June 16 is Bloomsday

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Permalink Reply by Alan Hennessy on June 7, 2009 at 6:46pm

Page 376 to 449 looks interesting and most Irish people will appreciate it as it is 'a chat in the pub'. Let's turn into Barney Kiernan's and have 'a wine of the country', "I've a thirst on me I wouldn't sell for half a crown".

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Permalink Reply by Terrance O'Dwyer on June 13, 2009 at 2:40am

In Re: Episode 12 of Ulysses by James Joyce

Right Honourable Lady & Gentlemen,

Attached for your edification, and/or sanity, as the case may be, is a summary of the proceedings and allusions, real and imagined, in respect of the aforementioned re.

Attachments:

• cyclops.doc, 43 KB

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Permalink Reply by Alan Hennessy on June 13, 2009 at 5:00pm

I thought the allusions real or imagined were brilliant. It just made me realise that I am 'seeing' with one eye. Oh Christ!

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Permalink Reply by Nick McElwee on June 8, 2009 at 5:59am

What a great idea, I'm in! I've the book at home and have started it so many times I can't remember. I've never finished it. I bought the audio cd a few years back and this was great - the sounds are everything and listening is as much of the experience as reading. Reading for the most part is a left brain activity, where too often I find myself too rational and analytical. The trick is to let the sounds wash over you. A long car journey is ideal. N

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Permalink Reply by Alan Hennessy on June 8, 2009 at 11:50am

Terrance, I hope you don't think I have hijacked your brilliant idea about Bloomsday by suggesting the Cyclops episode of Ulysses. I'm prepared to go with any plan you had already formulated.

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Permalink Reply by Santiago Boland on June 10, 2009 at 11:05pm

Alan I think The Cyclops episode is good to beguin with. I'll try to share a little experience on reading Ulysses and avoid perishin in the attemp, but I'll start a discussion on How to approach to Ulysses? And to Joyce?

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Permalink Reply by Alan Hennessy on June 11, 2009 at 5:31pm

Hola Santiago, espero con interés el debate. Me han publicado un video del episodio de los Cíclopes Bloomsday Grupo. Fue nominado para el Mejor Guión Adaptado en 1967.

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Permalink Reply by Terrance O'Dwyer on June 17, 2009 at 1:22am

Sheila O'Malley has written the best analytical summary of Episode 12 that I've encountered. Well worth reading--and she is easy to read!! See attached.

Attachments:

• The Sheila Variations.doc, 44 KB

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Permalink Reply by Alan Hennessy on June 17, 2009 at 11:54pm

I agree, I stumbled on this a couple of days ago as I was trawling the net under 'Cyclops'. It reminded me when my brother introduced me to Ulysses many years ago. I'll have to admit I have found it difficult at times to stick with it. It was easy going with episode 12. The reason, of course, is that I am a Dubliner and can associate the language used in 12 with every day life during my lifetime. In my mind I can smell the cigarettes and stale Guinness, the grime on a working mans collar, or the look in tired eyes of aged men whose burning fires are now low embers. The story you pick up at the bar as two old codgers relate as you wait for your Guinness to 'settle'.

I have read a few analysis of this particular piece and I can't believe that Joyce intended it to be allegory for mythical tales of heroes. He wouldn't have been as pretentious as that with the working class. What I think it's about is that in 1904 most people in Dublin were pro British, certainly in the Irish educated classes, and they pretended to be like their masters. The working class in the pub had their own language without pretensions and Joyce, as a Dubliner, had an ear for that.

I have found myself mesmerized on overhearing (OK, eavesdropping) a conversation in a Dublin pub. Certainly in the more mature persons pub. To me the language is instantly recognizable and not too far off Joyce's Dublin of 1904. How do I know? Because I'm old enough to remember.

I have attached a photo of a famous personage reading Ulysses and she's not reading episode 12.

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Permalink Reply by Terrance O'Dwyer on June 18, 2009 at 4:56pm

I am thankful for audio & movies. Ulysses is a slow slog.

So, the dialect used to express thoughts is authentic—but, are the thoughts & sentiments? Is the dialogue just idle chatter—or, reflective of the north side of town in 1904? And, assuming it is---I wonder how that scene might be re-created today, i.e. what would be the topic of conversation. More importantly, what’s the next photo?

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