Back to Ulysses

With an overview of two chapters this post. I know I have been neglecting it of late, so I am going to try and make up for it. Excitingly, I have one more chapter to go before I'm halfway. Can't wait to start Infinite Jest. 

So, on to 'Wandering Rocks', an episode that is not included in The Odyessy (the sailors manage to avoid it). I admit I quite enjoyed this chapter, particularly after the storm and tempest of the previous chapter. The short episodes featuring each character gave a good sense of the hustle and bustle of the Dublin Streets, including the landscape of the time, and it is an interesting little view into the thoughts of various characters in the book. 

 
Above, is an awesome graphic from Literature Geek showing the various interactions between the characters, using a program called Gephi. Alas, some of the ICT 'nuts and bolts' went over my head, but I think it's fabulous mixing literature with ICT and and teaching. Unfortunately, when I was in university I could barely switch a PC on and I remember going to the ICT room in my halls of residence to go on the Internet for the first time!  


I did like the way that Joyce interlinked the characters with the interpolations, some of which were 'true' and some 'false'. Although the characters were often blind to the way that they were connected, the reader could see how they fitted together like a sort of textual jigsaw. 

I didn't use the notes as much, I felt as if I just wanted to immerse myself in the atmosphere and not worry about missing information. Looking forward to listening to it, as I think that will help it make even more sense. 


'Sirens' took me a while to finish, I couldn't read it in one sitting and I had to start it again when I got a couple of pages in, this was due to the prologue which is basically a list of sounds (of the pub where the chapter is set) which we then get to discover what or who is making the sound. The chapter centers around music in that Simon (Stephen's father) plays the piano in the pub, but it is also written in a very musical way. Onomatopoeia abounds, as does alliteration and poetic sentences made up of a particular number of syllables, for example, the 13 syllabled "Bald Pat, bothered water, waited for drink orders." or "...hot tea, a sip, sipped sweet tea." The word play in the chapter is impressive, with the way that Joyce blends verbs with nouns, "In liver gravy Bloom mashed mashed potatos". All respect to Ito, in no way to be patronising, but I can't imagine the difficulties of reading this book if English is your second language. The thought of translating it makes me feel slightly quesy. 


I notice that Bloom is harsly a popular character. The barmaids cruelly laugh at him and  refer to him as greaseabloom. I'm not sure whether or not this could apply, but I thought of Said's postcolonial theory of 'the other'. Although Joyce does not seem to portray Bloom in that way through his inner thoughts (and I am reluctant to label him as anti-semitic,), its as if the chracters see Bloom as being alien, and I suppose to some extent Joyce does as well - after all, why does he go into the church if Joyce is not highlighting his differences? He is more sexual than the other characters we've seen (although I thought of Stephen as being a narcissist and obssesed with his career to the extent that he wouldn't be into having any relationships), more concerned with bodily functions and eats differently as well, the kidneys for breakfasy and liver for lunch. Whereas Stephen can be thought of as being all about the brain, Bloom is very much about the body. I was interested to read this article, 'A Jew Reads Joyce'. The author comes to the conclusion that Bloom is not portrayed in an anti-semitic way, he is just realistic and other characters react to him anti-semitically. 

Bloom from Ulysses Seen , a webcomic of Ulysses

Another cleverly written chapter, I just get the feeling that it's all too much. He's used so many techniques in one book, no wonder it had such an impact. Next up, 'Cyclops'.