Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

For you Bro.

Code Monkey

I am currently on page 434.

The last 24 pages of this section were the most chaotic, incomprehensible, gibberish I have every tried to read.  Please tell me what the hell is going on in this section:

Golly, whatten tunket's yon guy in the mackintosh? Dusty Rhodes. Peep at his wearables. By mighty! What's he got? Jubilee mutton. Bovril, by James. Wants it real bad. D'ye ken bare socks? Seedy cuss in the Richmond? Rawthere! Thought he had a deposit of lead in his penis. Trumpery insanity. Bartle the Bread we calls him. That, sir, was once a prosperous cit. Man all tattered and torn that married a maiden all forlorn. Slung her hook, she did. Here see lost love. Walking Mackintosh of lonely canyon. Tuck and turn in. Schedule time. Nix for the hornies. Pardon? Seen him today at a runefal? Chum o' yourn passed in his checks? Ludamassy! Pore piccaninnies! Thou'll no be telling me thot, Pold veg! Did ums blubble bigsplash crytears cos fren Padney was took off in black bag?

Can you make out what is going on?  Not I, not I.

The last 36 pages took me a week to finish.  I feel like I am in the doldrums with this book.  I need to catch a wind soon.

I am currently on page 400.

This is a very difficult section.  I can not figure out what is going on.  Joyce is writing in such an old, detached style that I miss almost everything.

Only 32 more pages of this section.

I am currently on page 383.

I now know why this book was banned in the US.  Bloom is hanging out at the sea shore watching three sisters watch over twins.  Bloom watches one (Gerty) while fondling himself to orgasm.

I am wary to say this but this was my favorite sections so far.  Not only did I understood most of what was happening but I was impressed with the way Joyce dissected Blooms thoughts and the beauty he does it in.  For example this section struck me:

Longest way round is the shortest way home.  And just when he and she.  Circus horse walking in a ring. Rip van Winkle we played. Rip: tear in Henny Doyle’s overcoat. Van: breadvan delivering. Winkle: cockles and periwinkles. Then I did Rip van Winkle coming back. She leaned on the sideboard watching. Moorish eyes. Twenty years asleep in Sleepy Hollow. All changed. Forgotten. The young are old. His gun rusty from the dew.

Very poetic. Bloom thinking about his youth, Molly, and how twenty years have passed.  Everything had changed but the love and his youth have been forgotten.

I am currently on page 346.

A long section that features Bloom and some gents drinking at a pub.  Bloom gets ridiculed for his beliefs (being a Jew) and is run from the bar. 

Two sections I liked:

The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freely freckled shaggybearded widemouthed largenosed longheaded deepvoiced barekneed, brawnyhanded, hairylegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero.

and:

They believe in rod, the scourger almighty, creator of hell upon earth and in Jacky Tar, the son of a gun, who was conceived of unholy boast, born of the fighting navy, suffered under rump and dozen, was scarified, flayed and curried, yelled like bloody hell, the third day he arose again from the bed, steered into haven, sitteth on his beamend till further orders whence he shall come to drudge for a living and be paid.

The first made me laugh.  I believe it is a mockery of Homer and the Odyssey.  The second also made me laugh, mocking the Lords Prayer.

I am on page 292.

I tried something very interesting with this last section.  I read most of it out loud.  Episode Eleven was titled "Sirens" by SparkNotes so I thought hearing the section might be a good idea.  I was right.  It was very rythmic.  Even thought I understood only patches, I liked the section.

I am currently on page 255.

The last section I read was very bizarre. If not for the great web site Elizabeth gave me (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ulysses/summary.html) I would have had no idea what was going on. It was basically 19 stories about happenings around Dublin.

I took a few days off reading to let Elizabeth catch up.

I am on page 240.

In this section Stephen explains his theory about Shakespeare. What I could gather, Shakespeare was not only Hamlet, but also Hamlet's father. Hell, Shakespeare was everywhere in his works. I also take it that Stephen believed Shakespeare was married to Ann Hathaway who may have been sleeping around.

Buck shows up again and reads from a play that he just started writing.

I am on page 184.

This was a long section where Bloom walks around town looking for something to eat. I liked the part where Bloom ventures into a restaurant and sees men gorging on food like animals.

Bloom leaves, enters a different pub, drink some wine and eats a cheese sandwich. I think he helps a blind man cross the street and goes to the library.

My favorite made up word in this section was 'smiledyawnednodded' to describe a smile, yawn, and nod. It made me smile.

Charlie said:  I was surprised by the first 10 minutes of this CD. I did not know what I was listening to. I thought that Tina had made a mistake and made me a CD some guys talking about music. My mind was changed after listening to the next track, a live version of The Fixer. It was Pearl Jam talking about music but on the rest of Backspacer they are more than talking about music, they are making it.

I liked this CD more than I thought I would. I am skeptical of bands that have made it. Usually something is lost when musicians have success. It is hard for me to believe Bruce Springsteen still is “Born to Run”. Backspacer is a CD that has some of what made me like Pearl Jam in the 90’s.

Pearl Jam rocks. They have been rocking for over eighteen years and Backspacer has it all. It has the loud angry songs (Gonna See My Friends, Fixer, Supersonic) as well as angst-ridden passionate ones (Just Breathe, Speed of Sound).

On the Tina/Charlie Promote It/Lend It/Deny It scale, I shout: “Promote It!!!”

Tina said:  Picture this: It’s 1994, I stand at a mere four feet 6 inches tall, as my eyes gaze at the alternative section at my local Sam Goody Music Store. The choices are unlimited, as this is the early nineties and alternative music is at it’s high. While staring at the collection, most likely wearing my plaid shirt and converse all-stars, I choose Pearl Jams Vitology. This day was the very day that I started my enjoyment for the band Pearl Jam.

While Pearl Jam has had its ups and downs through out the past years, they still in my mind continue to rock. They demonstrate this ability in their most recent album Backspacer. This album is classic Pearl Jam, they rock, they have mellow moments. Overall they demonstrate their sound and quality of music that they created in the early 90’s. I love the excitement in Gonna See My Friend, The Fixer (which I have added to my workout mix). I also find the melancholy sound of Just Breathe to be very thoughtful almost brings a relaxing but truthfulness to the album.

On the Charlie/Tina promote it, lend it, deny it; I will put on my Converse All Stars and plaid shirt on, as I shout “Promote it”.

As a side not I recently saw Pearl Jam on Austin City Limits and they still got it!

I am now on page 150.

Bloom has read a letter from his mistress (?), bought some soap for her, taken a bath, gone to a funeral and gone to work. I got confused about who was in the carriage with him. I thought it was Stephen Dedalus but now I think it was his relative (?).

I was very confused about what was happening at the newspaper office. Too many references for me and what were the titles every few paragraphs? Stephen Dedalus did show up to drop off the article from his boss.

A new character is introduced, Bloom.  Eats some pork liver, reads a note from his daughter, and takes a crap.

I read up to page 50, my take so far:

Dedalus is teaching History, he helps a student with his math after class, and he collects his money from his anti-Semite head master.

The style changes to stream of consciousness as he goes home and mulls over stuff, lots of stuff, from family to his mother's death.

I am following everything ok so far. That last bit got tricky.