Classics and the Western Canon discussion
Ulysses
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16. Eumaeus
Bloom meeting Stephen made me think of how it would be to meet your own younger self. I imagine Joyce wondering how the young artist he once was, became (kind of) a provider, a husband and father of two kids (and hardly any money). I once asked my wife in jest how she could fall in love with such a brat as I was. She answered, more seriously than I cared for, that she found it harder to imagine how she put up with what had become of him. Made me jealous.
PS: That's to say that we can think of Bloom and Stephen as men in whom elements of the older resp. younger mindset are stressed. Though time does not seem to mean much to Joyce.
Patrice wrote: "He calls it "a necessary evil".So what is he saying? He's paterfamilias. "
It's interesting that you say that, because earlier in the book Stephen says the same thing about fathers. "A father is a necessary evil." Both statements are cynical and untrue, but in slightly different ways, because Stephen and Bloom have different orientations.
I think you're right about the "disconnect." They are disconnected from each other, but they are also disconnected from a part of themselves. Bloom is concerned almost entirely with things of the earth and the body. Food, sex, science, society, finance. In Circe, Bloom's father asks him what he is doing wasting his money in Nighttown: "Have you no soul?"
On the other hand, Stephen is concerned almost entirely with the soul. He won't touch the food Bloom offers him and he more or less throws his money away. His concern is almost purely intellectual. Religion, poetry, history. Stephen's orientation is maternal rather than paternal. As Bloom's father appears to Bloom, so Stephen's mother appears to Stephen: "I pray for you in my other world. Get Dilly to make you that boiled rice every night after your brain work."
They both seem to be out of balance. No wonder there is a disconnect.
Patrice wrote: "Everytime I think "By golly, I've got it!" it slips through my fingers once again!;-("I'm enjoying your thought process in trying to figure this all out, Patrice. You've given me something to chew on at least. Otherwise I've felt like this is all over my head unless I spend every waking moment of my day thinking about it. But even then, I don't have the biblical or Irish and Jewish backgrounds to get me to these points.
Thomas wrote: "Stephen is repeating fragments from the Yeats poem "Who Goes with Fergus" that his mother loved and that Stephen sang to her on her deathbed. "This poem was also in Telemachus, yes? That feels so long ago but I guess it was just the morning before.
Patrice wrote: "It just dawned on me that this is basically the Jewish POV. The needs of the body cannot be denied, they must be met in the right way at the right time and in the right amount (sounds like Aristot..."Yeah, I think that's about right. I'm not sure what to make of it, but Joyce sets the Greek next to the Jewish in this novel. Stephen (whose name is composed of two Greek words, who loves Aristotle, who relies on reason and the intellect) is set next to Bloom, who is in tune with the earth and is much more in touch with his body.
The only sense I can make of it is that both are necessary, both are vital aspects of a complete human being, and in Bloom and Stephen these elements are sort of isolated. They belong together like father and son, but they don't seem to make that connection.
Tk wrote: "This poem was also in Telemachus, yes? That feels so long ago but I guess it was just the morning before.."Yes. The last three chapters parallel the first three chapters, so it's nice that you picked up on that. I hadn't remembered that until now!
Patrice wrote: "There is no escaping Ulysses! I turned on the TV and there was Anthony Bourdain in Dublin. Ahhhh! Touring the streets, talking to the natives. But what really struck me was how he spent the eve..."Bourdain is a notorious drunk... It's kind of his schtick. I enjoy the show, but wouldn't really extrapolate his behavior onto anyone else.
Sue wrote: "There was some discussion earlier about religion as it relates to this novel (so hopefully this is not redundant) but I note there is a part in this chapter wherein Bloom mentions that it is a "h..."I like to think of Stephen as a "recovering Catholic" - I actually think this is a pretty key part of his character. He has rejected the Church on a cerebral level, but it was such a large part of his upbringing that he cannot purge it's influence from his thought processes simply by deciding that he doesn't wish to be a member anymore. He has at several points shown his contradictory feeling - for example in Nestor he dismissively describes God as "a shout in the street". Then in very next episode, when his thoughts are free to wander, fragments of obscure Catholic philosophy are swimming around in his head, mixed up with more objective traditions of thought.
