Episode 12, Cyclops

Homer's Odyssey:
Odysseus tells the story of his escaping the Lotus-Eaters, and then landing at the island of Cyclops, the one-eyed giants, where he encounters and blinds Polyphemus, the strongest among them, to King Alcinous, father of Nausicaa, in Book IX of Odyssey.

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Cyclops to refer to the 12th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. It takes place in Barney Kiernan's pub on Little Britain Street. This episode bears the closest similarity in the entire novel to Homer's Odyssey. There are parallels between the citizen Bloom meets in the pub and Polyphemus, and between the biscuit box thrown by the citizen and the rock thrown by Polyphemus. There are numerous references to the 'eye' in the singular form hinting at the one-eyed giants. The gigantism of the entire episode must also. be compared with the gigantic inhabitants of the island of Cyclops. The happenings in the pub including the serious altercation between the citizen and Bloom are narrated by an eyewitness, known as the narrator. His account alternates with parodic interpolations. In all there are 31 such interpolations. 
It is 5 p.m.

Selected Highlights of Episode 12 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- . . . and he waiting for what the sky would drop in the way of drink. (12.120)
- The figure seated on a large boulder ... was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed . . . hero. (12.151)
- In the darkness spirit hands were felt to flutter and when prayer by tantras had been directed to the proper quarter . . . (12.338)
-  . . . he was now on the path of pralaya or return but was still submitted to trial at the hands of certain bloodthirsty entities . . . (12.345)
- I'm told those jewies does have a sort of a queer door coming off them for dogs . . .  (12.452)
- I'd train him by kindness, so I would, if he was my dog. (12.698)
- . . . the citizen scowling after him, and the old dog at his feet looking up to know who to bite and when. (12.1161)
- Some people ,  . . . can see the mote in others' eyes but they can't see the beam in their own. (12.1237)
- And I belong to a race too, . . . that is hated and persecuted. Also now. This very moment. This very instant. (12.1467)
- Love, . . . I mean the opposite of hatred. (12.1485)
- Mendelssohn was a jew and Karl Marx and Mercadante and Spinoza. And the Saviour was a jew and his father a jew. Your God. (12.1804)
(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to the Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

. . . 2. Illustrations:
- Watercolours by Catherine Meyer
- Historial photograph of Barney Kiernan's pub in Dublin, reproduced courtesy of Morris Library, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

3. Link to
- The lyrics of the poem, The Memory of the Dead, by John K. Ingram (1823-1907)
- The speech of Robert Emmet, a member of the United Irishmen, leader of an ill-fated rebellion in Dublin. The speech was given after the death sentence was pronounced by a British Court against Emmet.

And much more!

Episode 11, Sirens

Homer's Odyssey:
In Book 12, Odysseus and his men return from Hades to the island where the sea-nymph, sorceress Circe lives, and stay there for a day before setting sail again. That night, Circe tells Odysseus about what he is going to encounter on his way to Ithaca. The first encounter is with Sirens, birds with hers of women, who sing sweetly, attracting passing sailors with their songs. Those who listen to their singing are destroyed. Circe advises Odysseus to plug the ears of his sailors with beeswax when they row past the island of Sirens. If he would like to listen to their singing, she says, he should get tied tightly to the mast. 

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Sirens to refer to the 11th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. Befitting its name Joyce defined music as its art. Music is present here in various forms: not just in the terminology, songs and arie sung, musical instruments referred to, choice of verbs used but also equally prominently in the structure of the episode. Fragments of sentences in it resemble fragments of musical motives. The episode is set in the bar and the saloon of the Ormond hotel on Upper Ormond Quay. The two sirens here are Miss Douce and Miss Kennedy, both barmaids. The other major players are Lenehan, Boylan (both in the bar), Simon Dedalus, Father Cowley, Ben Dollard (all in the saloon), Bloom and Richie Golding having dinner in the restaurant. The barmaids sing and flirt with their customers, those in the saloon play the piano and sing. Simon Dedalus's rendering of the aria, M'Appari, from Martha touches the heart of all those who listen. Boylan is just stopping over as he is on his way to visit Molly. Bloom realizes this but avoids thinking of what is going to happen, and decides upon walking, walking, and walking.
It is 4 p.m.

