tipsyturvy Ulysses

As if we had the option of using any other quote for this episode’s title. Eric leads a discussion of the end of “Penelope” and the end of Ulysses. Specifically, this episode covers sentences 7 and 8 (pages 633-41 and lines 1149-1611 in the Gabler edition).

The episode covers superstition, friendship (or the lack thereof), and the most famous passage in Ulysses. It concludes with what Eric considers the dirtiest bit we’ve covered yet.

Libations:

• Eric: Black Widow Cider (blackberry and apple cider, Original Sin Cider, New York, NY)

• Wendy: Dunkel (Dunkel with bourbon overtones, Blue Stallion Brewing, Lexington, KY)

• Shinjini: green tea 

Please submit any pressing questions to our Twitter or tipsyturvyulysses@gmail.com.

Shinjini leads a discussion of sentences 4, 5, and 6 of “Penelope” (pages 621-33 in the Gabler edition). They’re long sentences, obviously.

In a shockingly efficient, less than an hour long conversation, we cover internalized misogyny, marital intimacy, marital infidelity, farts, anulingus, and the Barbie movie.

Libations:

• Eric: Deliria (Belgian ale, Brouwerij Huyghe, Melle, Belgium)

• Wendy: May the Schwarzbier Be With You (schwarzbier, Wrecking Bar Brewing, Atlanta, GA)

• Shinjini: a warm blueberry infusion 

Please submit any pressing questions to our Twitter or tipsyturvyulysses@gmail.com.

Wendy leads Eric and Shinjini through a discussion of the first third of “Penelope,” or at least the first chunk of the episode to fall out of her decaying Gabler edition. They discuss: 

• The episode’s style and structure

• The Blooms’ marriage

• Sex on public transit

• And, of course, all the naughty bits

Libations:

• Eric: Panic Button (cherry sour, Monday Night Brewing, Atlanta, GA)

• Wendy: Discipline (dubbel Belgian ale, Bold Monk Brewing, Atlanta, GA)

• Shinjini: surprisingly good non-Darjeeling Indian black tea 

Please submit any pressing questions to our Twitter or tipsyturvyulysses@gmail.com.

Wendy leads Eric and Shinjini through a discussion of the second half of “Ithaca,” the penultimate episode of Ulysses. They discuss: 

• The differences between the episode’s two halves

• Parsing difficult passages

• The what and why of some of Bloom’s actions

• The events of Molly’s tryst with Blazes Boylan

• And Molly and Bloom’s sex lives and marriage.

Please pardon the occasional dryer noise in the background. It fades quickly after its first appearance.

Mentions:

Shinjini and Eric finally return to the text of Ulysses to begin discussing "Ithaca," reputedly Eric's favorite episode. They discuss the episode's alienating question-and-answer format, focus, and language; its depictions of loneliness and Bloom's schemes for a happy marriage; and the scene in which Stephen sings Bloom an anti-Semitic ballad (and Ulysses provides sheet music). Just what's going on there?

Beverages

• Eric: Blackberry Crumble Imperial Brown (Captain Lawrence/Thin Man Brewery, Alameda, CA)

• Shinjini: Earl Grey tea

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini discuss some excellent questions at length. If you want to pick and choose questions and answers to listen to, consult the timestamps below.

Question Timestamps:

1. Jonathan: What’s so great specifically about the Gabler edition? (16:01-41:42)
2. Terry: Can you sympathize with Stephen if you don’t know A Portrait? (41:42-59:57)
3. Terry: Tell me, why do I enjoy hearing you talk about the book more than reading it? It stymies me! I would love to hear you all talk about how the  novice reader can best reap the benefits of this almost-impossible book. (59:57-1:18:56)
4. Jonathan: If you could go back and tell yourself one thing prior to first reading Ulysses to help you navigate the text, what would it be? (1:18:56-1:28:05)
5. Terry: Why is "Oxen" like that? I loved what Wendy said about it being like the gestation. More on that? (1:28:05-1:35:17)
6. Rick: Lacking a specific love/hate/don’t-get passage, I’ll share what I may like  most about the episode: that it brings all of Bloom’s characteristics to their utmost. Here, he is most defensive of perceived quirks and faults; most expansive of his proposals to improve society; and, of course, most  immersed in his sexual and other idiosyncrasies. (1:35:17-1:42:09)

