Lestrygonians
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Parallax
“The paths that Joyce lays out for Bloom and Stephen that day in Dublin are not parallel to one another, for then they would never meet. They are parallactic: his characters, unbeknownst to themselves, meet the same issues which themselves assume different appearances as they are differently perceived and experienced in the context of the…
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Elijah is coming! Is Coming!! IS COMING!!!
“This is the age of patent medicine.” – Stephen Dedalus As “Lestrygonians,” the eighth episode of Ulysses opens, Leopold Bloom’s tummy is rumbly. He’s on his way to a late lunch as the sights and sounds of Dublin stir his appetite either directly or symbolically. This foody-focus in James Joyce’s mind is a characteristic of…
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Ulysses & The Odyssey – The Lestrygonians
“I have just got a letter asking why I don’t give Bloom a rest. The writer of it wants more Stephen. But Stephen no longer interested me to the same extreme. He has a shape that can’t be changed.” – James Joyce to Frank Budgen The Odyssey – Book X After their dust-up with Aeolus,…
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Who Was the Real Reuben J. Dodd?
“ I never liked Jimmy Joyce. He used to drink the altar wine.” – Reuben J. Dodd, Jr. This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the characters in Ulysses. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. The Dublin of Ulysses is…
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Ep. 66 – Potato I have.
This week, we’re talkin’ ‘bout ‘tatoes! Kelly and Dermot unpack the deeper symbolism behind Leopold Bloom’s idiosyncratic hobby of carrying a potato upon his person. Topics include Tayto crisps, Stephen and Bloom’s parallel lost keys, Bloom’s potato as a protective object, why the potato may actually possess magic powers, the potato as Odysseus’ moly, the…
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Bloom’s Potato
To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. “On the doorstep he felt in his hip pocket for the latchkey. Not there. In the trousers I left off. Must get it. Potato I have. Creaky wardrobe. No use disturbing her.” Ulysses, p. 57 The episodes “Calypso” and “Telemachus” correspond…
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In the Jakes with Mr. Bloom
“The life of [Ulysses] comes first and the philosophy afterwards. Obscenity is a question of manners and conventions for ever changing. Virtuosity, if it stood alone, would soon become demoded, and philosophy too, but living character stays through whatever material is presented.” – Frank Budgen “Professor Bloom is a finished example of the new womanly…