Selected Highlights of Episode 11 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- Rrrpr. Krav. Kraandl. (11.60)
- Imperthnthn thnthnthn,  . . . (11.100)
- Two sheets cream vellum paper one reserve two envelopes when I was in Wisdom Hely's wise Bloom in Daly's Henry Flower bought. (11.295)
- He eyed and saw afar on Essex bridge a gay hat riding on a jaunting car. (11.302)
- Jingling. He's gone. Jingle. Hear. (11.458)
- We are their harps. I. He. Old. Young. (11.582)
- Wore out his wife: now sings. (11.696)
- Folly am I writing? Husbands don't. (11.874)
- Sauce for the gander. (11.877)
- A wee little wind piped eeee. (11.1203)
(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to the Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

2. Illustrations:
- Watercolours by Catherine Meyer
- Original photograph of the door of 7 Eccles Street by Chandra Holm

3. Links to
- The Irish patriotic song, The Minstrel Boy, by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) and sung by the Irish Tenors.
- The aria, M'Appari, from von Flotow's opera, Martha, sung by Luciano Pavarotti
- The recitation of the Irish ballad, The Croppy Boy, by W. B. McBurney (1844-1892) and sung by Kevin McDermott

And much more!

Episode 10, Wandering Rocks

Homer's Odyssey:
Wandering Rocks are two rocky islands which crush anything that try to pass between them.  Circe tells Odysseus about them in Book 12 of Odyssey, when she warns him about the hurdles he will have to face on his journey to Ithaca. He is either to pass the wandering rocks or take the path through Scylla and Charybdis.

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Wandering Rocks to refer to the 10th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. Whereas the preceding episode was replete with heavy discussions, echoes and allusions, this one has movement as its main feature. It feels like a breath of fresh air after the heaviness of the room in the National Library of Ireland. In this episode we meet many a Dubliner walking, going about his/her daily business in Dublin. Among those we meet are Father Conmee S. J., a onelegged sailor, Ned Lambert, J. J. O'Molloy, Corny Kelleher, the Dedalus daughters - Dilly, Katey, Boody and Maggy -, Blazes Boylan, who will be visiting Molly that afternoon, the music teacher, Almidano Artifoni, Boylan's secretary and Stephen.  (It is Miss Dunne, Boylan's secretary, who reveals the date on which this incidences of this novel take place as she types, 16 June 1904.) Molly also appears in this episode. Rather it is her white arm that we see. Amidst all this, the viceroy's cavalcade passes. We observe the various people and their actions as if we are observing them from a bird's vantage point, simultaneous occurrences at different locations. All in all, it feels like a peaceful day in Dublin.
It is 3 p.m.

Selected Highlights of Episode 10 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- . . . the millions of black and brown and yellow souls that have not received the baptism of water when their last hour came like a thief in the night. (10.145)
- . . . ripe shamefaced peaches. (10.305)
- Every jolt the bloody car gave I had her bumping up against me. (10.558)
- There is no-one in Dublin would lend me fourpence. (10.669)
- I'll just take a thimbleful of your best gin,  . . . (10.724).
- Where fallen archangels flung the stars of their brows. (10.806)
- My eyes they say she has. (10.865)
- . . . there is much kindness in the jew, . . . (10.980)
- Shakespeare is the happy huntingground of all minds that have lost their balance. (10.1061)
- He is going to write something in ten years. (10.1089)
- Death, that is. Pa is dead. My father is dead. (10.1170)
- . . . he offered to the three ladies the bold admiration of his eyes and the red flower between his lips. (10.1245)
(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to the Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

2. Illustrations:
- Watercolours by Catherine Meyer
- Original photograph of the statue of James Joyce at the corner of Earl Street and O'Connell Street in Dublin by Chandra Holm

3. Links to
- The Recitation of the song, The Bloom is on the Rye, also known as My Pretty Jane, by Edward Fitzball in 1891
- The poem, Sleep and Poetry, by John Keats (1795-1821)

And much more!

Episode 9, Scylla and Charybdis

Homer's Odyssey:
We come to know about Scylla, a foul monster with 12 legs and 6 thin necks each ending in a savage head, and Charybdis, who sucks and spews thrice a day black waters, in Book 12 of Odyssey. After Odysseus and his men return from Hades to the island of Circe, she feeds them food and wine, and keeps them on the island for a day. That night, while talking to Odysseus about his further journey home, she tells him of the dangers Scylla and Charybdis pose and how to avoid them.

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Scylla and Charybdis to refer to the 9th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. The stage of this episode is a room in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. Stephen Dedalus, George Russell (aka A. E.), John Eglinton, Richard Best, Thomas Lyster* are gathered there. A heavy discussion about the approaches to and the relation between art, life and literature is going on. Their debate appears to be about two opposing views on whether literature should be seen in the author's biographical context or not. Shakespeare, and his work - especially Hamlet -, as well his personal life play the central part in Stephen's thoughts and arguments. Buck Mulligan joins them later. He is his usual joking self. As Stephen leaves the library with him, a man goes out between them, bowing, greeting. It is Bloom.
It is 2 p.m.
*All, except Stephen, were real Dubliners.

