Ulysses - post III

Reading Ulysses is like being given access to someone’s mind and it moves like a butterfly from one thought to the next without reason half the time. This book is more about atmosphere and mood for me at the moment because that’s the most accessible element of the writing

To make life easier for myself and hopefully for others who wrestle with this book I am going to summarise everything that so far has emerged about the two lead characters:

Stephen Dedalus Leopold Bloom
Son of Simon Married to Molly with a daughter
One of 15 siblings Son died from illness
Mother deceased Having an affair
Some sort of teacher Sells adverts in the newspapers
In debt Avoid singing contracts

Those facts might help as we go forward

Bullet points between pages 132 – 200

* After the funeral Bloom and the others are in the newsroom filing copy, chasing ads and putting to bed the issue of numerous newspapers that seem to be located within a stones throw of each other – must be the Dublin equivalent to Fleet Street

* There appears to be a great camaraderie between the writers but Bloom is kept slightly at arms length and he disappears before Stephen comes in and takes up the conversation with the hacks

* They all head off to the pub with Bloom drinking alone brooding on things and then helping a blind man cross the road and on his way is thinking about the letter from his mistress he received that morning

* Stephen and the hacks are left in the pub arguing about Shakespeare with the disagreement being about whether or not the life of Shakespeare needs to be understood if his plays can be enjoyed and he is encouraged to write about his theories about the great bard

More tomorrow…