Blazes Boylan
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Ep. 63 – Calypso
Welcome to the next stage of your journey! This week we cover the parallels to “Calypso,” the fourth episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses and Book V of Homer’s Odyssey. Topics include how Leopold Bloom and Odysseus are similar, how they’re different since Bloom is really a sideways Odysseus, Bloom as a feminine man, the danger…
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The Language of Flowers
“P. S. Do tell me what kind of perfume does your wife use. I want to know.” – Ulysses, p. 78 To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Mr. Leopold Bloom is predisposed to skulk. “Lotus Eaters” is a particularly skulky episode, during which Bloom kills an hour…
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Plumtree’s Potted M’Coy
“This is the age of patent medicine.” – Stephen Dedalus To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episodes here and here. “Lotus Eaters” is, by its nature, a sleepy section of Ulysses, full of seemingly inconsequential incidents, but there are secrets hidden around every corner. Early in the episode, Bloom…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey: Calypso
“… I found that for [Joyce] human character was best displayed – I had almost said entirely displayed – in the commonest acts of life. How a man eats his egg will give a better clue to his differentiation than how he goes forth to war… Cutting bread displays character better than cutting throats.” –…