The Lotus Eaters/Ulysses as a Comic Novel

I haven't done my required reading for the day as yet, but I did manage to read 'The Lotus Eaters' (chapter 5) last night. I enjoyed this chapter and I think it helped me to start to see the connection with the source material without resorting to the many guides method. I have succumed to note-taking within the book though, and I did have to read over the part in the church a few time, as I kept feeling as if I'd missed something.

I was amused by the advertsing slogan:

What is home without
Plumtree's potted meat?
Incomplete
With it an abode of bliss.

Ironic, because of the use of the rhetorical device and the highly poetic hyperbolic language.
 

(Taken from the St. Andrew's Parish Church website where this chapter was set. Note the lack of mention of the novel if you go on the website)

The part in the church confused me a little because I think I was looking for some sort of 'message' that Joyce had hidden in there. However, that way lies getting bogged down I think. I can't look there for Joyce's attitude to religion, what we're looking at is the way that Bloom is observing the Catholic religion as an outsider, and the way that Joyce is using the Church to fit in with the idea of the Lotus Eaters - in this case the church-goers who are sporific from the Latin and receiving the sacrament. There is an air of hypocrisy (on the part of the church-goers) prevading parts of it, for example, Bloom/Joyce describes a woman going to confession: 'Repentance skindeep. Lovely shame' and the listing of various aspects of religion makes it seem inconsequential somehow. There are also hints about church and state being rather too intertwined. 

The little advertising slogan was the first hint, but listening to the first part of the radio broadcast opened my eyes (pun intended). The way that the book is revered and feared makes you forget that it is meant to be a comic novel, not just a weighty tone for masochists! I think listening to it makes it far more accessible, as it is easier to tell between what is dialogue and what is stream-of-consciousness. I have also heard of editions that have been reformatted to make it easy to read. Anyway, I am certainly going to listen to the rest of the Radio 4 broadcast. I'm not expecting the rest of the book to be laugh-a-minute, but it has been a pleasant surprise. 

Suppose I should get back to reading it now. Next part - the funeral (Hades).