Mentions:

• Michael Groden, “Perplex in the Pen-and in the Pixels: Reflections on ‘The James Joyce Archive,’ Hans Walter Gabler’s ‘Ulysses,’ and ‘James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ in Hypermedia.’ Journal of Modern Literature, 1998, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 225-44. JSTOR, jstor.org/3831733.
• Various editions of Ulysses: the Gabler, Jeri Johnson’s OUP 1922 Text, Catherine Flynn's The Cambridge Centenary Ulysses, and Sam Slote, Mark A. Mamigonian, and John Turner's Ulysses: Annotated Edition
• Joyce's Ulysses: Philosophical Perspectives (especially Wendy's chapter!)
• Margot Norris, Virgin and Veteran Readings of Ulysses
• Ulysses in 80 online reading group (@Ulysses80 on Twitter)
• Terence Killeen, Ulysses Unbound: A Reader's Companion to James Joyce's Ulysses
• Joseph Heller, Catch-22
• Billy Collins, "Introduction to Poetry"

Libations:

• Eric: Movie Snacks Sour (TrimTab Brewing Company, Birmingham, AL)
• Wendy: Stella Artois (pilsner, Leuven, Belgium)
• Shinjini: Earl Grey tea

Wendy, Eric, and Shinjini get together to discuss some fan mail. What episode of Ulysses should you read, if you'll only read one? What is some essential Joyce scholarship? Finally, what most excites three Ulysses podcasters about sharing Ulysses with others?

Question Timetamps:

1. Terry: If you had to choose one episode that everyone should read, even if they don’t  read the whole book, what would it be? (4:20-18:14)
2. Ryan: What Joyce studies articles/monographs are your favorites and how did they  contribute to your areas of focus as academics? (18:14-35:56)
3. Jonathan: What excites you most about teaching Ulysses/sharing it with people for the first  time? (35:56-46:45)

Mentions:

In a rushed but nonetheless delightful episode, Shinjini and Eric catch up with Barry McCrea, their Ph.D. advisor, and introduce Wendy. Together, the four discuss the queerness, sadness, and persistent optimism of "Eumaeus."

Barry is the Keough Family Chair of Irish Studies, Professor of Comparative Literature, and Concurrent Professor of both Romance Languages and Literatures and Irish Language and Literature. (We joked off-mic that the long list of repetitive, overlapping titles is itself very much like "Eumaeus."

Please submit any pressing questions to our Twitter or tipsyturvyulysses@gmail.com.

Eric leads Wendy and Shinjini through the third-to-last episode of Ulysses, an ugly duckling episode defined by tiredness, cliché, and bad writing. According to Eric, it's all beautiful.

Libations

• Eric: Alice Blend, Green Bench Brewing
• Wendy: Royal Blend Team, Fortnum & Mason
• Shinjini: fake Earl Grey tea, from a tea bag

Yorkshire girl Wendy ( ‘e by gum she’s a champion) leads the TTU team towards the closing scene of Circe. Unusually, Wendy finds something nice to say about Stephen and the team are excited to discover his playful, funny side (“Mark me. I dreamt of a watermelon”). Their heads “simply swirl” as they discuss music, dancing, and the significance of Shakespearean ventriloquy in this episode (“Hamlet, I am thy father’s gimlet”). Wendy, Shinijni and Eric illuminate the power of Stephen’s defiant spirit, his articulation of anti-colonial sentiment, and his inability to “retain the perpendicular.” Join the TTU team as they dance, sing, and fight their way to the end of our time on Circe’s magical isle.

Libations:

• Eric: Kaldi's coffee
• Wendy: Yorkshire tea (because she's a Yorkshire girl)
• Shinjini: Earl Grey tea (bagged rather than looseleaf, unfortunately)

Mentions:

Eric leads Wendy and Shinjini through a second episode breaking down the subconscious of Ulysses in "Circe." They discuss Bloom's gender identity as the new womanly man, joy in the body, and Stephen's Telemachian interactions with various potential mentors throughout the day.

