A Great Cacophony of Onomatopoeia

[paigerella]

A Great Cacophony of Onomatopoeia "Sea, wind, leaves, thunder, waters, cows lowing, the cattle market, cocks, hens don't crow, snakes hissss. There's music everywhere. Ruttledge's door: ee creaking. No, that's noise. Minuet of Don Giovanni he's playing now. Court dresses of all descriptions in castle chambers dancing. Misery. Peasants outside. Green starving faces eating dockleaves. Nice that is. Look: look, look, look, look, look: you look at us. That's joyful I can feel. Never have written it. Why? My joy is other joy. But boht are joys. Yes, joy it must be. Mere fact of music shows you are. Often thought she was in the dumps till she began to lilt. Then know. M'Coy valise. My wife adn your wife. Squealing cat. Like tearing silk. When seh talks like the clapper of a bellows. They can't manage men's intervals. Gap in their voices too Fill me. I'm warm, ark, open. Molly in quis est homo: Mercadante. My ear against hte wall to hear. Want a owman who can deliver the goods."                                                                           - Bloom in Ulysses The Sirens-- what are they? In this episode, Molly is about to have a licentious affair with Boylan, and Bloom knows about it (poor Poldy!). Bloom tells himself that she needs sexual flings to keep her youth. They both know that Bloom can no long make love to Molly-- ever since the death of their son, they have been unable to have sex. There is a lot of the father/ son theme throughout Ulysses with Bloom and his son, Rudy; the Christian God and his son, Jesus; and Hamlet and his father's ghost. Boylan and Molly have their appointment at Bloom's house, in Molly's bed, at 4:00. Bloom ducks into a restaurant to eat lunch and sees Boylan there. Not only that, but he watches Boylan watch an attractive waitress. He also feels for Molly, having to wait for Boylan. Finally Boylan leaves and, throughout the next few pages, his trip across doublin is interjected in the narrative. Bloom decides, while he's in the restaurant and while he's imagining Molly with Boylan, to write a letter to Martha (with whom he has an "affair" by letters-- they never meet.) However, the letter can't take his mind off of Molly and Boylan and the piano music in the bar only exacerbates his feelings as the songs are about guilt and infidelity. Ah! Finally Bloom can't take it anymore and he has to get up and leave. The Sirens: This episode reflects the Siren episode in Ulysses. That's when Ulysses and his crew go past the sirens in his ship. Luckily, they have been forewarned and prepared: Ulysses has his crew stop their ears with beeswax and they tie him to the mast while they sail by. Why? The Sirens are like merwomen who sing to sailors. The sailors go into a psychological frenzy and feel as though they  have to go to them. There are, however, deadly rocks and they always follow the Siren's call to death upon the rocks. Ulysses goes crazy, while tied to the mast, and begs his men to let him free. Fortunately, he has warned them of this behavior beforehand and they've been instructed to ignore his pleas, which they do. Ulysses and his men go safely past the Sirens' call. An interesting note: the Starbucks mascot is a two-tailed Siren, calling for us, the consumers, to go to Startbucks (and crash upon their deadly coffee beans?) This episode has a lot of music to it. The men are playing music at the piano on the bar. The blind man, who tuned the piano and accidentally left his tuning fork, tap-taps his walking stick along the street as he makes his way back to retrieve it. Boylan jingles change in his pocket as he makes his way across town. The men clapclappityclap their hands in cheers at the end of a song. Bloom muses on singing and on the day he and Molly met. The sounds have a great cacophony of onomatopoeia and alliteration, and are, in many places, meant to resemble a symphony of words. You will also find references to sea shells, women pressing the shells up to their ears and to men's ears (the sirens calling to the sailors) and the two barmaids who are supposed to physically represent sirens (they get a lot of attention from the guys). That's Episode Thirty-three, Baby! You can hear it for free on iTunes- just do a search at the iTunes store for "Ulysses Podcast," and you can catch it online at http://paigerella.libsyn.com ! Ciao bellissimi! -Paigerella~ (or, as a listener once said, Pioggerella! (bella rain))

www.myspace.com/ulyssespodcast

[Mr. Hornaday]

Thanks Paigerella,

In this episode, Molly is about to have a licentious affair with Boylan, and Bloom knows about it (poor Poldy!). Bloom tells himself that she needs sexual flings to keep her youth. They both know that Bloom can no long make love to Molly-- ever since the death of their son, they have been unable to have sex. There is a lot of the father/ son theme throughout Ulysses with Bloom and his son, Rudy; the Christian God and his son, Jesus; and Hamlet and his father's ghost.