"So it is that it is formulaic/ organized religion that Stephen has issues with rather than the belief in God?"
I think yes, from our perspective, but I also think that he would probably have a hard time separating those two ideas (God and Church) in his own mind.
"In the beginning Stephen proclaimed he was slave to both the Imperial British state and the Italian "crazy queen" (Holy Roman Catholic and apostolic church).>."
These concepts also bracket the Wandering Rocks episode (Conmee and the Royal governor's entourage)....
"why not pray over his mother..a tortured relationship with the concept perhaps?>
I think that's exact right.
Patrice wrote: "Oh, I know he's a drunk. What shocked me was that at l AM the pubs, streets and restaurants seemed to be full of them. He mentioned that one restaurant opened at midnight!The scene could have b..."
That's actually surprising to me... When I was last in Dublin (about 15 years ago), the pubs were required to close at 10:30 pm. Of course, there were a few with "late licenses", and there were also some night clubs that were allowed to stay open late. But i recall that if you wanted to stay out past 10:30, it did require some extra planning. Though it would t surprise me if Bourdain did a fine job of planning ahead to make sure he found spots that were open late...
Patrice wrote: "That's interesting. It sounds as though at the time Ulysses was written, that was not the norm. I was watching the utube again and they mentioned that dock workers and other night workers had to ..."Honestly I don't think I was out that late... I don't doubt there are late night crowds, but I guess just didn't expect they were as heavy as some other cities where more places are open later. I know here in Philadelphia the downtown street get pretty packed for an hour around 2 am when most bars close, and I've seen Chicago and NYC get pretty wild in the wee hours as well...
Anthony Bourdain is a drunk? All I know is he has the world's greatest job (and enjoys food and yes, drink). I was taking the Cabman's shelter to be some sort of "Denny's", a place that people go to after partying to get a bite or what not …(or seems it was Denny's (or Ihop?) back in my college days) and for those with unusual hours/jobs (but of course, more rustic than Denny's ..ha!).Kyle, I appreciate your insightful thoughts regarding Stephen's tortured stance as to religion..I do think you are right. It is so engrained in him from his childhood but he tries to fully slough it off..but with great difficulty…and perhaps in vain.
Lol…yes, likely the swineherd's shack is much more akin to what Joyce was trying to replicate in kind…I was just trying to conjure up something that I personally could relate to more (since I have not frequented swineherd's shacks)! ha!It is ponderous to think of drunken medical students waiting outside a maternity delivery room (of sorts), whooping it up! A different time or a bit free with the pen for Joyce?
Well, if Bourdain has addiction issues…his job certainly puts him at risk a lot. I started to read up on him and yes….
Patrice wrote: "Just so I understand what you're saying...l. From the time Bloom decides to visit Mina Purefoy when she was in labor I thought it was a bizarre scene. Drunken young men and Bloom going to the ..."
"Chucking out time" was 11 pm in Dublin in 1904. No liquor could be sold after that time. There were illegal bars called shebeen, but legal establishments stopped at 11. At one point Stephen complains about not being able to get another drink, in Circe I think.
2. Then, they are wandering around in the wee small hours of the night. Bloom trying to save SD who is drop dead drunk, etc. Again, far fetched.
This actually happened to Joyce, so I don't suppose it was far fetched to him!
Patrice wrote: "Just so I understand what you're saying...l. From the time Bloom decides to visit Mina Purefoy when she was in labor I thought it was a bizarre scene. Drunken young men and Bloom going to the ..."
