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Chapter 11 / SIRENS -The Ormond: Bob, Thanks for the response last week. That was a good reason you proposed about why Bloom and Molly could be so well known in Dublin. I would like to go on to 'Sirens'. This is another chapter which needs careful reading. I cannot at all imagine how anybody can read Ulysses fast. Now and then the weather gets here so nice that I am tempted to sit in the garden reading a book, and often it has been with Ulysses. Have attempted 'Sirens' many times in this way. And slowly I am seeing the light. I would like to share these thoughts as it may 'help' others like me. How presumptous of me! There is lots to think about this chapter - about why it is referred to as 'Sirens', why it is called a very musical chapter. More about it in another mail. This chapter is not easy to read not because it is a typical 'Stephen' chapter - in an intellectually very demanding manner. It is difficult because one does not know what is going on, where one is, who is saying what. When one deciphers these things, it is a pleasure to read the chapter. It took me quite a while to understand that the location is the bar in the hotel Ormand. But again not all the things take place in the bar either. Bloom is still walking around Dublin. What is happening in the bar is juxtaposed with Bloom's walking along a given street and noticing all the shops on that street - "Bloowhose dark eye read Aaaron Figatner's name. why do I always think Figather? Gathering figs I think... ( fig + gather = figather) ... And prosper Lore's huguenot's name.... and so on. That is quite a bit of a tough knot to disentangle. As Bloom is on this walk, he is being discussed also in the bar. One of the sirens says about him the following - "Don't let me think of him or I'll expire. The hideous old wretch! That night in the Ancient Concert Rooms." I do not yet get what was happening between this siren (Ms. Douce) and Blook in that concert room. Bloom also wants to buy some paper to write to Martha. " Buy paper. daly's. Girl there civil." But to understand that the passage two and half pages later refers to this action of buying the paper in Daly's, that takes some careful reading! In that same paragraph there is another intriguing sentence - "He eyed and saw afar on Essex bridge a gay hat riding on a jauntingcar. It is. third time. Coincidence." Does anybody know whose gay hat this is? It is not Blazes Boylan's because he is at that time in the bar. That is almost 4 pm. Bloom expects that Boylan is with Molly. But the guy is still in the bar. That brings me to the last question of today. This entire walking spree of Bloom's is because he does not want to be home when Molly is with Boylan. Why does he do this? I read somewhere that between Molly and Bloom there was no marital relation any more because their son had died. But why does Bloom let Molly go have 'fun' with another guy? Comments? Chandra
Good questions, Chandra. This is the first of the tough chapters that make up the last (and funnier) half of the book. Setting: Joyce doesn't let the reader know where the reader is at first. Jane Austen used to do this often. The first chapter of Pride and Prejudice, for example. Not a word about where this family conversation takes place. For a number of reasons I conclude that it is at a meal in the Bennett house. In Emma there are many chapters that are unfixed as to location. Who is the subject of Mina and Lydia's gossip? It is a druggist known to both of them but it is not Bloom. Joyce assimilates Bloom to the druggist, an outsider in relation to the girls by virtue of his age and peculiar characteristics. Both Bloom and the druggist are outsiders. The gay hat belongs to Boylan. Bloom sees him at line 301 and Boylan enters the Ormond at line 337. Boylan is late for his assignation and not too concerned about it. If the time seems telescoped, a look at a good map of Dublin will clear things up. Daly's and the Ormond are very near each other. Bloom's decision to enter the Ormond is counter to his previous behavior on his sighting Boylan. As the time of the assignation draws near (and how does Bloom know this? He speaks of its being this afternoon, a fact that he could have developed from some off'stage conversation with Molly when he went back for his hat but as the day goes on he is suddenly and correctly persuaded that four is the time. We never learn how he knows this.) he feels compelled to have Boylan under his observation. Possibly he hopes that Boylan - there is a hint in the text - has changed his mind. Bloom does nothing about Boylan because he sees himself as powerless to prevent it and any attempt, such as suddenly returning home would prevent the consummation of the affair only temporarily and would make him appear ridiculous. He also has a paralysing burden of guilt over the strange relationship between him and Molly although it isn't really clear which of them ended normal sexual relations. Your questions emphasize how much Joyce enlists the reader's cooperation. Best Bob Williams Bob, I never imagined that the gay hat riding on a jauntingcar is that of Boylan Blazes!! I see now after reading your mail, and going back to the chapter that there are some hints that I had missed. For example, Boylan enters the bar a page later. There is this sentence, "See the conquering hero comes." (At that time Bloom is still walking.) After Boylan leaves the bar the reference to this jaunting, jingling car appears many, many times. Always interposed are descriptions of what Bloom is doing, thinking, feeling. Actually so many things happen in this chapter, so many people are present here, and all their thoughts and sayings are presented as they occur in such a 'chaotic' (cannot think of a better word here) manner, I wonder why Joyce wrote as he has done. Mind you, I like this chapter, and admire the incredible way in which it is structured, am impressed what a genius person Joyce must have been. BUT, I ask myself is not the most important thing in this chapter the geniusness of Joyce. Don't remember anymore where I read that Ulysses is one big ego trip or words to that extent. From what I have read of Ulysses this chapter, Sirens, comes most close to the basis of that statement. Joyce certainly write this book for 'normal' readers. The chapter comes across to be tougher than it is (it helps a lot to read it with a pencil) and the thing which started me going was the following explanation in Gifford on the technique Fugue per canon: "A fugue according to rule." It involves three classses of subject ....In the opening section of the fugue the subject is presented together with the answer and a repetition of the subject in a different key...The next section, the exposition, is a complete statement of the subject(s) and/or answer(s) by all the voices. This is followed by the 'free' middle section; the climax then presents the subject in its most exciting aspect; and the coda concludes the fugue with the 'desire for home'. The pages 328 and 329 (Penguin edition) were understandable only after reading the above paragraph. Then it was kind of fun to recognise these sentence, those I came across in these two pages, in the later sections. The last part, 'desire for home' holds true, literally. Another thing that helped me reading the poem Croppy Boy in Gifford. The chapter really calls for a totally new kind of reading. You said that it is the first of three tough chapters. That means to me that I can in no way finish reading Ulysses, the first time atleast, before the summer vacation begins in July. :-( Your comments on Pride and Prejudice are interesting. That question had never arisen in me. I will go back tonight to that book. So, reading Ulysses changes one's reading habits completely, is that it?! For today, I have only one question - Joyce often refers to Bloom and Ritchie as prince Bloom, prince Ritchie. Why prince? And who is Ritchie? Another time about the title, the Sirens. Greetings Chandra HOME! |