Lifelong Learners - LV

Here's a link to the Ulysses resources that I find useful.

Episode 15, "Circe"

• Episode 15 is written as a play script, complete with stage directions. The plot is frequently interrupted by "hallucinations" experienced by Stephen and Bloom—fantastic manifestations of the fears and passions of the two characters. Stephen and his friend Lynch walk into Nighttown, Dublin's red-light district. Bloom pursues them and eventually finds them at Bella Cohen's brothel where, in the company of her workers including Zoe Higgins, Florry Talbot and Kitty Ricketts, he has a series of hallucinations regarding his sexual fetishes, fantasies and transgressions. In one of these hallucinations, Bloom is put in the dock to answer charges by a variety of sadistic, accusing women including Mrs Yelverton Barry, Mrs Bellingham and the Hon Mrs Mervyn Talboys. In another of Bloom's hallucinations, he is crowned king of his own city, which is called Bloomusalem—Bloom imagines himself being loved and admired by Bloomusalem's citizens, but then imagines himself being accused of various charges. As a result, he is burnt at the stake and several citizens pay their respects to him as he dies.
• Then the hallucination ends, Bloom finds himself next to Zoe, and the two talk. After they talk, Bloom continues to encounter other miscellaneous hallucinations, including one in which he converses with his grandfather Lipoti Virag, who lectures him about sex, among other things. At the end of the hallucination, Bloom is speaking with some prostitutes when he hears a sound coming from downstairs. He hears heels clacking on the staircase, and he observes what appears to be a male form passing down the staircase. He speaks with Zoe and Kitty for a moment, and then sees Bella Cohen come into the brothel. He observes her appearance and talks with her for a little while. But this conversation subsequently begins another hallucination, in which Bloom imagines Bella to be a man named Mr. Bello and Bloom imagines himself to be a woman. In this fantasy, Bloom imagines himself (or "herself", in the hallucination) being dominated by Bello, who both sexually and verbally humiliates Bloom. Bloom also interacts with other imaginary characters in this scene before the hallucination ends.
• After the hallucination ends, Bloom sees Stephen overpay at the brothel, and decides to hold onto the rest of Stephen's money for safekeeping. Stephen hallucinates that his mother's rotting cadaver has risen up from the floor to confront him. He cries Non serviam!, uses his walking stick to smash a chandelier, and flees the room. Bloom quickly pays Bella for the damage, then runs after Stephen. He finds Stephen engaged in an argument with an English soldier, Private Carr, who, after hearing Stephen utter a perceived insult to King Edward VII, punches him. The police arrive and the crowd disperses. As Bloom tends to Stephen, he has a hallucination of his deceased son, Rudy, as an 11-year-old.

Here's a link to the Ulysses resources that I find useful.

Episode 16, "Eumaeus"

• Bloom takes Stephen to a cabman's shelter near Butt Bridge to restore him to his senses. There, they encounter a drunken sailor, D. B. Murphy (W. B. Murphy in the 1922 text). The episode is dominated by the motif of confusion and mistaken identity, with Bloom, Stephen and Murphy's identities being repeatedly called into question. The narrative's rambling and laboured style in this episode reflects the protagonists' nervous exhaustion and confusion.

This 6 minute video intro (youtube: "Why should you read James Joyce's "Ulysses"? - Sam Slote") provides a good overview.

Stephen Fry (2 minutes) on why Ulysses is his favorite book.

And a review (2 min) explaining why "your Taylor Swift knowledge" won't likely help you.

The last half of the last paragraph of the final episode (7 min audio only) - Molly Bloom in bed contemplating her life (this is Marcella Riordan from the Norton reading available on Amazon & Audible).

This is a nice overview of Joyce's life & Ulysses (15 min).

Finally, a knowledge of Ulysses makes this funnier.

Selected resources:

• text online with annotations: https://m.joyceproject.com/1
• Ulysses guide https://www.ulyssesguide.com/ (in book form: The Guide to James Joyce’s Ulysses – Patrick Hastings)
• audio book online - RTE: https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/series/32198-ulysses-podcast
• Ulysses Unbound – Terrence Killeen (2022 edition); short summary, commentary, notes on every episode
• Amazon / Audible: https://a.co/d/077P6rKd Norton & Riordan reading
• The New Bloomsday Book 3e - https://a.co/d/0gi1FerH - a classic work of page-by-page commentary; but both more academic & opinionated
• The original readers' guide - James Joyce's Ulysses: A Study
  by Stuart Gilbert - still readable & useful.

You do not need to attend any of the weekly sessions to come to this meetup - see you in December!