Mentions:

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini break down the first third of “Circe,” the longest and arguably strangest episode of Ulysses. Along the way, they discuss Bloom's best friend (a bar of soap), naughty letters, Venuses in Furs, the unconscious of the text, and just who—if anyone—understands any of what is happening.

Also, Eric and Shinjini discover just how talented of an actor Wendy is.

Mentions:

Like “Circe” itself, Wendy got referential and sing-songy in this one:

This episode is an absolute classic, or should we say classicist? The team is joined this week by a teacher of classics, Shane Forde. We return to the National Maternity Hospital and the “Oxen of the Sun” episode where we discuss some of the source texts for the episode, from The Odyssey to anthologies, from Sallustian preludes to a speculative Jane Austen reference.

Shane tells us the surprising story of how he came to read Ulysses as a young lad in Ireland, and his story leads us to a new “Mark thesis” when reading some of the denser parts of the episode--tune in to find out what that is! Join Shane and the TTU hosts as they debate style and sources, reflect on why there are no women writers in the "birth of literature" episode, and discuss the philosophies and politics of the chapter.

Beverages

Shane: Ramsbury 506,’Currahee’ Blonde Beer

Eric and Wendy reverse and complicate the gender roles in this maternity hospital-set episode as they discuss their complicated mixed feelings about it. This is our last major boundary for first-time readers: an episode about a drunken hangout that is presented in successive parodies tracing the development of literary style in English. It’s a metaphor for the gestation of a fetus, in an episode set in a maternity hospital–get it? Eric and Wendy each have things they love and things they hate, often in direct conflict with each other, and ultimately have a lot of fun discussing a difficult episode.

Libations:

• Eric: a “cup of what was temporarily supposed to be called coffee” (16.360), Donut Café Gourmet Coffee Medium Roast (a Kuerig K-Cup) with Land O’Lakes Half and Half (no refrigeration required)
• Wendy: Camden Hells Lager (Camden Town, London, UK)

February 2 is the birthday of Ulysses, James Joyce, tipsyturvy Ulysses, and one of our hosts! Coincidence? Ulysses is 101, tipsyturvy Ulysses is 1, and we won't specify anyone else's ages. To maintain that ratio of 101 to 1, if our podcast is as successful as Ulysses and is still listened to and discussed at the age of 101 in 2123, Ulysses will be obliged to be 10,201 years old and have been published in 8078 BCE. (Those of you who have read ahead to "Ithaca" are more likely to appreciate this joke.)

In this episode, Wendy, Eric, and Shinjini reflect on podcasting about Ulysses for a year, learning more about the novel and podcasting in the process, and having so much fun together. Fingers crossed it's not too self-indulgent!

Thanks for joining us to celebrate Ulysses this past year, and we look forward to continuing to do so with you!

“At it again” indeed. Wendy, Shinjini, and Eric revisit the "Nausicaa" episode but not before Eric exorcizes a few Cyclopian ghosts. Wendy leads the episode and goes rogue by selecting the themes she loves and hates rather than the extracts. This leads to a passionate defense of Gerty MacDowell, a titillating discussion of female pleasure and fantasy, and the friends "getting angry at all the right things." Join them for an in-depth discussion of love and lurid literature that might just be a bit “cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo.”

Libations

Wendy - immune-boosting herbal infusion (that includes blackcurrants!)

Eric - Athena Paradiso, Berliner Weisse, German-Style Tart Wheat Ale with Fruit, specifically blackberries and black currants (his new favorite!), Creature Comforts, Athens, GA

Shinjini - green tea with a literary twist

Mentions - “Why you couldn’t eat something p5oetical like violets or roses”

Wendy loves “Cyclops.” Eric loves “Cyclops.” But do they love it for the same reasons? In a follow-up to our previous “Cyclops” episode, we discuss the parodies that interrupt the scene in Barney Kiernan’s pub.

