Who was…?
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Who were the real people in the Ormond Hotel in “Sirens”?
“Sirens,” the eleventh episode of Ulysses, is memorable for its musical prose, but it also stands out as an episode of revelry in the bar and restaurant of the Ormond Hotel. While Bloom cringes in anguish watching Blazes Boylan jingle-jangle off to meet Molly, the other colorful characters drown their sorrows in booze and song.…
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Ep. 162 – Quaker Librarian
I, for one, think geese really do have souls. Topics in this episode include librarian Thomas Lyster and his Quaker faith, why Lyster always seems to be dancing in “Scylla and Charybdis,” the journal of Quaker founder George Fox, what James Joyce knew about the Quakerism, Christfox, leather trews, confusing Shakespeare and George Fox in…
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Who was the real Almidano Artifoni?
This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the characters in Ulysses. In the sixth vignette of Ulysses’ tenth episode, “Wandering Rocks,” we see Stephen Dedalus chatting with Almidano Artifoni, a music maestro with comically starchy trousers. Their conversation is written entirely in untranslated Italian, so if, like me,…
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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…
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Ep. 146 – Is Blazes Boylan the worst man in Dublin?
Well, was he? Topics in this episode include a thorough dissection of Hugh E. “Blazes” Boylan, why Boylan jingles and jaunts, Boylan’s snappy wardrobe, clocks on socks, whether or not Boylan smells rich, Boylan’s business ventures, Boylan’s father the horse trader, the Myler Keogh controversy, the unreliable narrators in Barney Kiernan’s pub, the sex crimes…
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Decoding Dedalus: Christfox in Leather Trews
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.193 in my copy (1990 Vintage International). We’ll be looking at the passage that…
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Ep. 137 – Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell
“Dubliners were proud of Endymion. They were proud that they tolerated Endymion, but also that he tolerated them. Most people watched him and remembered him with affection, and only a few were aware of the darker side to some of his mutterings.” – John Simpson Topics in this episode include Philip Beaufoy, Mina Purefoy, the…
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Who Were the Real Men in the Library from “Scylla and Charybdis”?
This post is a part of an occasional series on the real people behind the characters in Ulysses. Ulysses’ ninth episode, “Scylla and Charybdis” centers Stephen Dedalus’ heroic defense of his theory on Hamlet in the National Library, pitting our young Artist against several of Dublin’s literary elite, including Æ Russell, Richard Best and John…
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Is Blazes Boylan really the worst man in Dublin?
—Ay, now I remember, Nosey Flynn said, putting his hand in his pocket to scratch his groin. Who is this was telling me? Isn’t Blazes Boylan mixed up in it? Author’s note: If you’re interested in further exploring the psyche of Blazes Boylan, I recommend checking out Margot Norris’ excellent article, Don’t Call Him “Blazes”:…
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Ep. 119 – MEMORABLE BATTLES RECALLED
“… it would be a shrewd dialectician indeed who would make much sense out of the editor’s crowings about North Cork militia with Spanish officers in Ohio.” – Robert M. Adams Topics in this episode include the North Cork Militia, the Battle of Oulart, Ned Lambert’s superior improv skills, Bloom’s professionalism, Myles Crawford as a…