Well, I think in any city you'll have kids out partying... Not really any surprise there :). I was just observing that my experience with modern Dublin (not anything to do with Joyce's Dublin) is that most bars close very early by American standards. That's not to say you can't find places that do stay open late, just that many places that serve alchohol are - or at least were when I was there - required to close at 10:30pm. But I'm sure Bourdain was able to find those late spots and the atmosphere around them was lively.
As far as Ulysses and Joyce's Dublin, I think you're absolutely right that Stephen in particular has been on quite a bender since he led the way to the pub in Aeolus. And I do think we are supposed to be put-off by his behavior in carrying on at the hospital - Bloom, the nurse, and even one of the medical students all register at least some level of disapproval. He is unhappy, somewhat adrift in the world, and he's acting out.
As far as how normal Stephen's behavior would have been in Joyce's Dublin, I can't really claim any specialized knowledge. But I think we can infer some things. Alcohol is certainly pervasive in the novel - but there seems to be a disdain for people overindulge (Bob Doran, for example). I think we can also infer that not many people are still out and about by the time Stephen and Bloom leave the brothel, because the only place open that Bloom can think to get Stephen something to nourishing to eat & drink is the cabman's shelter. It is full of rough, vaguely unsavory types of people, serves bad coffee and worse food. The only other people they ran into was Stephen's presumably homeless acquaintance and the slumbering night guard. So my impression is that anyone who has a good home has seemingly already retired for the night, and it is indeed aberrant for the two men to be out wandering at this hour.
I think Bloom's motivations would take another long post, which I may not have in me tonight...
Patrice wrote: " Is Bloom really going "home". I don't think his marriage bed is well-rooted like Odysseus'. It's a different situation and one that Bloom wants to avoid."Right. This section is almost a parody of the Odyssey. Odysseus didn't know what he would find at home; Bloom knows exactly what he will find at home. Penelope was faithful to her husband and fought off those who would defile her marriage bed; Molly, well, let's just say she's no Penelope.
Kathy wrote: "I'm still reading this chapter, but from the start it looked to me like a parody of the overly-florid Victorian style of the late 19th century. Dickens comes to mind, but he mostly did it well, and Joyce wants us to see how dreadful it can be. "I was also curious as to what he was doing with the dramatic change in style. But I didn't connect it with Victorian or Dickens. It sounded a bit more to me like a narrative form of his style in Proteus.
Sue wrote: "Well, if Bourdain has addiction issues…his job certainly puts him at risk a lot. I started to read up on him and ..."He actually a really interesting character... His book Kitchen Confidential was a best seller a number of years ago. Addiction issues is probably an understatement. But he's reinvented himself as a pretty engaging travel show/psueudo journalist (in my humble opinion)...
Patrice wrote: "Wow, what happened? He was saved by someone when he was drunk? Brought home?'' "Yes -- see post 20 in this thread.
Everyman wrote: "I was also curious as to what he was doing with the dramatic change in style. But I didn't connect it with Victorian or Dickens. It sounded a bit more to me like a narrative form of his style in Proteus. "For what it's worth, Joyce called the style "Narrative (old)" in contrast to the style of Telemachus, which he called "Narrative (young)". The next chapter is similar in technique (catechetical) to Nestor, and the last one (monologue) similar to Proteus. The last three chapters mirror the first three.
Everyman wrote: "I was also curious as to what he was doing with the dramatic change in style. But I didn't connect it with Victorian or Dickens. It sounded a bit more to me like a narrative form of his style in Proteus. "I would say the biggest stylistic difference between Proteus and this chapter is the length and complexity of the sentences. In Proteus they're much more straightforward, often made up of a single clause, whereas in Eumaeus many of them are like pretzels--again, Joyce having fun. (Sometimes, one might say, at our expense?)
Thomas wrote: "The only sense I can make of it is that both are necessary, both are vital aspects of a complete human being, and in Bloom and Stephen these elements are sort of isolated. They belong together like father and son, but they don't seem to make that connection."Thanks for this, Thomas. It seems so obvious now that you've said it. They are, maybe, a kind of yin and yang to each other?
