James Joyce

  • Ep. 151 – Blind Stripling

    A wild Blazes Boylan appears. Topics in this episode include the incredible story of Reverend Thomas Connellan, the Bible Wars, Soupers, the Bird’s Nest orphanage, apostasy and conversion, a typographical error heroically corrected, the blind stripling, whether or not the blind stripling actually wants help from Leopold Bloom, Bloom’s savior complex, Bloom’s empathy, the history…

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  • An Intimate Portrait of Mr. W. H.

    “The Love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that…

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  • Ep. 150- Throwaway

    I need to see a man about a horse. Topics in this episode include a return to nutarianism, Tom Rochford’s surprisingly heroic back story, the Ascot Gold Cup, racehorses with weird names, Jack B. Yeats’ Olympic career, the life cycle of a pernicious rumor, Tom Rochford’s invention, Don Giovanni’s ending (spoiler alert), peristalsis nearing its…

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  • Ep. 149 – Ancient Free and Accepted Order

    Are you on the level? Topics in this episode include discussion of whether or not Leopold Bloom is a freemason, how well Nosey Flynn knows the business of the other Dubliners, why Bloom never thinks about being a freemason, whether or not Tom Kernan is in the craft, whether or not you can leave the…

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  • Decoding Dedalus: Yogibogeybox in Dawson chambers.

    This is a post in a series called Decoding Dedalus where I take a passage of Ulysses and  break it down line by line. The line below comes from “Scylla and Charybdis,” the ninth episode of Ulysses. It appears on page p.191-192 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at the passage that…

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  • Ep. 148 – James Joyce Community Groups (w/ Zoe Patterson)

    Zoe Patterson of Trinity College Dublin joins Blooms & Barnacles to talk about about her research into James Joyce community groups. Support us on Patreon to access episodes early, bonus content, and a video version of our podcast. Blooms & Barnacles Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles: Apple Podcasts | Spotify…

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  • Ep. 147- Seed Cake

    Should you bring oysters to your naughty liaison on Howth? Topics in this episode include your thoughts on Bloom’s glass of burgundy, whether or not oysters are an aphrodisiac, where you used to be able to find the best oysters in Ireland, whether or not it’s ok to eat oysters in months that don’t have…

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  • Puck Mulligan: A Joycean-Shakespearean Fool

    “—We oughtn’t to laugh, I suppose. He’s rather blasphemous. I’m not a believer myself, that is to say. Still his gaiety takes the harm out of it somehow, doesn’t it?” – Haines In “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, just as Stephen Dedelaus’ exegesis on Hamlet in “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, reaches a…

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  • Ep. 146 – Is Blazes Boylan the worst man in Dublin?

    Well, was he? Topics in this episode include a thorough dissection of Hugh E. “Blazes” Boylan, why Boylan jingles and jaunts, Boylan’s snappy wardrobe, clocks on socks, whether or not Boylan smells rich, Boylan’s business ventures, Boylan’s father the horse trader, the Myler Keogh controversy, the unreliable narrators in Barney Kiernan’s pub, the sex crimes…

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  • Ep. 145 – Gorgon-Zola

    Fermentation is hot. Topics in this episode include Davy Byrne’s moral pub, Nosey Flynn, Noah and the curse of Ham, Plumtree’s Potted Meat, cannibalism, missionaries who get eaten by cannibals, long pig, Reverend MacTrigger, lapses in Leopold Bloom’s empathy, the Jesuits’ mission of conversion, colonialism, Yom Kippur, food as an expression of religion, mity cheese,…

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