Thursday, January 22, 2009

Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts

Part II Chapter 4 read by 2/16
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8 comments:

  1. zacharyJanuary 27, 2009 at 7:54 AM

    Another unexpected element is Joyce's love of the bodily functions. There's been sex and snot and now we get to accompany Bloom to take a dump. I'm sure there's a well-considered artistic meaning behind such crudity, but I don't buy it. I think Joyce just wanted to give us the loveliest language about taking a crap yet. He was trying to beat Evelyn Waugh to it.

    Maybe this in an Irish thing. Gulliver's Travels is full of poops and peeing.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 8, 2009 at 11:44 AM

    In spite of everything else, I have to admit that "Mkgnao!" is just a PERFECT cat noise.

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  3. ShellyFebruary 9, 2009 at 11:21 AM

    According to Ulysses the Blog! and Online Etymology "meow" was the standard spelling for a long time: 1873, earlier miaow, also miau (1634), meaw (1632). Of imitative origin, cf. Fr. miaou, Ger. miauen, Pers. maw, Japanese nya nya, Ar. nau-nau. In Chinese, miau means "cat."

    Z- I added the auto-email to your preferred address. Let me know if you want me to change or remove it.

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  4. UnknownFebruary 9, 2009 at 11:36 AM

    From Ulysses the Blog: "Joyce's use of his alternate spellings is a deliberate choice, not an invention of a sound before convention standardized it."

    Oh yeah, that's what I assumed, and that's what I was praising.

    Thanks for the background, Shelly.

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  5. zacharyFebruary 9, 2009 at 9:54 PM

    If you search for "Ulysses" on the Online Etymology Dictionary, you get entries for "Ulysses," "Scrotum," "Shit," and "Fuck."

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  6. SFebruary 15, 2009 at 11:20 PM

    I sure missed this on the first read:
    Episodes One, Two, and Three constituted a prologue centering on Stephen as a Telemachus figure. With Episode Four, the morning begins again—it is 8:00 A.M., and this chapter takes place simultaneously to Episode One as we begin the adventures of “Odysseus,” Leopold Bloom. Joyce subtly emphasizes this simultaneity by having both Stephen and Bloom notice the same cloud move briefly over the sun. Thematic correspondences also emphasize the simultaneity: both Stephen and Bloom prepare breakfast for others; both are dressed in mourning; both are dispossessed of their homes (Buck takes charge of the tower, Molly and Boylan will take over the Bloom house); both leave without their house keys.
    Thanks, Spark Notes!

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  7. UnknownFebruary 18, 2009 at 4:20 PM

    There were a bunch more in the Cliff Notes version, all of which I missed. Let's see, one was the panther from Haines dream / Bloom's black cat.

    I really enjoyed this chapter, and let me say: this is more like it! I might just stick it through now. (I could stand to have less scenes of the protagonist defecating, though.)

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  8. zacharyFebruary 18, 2009 at 5:55 PM

    I liked this chapter a lot too. This is about as charming as Bloom gets though. After this we move into his A.D.D.-addled brain and he, ironically, becomes much more remote.

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