CerebralMix 2015-03-08: Ulysses Episode Ten

This week we finish the Cyclops episode from Ulysses. This episode takes place primarily in a bar, with Bloom getting cornered by a citizen. The majority of the action stems around Blooms opinions and arguments, which tend to be more intellectual than that of the citizen. If we think about this, being trapped in the bar is roughly parallel to Odysseus being trapped in the cave. One could consider Bloom to be similar to Odysseus, while the citizen is approximately the Cyclops.

It’s an interesting way to set a modernization of the Cyclops story. Here things are about the crucifixion of Bloom, who is seen to be a more Christ or Elijah like person. While the others in the audience represent the average or normal person. This episode also represents another of the shifts in narrative style that we’ve been promised: there is not inner monologues going on here. We see all of the action through a single person, in the first person.

Once again, Joyce really approached each of these episodes on a level that is staggering in terms of it’s invention, even by today’s standards. There is so much writing that is forced into a specific mold that it’s an interesting exercise for our minds to try to break free from the restraints that we live with on a daily basis…which is what I love about doing this show: challenging the ideas that we have to stick within a specific model or single idea of how a show should be done.

Readings

In the past I’ve actually included the text of the poems or stories as part of the show notes. In the case of Ulysses that would be a bit on the incredibly heavy side. Instead I have produced a guide: CerebralMix Ulysses Series that provides the references that I am using, along with a show guide to the whole broadcast of this series.