Homeric Parallels
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Ep. 174 – The Wandering Rocks
Here be dragons. Topics in this episode include why “Wandering Rocks” is the least Homeric episode of Ulysses, why the name “Wandering Rocks” isn’t quite right, how Jason escaped the Wandering Rocks, how Leopold Bloom is a mightier hero than Odysseus, correspondences for “Wandering Rocks,” the “blind mechanism” of the Wandering Rocks, clockspeed, how to…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey – Sirens
“A musical episode was easy to place in Dublin, for Dublin is, or was, a musical town, with a particular passion for vocal music. A few Dubliners of the older generation meet in the lounge of the Ormond Hotel and a couple of songs, with an improvisation on the piano, constitute the entertainment. No writer…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey – Wandering Rocks
‘Wandering Rocks,’” following immediately on Stephen’s theorizing, is Joyce’s most complete celebration of Dublin, demonstrating succinctly his conception of the importance of physical reality, meticulously documented, as the soil from which fictions may best grow.” – Clive Hart The Odyssey – Book XII Circe advises Odysseus on how to sail safely home. She warns him…
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Ep. 152 – Scylla and Charybdis
Here be monsters. We crack into Ulysses’ ninth episode: “Scylla and Charybdis.” Topics in this episode include: a great philosopher’s thoughts on Shakespeare, Dermot, another great philosopher’s, thoughts on Shakespeare, Odysseus’ encounter with Scylla and Charybdis, the geography and currents of the Strait of Messina that likely inspired the story of Scylla and Charybdis, the…
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Ep. 144 – Rawhead and Bloody Bones
Let’s hope for something galoptious when all’s said and done. Topics in this episode include the lestrygonian feast in the Burton, masculinity and meat eating, societal paralysis, Bloom’s plan to feed the masses, Bloom’s memories of working in the cattle market, the importance of cattle to the Irish economy, the horror that is dicky meat,…
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Ep. 143 – Bloodhued Poplin, Lustrous Blood
Think unsexy thought. Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts. Topics included corrections, Yeates and Son, parallax, eclipses, Dunsink Time, Thomas Moore, peristalsis, Bob Doran, Take off that white hat!, Huguenots, the princess of the Lestrygonians, Leopold Bloom’s failed attempt to think unsexy thoughts, Bloom as sideways Odysseus, Bloom failing to destroy Molly’s suitor, and a…
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Ep. 131 – The Lestrygonians
Who’s for dinner? Topics in this episode include revisiting Ulysses-themed tarot, Odysseus’ encounter with the Lestrygonians, being in Leopold Bloom’s head once more, the Homeric parallels found in Ulysses’ eighth episode, the dangers of being too hangry, translating The Odyssey into French, anthropomorphic geography, trophomorphism, the intersection of food and sexuality, bloody imagery, and why…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey: Scylla & Charybdis
“[The paternity motif], which, applied to the Godhead, has been so fruitful a cause of misunderstanding and dissension in the Christian Church, that this episode is the subtlest and hardest to epitomize of all the eighteen episodes of Ulysses.” – Stuart Gilbert “The Aristotelian and Platonic philosophies are the monsters that lie in wait in…
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Rawhead and Bloody Bones in the Burton
“Although Joyce’s parallel reduces Homer’s ‘murderous reception’ to the farce of teeth chomping, a similar violence does exist here, if only in the poverty that has produced this scene…” – Trevor L. Williams After passing through Grafton St. on the way to lunch in “Lestrygonians”, Ulysses’ eighth episode, Leopold Bloom must pass through one more…
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Ep. 113 – IN THE HEART OF THE HIBERNIAN METROPOLIS
All aboard for the heart of the Hibernian metropolis! Topics in this episode include HEADLINES, trams, Nelson’s Pillar, The GPO, the mythic kingdom of Aeolia, post boxes, Joyce’s portrayal of his uncle John “Red” Murray, excessive piety, reformed atheists, Ruttledge the ghost, Davy Stephens the king’s courier, the creeping threat of native advertising, William Brayden’s…