Blooms & Barnacles

Journalist Senan Molony joins the podcast to talk about how the Jack the Ripper murders influenced Ulysses . Listen to the full episode at pattern.com/barnaclecast

Should you bring oysters to your naughty liaison on Howth? Topics in this episode include your thoughts on Bloom’s glass of burgundy, whether or not oysters are an aphrodisiac, where you used to be able to find the best oysters in Ireland, whether or not it’s ok to eat oysters in months that don’t have an R, which European monarch ate the scruff off their own head, more wine minutiae - this time w...

Well, was he? Topics in this episode include a thorough dissection of Hugh E. “Blazes” Boylan, why Boylan jingles and jaunts, Boylan’s snappy wardrobe, clocks on socks , whether or not Boylan smells rich, Boylan’s business ventures, Boylan’s father the horse trader, the Myler Keogh controversy, the unreliable narrators in Barney Kiernan’s pub, the sex crimes of Blazes Boylan, the sex crimes of Leo...

Dr. Katherine Ebury (she/they) of the University of Sheffield joins the podcast to talk about how to approach older scholarship that contains misogynist interpretations of Molly Bloom. Should we dismiss them entirely, or is it ok to just fish out the good bits? What direction is Joyce studies taking with regards to interpretations of Molly? We also discuss the ongoing issue of sexual harassment in...

Fermentation is hot. Topics in this episode include Davy Byrne’s moral pub, Nosey Flynn, Noah and the curse of Ham, Plumtree’s Potted Meat, cannibalism, missionaries who get eaten by cannibals, long pig, Reverend MacTrigger, lapses in Leopold Bloom’s empathy, the Jesuits’ mission of conversion, colonialism, Yom Kippur, food as an expression of religion, mity cheese, why Bloom chooses cheese, sunya...

Let’s hope for something galoptious when all’s said and done. Topics in this episode include the lestrygonian feast in the Burton, masculinity and meat eating, societal paralysis, Bloom’s plan to feed the masses, Bloom’s memories of working in the cattle market, the importance of cattle to the Irish economy, the horror that is dicky meat, the violence of the cattle trade, the carnivore diet, Bloom...

Think unsexy thought. Think unsexy thoughts. Think unsexy thoughts. Topics included corrections, Yeates and Son, parallax, eclipses, Dunsink Time, Thomas Moore, peristalsis, Bob Doran, Take off that white hat!, Huguenots, the princess of the Lestrygonians, Leopold Bloom’s failed attempt to think unsexy thoughts, Bloom as sideways Odysseus, Bloom failing to destroy Molly’s suitor, and a quick escap...

Zoe Patterson of Trinity College Dublin joins Blooms & Barnacles to talk about about her research into James Joyce community groups.   To listen to the full episode, check out patreon.com/barnaclecast

"If you do the eyes of that cow will pursue you through all eternity." Topics in this episode include two-headed octopuses, the Freemasons, the real Lizzie Twigg, Dublin's oldest vegetarian restaurants, Æ, vegetarianism in the early twentieth century, Pythagorus, nutarians and fruitarians, Leopold Bloom's brief foray into vegetarianism, nutsteak, mashed yeast, the elitism of vegetarians, James Joy...

We discuss the Dubliners  short story, "Grace", in the final episode of our Dubliners  series. Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast

“Simon Dedalus said when they put him in parliament that Parnell would come back from the grave and lead him out of the house of commons by the arm.” Topics in this episode include James Stephens and his organizational blunder, Michaelmas traditions, architecture and peristalsis, the legacy of Dr George Salmon and his big spooky house, reevaluating historical figures like Dr Salmon, John Howard Pa...

Was Leopold Bloom ever totally radical? Topics in this episode include Bloom’s memory of a protest, Bloom’s view of the police, the significance of soup imagery, the origins of the Boer War, Irish Nationalist opposition to the Boer War, Joseph Chamberlain, Christiaan de Wet, the irony of Irish Nationalist support for the Boer cause, a French depiction of the protests in Dublin, the class politics...

We discuss the Dubliners story, “Ivy Day in the Committee Room" To listen to the full episode, please visit patreon.com/barnaclecast

The constables have been let out to graze. Topics in this episode include: 1904 popular culture, James Carlyle and the Irish Times, foxhunting, horsey people, Leopold Bloom’s disdain for high class women, The Irish Field, a personal ad from the 1870’s, Mrs Miriam Dandrade, the Purefoys, Fletcherism, the Chew-Chew Method, fad diets of yore, munching parties, hardy annuals, whether or not consumptio...

“Everybody who met her liked her - because she was warm and outgoing. Here I am saying good things about Lizzie. Poor Liz - nobody remembers her now.” - Padraic Colum, 1969 This episode features an interview with scholar Elizabeth Foley O’Connor about Irish poet Lizzie Twigg, her legacy as a poet, her brief mention in Ulysses, how she fell under James Joyce’s critical eye, and why she deserved bet...

“Dubliners were proud of Endymion. They were proud that they tolerated Endymion, but also that he tolerated them. Most people watched him and remembered him with affection, and only a few were aware of the darker side to some of his mutterings.” - John Simpson Support us on Patreon to access episodes early, bonus content, and a video version of our podcast. On the Blog: Who was the real Cashel Boy...

We discuss Dubliners stories “A Painful Case” and “A Mother”   Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast

Inside the madness of Breen Topics in this episode include deep Ulysses lore, nostalgia traps, Molly’s suitors, the Glencree dinner, Old Professor Goodwin, Mr. and Mrs. Breen, U.p: up, the Ace of Spades, Breen’s postcard as an empty threat, an old forgotten expression, word play, hidden meanings, codes, peeing up and cloacal obsessions, Larry David, body shaming and erectile dysfunction, the Nolan...

Rashers Tierney would have gotten those Hely’s Sandwichmen into shape. Plus, his name is thematically apt. Topics in this episode include memories of life in 1960’s Dublin, Leopold Bloom’s philosophy of advertising, whether or not a nun invented barbed wire, the intersection of religion, advertising and potted meat, the rite of Melchisedek, open-faced club sand wedge, the Hely’s sandwichmen, Wisdo...

We discuss Dubliners stories “Counterparts” and “Clay” Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast

We discuss James Plunkett’s 1969 novel, Strumpet City and the 1980 mini-series of the same name.

If both clocks were correct, one would be redundant. Topics in this episode include the Ballast Office, the timeball, stellar parallax, ships’ navigators and chronometers, the whereabouts of the timeball, the political controversy of Greenwich Mean Time, Dunsink time, Sir Robert Ball and The Story of the Heavens , what the heck parallax actually means, how James Joyce uses the term parallax in Uly...

We share our thoughts on Dubliners  short stories "The Boarding House" and "A Little Cloud" Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast  

What is the parallax of Aldebaran? Topics in this episode include gulls, Simon Dedalus, Little Chandler, Leopold Bloom’s poetic impulse, Leopold Bloom’s philosophy of advertising, the secret ingredient in Epps’ Cocoa, the supremacy of Kino’s 11/- Trousers over Plumtree’s Potted Meat, Victorian advertising styles, Howard Bridgewater’s theory of advertising, Dr. Hy Frank’s remedy for the clap, numer...

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Elijah is Coming!!! Topics in this episode include epiphanies in Dubliners , the transformative power of peristalsis, Leopold Bloom and the Prophet Elijah, the peculiar tale of John Alexander Dowie, God’s bloodlust, the also peculiar history of the Salvation Army, what religion and advertising have in common, phosphorescence, polygamy, monster trucks, Bloom as a redeemer fo...