Libations:

• Eric: Dad’s Original Scotch Oatmeal Cookie Stout (O’Fallon Brewery, Maryland Heights, MO)
• Wendy: A bit of Baileys Irish Cream

Declan Kiberd, famed Irish public intellectual and Shinjini and Eric’s professor at Notre Dame, joins the Three Friends for what was originally a “Calypso” episode but eventually becomes an episode about three episodes of Ulysses: one Declan loves, one he hates, and one he doesn’t get. Does everyone agree? Do your favorite and least favorite make the list?

There’s also a lot of Bob Dylan talk.

Libations:

• Shinjini: Darjeeling tea
• Eric: English Breakfast tea
• Wendy: Pamplemousse sparkling water
• Declan: iced tea

Mentions:

Today we are joined by our special guest, Jeremy Colangelo, lecturer at the University of Western Ontario and specialist in Joyce and disability studies. Together with Jeremy we puzzle with various questions that have been associated with ‘Nausicaa’ for several decades. Is the episode truly split between two modes of consciousness, those of Gerty and Bloom, or is it Bloom’s consciousness all along? Is Gerty disarmed by the prose style of women’s magazines or does she truly have an agency? Is Bloom really the innocent everyman that we have seen in other episodes or does he have a dark side?

Libations:

• Jeremy: Tea (when he makes tea, he makes tea) in a mug with his cat’s face printed on it
• Eric: Key Lime Pi (sour), Westbrook Brewing Company, Mount Pleasant, SC (in anticipation of the holidays)
• Shinjini: Rose syrup flavored smoothie (a surprise departure from tea)

Mentions:

Is Paddy Dignam actually dead? Do hanged men enjoy a final standing ovation? What is a nation? These are all questions that Joyce explores in the pub scene of Cyclops.

Wendy and Eric imbibe the "wine of the country" as they join a highly caffeinated Shinjini to discuss these questions and more. Everyone loves the Cyclops episode (it's funny, honest)  and the team laugh a lot but also reflect on the ambivalent nature of comedy.

Join them to discover who Garryowen is and just how so much depends on a biscuit tin!

Libations:

• Wendy and Eric: Guinness Extra Stout (Irish dry stout), St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland
• Shinjini: genuine loose-leaf Darjeeling tea

Recommended Sources (two pieces we've written about "Cyclops"):

Liam Lanigan joins us to talk about trams in Ulysses. Liam is an assistant professor of English at Governors State University in South Chicago. Liam is the author of a 2014 monograph, James Joyce, Urban Planning and Modernism and an essay in the recent Routledge Companion to Literary Urban Studies.

Eric dragged Liam onto the show to nerd out at Wendy and Shinjini about trams, the form of Dublin-specific public transit that features prominently throughout Ulysses. We discuss Joycean community, the localized individual experience of reading Ulysses in terms of where you’re from, and the history of Dublin’s tramways, all before even getting into the text itself. We try to find optimism about public transit and are ultimately driven to other texts, including perhaps an iconic movie musical to celebrate the communitarian, posthuman potential of the tram.

Libations:

• Wendy: Just on the cusp of being off wine (insert Amanda Walgrove video link)
• Liam: Juicy Jorts (hazy pale ale), Maplewood Brewery, Chicago
• Shinjini: not good tea (“I’m not going to get into that.”)
• Eric: Sun Glow Intensely Fruited Sour Ale (sour), Creature Comforts, Athens, GA

Today we are joined by our special guest, Katherine O’Callaghan, lecturer at UMass Amherst, who is currently completing a monograph on Music and Soundscape in James Joyce’s Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Katherine will help us decipher the music puzzle of “Sirens.” We talk about questions that have confounded readers of Joyce for years: How should we read the opening part of the chapter? Is it an overture or something else? How should we hear the music that is on the page? And last but not the least, Katherine reveals to us who the alpha Siren is in Ulysses. Hint: it is not one of the barmaids!

Libations:

• Katherine: A precious cup of Barry’s Tea, straight from Ireland (with a detour to Toronto and probably a few other places)
• Eric: A gross K-cup of coffee from a campus office
• Wendy: Coffee
• Shinjini: A cup of ‘energizing’ tea which may just be an ensemble of non-tea herbs

Mentions:

Staying up late to say more about “Wandering Rocks” and getting a little loopy, Eric continues trying to sell Wendy on the episode, while Wendy shares some of her episode highlights.