More and more I understand why this book requires multiple readings, though I confess there are so many other great books in the world, I don't know that I'll undertake a second reading. Maybe we could put this back in the rotation for 2020. ;)
Patrice wrote: "Oh, I know he's a drunk. What shocked me was that at l AM the pubs, streets and restaurants seemed to be full of them. He mentioned that one restaurant opened at midnight!The scene could have b..."
Wasn't everything shutting during the evening? The point of the chapter being that it was difficult to find somewhere that would be open.
Ireland is one country in Europe I haven't visited but I am of course aware of the stereotypical stories:
1. Ireland is full of boozers
2. Ireland is extremely religious
both of which things led to the infamous 'shut in'. But if you weren't 'shut in' then you couldn't 'get in' :-)
Kyle wrote: That's actually surprising to me... When I was last in Dublin (about 15 years ago), the pubs were required to close at 10:30 pm..."
This was similar in London (although it was 11 here I think). Most pubs would shut and a lot of people would get utterly tanked by necking pints for a good hour or so before the pub closed and then be chivvied out onto the streets en masse, grumpy and in no way ready to go home. After the protesting pleas of the police grew louder things changed a little bit.
I recall reading (source?) that as to post 20 in this thread, Hunter was a "minor friend" of Joyce's father…again…a parallel of sorts to the story (if so!).
Kathy wrote: "More and more I understand why this book requires multiple readings, though I confess there are so many other great books in the world, I don't know that I'll undertake a second reading. Maybe we could put this back in the rotation for 2020. ;) "It really does benefit from multiple readings. Unless you've been blessed with an extraordinary memory, it's too much to absorb the first or even second time around. (It's not just you, Patrice!)
Once very five years sounds good. That will give Kyle five years to get ready to lead the discussion.
Patrice wrote: From my pov this is very odd. In my experience people don't go to bars at night, they go home so they can sleep so they can get to work early the next day. Everything is dictated by work. So really, the entire book leaves me wondering how anyone survives. No one seems to be working!Maybe this is very American of me? I just don't know anyone who lives this way. "
Cricky really? I have quite a few American friends and they don't seem to live a life dictated to by work, but then again I don't talk about it with them much as I'm not much interested.
As far as London goes and my life in other countries, having a drink after work and dinner and socialising etc is completely normal. People finish work in plenty of time to have a social life as well. Getting drunk on a work night and having lots of late nights is a little rarer but it still happens enough to not really be worthy of comment. A work colleague coming in heavy eyed rates no more than a grin and a sympathetic 'late night was it?'.
Nicola wrote: "Patrice wrote: From my pov this is very odd. In my experience people don't go to bars at night, they go home so they can sleep so they can get to work early the next day. Everything is dictated by ..."This American is getting ready to have a "social few" at the neighborhood spot :).
Patrice wrote: And where are the women in the book? Don't they mind being left at home with 15 children while their husbands are out carousing? As Kyle mentioned there is a disapproving tone about all of this. ."This was definity before women's equality became a thing. And I do think the Church's stance against contraception is probably a target of Joyce's commentary, at least to some extent. But I also think it's important to distinguish between casually enjoying a few drinks at the pub and spending the entire day getting loaded. Cyclops is a great example. Bloom refuses to participate in the great Irish tradition of "standing rounds" (ie, each person in the group takes thieir turn buying drinks), and is looked upon with suspicion for that. But on the other end of the spectrum, Doran is filthy drunk, which is also disdained.
Most great books test our assumptions, and Ulysses does that on several levels. I hadn't thought one of those assumptions was that ordinary people go to bed early and work all day, but chalk up another assumption tested! It certainly isn't the case in my fair city... But Joyce is aware of the time, all the same. In the next episode he lists the names of ten characters and where they are at the moment (about 3 am). They are all in bed... except for Paddy Dignam, who is in the grave. Presumably some of them got up and life continued as usual in Dublin on June 5. (Well, not Paddy.)