Indeed, the quest for the father, the oldest tale in the book. Perhaps the ONLY tale in the book! From Jesus to Luke Skywalker, every heroic story is the search for the father. "Telemachus, follow your father."

The father isn't just your biological daddy , the father is your calling, your source, your "god." Atonement with this father is the struggle each and every one of us endures in life. Through birth, through adolescence, and the ultimate adventure: death. In Ulysses. the order is reversed with the funeral at the beginning, the birth towards the end: the unending cycle of birth and rebirth, which is the second oldest tale in the book: Adonis, Osiris, and Jesus again.

Finally Boylan leaves and, throughout the next few pages, his trip across doublin is interjected in the narrative. Bloom decides, while he's in the restaurant and while he's imagining Molly with Boylan, to write a letter to Martha (with whom he has an "affair" by letters-- they never meet.) However, the letter can't take his mind off of Molly and Boylan and the piano music in the bar only exacerbates his feelings as the songs are about guilt and infidelity. Ah! Finally Bloom can't take it anymore and he has to get up and leave.

Oh, the guilt, the paradox of religion. The necessary obstacle to to enlightenment. As Stephen repeats, "Without a sundering there can be no reconcilliation." (Or something like that.) In other words, there is no redemption without a transgression. You must not sin, but to experience His grace, you must sin. (Similar paradoxes can be revealed in every other religious system. Embracing the paradox and transcending it, that is the key.) Anyway. Bloom is burdened with the guilt. He hasn't transcended... YET. He's still obsessed with the sin, the Fall. Falling bodies... 32 feet per second per second.

(I've found Joseph Campbell very helpful in understanding Ulysses, although he rarely addresses Ulysses specifically, the mythic hero is always the same. But Campbell did write a Skeleton's Key to Finnegans Wake, which I think will be very very helpful leading up to your next project, Paigerella.)

Keep up the great work, and keep the ideas flowing like the Liffey.

http://granola-poet.blogspot.com/

[Granola Poet]

Thanks Paigerella,

In this episode, Molly is about to have a licentious affair with Boylan, and Bloom knows about it (poor Poldy!). Bloom tells himself that she needs sexual flings to keep her youth. They both know that Bloom can no long make love to Molly-- ever since the death of their son, they have been unable to have sex. There is a lot of the father/ son theme throughout Ulysses with Bloom and his son, Rudy; the Christian God and his son, Jesus; and Hamlet and his father's ghost.

Indeed, the quest for the father, the oldest tale in the book. Perhaps the ONLY tale in the book! From Jesus to Luke Skywalker, every heroic story is the search for the father. "Telemachus, follow your father."

The father isn't just your biological daddy , the father is your calling, your source, your "god." Atonement with this father is the struggle each and every one of us endures in life. Through birth, through adolescence, and the ultimate adventure: death. In Ulysses. the order is reversed with the funeral at the beginning, the birth towards the end: the unending cycle of birth and rebirth, which is the second oldest tale in the book: Adonis, Osiris, and Jesus again.

Finally Boylan leaves and, throughout the next few pages, his trip across doublin is interjected in the narrative. Bloom decides, while he's in the restaurant and while he's imagining Molly with Boylan, to write a letter to Martha (with whom he has an "affair" by letters-- they never meet.) However, the letter can't take his mind off of Molly and Boylan and the piano music in the bar only exacerbates his feelings as the songs are about guilt and infidelity. Ah! Finally Bloom can't take it anymore and he has to get up and leave.