Monday, May 4, 2020

Episode 8, Lestrygonians

Homer's Odyssey:
The encounter with the giant cannibals, Lestrygonians, is related by Odysseus in Book X of Odyssey. After being banished by Aeolus, the king of winds, without being offered any help second time, when Odysseus returns after his men had opened the bag and let the winds out, Odysseus and his men end up on the island where the Lestrygonians live. Of the three men sent by Odysseus to explore the place, one of them is immediately eaten by Antiphates, the king of Lestrygonians. Many of the sailors are carried off by the inhabitants of the island but Odysseus manages to escape with some.

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Lestrygonians to refer to the 8th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. After having been bad-mouthed by the editor of The Telegraph, where Bloom had come to finalize an advertisement given by Alexander Keyes, Bloom is out of the newspaper offices, and is wandering again in Dublin. A young man from Y.M.C.A. gives him a flyer informing Elijah is coming, which Bloom crumples into a ball and throws at the gulls flying around near the O'Connell bridge. Walking further along, he stops awhile to talk to Mrs Breen, nay, Josie Powell, whom he had once dated. Deciding to have lunch, he first goes to Burton, a cheap eating place, and not liking the sloppy way people were eating there, he leaves quickly, and goes to Davy Byrne's on Duke street. After a lunch of gorgonzola sandwich washed down with a glass of Burgundy, Bloom decides to go to the National Museum to examine the sculptures of some shapely goddesses.
It is 1 p.m.

Selected Highlights of Episode 8 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- God wants blood victim.  (8.11)
- The gulls swooped silently, two, then all from their heights, pouncing on prey. (8.76)
- Because life is a stream. (8.95)
- . . . a transparent showcart with two smart girls sitting inside writing letters, . . . (8.131)
- Same blue serge dress she had two years ago,  . . . (8.265)
- Hardy annuals he presents her with (8.362)
- Who will we do it on? I pick the fellow in black. (8.402)
- The young May moon she's beaming, love (8.589)
- What is home without Plumtree's potted meat? (8.742)
- Kissed, she kissed me. Me. And me now. (8.916)
- They have no. (8.930)
- What dreams would he have, not seeing? (8.1144)
- Safe! (8.1193)
(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to the Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

2. Illustrations:
- Original photographs of Dublin by Chandra Holm
3. Link to
- Video of the song, Policeman's lot is not a happy one, by Gilbert and Sullivan in The Pirate of Penzance

And much more!

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