women in literature

  • Ep. 167 – Secondbest Bed

    Sometimes the secondbest bed is the better bed. Topics in this episode include Griselsa, Antisthenes and Helen, art of surfeit, the Dark Lady of the sonnets, the erotic adventures of Shakespeare and Richard Burbage, how the Dark Lady connects the works of Shakespeare to the world of Ulysses, misogyny in the interpretation of Shakespeare, the…

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  • Ep. 160: Anne Hath A Way

    No, not that Anne Hathaway. The Shakespearean one. Topics in this episode include Socratididion’s Epipsychidion, unparalleled pettiness, Stephen’s unfair characterization of Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway, why commentary about Anne Hathaway has been so problematic historically, Anne as a Gertrude stand-in, how we can learn factual information about the Shakespeares’ lives, sixteenth century age gap discourse,…

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  • A Shakespearean Ghoststory Part 2: Anne Hath a Way

    “In fact, it could be argued that versions of Anne Hathaway are always constructed in connection with Shakespeare, and that the ways she is depicted are designed to produce a particular ‘Shakespeare’ rather than an independent portrayal of Hathaway as an early modern woman…” – Katherine Scheil “Anyone steeped in western literary culture must wonder…

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  • The Women of Ulysses: Lizzie Twigg

    “Everybody who met her liked her – because she was warm and outgoing. Here I am saying good things about Lizzie. Poor Liz – nobody remembers her now.” – Padraic Colum, 1969 As Leopold Bloom passes the offices of the Irish Times in “Lestrygonians”, Ulysses’ eighth episode, he can’t help but think about all the…

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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. 89 – Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom (w/ Aedín Moloney)

    Kelly speaks with actress Aedín Moloney about playing Molly Bloom in her one-woman show, Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom. Sweny’s Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe! Aedín Moloney: http://www.aedinmoloney.com/ Instagram | Twitter Blooms & Barnacles Social Media: Facebook | Twitter Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

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  • Ep. 80 – The Language of Flowers

    “Angry tulips with you darling manflower punish your cactus if you don’t please poor forgetmenot how I long violets to dear roses when we soon anemone meet all naughty nightstalk wife Martha’s perfume.” Kelly and Dermot untangle the mysterious language of flowers. Topics include James Joyce’s affair with Marthe Fleischmann, the pitfalls of method acting,…

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  • The Women of Ulysses: Milly Bloom

    Part of an occasional series on the women of Ulysses. To listen to a discussion of this topic, check out the podcast episode here. Poor Milly Bloom. She’s the daughter of one of literature’s greatest heroes, but she’s been given short shrift. Joyce critics over the decades have largely ignored her or written her off…

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  • Ep. 72 – Dearest Papli

    Is a picnic really just picnic? In this episode, Dermot and Kelly discuss Milly’s letter from Mullingar, those lovely seaside girls, Milly’s purpose in the narrative of Ulysses, the implication of a picnic, whether or not Milly is a poor substitute for Rudy, the significance of Milly’s fifteenth birthday, how Milly’s maturity has affected her…

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  • Ep. 71 – Agendath Netaim

    Leopold Bloom contemplates the purchase of immense melonfields north of Jaffa. Topics covered in this episode include the Zionist movement of the early 20th century, how to pronounce Agendath Netaim, why Joyce might have changed Agudat to Agendath, hypostasis, the business sense (or nonsense) of buying farmland in Palestine, Bleibtreustrasse 34, morphic resonance, Dlugacz the…

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