Blooms & Barnacles

In our last episode , we discussed people from James Joyce’s life who influenced the creation of Leopold Bloom. However, we left one question unanswered - why were none of these men from Dublin? Didn’t Joyce know any Jewish people in Dublin? Vincent Altman O’Connor’s research into this very question and the biography of his grandfather Albert Altman may very well be the answer to this riddle. Topi...

James Joyce based many characters in Ulysses on friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies, but what about Leopold Bloom? Who were the real people in Joyce’s life who inspired the creation of one of literature’s greatest protagonists? Topics in this episode include people who Joyce thought looked like Leopold Bloom, the story of Alfred Hunter, why Joyce chose the address 7 Eccles St., how many po...

They both lived in a Martello Tower, sure, but what else do James Joyce and Bono have in common? We take a short break from analyzing Ulysses to take a look at one of Joyce’s early poems - “The Holy Office.” If you love 100+ year old gossip, strap in! This one gets dishy. Topics include the significance of the year 1904 in James Joyce’s life, the Irish Literary Revival, a young Joyce’s penchant fo...

This episode’s passage comes from p. 50-51 in my edition of Ulysses (1990 Vintage International), and covers the passage beginning “Come. I thirst.” and ending “…a silent ship.”   We did it!!! We finally finished “Proteus”! We’re covering the last page of Ulysses’ third episode this week. Topics include Dermot’s love of tall ships and the Master and Commander novels, why a ship isn’t always a ship...

How exactly does God become a featherbed mountain? What the heck is a featherbed mountain? We answer these questions and more in this episode of Blooms & Barnacles ! Topics covered in this episode include Dermot’s hot take on Richard Dawkins, Renaissance magic, theosophy, metempsychosis, Dublin seagulls, linear v. cyclical world-views, Dermot takes on Jared Diamond, consubstantiality, the Stephen...

The end is nigh. Kelly and Dermot discuss in the depth the drowning motif of “Proteus”. Other topics include The Tempest and Ariel’s Song, the wily nature of the sea, Stephen’s estrangement from his father Simon, the role of alcohol in the lives of Ulysses characters, quitting alcohol, rising corpses, sea change, porpoises, the ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth, spongy titbits, Stephen’s connection t...

**If you’re unfamiliar with the peeing Calvin decal (or if you are), here’s the story . The divine and the profane live side by side in Ulysses . In this episode, we discuss what the heck Cock Lake is, why Stephen pees on the strand at the end of “Proteus”, the themes of generation and corruption in “Proteus”, the artistic merits of excrement, urination as an expression of freedom and creativity,...

Kelly helps Dermot remember why he drew James Joyce wearing red, killer heels. Topics include subtle Homeric correspondences, Dermot’s allegiance to Mr. Kipling’s cakes, Stéphane Mallarmé’s ‘L'après-midi d'un faune’ (The afternoon of a faun), more ire directed at that mocker Buck Mulligan, Stephen’s tiny feet, Stephen’s erstwhile friendship with Cranly, Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, John Fr...

Kelly and Dermot take on a deceptively simple passage in “Proteus” as they attempt to answer that ultimate question - what is the word known to all men? Topics covered in this episode include Stephen’s loneliness and why Joyce felt it was necessary for him to be totally alone, a mysterious discrepancy in Ulysses ’ various editions, the 1984 Gabler edition of Ulysses , the universal Truth of a moth...

Dermot and Kelly carry on discussing “Proteus” in their flutiest voices! Topics in this episode include: yet more discussion of the philosophy of the good bishop of Cloyne, George Berkeley, shovel hats, the fluttering of the veil between the material world and the metaphysical world, Dermot’s grudge against Bertrand Russell, how language obscures one’s perception of the material world, the heraldi...

Form of my form! Who watches me here? Kelly and Dermot wade into the final pages of “Proteus” to spend some time with old faves like Aristotle, Bishop Berkeley and Giordano Bruno. We dig deeper into Stephen Dedalus’ internal monologue while discussing Stephen’s concern for his future legacy, Stephen’s shadow, darkness shining in the brightness, the squid people of Procyon 5, the Delta of Cassiopei...

We're taking a week off! See you in October!

Kelly and Dermot discuss one of the most metal passages in all of Ulysses ! You can find it at the end of “Proteus” beginning with “A side eye at my Hamlet hat.” Topics include Hamlet (so much Hamlet ), Stephen’s creative spark, more resent for Buck Mulligan, more grief for Stephen’s mother, the shifting protean nature of language and tides, various Biblical allusions, Stephen’s poem, Percy Bysshe...

