Ulysses
-
Ulysses & The Odyssey – Wandering Rocks
‘Wandering Rocks,’” following immediately on Stephen’s theorizing, is Joyce’s most complete celebration of Dublin, demonstrating succinctly his conception of the importance of physical reality, meticulously documented, as the soil from which fictions may best grow.” – Clive Hart The Odyssey – Book XII Circe advises Odysseus on how to sail safely home. She warns him…
-
Ep. 155 – On this side idolatry.
You naughtn’t to look, missus, so you naughtn’t when a lady’s ashowing of her elemental. Topics in this episode include Old Ben’s critique of Shakespeare, bardolatry, Shakespeare as a symbol of English supremacy, how Plato is like Charybdis, formless spiritual essences, seeing ourselves as others see us, the paintings of Gustave Moreau, and so much…
-
Lapwing
Near the end of “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, Stephen realizes his lecture on Hamlet is rapidly disintegrating before his eyes. Not only are John Eglinton and the rest wholly unconvinced by his arguments, but he also has Buck Mulligan nipping at his heels, undermining him at every opportunity. Stephen looks to the heavens…
-
Ep. 154 – Folly. Persist.
Satan comes forward a sinkapace. Topics in this episode include Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, Goethe’s thoughts on Hamlet translated through Thomas Lyster, Elizabethan dances, Sir Toby Belch, Monsieur de la Palice and a hilarious French pun, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Stephen’s six brave medicals, Marie Corelli’s The Sorrows of Satan, Cranly, Medical Dick and Medical Davy,…
-
A Shakespearean Ghoststory Part 3: Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund
This is part three of a three part series about searching for real-life “ghosts” by prying into Shakespeare’s personal life. You can read part one here and part two here. Near the end of “Scylla and Charybdis,” Ulysses’ ninth episode, Stephen finally arrives at the rousing conclusion of his Shakespeare theory: not only did Shakespeare…
-
Ep. 153 – Who Were the Real Men in the Library from “Scylla and Charybdis”?
Eglinton knows Best. Topics in this episode include the real-life versions of John Eglinton and Richard Best, Best’s contribution to the study of Irish mythology, how Best supported James Joyce’s abandoned music career, what his portrayal in Ulysses gets right and wrong, how the real Best felt about his fictional counterpart in Ulysses, gay-coding and…
-
Decoding Dedalus: Saint Thomas’ New Viennese School
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. 205-206 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at the passage…
-
Ep. 152 – Scylla and Charybdis
Here be monsters. We crack into Ulysses’ ninth episode: “Scylla and Charybdis.” Topics in this episode include: a great philosopher’s thoughts on Shakespeare, Dermot, another great philosopher’s, thoughts on Shakespeare, Odysseus’ encounter with Scylla and Charybdis, the geography and currents of the Strait of Messina that likely inspired the story of Scylla and Charybdis, the…
-
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…
-
The Chap that Writes like Synge
“Stephen had met Synge in Paris, and the clash of their temperaments had produced heat but no light.” – Frank Budgen Irish playwright John Millington Synge moves like a phantom through the pages of “Scylla and Charybdis”, Ulysses’ ninth episode. We get an allusion here, a namedrop there, but he never appears in person. Despite…