Patrice wrote: "This is why I love the net! You get to speak to people from all over the world!No, my life has never been that way at all. My husband used to commute 35 miles to work each way so by the time he..."
Patrice, how old were you when you were born? 35? :-)
Patrice wrote: " I'm wondering if this wasn't around the time of the first suffragettes? The first women's movement? "It certainly was. It is interesting that all of publishers of Ulysses in its initial serial format were women, in both the U.S. and England. They were all involved to some extent in the women's suffrage movement, women's rights (including contraceptive rights) and anarchism or communism. Harriet Shaw Weaver's magazine was originally called 'The Freewoman', and she supported Joyce financially for most of his life. In the U.S., Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap of the Little Review wound up going to jail for a short time for publishing Ulysses.
I'm not sure if Joyce was really a feminist or not -- maybe we can discuss that after we read the last chapter. But there's no doubt he owed a lot to the feminists who stood up for him.
I should probably just clarify that I was talking more about a woman's social role than her political role in response to Patrice's question about where the women are. The women aren't out in the pubs because - at least in my understanding - it would have been outside of social norms for that time and place. That sort of led me into my comments about the Church, which essentially did constrict the woman's role to wife/mother. But as long as the political stuff came up, here is some is information about Dublin around this time http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie...
I am not all that certain that James fully understands what it is to be a woman (perspective)(focus seems to be on sexuality and motherhood) but on the other hand, I do think he has some respect (albeit colored) for women as Thomas noted, his patron Weaver and the aforementioned American publishers of his book were women as was Sylvia Beach (of the original Shakespeare & Co in Paris) who first famously published him when no other English publisher would (albeit not necessarily to her benefit ultimately (financially)). (or perhaps it is what Thomas said..if not full respect, he owed a lot to women!)
I have read many of these comments, all of which were excellent, but now I have run out of steam.Patrice, we Irish 'natives' have a great penchant for the drrrinnnkkk. Obviously this is a generalisation. Though I'm not a native of Dublin ( my sis-in-law is) I know that, nowadays, there are 24 hour restaurants available where alcohol may usually be served until 2am. This, however, can be a flexible rule, dependent upon the good nature of the bar manager (or pub), or whether or not he wants to get home to bed! In the bad old days people drank cheap gin which was killing people at a rate of knots. This is why Arthur Guinness invented his well-known beverage. It really was motivated by a desire to save lives. Though it must be said that Guinness likes to stay in Dublin. It does not travel well. It is an absolute waste of money buying a Guinness in England or the States. Even in the North of Ireland it suffers slightly from homesickness.
I found this episode easier to understand though tedious. What's with Stephen and his ash plant? I thought that he'd left it at the brothel. I must have nodded off at that point.
Zippy, your comment about climbing in flip flops is hilarious. That's exactly how I feel. Though in my case the flip flops are not merely slipping all over the place, but there are also great jagged slices in them where my feet painfully jab against the knife-edged rocks.
Linda, thanks for picking out those beautiful phrases. Ah, there is something to be redeemed from this writing after all. I'm sure that you're right about Hemingway standing in the wings, Kathy. Unfortunately, I tried to read him years ago and got about 3 pages in and it was "thank you and Goodnight and thanks for calling." Then again I would never have got beyond the first paragraph in those days and definitely little further without this group.