We welcome Phil Holden to the podcast to talk about the early publishing of history of Ulysses . Phil is a collector of early Ulysses editions, so he shares his collection while telling the arduous tale of getting a book like Ulysses published in the first place, the role played by Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare and Company in publishing Ulysses , concerns about obscenity, pirate editions of Ulysses...

White thy fambles, Red thy gan! Wait, what? Find out what this phrase and much more means in this episode as we continue our discussion of "Proteus," the third episode in James Joyce's Ulysses . Topics covered in this show include: what Stephen means by "red Egyptians," background on the Romani and Irish Travellers, Stephen's class insecurity, Terry Pratchett's Mort , strolling morts more generall...

Kelly and Dermot take a look at Stephen Dedalus' prophetic dream in "Proteus." Topics discussed include James Joyce's fascination with dream analysis, Stephen's connection to the mysterious Akasic record, Dermot's own experience with slippery time, the location of the "street of harlots" in Dublin, how Leopold Bloom and Haroun al-Raschid are connected, Orientalism, almosting, and prolonged provoca...

Kelly and Dermot talk dogs, specifically Tatters, the dog encountered by Stephen on the strand at Sandymount. Topics include Joyce's belief that the dog is the most protean creature, Tatters' many forms on the seashore, cocklepickers then and now, seamorse, heraldry, Stephen's many phobias, reincarnation, sea gods, the ninth wave, pards, the Buddha-nature of a dog, cameos by Nicolas Cage and Peter...

Sweny's  Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe ! On the Blog: Decoding Dedalus: Pretenders Dogsbody Social Media: Facebook | Twitter Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles : iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Further Reading: Atura, A. & Dionne, L. Proteus - Modernism Lab. Retrieved from https://modernism.coursepress.yale.edu/proteus/ Delaney, F. (2012, Dec 18). Epi...

Enjoy a late submission for our Bloomsday episode! Check out the full episode here .

Sweny's  Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe ! Social Media: Facebook | Twitter Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles : iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher Many thanks to our readers: Richard Feeney , " Telemachus ," 7:10 Jane Davis, " Telemachus ," 12:50 Andrew Basquille , " Nestor ," 17:47 Steve Carey , " Calypso ," 25:42 Bill Kennedy, " Calypso ," 31:48 PJ Murp...

Kelly and Dermot set sail for the time of Vikings and jerkiness dwarfs! They discuss the differences of similarly-shaped seafaring vessels, Lochlanns, Fr. Dineen's Irish dictionary, the intersection of Viking and Celtic cultures in Ireland, torcs, tomahawk, the horrors of 14th c. Dublin, famine, plague and slaughters, the story of the time a pod of cetaceans washed ashore in medieval Dublin, the s...

**Now accepting submissions for our Bloomsday 2020 episode. **   Sweny's  Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe !   On the Blog: Dogsbody Form of Forms   Social Media: Facebook | Twitter   Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles : iTunes | Google Play Music | Stitcher   Further Reading: Budgen, F. (1972). James Joyce and the making of Ulysses, and other writings. London...

Dermot and Kelly take on some of the history behind the tale of Irish exile Kevin Egan. This episode's discussion covers the story of the 1867 Clerkenwell explosion, what that has to do with Kevin Egan, Egan's relationship to his wife and son, Dermot's relationship to Tayto crisps, Egan's memories of Kilkenny, the Berkeleyan quality of memory, more father-son angst, and a cautionary tale for young...

Images of early morning Paris through the ineluctable modality of Stephen Dedalus' memory, smells of incense and absinthe. We discuss Stephen's life as a starving artist (literally), Kevin Egan and his unwilling exile in Paris, Egan's real life counterpart, New York Times write-ups of duels in the 19th century, Irish nationalist groups of the 19th century, the proper way to drink absinthe, dalcass...

Bon soir, mes amis, et bienvenue a Blooms et Barnacles! Kelly and Dermot discuss Joyce's disastrous sojourn to Paris as a youth and its parallels to Stephen Dedalus' recollections of his time in Paris. Discussion topics include the fin de siècle fashion of French symbolist poets, what exactly mou en civet is, Stephen feeling down and out in a French post office, the mockery of saints in Heaven, St...