Book Two Episode Eight: Lestrygonians

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As we move ever deeper into Ulysses I am finding it progressively more difficult to blog about the book. This is primarily because you should now be pretty well along in your ability to navigate the most common narrative difficulties that Joyce presents, and therefore there is little more for me to say on that issue. Of course there are more sharp curves to come, but they won't pose a major challenge so will only require some basic explanation, and in any event we aren't there yet, so that leaves a vacuum to be filled.

Because "Lestrygonians" presents nothing new by way of narrative challenge, I would like to take this opportunity to address something of more substantive importance: Bloom's dilemma. That's right. That issue that I have been challenging you to decipher, that thing that Joyce has been alluding to in every episode in which Bloom appears, that's the thing I want to address now.

Up until this point I didn't think it was fair to just blurt out this major aspect of the novel, because, as I have stated ad nauseum, I think independent discovery is one of the most rewarding parts of reading Ulysses. A mystery is always more satisfying when you can solve it before it is revealed to you. Having said that, I think that we are now at a point in the epic where it is more beneficial to make plain what exactly is going on with Bloom, in order to help lend a bit more context to the story which is unfolding. So, now is the moment I have to come out with it in plain words (since Joyce won't do it himself).

So... Out with it!

Okay, I'm just going to say it plainly; Marion (Molly) Bloom is going to commence an affair with here manager Blazes Boylan. There. No more secrets, no more tiptoeing around. It's out in the open now, and we can deal with it as mature adults. Maybe you already knew and just didn't want to say anything. You either figured it out through the many telltale clues, or maybe someone tipped you off. However you found out the point is it's no longer a secret. The affair has now been made public. And if you didn't know, if this comes as a complete surprise, then I hope you don't feel too betrayed finding out this way. I hope we can get past this, for the sake of the story.

Oh! it's also terribly important to point out that Bloom knows that this affair is going to happen. He knows the precise time it has been scheduled, and this knowledge accounts for many of Bloom's more cryptic IMs, particularly those that concern him referencing the time of day. It's pretty evident that this knowledge consumes Bloom, intruding on his otherwise tranquil and random musings throughout the day, and it is largely around this point of psychic tension (as well as Stephen's, which we will cover at a later point) that the real story of Ulysses is constructed (or at least that's my conjecture).

So why spill the beans now?

Aside from the fact that there really isn't a whole lot else to talk about with "Lestrygonians", this episode also happens to be dominated with references to this issue as Bloom's thoughts continually return to the subject, despite his attempts to suppress them. It's also high time that you picked up a major piece of the puzzle that is the story of Ulysses.

Does this revelation flirt dangerously close with crossing the line of the prime directive? No, it steps boldly over that line. But I figure at this point the damage is minimized. So I sincerely hope I haven't diminished your reading experience. Revealing this information also gives us an opportunity to look more closely at how Joyce uses innuendo cum allusion to advance his agenda and also to talk a little bit about symbolism or representation or motif... not sure which term applies best.

According to my dictionary.com iPad app, an allusion is "a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare" Many events in Ulysses are foreshadowed by these casually dropped phrases, such as this one by Bloom early in the "Lestrygonians" episode: "Coming events cast their shadows before."  Quite right Mr. Bloom, they surely do.

To this end, one of the earliest foreshadowings of Bloom's impending cuckolding comes in the form Molly's handling of the letter she receives from Blazes Boylan and the particular notice which Bloom takes of her handling of said letter. Let's go back to episode four for a replay of events. 

A strip of torn envelope peeped from under the dimpled pillow. In the act of going he stayed to straighten the bedspread.

—Who was the letter from? he asked.

Bold hand. Marion.

—O, Boylan, she said. He's bringing the programme*.

*Yeah, he's bringing the program alright. Is that what they called it back in the 20s? 


At the time of the reading of this brief exchange between husband and wife there is no way we would make the inference of an affair. The act of putting the letter under the pillow, Bloom's casual question to his wife, and her casual response all seem like normal actions arousing no suspicion in the reader. If we go back a couple of pages there is an even earlier allusion which we can only recognize retrospectively as a foreshadowing.  "Two letters and a card lay on the hallfloor. He stooped and gathered them. Mrs Marion Bloom. His quickened heart slowed at once. Bold hand. Mrs Marion."

Looking back with more information now at our disposal, we can see that Bloom's question to his wife was disingenuous. He already knew in advance who the letter was from, and he knew the secret significance of the letter. Joyce is brilliantly (if not brutally) efficient in his use of foreshadowing and allusion. "In the act of going he stayed to straighten the bedspread"? How smooth is that!? Or "His quickened heart slowed at once." Seriously deft stuff here people. By setting this heart-racing reaction Joyce not only establishes Bloom's recognition of the affair at the moment of finding the letter, but he also sets up a motif that repeats throughout the story, acting as a cue to the reader (in the know) that Bloom is (once again) preoccupied with the coming and inevitable event foreshadowed by the strip of envelope under the pillow.

