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Chapter 18 / PENELOPE - Molly: Oh, Molly! Often I have read that Ulysses is a book after reading which you know more about Leopold Bloom than about anybody else in the world. Really? I never felt I know Bloom. He is too polite, tries to be so not-to-be-there that it is difficult to pin him down. One even knows more about Mulligan though he makes such a brief appearance than about Bloom. This feeling is all the stronger since I started reading Penelope. In the 20 odd pages I have read so far, I feel I know Molly much more than Bloom. A woman of blood and life. A real one. Do you people think differently? 35 more pages to go ... :-D
I have always felt that Hamlet was the person that was best known in literature. He certainly talks to us more and makes less sense as a person than anyone I can think of. That lack of consistency is the final realistic touch. Bloom is before us in a very direct way and has a particular way of thinking. He has been analyzed and psychoanalyzed as much as Hamlet. And he is lucky that his Ophelia is Molly Bloom. Joyce certainly puts Mulligan before us in a few strokes but there is less there to know so it is much easier to know him. The elusive Leopold is more fun to pursue and there is more to him but the question of ultimately knowing him is, as you observe, debatable. And what next when you finish Penelope? I thought your adjective -- hilarious -- regarding Finnegans Wake very perceptive. Are you ready for the Wake? Bob Williams HOME! |