Libations:

• Eric: Airing of Grievances, cider infused with cranberry and spices, Treehorn Cider, Marietta, GA
• Wendy: Mean Machine, red ale, Oconee Brewing Co., Greensboro, GA

Mentions:

• Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of Ulysses
• Bonnie Kime Scott, “Diversions from mastery in Wandering Rocks,” Ulysses—Engendered Perspectives: Eighteen New Essays on the Episodes
• J. M. Synge, Riders to the Sea
• Park Chan-wook, The Handmaiden

Eric leads Wendy and Shinjini—all back together in the same country after a long summer—through discussion of his favorite episode, "Wandering Rocks." Why is the episode about so many random Dubliners we haven't heard of before? Just how much fun is Corny Kelleher, and what is he up to? Why do we briefly follow a piece of paper floating down the River Liffey? Is Wendy coincidentally responsible for the death of Queen Elizabeth II, given the time of her departure from the United Kingdom? We consider answers to all these questions and more, in addition to occasionally bumping into things and claiming they were wandering rocks.

Libations:

• Wendy: Purple Haze, raspberry lager (no good, too sour-y), Abita Beer, Covington, LA
• Eric: Here Gose Nothin', a sour ale with coriander and salt, Destihl Brewery, Normal, IL

Mentions:

• Clive Hart, "Wandering Rocks" in Clive Hart and David Hayman, James Joyce's Ulysses: Critical Essays
• Enda Duffy, The Subaltern Ulysses
• Sam Slote, Marc A. Mamigonian, and John Turner, Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses

Wendy is unavailable because of travel complications, and Shinjini and Eric fail to record a short episode about the Linati schema, one of Joyce's cliffsnotes from hell that adds new layers to the study of Ulysses rather than providing final answers. They gossip about a rude man on a train and a Ulysses bar in New York City, in addition to probing some global analyses of Ulysses.

Libations:

Vicki Mahaffey sticks around for a second episode to talk about “the splendid parable” (Joyce) of the Homeric parallel. Vicki reassures all of us readers of Joyce that, “nothing is totally ‘correct’ about Ulysses, there are simply theories and all are incomplete.”

Wendy, Shinjini, and Eric have a simply gorgeous conversation with Vicki Mahaffey, the Clayton and Thelma Kirkpatrick Chair of English and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois and Wendy’s Ph.D. advisor, about the confusing episode of Scylla & Charybdis. It will leave you yearning for your English classes of yore, or wondering why on earth your English classes weren’t as good as this one.

We puzzle through Stephen’s ‘theories’ about Shakespeare and Hamlet and we consider the performativity of Stephen, Shakespeare’s plays, and our own social existence. We delve into Stephen’s preoccupation with being “unmanned” (both himself and Shakespeare) by an older woman and the sexism and anti-semitism circulating throughout the chapter.

Libations

As happens so often in Ulysses itself, we interrupt linear chronology to reflect on a previous episode. In a retrospective kind of arrangement—to quote pretentious Dubliner Tom Kernan—we recall the good old days of episode 8: Lestrygonians.

We are joined by Catherine Flynn, Associate Professor of English at UC Berkeley, editor of the recently released Cambridge Centenary Ulysses, and host of U22 The Centenary Ulysses Podcast. After we challenge her claim to host the only podcast celebrating the centenary of Ulysses, she leads us to consider how everything is focused on food in this episode, and how it can “get out of control.” If everything can be consumed—food, bodies, colonies, empires—what might this episode tell us about our own world of intense consumer capitalism?

We relish the delicious language and narrative, but also choke and chew over the racist depiction in the Mr. MacTrigger limerick.

Libations:

• Catherine: cup of tea—cup, not mug—complete with saucer and teaspoon
• Eric: a gin and tonic—NOT recommended; disgusting
• Wendy: Yorkshire Tea
• Shinjini: another tragic cuppa tea with a teabag

Mentions:

What do you get if you cross two nerds and a librarian? A very funny, very engaging, and very long episode of tipsyturvy Ulysses.

