Ulysses

  • Ep. 104 – Broken Hearts

    Corpses rarely wear hats. Topics include the correspondent organ of Hades (the heart), the O’Connell Circle, Daniel O’Connell’s heart, Tom Kernan, hats, losing your identity in the underworld, freemasonery, whether or not Leopold Bloom is a mason, Mount Jerome and the Irish church, Bloom’s denial of an afterlife, humor in the face of death, ghosts…

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  • Ep. 103 – Dominenamine

    Is there really a church in Dublin full of deadly corpsegas? Topics discussed in this episode include Cardinal McCabe and his mausoleum, the fate of orphans and widows in 1904, “Three Women to Every Men,” Leopold Bloom’s irreverence in the face of mortality, Victoria and Albert, getting up a whip, John Henry Menton, Elpinor, Cerberus,…

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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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  • Ep. 102 – Murderer’s Ground

    Wanna grab a pint at the Brian Boroimhe? Or is it Boroihme? Boru? Topics discussed in this episode include the days when cattle roamed the North Circular Road, the Royal Canal, the identity of Dublin’s own Charon, locks, how realistic it would be for Bloom to walk to Mullingar (it’s not), the Brian Boroimhe House,…

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  • Ep. 101 – Has anybody here seen Kelly?

    Kay ee double ell wy. I can’t this song out of my head. Topics in this episode include Dermot on quantum mechanics, the phenomenon of ebullition, galloping funeral carriages, the Gordon Bennett, top speeds of old race cars, 100+ year old music hall songs, the Mater hospital, Orion, Joe Cuffe, sassy Leopold Bloom, kindness to…

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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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  • Ep. 100 – Glasnevin Cemetery (w/ Martin Mooney)

    We are thrilled to welcome Martin Mooney, taphologist extraordinaire, as the guest on our 100th episode! Martin gives us a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Glasnevin Cemetery. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us at Patreon. Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

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  • Ep. 99 – The Best Death

    Rattle his bones over the stones! He ’s only a pauper whom nobody owns! Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of infant death and suicide. Topics in this episode include an O’Connell St. history quiz, how Dermot was radicalized as a ten-year-old, the demise of Nelson’s pillar, the floozie in the jacuzzi, Paddy’s adelite face…

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  • A Pisgah Sight of Palestine or the Parable of the Plums

    “But though the Irish are eloquent, a revolution is not made of human breath and compromises.”  – James Joyce, 1907, “Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages” In the final sequence in Ulysses’ seventh episode, “Aeolus”, Stephen Dedalus and the men from the Evening Telegraph office, having exhausted themselves with lofty rhetoric, set out to wet…

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  • Ep. 98 – Reuben J. Dodd

    How long can you hold a grudge? Topics in this episode include Mr. Power’s kept woman, hot 1904 gossip, rumpsteak, Reuben J. Dodd the Younger’s plunge into the Liffey, Bloom’s storytelling ability, pre-decimal currency, petty score settling, Elvery’s elephant, our favorite vegetarian restaurant in Dublin, Barabbas, chisellers, gombeens, usury, antisemitic stereotypes, whether Bloom is a…

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