Mr Deasy
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Ep. 159: AEIOU
Stephen Dedalus beats debt with this one simple trick! Topics incluce: “Scylla and Charybdis’” dialectic as metacommentary on Ulysses as a whole, the perils of offending the gods of the sea, Stephen takes offense to Æ, Stephen’s many debts, the artistic value of green room gossip, contrasting Æ and Mr. Deasy, Stephen as the ship…
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Decoding Dedalus: He drew Shylock out of his own long pocket.
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. 204 – 205 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at…
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The Invincible Ignatius Gallaher
“And yet it was in some way if not as memory fabled it.” – Stephen Dedalus To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. It seems that poor Stephen Dedalus can’t catch a break from the nightmare of history anywhere in this bloody city. While Stephen’s presence in “Aeolus”…
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Ep. 24 – A Shout in the Street
Blooms and Barnacles’ series on Mr. Deasy and “Nestor” comes to a close with a discussion of the old headmaster’s biased views of women’s negative impact on history. The relative culpability of four woman accused of causing history’s great evils is explored, along with what exactly Stephen means when he refers to God as a…
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Ep. 23 – The Nightmare of History
Kelly and Dermot deconstruct the nightmare of history shared by the Irish and the Jews alike. We further explore the intricacies of Mr. Deasy’s bigotry and what it tells us about what life was like in 1900’s Dublin. Other topics covered include one possible source of Joyce’s hatred of Gogarty, the correlation of antisemitism and…
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Ep. 22 – Perviest Breakfast
Per vias rectas! Mr. Deasy’s origins – revealed! Kelly and Dermot dive into Joyce’s real life acquaintances and experiences that inspired the gruff headmaster Mr. Deasy in Ulysses‘ second episode, “Nestor.” Topics covered include why Mr. Deasy is so concerned about foot and mouth disease, the relative rebelliousness of voting in favor of the Union…
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Ep. 21 – Croppies Lie Down
This week, Kelly and Dermot explain the nightmarish history tucked into Stephen’s terse rebuttal of Mr. Deasy’s weak grasp of Irish history. The passage covered can be found on p. 31 of Kelly’s edition of Ulysses (1990 Vintage International). Topics covered include the history of the Orange Order, the Battle of the Diamond, the Planters’…
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Ep. 20 – Big Words Which Make Us So Unhappy
History is the art of Nestor, so let’s immerse ourselves in the nightmare of history, at least the bits covered on p. 31 of Ulysses. Learn about Stephen’s hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Mr. Deasy tries to teach Stephen a bit of history, but (spoiler alert) he doesn’t know much about history. Topics covered include Daniel O’Connell, the Orange lodges,…
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Ep. 19 – Fogey and Tory
A character study of the infamous Mr. Deasy, the headmaster of Stephen’s school in “Nestor,” the second episode of Ulysses. We discuss how Mr. Deasy is a stereotypical Dubliner of his day, as well as his defining characteristics (including his impressive mustache!) Mr. Deasy has a lot to teach us, though he is an old…
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Ep. 10 – Nestor
Welcome to Episode 10, our first episode covering episode two of Ulysses, “Nestor.” Kelly and Dermot discuss the political philosophy of Giambattista Vico and his influence on James Joyce, Homeric parallels between King Nestor and Mr. Deasy, and Dermot’s artistic inspiration for his cartoon version of Mr. Deasy. On the Blog: Ulysses & The Odyssey:…