Our special guest, public engagement librarian at Georgia Tech, Charlie Bennett joins us to talk about the library episode Scylla and Charybdis.  Charlie, a new reader of Ulysses,  reflects on the accuracy of Joyce’s depiction of librarians and both the pleasures and pains of Joyce’s intentionally difficult, beautiful writing.

This episode, like Ulysses itself, is long but it’s totally worth it.

Libations

• Charlie: gin & tonic, Bombay Sapphire, Fever Tree, and Key lime juice
• Eric: The Real Dill, pickle sour, Line Creek Brewing Company, Peachtree City, GA
• Wendy: A Very British Beer, Aldi (cheap fizzy water, bad). Moretti (very refreshing)

Mentions:

Eric and Shinjini discuss “Lestrygonians,” a chapter they neither love nor hate. But they still have a lot to talk about even for a chapter that they are not super enthusiastic about. They talk about Bloom’s friendship with various other Dubliners, what he is having for lunch, and whom he is mysteriously running away from. As always they also talk about the chapter’s experimental style (or lack thereof). We should warn you that you might develop a sudden craving for a gorgonzola sandwich after listening to this episode!

Mentions:

• (In Wendy's honor:) Drafty Kilt, Scotch Ale, Monday Night Brewing, Atlanta, GA

Happy Bloomsday!!

Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of James Joyce’s Ulysses, held on the 16th June each year. Ulysses is set on 16th June 1904, commonly believed to mark the day that Joyce first walked out with Nora Barnacle, his life-long partner (and later wife).

Eric makes us all jealous as he tells us about the ultimate Bloomsday in Dublin, Ireland, where he meets the best character of Ulysses. Wendy tells us about her experiences organizing Bloomsday events in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

As is typical of Bloomsday celebrations across the world, the team read their favorite passages aloud.  Which episodes do they pick?

Mentions:

Eric leads Shinjini and Wendy through discussion of Aeolus, one of his favorite episodes. He waxes rhapsodic about his amateur journalist days and Jeri Johnson's Oxford lectures on Ulysses. Other discussion topics include funny headlines, confusion over Stephen's story, and just whose life is changed by the simple act of lighting a match in one of the more confusing passages in Ulysses.

Recommendations:

In this special episode, Wendy challenges the group to a game that tests their knowledge of Ulysses and reveals “nice guy” Eric’s competitive side.

Drawing on Modernism’s love of chance, wyrd, and spiritual intervention, Wendy devised the “Oracle Game.” The aim of which is to test the group’s knowledge and divine the future!

You, dear listener, are invited to play along with Eric, Shinjini, and Wendy. The game is as follows:

1. The Oracle flicks through a copy of Ulysses and someone says stop.
2. The Oracle casts their eye, at random, along the pages and starts to read a passage
3. After a tantalizing tease of time, the Oracle stops and asks the listeners to identify (a) the passage, (b) the episode, and (c) the context of the passage
4. The Oracle role passes to the next person, and we play again.

The second “quick fire” round follows the same structure except the Oracle keeps reading until a player says “stop” and takes a guess.

Who will triumph in this game of knowledge and nerdery? What do the selections reveal about our future and fate? Tune in to find out!

Mentions:

• Cheap and cheerful at $1.40, Tecate lager (surprisingly, it was much nicer than the price or name would have you think)
• Much less affordable, but unsurprisingly quite good, Lord Grey, an Earl Grey sour ale by Three Taverns Brewery, Decatur, GA

Wendy leads everyone into hell in this episode as we attend Paddy Dignam’s funeral.  We ponder life, death, decomposition, and the difficulty of finding your own organs at the resurrection.

We discuss the “lump of dung” Simon Dedalus, and Shinjini finds Stephen a chip off the old block. Eric wonders, is there more to the sticky carriage than crumbs? Perhaps because we recorded on Easter Sunday, he seems hesitant to be explicit when talking about cum.

Finally, everyone examines one of Ulysses’ great mysteries (not love this time), but who is that “lankylooking galoot?” We’d all give a trifle to know.

