the Sisyphus of Dublin, Dublin’s waterways, Dublin’s Charon, coins for the eyes, psychopomps, Reuben J. Dodd, Corny Kelleher, Cerberus, Father Coffey, simnel cakes, Dublin’s Hades and Persephone, the Nekuia, Joycean Hercules, Agamemnon and Ajax, Robert Emmet as Tiresias, cricket, the number eleven, why Bloom goes to the Underworld in the morning, Viconian cycles, Richard Ellmann’s theory of cycles, Bloom’s non-denial of death, parallels of “Hades” and “Proteus,” the poetry of Al-Ma’arri, seadeath as the easiest death, and Bloom’s affirmation of life.

Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!

Glasnevin Cemetery, August 2022

On the Blog:

Ulysses & The Odyssey: Hades

Social Media

Facebook | Twitter

Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Further Reading:

1. Adams, R.M. (1974). Hades. In C. Hart & D. Hayman (eds.), James Joyce’s Ulysses: Critical essays (91-114). Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/wu2y7mg 

2. Burgess, A. (1968). ReJoyce. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

3. Ellmann, R. (1972). Ulysses on the Liffey. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.65767/page/n39 

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

5. 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 

6. Homer, translated by Palmer., G.H. (1912). The Odyssey. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. 

7. Kenner, H. (1987). Ulysses. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=Ajlz5rzPBOkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false 

8. Rickard, J. (1997). Stephen Dedalus among schoolchildren: The schoolroom and the riddle of authority in Ulysses. Studies in the Literary Imagination, 30, 17-36. Retrieved from http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rickard/authority.html