I think it was you, Linda, that talked of the late night café as a downmarket Denny's. (Sorry if I'm wrong). To me it seems a bit like an upmarket Arby's. :p
It's interesting reading all of your perspectives on Bourdain's alcohol addiction
(Continued) Boy, am I verbose! Yes, the alcohol discussion is quite foreign to most Irish people. I believe that most in this group are from the States; I may be wrong. But, there is a more general distrust concerning alcohol consumption in the States. Rightly or wrongly and not surprisingly considering the whole prohibition era, there is still a quite far reaching taboo concerning alcohol. My niece who is from Texas (half Irish half Texan) told me recently that there are dry counties in the States. I thought that she was joking at first. Drinking alcohol is so much a part of the Irish psyche that often we don't think too much about the possible outcomes of excessive drinking. For us, the fact that in some States the driving age is 15 and in all Statesthe drinking age is 21 is hard to compute. Then I know that State and county laws differ. For us it seemed surprising that Washington and Colorado legalised cannibis use at all. By the way, I'm not making a judgment call here. The right to bear arms (I know that it's in the Constitution) can be a difficult one for us to get our heads around culturally. In Ireland North and South so much damage has been done by the use of illegal weapons through terrorism that it is difficult for us not to equate a gun with death. We are, it has been said, divided by a common language, but culturally too. My son lives in London and he has learnt to sip wine and pints of beer and not just 'down' them as is oft the case in this wee country. Oh yes and we always queue (form a line). I know that this is general etiquette in the States too, but in many other countries, jumping the queue or not forming one at all is the order of the day. That drives me crazy! I think it was Susan or was it Sue who was talking about that?
Oh, I liked L.S.D. It was so annoying when the metric system took over.
Ah where would we be without cultural differences? I suppose that at least more of us Irish would be able to stand on our feet in the wee hours of the morning. ;p
Hilary wrote: "I found this episode easier to understand though tedious. What's with Stephen and his ash plant? I thought that he'd left it at the brothel. I must have nodded off at that point."Bloom brings the ashplant back to him after he runs out of the brothel. "Here's your stick," Bloom says. "Stick, no. Reason," Stephen responds. "This feast of pure reason."
And thanks for explaining the alcohol situation in Ireland. The way that Stephen drinks seems completely debauched by American standards, but to some extent I think this is determined by culture. Bloom, on the other hand, is once again atypical of his culture -- moderate and reasonable.
I agree that the chapter was easier to read but tedious at times. I was initially thinking well finally, Stephen & Bloom are going to connect....however though they were there together & Bloom was very interested in connecting/helping Stephen, I found there was little true connection between the two. Now of course, my eyes & mind were somewhat glazed over when I got to this chapter!!! Once again, all the commentary was both elucidating and informative & fun. And who would have thought that Joyce would consider the use of "jujitsu" in describing a contingency for protecting oneself against harm?
Thanks, Thomas. I missed the ash plant scene somehow, but I confess that I don't understand it. Now, there's a new experience. :D
Chris wrote: "And who would have thought that Joyce would consider the use of "jujitsu" in describing a contingency for protecting oneself against harm?"I agree! I laughed trying to imagine Bloom "take it to the ground", as is often the goal with jujitsu. My husband used to take Brazilian jujitsu classes, so I couldn't help but imagine Bloom in a scuffle.
I was interested in the long description of Molly's photograph that appears in this chapter. Bloom loves the photograph and is proud to show it off (though tries not to appear too proud), but at the same time the early 20th-century prejudice against photography (which persists to some extent today) comes up. He thinks about the marble Grecian statues of the female form that he saw in the museum that afternoon, "perfectly developed as works of art," whereas "no photo could, because it simply wasn't art, in a word." And "the camera could not at all do justice" to her.It got me thinking that, like photography, literary realism is coming under fire both in this novel and at this time. In fact, the whole novel seems on one level to be an argument against literary realism, the thing which many of us who have found Ulysses tough going have been longing for! The photograph seemed to be a stand-in for realism in this passage, something we might like and appreciate and even treasure but that is ultimately not "art" as the Moderns see it.