Mentions:

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini follow Bloom across the streets of 1904 Dublin, as he steps out of his home on 7 Eccles Street and embarks upon his Odyssey in the Hibernian metropolis. They talk about Bloom’s consumerism, purposeless wanderings in the city, and his random and sometimes unwelcome interactions with fellow Dubliners.

Highlights include discussions of South Asian representation in season two of Bridgerton, Martha Clifford’s dramatic letter, and tips on how to bet on horse racing (not really). Additionally, this episode again draws attention to the predatory urban male gaze.

Recommended Beverages:

• Eric: Saporous (passion fruit and guava sour, in a floral-patterned can), by Three Taverns Brewery, Decatur, GA
• Wendy: Drafty Kilt (scotch ale), by Monday Night Brewing, Atlanta, GA

In the first very special episode of tipsyturvy Ulysses, Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini set aside the next episode of Ulysses in favor of a Joycean digression. Eric introduces Wendy and Shinjini to some of his favorite allusions to and imitations of “Calypso”—specifically, a passage from Zoë Wicomb’s David’s Story (2000) and a response to a short story assignment from a class in which Eric taught Ulysses.

(If Joyce has any serious competition in Eric's heart, it's Zoë Wicomb.)

Recommended Resources:

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini fangirl about “Calypso”—a breath of fresh air after “Proteus.” They celebrate the episode’s wonderful opening and introduction of Bloom (picking up on last episode’s urine talk), critically examine Bloom’s parenting, and wonder why different people are taken with particular passages.

Highlights include a dramatic reading and subsequent analysis of the most realistically psychologically rendered shit in literature, discussion of Joyce’s rumored “cloacal obsession,” and reflection upon predatory urban male gazes.

Recommended Resources:

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini grapple with the most difficult episode of Ulysses so far: “Proteus.” They sympathize with Stephen’s mad ambitions and imposter syndrome, celebrate his occasional, accidental artistic success, and rue his occasional fear and cruelty.

Highlights include some urine talk (a preview for next episode) and a joke we creatively cut around.

Recommended Beverages:

• Wendy: Georgia Red Lager, by Tucker Brewing Company, Tucker, GA
• Eric: Yorkshire Tea (provided by Wendy), Taylors of Harrogate, Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK
• Shinjini: Earl Grey Tea

Eric and Wendy are joined by Michelle Martinez, Wendy’s grad school classmate and BFF, to discuss her favorite parts of “Nestor.” 

Michelle is a current poetry indexer and permissions coordinator for a large poetry organization, recovering academic, and chicana feminist crockpot fiend with a Ph.D. in English lit. A guest was necessary, since, until the recording, Eric and Wendy thought “Nestor” was … fine, but maybe feel differently by the end?

Highlights of the conversation include Michelle’s four-month-old’s timely appearance as we discuss “amor matris,” discussion of Deasy’s QAnon resonance, debate over what it means that God is a shout in the street, and, finally, the pod’s casting of the perfect Ulysses movie Deasy.

Recommended Resources:

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini discuss gender and relationships in the first episode of Ulysses: “Telemachus.” Is the banality of Ulysses fun or frustrating? In what way is Stephen Dedalus like Luke Skywalker? Is the black panther Haines dreams of a penis and pussy thing?

Eric and Wendy discuss what attitude, information, and resources are helpful when approaching Ulysses for the first time. What are the advantages of various editions of Ulysses? Do you need to read the Odyssey first? Is amount of spunk a compelling measure of virility?

Also, Eric struggles to remember Hugh Kenner’s 1972 euphemism for sex. It turns out it’s “the physical moment.”

Recommended Resources:

Eric, Wendy, and Shinjini introduce themselves and the podcast. Who are they when they’re at home? What’s their history with Ulysses? Whose first experience with Ulysses is sadder or more fun?

Recommended Beers:

• Eric: Tritonia (gose), by Creature Comforts, Athens, GA
• Wendy: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Drafty Kilt [Fancy Kilt] (Scotch Ale), by Monday Night Brewing, Atlanta, GA