CerebralMix 2015-04-12: Ulysses Episode Fifteen

This week we continue with parts three and four of the Circe episode from Ulysses.

This is the longest section of Ulysses, and somewhat ironically, it takes place in the shortest period of time within the novel. This has to do with the nature of the hallucinations that occur in Stephen’s and Bloom’s minds throughout. While each of their hallucinations take mere seconds of real-time, they are detailed and lengthy within the reading of the section.

The part of the hallucinations that is interesting from my perspective is that thee is a bleeding-through in them. They contain references within them that the character that is having the hallucination cannot possibly know, given that they are from another characters timeline. The fact that there is a relationship between Bloom and Stephen that might be seen as father and son is possibly reinforced by this choice: it suggests that there is a possibility of a collective conscious. This is something that has been the subject of speculation in other novels, such as ‘As I Lay Dying’ by William Faulkner.

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.