Kathy wrote: "The photograph seemed to be a stand-in for realism in this passage, something we might like and appreciate and even treasure but that is ultimately not "art" as the Moderns see it. ..."The concept of the photograph as art evolved over time. The photographer was not thought of as a artist. The process was magical with little intervention relative to the naturalist painters who were achieving what we call photographic likeness with visible ability. I saw a list of "artistic" forms from Joyce's notebook. He had written "no" beside photograph. I just saw photos printed on teabags sewn together! Artists finding new ways to shape the process! I'd be curious about when photography became an "art".
Susan wrote: " I'd be curious about when photography became an "art"....."Susan -- Probably not the "best" place to explore your question, but at least an interesting place to meander:
On Photography
by Susan Sontaghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Photo...
Some people will still argue it's not an art! But Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession movement he led at the turn of the 20th century are generally credited with beginning the movement toward thinking of photography as art. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City began collecting photographs in 1930. The San Francisco Museum of Art claims credit for being "one of the first museums to recognize photography as a fine art by establishing, under the guidance of Curator John Humphrey, a collection of photographic works" in 1936, according to its website.
I'm really fascinated by this because there seems to be an underlying implication that there is such a thing as "realism," whether in photography or in writing, and that it's somehow "cheating" to call it art, with no recognition of the craft and decisions and vision that goes into creating a supposedly static, "realistic" work. Anyway, Joyce seems to be trying to figure out how to get around that accepted model for telling a story by creating sort of a sampler of all the different possible other ways he can think of for creating a work of written fiction. I was in Pennsylvania Dutch country last weekend looking at needlepoint samplers and I thought that was a pretty good metaphor for what Joyce is doing in Ulysses--practicing all the "stitches" he knows.
Kathy wrote: " was in Pennsylvania Dutch country last weekend looking at needlepoint samplers and I thought that was a pretty good metaphor for what Joyce is doing in Ulysses--practicing all the "stitches" he knows. ..."I rather like that interpretation. I used to do a little needlepoint but was always puzzled by why anyone did samplers and then framed the samplers. It is all about showing off fine craftsmanship. It allows the viewer to really look at the beauty of the needlework without worrying about the symbol of the picture that the needlework is usually representing and therefore in service to.
The metaphor of the needlepoint sampler also sheds a bit of light on those folks we read about who have been getting together for 20 odd years to read Finnigans Wake page by page. Isn't human culture wonderful that people (writers, artists, scholars, book lovers, and fabric artists) can get together and marvel over the beauty of intricate 'stitches? In the case of James Joyce's work they would be marveling over the exquisite manipulation of apostrophes and such, but, same idea.
I like the stitches metaphor, Kathy, although I'm unsure what needlepoint actually is. Is it like tapestry or embroidery?Theresa, I so want to find Joyce 'exquisite', but as yet I'm not quite getting there. :-(
I love the Steichen photos, Patrice. Thanks for sharing.
https://www.pinterest.com/chbrav/need... I wish I could find some of these on Google Art project so I can inspect them more closely. Tiny pictures of something like this are useless.
."
Stephen is repeating fragments from the Yeats poem "Who Goes with Fergus" that his mother loved and that Stephen sang to her on her deathbed.
"Who will go drive with Fergus now,
And pierce the deep wood's woven shade,
And dance upon the level shore?
Young man, lift up your russet brow,
And lift your tender eyelids, maid,
And brood on hopes and fear no more.
And no more turn aside and brood
Upon love's bitter mystery;
For Fergus rules the brazen cars,
And rules the shadows of the wood,
And the white breast of the dim sea
And all dishevelled wandering stars."
Bloom mishears 'Fergus" as "Ferguson" and thinks it is the name of a girl that Stephen fancies. It is coincidental, or maybe just weird, that at the same time Bloom sees the resemblance between Stephen and his mother. Bloom doesn't understand that Stephen is thinking of his mother's death -- he misinterprets the fragments erotically.
"I will always hail, never conceal, never reveal..." is a Masonic oath, part of the initiation ceremony. I'm not sure why Bloom decides now is a good time to mutter this... maybe it's comforting to him?