Lotus Eaters
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Ep. 79 – Martha
Henry dear, do not deny my request before my patience are exhausted. In this episode, Kelly and Dermot try to figure out who Martha, Leopold Bloom’s saucy penpal, could really be. Topics include Dermot’s interest in Islam, Bloom’s missing hour, Leah the Forsaken, jugginses and guttapercha, castration anxiety, hopscotch and marbles, senior infants, Martha’s letter,…
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Ep. 78 – An Abode of Bliss
The Blooms’ household is anything but an abode of bliss. In this episode, topics include: Plumtree’s Potted Meat, Joyce’s love for advertising, the narcotic effect of adspeak, why Plumtree’s Potted Meat is the perfect metaphor for a modern Odysseus, M’Coy’s various scams, Boylan’s metaphorically significant gifts to Molly, Bloom’s missing hour and how his cat…
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Ep. 77 – M’Coy. Get rid of him quickly.
Leopold Bloom braves an awkward stop-and-chat. Topics in this episode include: Leopold Bloom’s encounter with M’Coy, what Bloom has in common with Larry David, M’Coy as a character in “Grace”, M’Coy as an early prototype for Bloom, a quincunx, Bloom wrestles with his Shadow, Bloom trying to catch a glimpse of a woman’s leg, outsider…
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Ep. 76 – Henry Flower, Esq
Mr. Bloom runs a mysterious errand at the Westland Row Post Office. Topics include hidden lotuses, Corny Kelleher, Leopold Bloom’s missing hour, tooraloom tooraloom tay, Orientalism and Bloom’s fantasy of the Far East, stereotypes about climate’s affects the character of a culture, Tom Kernan, how Bloom succumbs to the Lotus Eaters, Henry Flower, what Bloom…
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Ep. 75 – The Lotus Eaters
We begin our foray into the languorous “Lotus Eaters” episode. Topics in this episode include how Kelly is like the Terminator, Odysseus and his crew’s misadventure with the Lotus Eaters in The Odyssey, why forgetfulness is evil in Odysseus’ view, some peculiar tales from Westland Row, cultivating an appreciation for the mundane, the Lotus Eaters…
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Sweny the Alchemist
“ Sweny’s in Lincoln place. Chemists rarely move.” Ulysses, p. 84 To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here and here. Leopold Bloom’s observation that chemists rarely move has turned out to be oddly prescient. As Dublin has evolved as a city since 1904, much of Bloom’s hometown would…
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Decoding Bloom: The Opiate of the Mass
“Look at all my trials and tribulations/ Sinking in a gentle pool of wine/ What’s that in the bread? It’s gone to my head/ ‘Till this morning is this evening, life is fine.” – “The Last Supper,” Jesus Christ Superstar This is a post in a series called Decoding Bloom where I take a paragraph…
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Decoding Bloom: The Lotus Eaters Sutra
“Buddha their god lying on his side in the museum. Taking it easy with hand under his cheek.” — Ulysses, p. 80 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 “Lotus Eaters,” the fifth…
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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…