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Thomas wrote: "Not really a resource, but since we're heading into the last week...

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Oh my goodness, as someone who grew up watching The Muppet Show, I'm loving this!!

And of course poor Beaker is cast as Paddy Dignam. ha! Love the parallel between Miss Piggy and Molly Bloom.

I've just started looking at this, but I can see this is going to be a distraction for me today. :)

Linda wrote: "Oh my goodness, as someone who grew up watching The Muppet Show, I'm loving this!!


I'm sorry the blog sort of petered out, but I guess I'm not surprised. If it continues at some point I hope Animal is cast as Lynch.

Thomas wrote: "I'm sorry the blog sort of petered out, but I guess I'm not surprised. If it continues at some point I hope Animal is cast as Lynch."

No worries, not your fault Thomas. It was fun reading the first few episodes and even just imagining the muppets in the various roles.

Someone somewhere mentioned Stuart Gilbert's study on Ulysses, I think. Does anyone remember who it was and what they said? :-)

Genni wrote: "Someone somewhere mentioned Stuart Gilbert's study on Ulysses, I think. Does anyone remember who it was and what they said? :-)"

Nabokov had a very derogatory remark about Gilbert's detail tracking. I don't have his lecture nearby to quote it.

Genni wrote: "Someone somewhere mentioned Stuart Gilbert's study on Ulysses, I think. Does anyone remember who it was and what they said? :-)"

Still don't have Nabokov w/i reach, but must say despite N's position, I am glad scholars like Gilbert give us the resources they do, even if overwhelming and not totally usable for many of us at least on a first read -- rather like having a dictionary that one uses but doesn't read cover to cover, even though every entry in this one relates to the material at hand. I used Ulysses Annotated: Revised and Expanded Edition by Don Gifford and borrowed a library copy because of the small type in my paperback!

I have just started reading As a Man Grows Older and apparently Svevo was a prototype for Joyce's Bloom (who actually suggested the name of the book (As A Man Grows Older) in its English translation). The things you learn!

Hey Lily, thank you for your comments. I went ahead and picked it up, mostly because Joyce collaborated with him so closely on it and so I'm curious! :-)

Genni wrote: "Hey Lily, thank you for your comments. I went ahead and picked it up, mostly because Joyce collaborated with him so closely on it and so I'm curious! :-)"

It is definitely worth a look, especially after having read the novel itself. But Nabokov was not its only critic. Joyce helped Gilbert with the analysis in part to drum up publicity for Ulysses. Later on he regretted having done so.

Interesting! Why did he regret it?

Genni wrote: "Interesting! Why did he regret it?"

I couldn't remember exactly, so I looked it up in Ellmann's biography. Joyce was speaking to Nabokov, of all people, when "... he said something disparaging about the use of mythology in modern literature. Nabokov replied in amazement, 'But you employed Homer!' 'A whim,' was Joyce's comment. 'But you collaborated with Gilbert,' Nabokov persisted. 'A terrible mistake,' said Joyce, 'an advertisement for the book. I regret it very much.' "

So he doesn't say exactly, at least not here. Joyce later told Samuel Beckett that he thought he may have over-systematized Ulysses. Gilbert's analysis is in large part an elaboration of the systems Joyce employed, so maybe this is why he regretted. That's my guess anyway.

What? Can a whim last seven years? This makes me wonder if Joyce knew of Nabakov's criticism and felt embarrassed or something?

I know... a whim. Right. But he was like that sometimes. Critics think of Stephen as the young Joyce and Bloom as the mature Joyce. But I think there was a bit of Molly in him as well.

My intuition is Gilbert over-analyzed Joyce, it surprised him a bit, and he backed away from being seen quite that way, pushing towards mystery and self mastery of his epic rather than "simplistic" comparison, even imitation, bane accusation towards any writer of Joyce's caliber.

My Gifford has this opening quotation from Joyce:

"I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality."

As if the critics themselves aren't often pompous and pretentious!

The more I digest this reading of Ulysses, the more I see the Homeric angle more as almost ironic point of departure than an overarching framework. Ulysses sort of turns the epic of Homer inside out - One day within one city, and a fairly tight cast of characters magnified to the nth degree rather than, well, an odyssey. An obsession with the mundane and internal of regular people versus a great man's struggle with the gods...

Kyle wrote: "The more I digest this reading of Ulysses, the more I see the Homeric angle more as almost ironic point of departure than an overarching framework. Ulysses sort of turns the epic of Homer inside o..."

If he had called it "ironic" rather than a whim he might have shut down the critics more handily!

I was just reminded in another group that today is Bloomsday! So now I'm trying to think back to what Leopold was doing at this time (8 am my time) as he went about his day. Was he out walking to purchase a kidney for breakfast? Or maybe he already back home frying it up. Anyhow, Happy Bloomsday everyone! :)

So it is! Thank you, Linda! I completely spaced it, and now I have to find a place that will serve me a gorgonzola cheese sandwich for lunch.

Thomas wrote: "So it is! Thank you, Linda! I completely spaced it, and now I have to find a place that will serve me a gorgonzola cheese sandwich for lunch."

I didn't even think of it when I saw the pub (see photo). Maybe I need to go back after dinner for some absinthe and hallucinations.

Here is the Google News article link for Bloomsday. (I haven't read it myself yet.)

Later: it's kinda cute.

Zippy wrote: "I didn't even think of it when I saw the pub (see photo). Maybe I need to go back after dinner for some absinthe and hallucinations. "

Most definitely. Give my regards to Bella, and don't forget your ashplant!

Philadelphia does large Bloomsday celebration every year at the Free Library and in front of the Rosenbach museum, where the original manuscript resides. It's a cool thing to to if anyone ever finds themselves in the area. Alas, I couldn't get away from work today, and have a softball game to get to afterwards...there's always next year, I suppose.

David wrote: "Why should you read James Joyce's "Ulysses"?"

Good link! Thx, David.