People can argue about whether Ulysses is worth reading or not, but anyone who questions the brilliance of the writing clearly has no frame of reference, OR... they're just dumb.     

As regards symbols, motifs, references, metaphors and things of that ilk, they serve a number of functions. Among other things they may: create subtextual correspondences between the text and historical, literary, religious or other material; establish or fortify thematic ideas or character traits; connect characters in some non-obvious manner; or serve as signals to the reader. I'd like to talk a little bit about this last one.

What do I mean serve as a signal to the reader? Well, let's take an example from "Lestrygonians". "Straw hat in sunlight. Tan shoes. Turnedup trousers."  here we have a reference to Boylan without ever mentioning his name. Joyce uses various code words throughout to reference Blazes Boylan without mentioning him directly (that's what makes it code). In this way the reader is signaled to Boylan's presence (either in real time or in Bloom's mind). Certain words become associated with Blazes Boylan and establish who he is and how he fits into the story. I would suggest you reread the end of "Lestrygonians" beginning with the above quote "Straw hat in sunlight..." Don't worry, it'll only take you a minute out of your way. What you will find is a lot of compacted information -- from those Boylan code words, to this great line "Didn't see me perhaps. Light in his eyes*" to this great line "My heart!"-- in this brief event.

*my italics

Joyce is able to compact a great deal of depth into a relatively small textual space by means of these devices of innuendo, reference, and representation, giving a dimensionality to Ulysses that most other novels lack. (So why is the book so f#%$ing long?!)

One last word on symbolism

Okay, I have to point out this one really cool piece of symbolism which Joyce deploys in the first episode ("Telemachus"). When I was made aware of the hidden meaning I was awestruck at Joyce's wit. "Haines stopped to take out a smooth silver case in which twinkled a green stone. He sprang it open with his thumb and offered it."

Haines = England

Silver case with green stone = Ireland (the emerald island surrounded by silver sea)

Thus, Ireland is in the hands of the English. Or in England's pocket if you follow the citation to it's conclusion.

Seriously, is that not cool?!  This is the kind of stuff that makes Ulysses worth all the work.

Raw notes:

• "A sombre Y.M.C.A. young man... placed a throwaway in a hand of Mr Bloom."
• "Bloo... Me? No."
• "Elijah is coming" 

• "Hamlet, I am thy father's spirit Doomed for a certain time to walk the earth."   

• "Some chap with a dose burning him. If he...? O! Eh? No... No. No, no. I don't believe it. He wouldn't surely? No, no."
• "Think no more about that. After one."

• "Parallax"

• "They are not Boyl: no, M Glade's men."

• "Blew up all her skirts ..." 

• "Sit her horse like a man. Weightcarrying huntress... Strong as a brood mare some of those horsey women... Toss off a glass of brandy neat while you'd say knife."

• "five quid at compound interest up to twentyone five per cent is a hundred shillings and five tiresome pounds multiply by twenty decimal system encourage people to put by money save hundred and ten and a bit twentyone years want to work it out on paper..."

• "I oughtn't to have got myself swept along with those medicals."

• "a heavy cloud hiding the sun slowly, shadowing Trinity's surly front."

• "Cityful passing away, other cityful coming, passing away too: other coming on, passing on. Houses, lines of houses, streets, miles of pavements, piledup bricks, stones. Changing hands. This owner, that. Landlord never dies they say. Other steps into his shoes when he gets his notice to quit."

• "No-one is anything."

• "There he is: the brother. Image of him. Haunting face... Like a man walking in his sleep... Poached eyes on ghost."

• "Coming events cast their shadows before."

• "Something occult: symbolism."

• "Gas: then solid: then world: then cold: then dead shell drifting around, frozen rock, like that pineapple rock."

• "Showing long red pantaloons under his skirts." 

• "See ourselves as others see us."

• "Isn't Blazes Boylan mixed up in it? A warm shock of air heat of mustard hanched on Mr Bloom's heart... Two. Not yet."

• "Then about six o'clock I can. Six. Six. Time will be gone then. She..."

• "Stuck on the pane two flies buzzed, stuck."

• "food, chyle, blood, dung, earth, food" 

• "Keyes: two months if I get Nannetti to. That'll be two pounds ten about two pounds eight. Three Hynes owes me. Two eleven. Prescott's dyeworks van over there. If I get Billy Prescott's ad: two fifteen. Five guineas about. On the pig's back."

• "Today. Today. Not think." 

• "Dark men they call them."

• "Karma they call that transmigration for sins you did in a past life the reincarnation met him pike hoses."

• "Straw hat in sunlight. Tan shoes. Turnedup trousers. It is. It is. His heart quopped softly. To the right. Museum. Goddesses. He swerved to the right" 

• "Didn't see me perhaps. Light in his eyes."