North London Ulysses

We conclude our analysis of Scylla & Charybdis, a very tricky chapter but somehow we get through it. We may now consider ourselves experts not only in Ulysses but in Shakespeare's entire oeuvre! Yeah, right.. Penguin Classic: 263-280 Gabler: 169-179 Project Guttenberg: Coleridge called him myriadminded. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism,...

Had Shakespeare up to here? Surely room for a little more...and a tilly. Russell concludes the reading of the Scylla & Charybdis episode. Penguin Classic: 263-280 Gabler: 169-179 Project Guttenberg: Coleridge called him myriadminded. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is in the public domain...

Existentialism. What is it? Is it relevant to Ulysses? To the Scylla chapter especially? If so, why, how and so what? And why aren't you outside getting on with something? This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is in the public domain in the UK. This recording includes commentary, interpretation...

Stephen' s library literati lancing lingers. In this podcast we dissect the middle segment of the chapter. It's not in the microscopic detail of the two previous analysis podcasts because armed with all that, we can proceed, if not surefooted, then better than Bambi. Stephen continues to dazzle on Shakespeare and is getting on reasonably well, when who walks in to undermine him? Yes... The...

Russell reads the middle segment of the Scylla episode. Stephen is pushing his Hamlet theory. Having controversially postulated that it is King Hamlet, rather than the Prince that may resonate more with Shakespeare, Stephen raises the stakes further by exploring whether infidelity might be involved not only at Ellsinore but back in Stratford. Gosh! Oh, and the Buck is back. This podcast forms part...

Our reading of the first 12 or so pages of this episode (podcast 2.19) is sufficiently challenging as to warrant two analysis podcasts (2.20 and 2.21). The aim is to provide a decent base of understanding to enable much quicker future progress through this dense episode. Stephen continues to ponder whether Shakespeare draws from his own life experiences to produce the plays generally and Hamlet in...

Introducing the 'Shakespeare' episode. We are in the National Library of Ireland and Stephen is there to explain his Hamlet theory to the Dublin literati. As a bi-product, if not the main product, he's hoping to dazzle them with his intelligent and intellectual breadth, so that they may let him join their little gang. It's a dense chapter. So much so, that in this podcast, we take...

We heard Mulligan reference Stephen's Hamlet theory way back in episode 1. Now in the National Library of Ireland he gets to explain it, not only to us but to the great and good of literary Dublin. Chapter 9 of Ulysses is considered one of the most challenging and so the accompanying analysis videos, are more detailed than usual. The first two at any rate. The episode will be read in three par...

From Lestrygonians onward, Joyce drops hints of a link between Leopold Bloom and the Old Testament prophet Elijah. It is not really spelt out in the text but we feel something's going on. Here without expectation of firm conclusions, we take a closer look. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922)...

Bloom it turns out, is a fussy eater, so he kisses a frog or two before alighting on the right place for lunch. A light lunch, it transpires. There he'll ponder, a little forlornly we might think, on his marriage and its place in the world; in the universe. And succoured by a sandwich and a glass of burgundy, he perks up. His mind is set, today of all days, on securing that ad and so earn mone...

After realising The Burton is not for him, Bloom decides on a light lunch at Davy Byrne's, where he will recall first love and contemplate both dodgy food and the rear ends of Greek goddesses. Then after a good deed and a scary near miss, it's off to Dublin's national library and museum. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion,...

In the Lestrygonians part of The Odyssey, Ulysses strays into the land of the cannibals, with disastrous consequences, especially for those of his crew that become lunch. In this first part of the chapter, Bloom is not eaten. So that's good. But let's consider what is going on. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. Jam...

Lunchtime! Bloom is hungry and don't we just know it. We noticed last time that the book began to adapt its style to the character of the protagonist and more of the same here. Food, lunch, hunger, salivation drips from the words. Russell, having eaten beforehand, maintains his composure while reading the first half of the episode. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is...

In Aeolus, there's a segment under the headline Rhymes and Reasons that readers struggle with, to the extent that the vast majority ignore it and pretend it never happened. Not here at North London Ulysses! Have the passage to hand and Russell will guide you step by step to reveal what Joyce may have been saying about the respective merits of the Irish Literary Revival generally and Douglas Hy...

Let's get to grips with all this fabulous oratory. Is it so good? The Art of the chapter is rhetoric. What even is that? And what on earth is Stephen going on about with the two women ascending Nelson's Pillar? Panic not, the winds are favourable and the clouds of obscurity shall part. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and st...

We read the second part of Aeolus. Stephen arrives at the newspaper office to pass Deasy's letter to the editor, Myles Crawford. While there, he hears the second two of three examples of supposedly good oratory. On the way to the pub, he presents his own effort. Bloom has come and gone in trying to place the advert, and does not meet Stephen. He's a rare example of someone actually trying...

In the first Extra Video Series post relating to Aeolus, Russell discusses the art and rules of rhetoric with Siobhan McElduff, Assoc. Professor of Latin Literature and Roman Culture at The University of British Colombia.

Stephen & Bloom are in the same building and hopes rise that after six episodes, they will meet. It's at 4-8 Prince's Street North at the offices of sister newspapers, The Freeman's Journal and the Evening Telegraph. It's central Dublin, by Nelson's Pillar and the General Post Office. Here we'll find journalists and various hangers-on discussing the best form of oratory...

Episode 7. Aeolus, King of the Winds is in Dublin, and more precisely at the offices shared by the Freeman's Journal and the Evening Telegraph. Both Bloom and Stephen will blow in. Russell reads the first half of the chapter. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is in the public domain in the...

Male funeral etiquette. What does it reveal, what does it stifle and where's all the women? This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is in the public domain in the UK. This recording includes commentary, interpretation, and contextual explanation, and is not presented as a standalone audiobook. Th...

At the graveside Bloom reflects on poor Rudy, poor Papa and less personally, poor Parnell. And yet, resilient Bloom is life affirming. He accesses his inner cricketer and they're not getting him this innings. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study. James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922) is in the public domain in the UK. This recordin...

At the cemetery Bloom ponders life, death, love, loss and the point of it all, as did Stephen at a similar time, walking along Sandymount Strand. This is our last chapter where the first three and second three episodes run in parallel. Bloom's analysis seems much more relatable and even surrounded by death, he is strangely upbeat. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is...

Bloom is in company. He sits with three other Dublin gents as they travel soberly, respectfully, to Prospect cemetery, Glasnevin, north west Dublin, for the funeral of Paddy Dignam. The Hades episode falls into two parts, getting to Glasnevin and at Glasnevin. Here we look at the first part and observe our hero. We've seen him deal perfunctorily with McCoy and Bantam Lyons before moving on, bu...

Poor Paddy Dignum. Let's go pay our respects. This time, the carriage ride to Glasnevin cemetery as we read the first half of the Hades episode. `

Need a fix? Keep it quiet, but there's a fella in the alley selling a copy of Ulysses. Nod, nod. Wink, wink. In Lotus Eaters, Bloom faces narcotic temptation at every turn and he's somewhere along the spectrum of resistance. Somewhere. For sometimes you've just got to give in. This podcast forms part of an educational reading group and is intended for criticism, discussion, and study....