My Ulysses Read – 1
I've always wanted to read Ulysses. It's a strange thing. On the face of it, it's the kind of book that I should despise. It's been called a masterpiece, in so many ways, by so many people. It's supposed to be dense, and a difficult read. It's supposed to packed with allusions and references that even literary scholars have difficulty getting. And, most importantly, not much happens, there are no murders, no violence, and the sec that shocked people in the 1920s just seems quaint in the context of fauxcest and bukkakes peddled by millions of porn sites online.
Then there's the cultishness of Joyce worship. That, by itself, is not a positive or negative – Casablanca is recognized as the classic it is because it was a cult favourite in Harvard in the 60s. Cult followings are responsible for so many long-lived cultural products – whether its literature or film or music. But the Joyce cult, with it's instagrammable Bloomsday outings in Dublin, the regular posts that appear on social media – all seem to showcase at a sense of achievement: “I read one of the most difficult novels written in the 20th century, and I loved it!” It does, in a way, seem snobbish.
But because I like to read about books, and about authors, as much as I like to read themselves, I know a little about Ulysses. I know that Joyce wrote keys to understanding the book for friends - the so-called Linati and Gilbert schemas, with each chapter allocated its own colour, title, symbol, organ (!) and relevant artform.
(I wonder if Joyce was just taking the piss here)
I've read the Odyssey, of course. Or atleast, I've read an abridged version when I was young, and I read Butler's translation when I was older. I know that there are parallels between the Odyssey and Ulysses, a correspondence between Joyce's chapters and the books that make up Homer's epic – but I thought it was a one-to-one thing, 24 chapters in Joyce, one for each hour of the day, each linked to one of the 24 books that make up the Odyssey, but I was mistaken. There are only 18 chapters in Joyce's book.
I wonder why I am doing this. I probably will have nothing new to say. What I will want to say has probably been said better and more succinctly by more intelligent people. The only thing here is my own ego - that despite everything, I will have something to say. And whatever else, putting your thoughts down in words also has the effect of making things clearer in your mind.
So here goes. The first chapter.
Telemachus
The first book of Homer's Odyssey doesn't have a title, but is mostly about Telemachus losing his patience with Penelope's suitors. Telemachus is still young – a teen? - and the suitors brush him off and party on his livestock and pressure his mother to marry one of them. So a lot of it is exposition – in fact – the Odyssey opens with Zeus telling Athena that yes, it's high time Odysseus returned home, and Athena going down to Ithaca to keep Telemachus' spirits up.
“So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely home except Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to return to his wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by, there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to Ithaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, his troubles were not yet over; nevertheless all the gods had now begun to pity him except Neptune, who still persecuted him without ceasing and would not let him get home.”
Now, this is the first chapter as per the Linati schema.
And this is the Gilbert schema for the first chapter.
Now, the time part of it is quite obvious, as is the place. The colour - well there are references to Buck Mulligan's teeth - white and gold, as well as Stephen's thought "Chrysostomos". The dispossessed son is Stephen - whose mother has just died (But do we know anything about Mulligan's mother? Or Haines'?). Stephen is the heir - and the symbol? Which Stephen? Daedalus? That seems too obvious. St Stephen - the first martyr of Christianity? Hamlet and Ireland, I get, the latter especially when Stephen talks about his two masters.
As for the people, Stephen is Telemachus, fine. Mentor, atleast in the second chapter of the Odyssey, is Athena, but what's the correlation? Given Stephen's dislike of Mulligan, it kind of makes sense to think of him as Antinous, and Haines as another unwelcome guest, the suitor. But the only other woman mentioned in the chapter is the woman who serves them, and is she Penelope? Or is she Athena? I suppose I'm being oversimplistic to expect a one-to-one correspondence between the schema and the chapter, but it is puzzling,
Is this normal?
I've always wanted to read Ulysses. It's a strange thing. On the face of it, it's the kind of book that I should despise. It's been called a masterpiece, in so many ways, by so many people. It's supposed to be dense, and a difficult read. It's supposed to packed with allusions and references that even literary scholars have difficulty getting. And, most importantly, not much happens, there are no murders, no violence, and the sec that shocked people in the 1920s just seems quaint in the context of fauxcest and bukkakes peddled by millions of porn sites online.
Then there's the cultishness of Joyce worship. That, by itself, is not a positive or negative – Casablanca is recognized as the classic it is because it was a cult favourite in Harvard in the 60s. Cult followings are responsible for so many long-lived cultural products – whether its literature or film or music. But the Joyce cult, with it's instagrammable Bloomsday outings in Dublin, the regular posts that appear on social media – all seem to showcase at a sense of achievement: “I read one of the most difficult novels written in the 20th century, and I loved it!” It does, in a way, seem snobbish.
But because I like to read about books, and about authors, as much as I like to read themselves, I know a little about Ulysses. I know that Joyce wrote keys to understanding the book for friends - the so-called Linati and Gilbert schemas, with each chapter allocated its own colour, title, symbol, organ (!) and relevant artform.
(I wonder if Joyce was just taking the piss here)
I've read the Odyssey, of course. Or atleast, I've read an abridged version when I was young, and I read Butler's translation when I was older. I know that there are parallels between the Odyssey and Ulysses, a correspondence between Joyce's chapters and the books that make up Homer's epic – but I thought it was a one-to-one thing, 24 chapters in Joyce, one for each hour of the day, each linked to one of the 24 books that make up the Odyssey, but I was mistaken. There are only 18 chapters in Joyce's book.
I wonder why I am doing this. I probably will have nothing new to say. What I will want to say has probably been said better and more succinctly by more intelligent people. The only thing here is my own ego - that despite everything, I will have something to say. And whatever else, putting your thoughts down in words also has the effect of making things clearer in your mind.
So here goes. The first chapter.
The first book of Homer's Odyssey doesn't have a title, but is mostly about Telemachus losing his patience with Penelope's suitors. Telemachus is still young – a teen? - and the suitors brush him off and party on his livestock and pressure his mother to marry one of them. So a lot of it is exposition – in fact – the Odyssey opens with Zeus telling Athena that yes, it's high time Odysseus returned home, and Athena going down to Ithaca to keep Telemachus' spirits up.
“So now all who escaped death in battle or by shipwreck had got safely home except Ulysses, and he, though he was longing to return to his wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and wanted to marry him. But as years went by, there came a time when the gods settled that he should go back to Ithaca; even then, however, when he was among his own people, his troubles were not yet over; nevertheless all the gods had now begun to pity him except Neptune, who still persecuted him without ceasing and would not let him get home.”
Now, this is the first chapter as per the Linati schema.
| Title | Time | Colour | People | Science / Art | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telemachus | 8 — 9 a.m. | Gold / white | Theology | Dispossessed son in contest |
| Title | Technic | Organ | Symbols |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telemachus | Dialogue for three and four, | - | Hamlet, Ireland, Stephen |
| Title | Scene | Hour | Organ | Colour | Symbol | Art | Technic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telemachus | The Tower | 8am | - | White / gold | Heir | Theology | Narrative (young) |
As for the people, Stephen is Telemachus, fine. Mentor, atleast in the second chapter of the Odyssey, is Athena, but what's the correlation? Given Stephen's dislike of Mulligan, it kind of makes sense to think of him as Antinous, and Haines as another unwelcome guest, the suitor. But the only other woman mentioned in the chapter is the woman who serves them, and is she Penelope? Or is she Athena? I suppose I'm being oversimplistic to expect a one-to-one correspondence between the schema and the chapter, but it is puzzling,
Is this normal?