Irish politics
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The Superior, The Very Reverend John Conmee S. J.
“The tidal waterway, the Anna Liffey, mother of Dublin, plays as ever her part in Joyce’s Dublin. As a creative force she is older and greater than Christ or Caesar. If Christ left Dublin the city would still exist. Man can invent fresh gods as he needs them and new gods would replace the old;…
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Poetry in Ulysses: Medical Dick and Medical Davy
In the opening scene of “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, our Hero-Artist Stephen Dedalus finds himself in the librarian’s office of the National Library in a flurry of literary repartee. The other men in the scene, Lyster and John Eglinton, chat and banter, while Stephen tosses in a few snarky comments. Eglinton lobs back:…
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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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Decoding Bloom: John Howard Parnell
This is a post in a series called Decoding Bloom where I take a paragraph of Ulysses and break it down line by line. The passage below comes from “The Lestrygonians”, the eighth episode of Ulysses. It appears on page 164-165 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). It begins “Provost’s house” and ends “house of…
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Up the Boers!
As Leopold Bloom passes beneath Tommy Moore’s roguish finger on his long walk to lunch in “Lestrygonians”, Ulysses’ eighth episode, a flock of cops catches his attention: “A squad of constables debouched from College street, marching in Indian file. Goosestep. Foodheated faces, sweating helmets, patting their truncheons. After their feed with a good load of…
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The Language of the Outlaw: John F. Taylor’s Speech in “Aeolus”
“But though the Irish are eloquent, a revolution is not made of human breath and compromises.” – James Joyce, “Ireland, Island of saints and Sages”, 1907 To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here and here. In the closing pages of “Aeolus,” Ulysses’ seventh episode, the men gathered in…
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Leopold Bloom in the House of Habsburg
“That archduke Leopold was it no yes or was it Otto one of those Habsburgs? – Leopold Bloom” To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Midway through “Aeolus,” Ulysses’ seventh episode, Stephen Dedalus re-enters the story just as Leopold Bloom steps out, like two ships passing in the…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey: Aeolus
“We mustn’t be led away by words, by sounds of words.” – “Professor” MacHugh Part of an occasional series on the Homeric parallels in James Joyce’s Ulysses. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. The Odyssey, Book X: After escaping the Cyclops, Odysseus and his surviving crew find…