Selected Highlights of Episode 9 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- Art has to reveal to us ideas, formless spiritual essences. (9.48)
- Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past. (9.89)
- We have King Lear: and it is immortal. (9.188)
- Molecules all change. I am other I now. Other I got pound. (9.205)
- I, I and I.I. (9. 212)
- If others have their will Ann hath a way. (9.256)
- They list. And in the porches of their ears I pour. (9.465)
- He left her his Secondbest Bed (9.697)
- Paternity may be a legal fiction. Who is the father of any son that any son should love him or he any son? (9.844)
- We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, ..., but always meeting ourselves. (9.1044)
- The wandering jew, . . . (9.1209)

(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to the Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

2. Illustrations:
- Watercolours and sketch by Catherine Meyer
- Reproduction of the photograph of Thomas Lyster, librarian at the National Library of Ireland from 1895 to 1920. (Image courtesy of the National Library)

3. Links to
- The conversation between Hamlet and his father as a ghost in the 1964 Broadway version of Hamlet
- The poem, Nobodaddy, by William Blake (1757-1827)

And much more!

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!

Episode 7, Aeolus

Homer's Odyssey:
Book X of Odyssey related how Odysseus meets Aeolus, the king of winds, on the island of Aeolia. After being hosted by Aeolus, Odysseus and his men leave for Ithaca. So that they do not get into trouble because of storms and gales, Aeolus gives Odysseus a tightly closed bag in which all the winds were imprisoned, instructing not to open till he reaches home. Odysseus and his men set sail, and when they near Ithaca, and can even see men on the shore making fire, Odysseus falls asleep. His men thinking that the bag gifted by Aeolus contains riches, open it, letting the winds let loose. A tempest results driving them again onto the open sea, away from Ithaca.

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Aeolus to refer to the 7th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. Known also as the newspaper episode, it is made up of relatively short sections, with each section having a title, just like a newspaper with headings and sub-headings. As we get further into the episode, it becomes quite windy with words, often hollow words. Just like some newspapers!
It is 12 noon.

Selected Highlights of Episode 7 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- Thump, thump, thump. (7.101)
- It is amusing to view the unpar one ar alleled embarra two ars is it? (7.166)
- Justice it means but it's everybody eating everyone else. (7.213)
- The ghost walks, . . . (7.237)
- It was revealed to me that those things are good which yet are corrupted which neither if they were supremely good not unless they were good could be corrupted. (7.842)
- He can kiss my royal Irish arse, . . . (7.991)
- Out for the waxes' Dargle. (7.1008)
(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

2. Illustrations:
- Watercolours by Catherine Meyer
- Historical photographs of Dublin and Dubliners

3. Link to
- James Joyce reading from the Aeolus episode

And much more!

Episode 6, Hades

Homer's Odyssey:
In Books X and XI of Odyssey, Odysseus relates his journey to the House of Hades according to the advice of the sea-nymph, Circe. There he is to petition the ghosts offering milk, honey, sweet wine among other things, promising them that he will sacrifice the choicest heifer and a ram when he reaches Ithaca. There he must also consult the blind seer, Teiresias, and hear about the journey he is still to make before he can reach Ithaca.

James Joyce's Ulysses:
Joyce used the name Hades to refer to the 6th episode/chapter of his Ulysses. The funeral of Patrick Dignam is the main topic of the episode. Bloom attends the funeral along with other Dubliners.
It is 11 a.m.

Selected Highlights of Episode 6 in Ulysses for the Uninitiated:
1. Sayings from Ulysses explored/explained:
- His name stinks all over Dublin. (6.64)
- My son. Me in his eyes. (6.76)
- As broad as it's long. (6.189)
- No suffering, . . .  A moment and all is over. (6.314)
- It is not for us to judge,  . . . (6.342)
- A pump after all, pumping thousands of gallons of blood every day. One fine day it gets bunged up: and there you are. (6.674)
- Come forth, Lazarus. (6.678)
- . . . pierce the heart and make sure or an electric clock or a telephone in the coffin . . . (6.868)
- All these here once walked round Dublin. (6.960)
(Episode.Line numbers in brackets above are according to the Critical Edition of Ulysses by H. W. Gabler, 1986)

2. Illustrations:

- Watercolours and sketches by Catherine Meyer

3. Link to
- The poem, Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gary (1716-1771)

And much more!