Ulysses - post IV

There is a shift in the style and all of a sudden things start to expand out from the main characters and you sense the story is heading in a direction – not clear where at this stage – and it becomes easier to read

Bullet points between pages 200 - 315

* The hacks continue to debate Shakespeare with Stephen putting forward various theories about the relationship between the bard and his own father – themes that come out in Hamlet – and then talks about Shakespeare’s relationships with his brothers

* All the time Stephen is speaking there are various comings and goings and there are various people asking for back issues of newspapers or trying to get articles into publications including Stephens house mate Mulligan even tries to get in on the act

* As they talk about Shakespeare the text is written as a play for a page and a half – the book is full of these quirky devices and has already included a bar of music on an earlier page

* Things then widen out and you follow the priest who was involved with the funeral, the son of the deceased man and meet Stephen’s sisters and father and get an insight into the extreme poverty they live in

* The story then covers more people across Dublin with Bloom acting as the link as he crosses town and he is there when Stephens father and friends sing and play the piano in the pub and he is there when friends of the man buried in the morning at the funeral find out he is dead

* There are numerous references also being made to blooms wife Molly, some sort of opera singer who depending on the point of view is brilliant/washed up and there are hints, some told almost under blooms nose, that she is unfaithful to him and that is widely known

More tomorrow...