After the mayhem and debauchery of "Circe" episode sixteen, "Eumaeus" thrusts us back into the sane world of Dublin Night town reality. Starting with a bang on heels of the retreat from Bella Cohen's brothel "Eumaeus" ends with a whimper in the quiet and relative calm of the cabman's shelter.
The denouement of our epic, this episode represents the atonement of our heroes, where the father and son activate their father/son bond. Finally left alone without the interference or mediation of friends or interlopers Bloom and Stephen engage in their first significant face to face conversation, and despite the fact that Stephen begins the discourse dead drunk and none to coherent from the punch in the face he received from the British soldier, as he sobers up and warms up to Bloom their colloquy becomes more in depth and interpersonal.
So what do our heroes discuss in this much awaited atonement? What earthshaking, world-changing exchange takes place between Bloom and Stephen that has necessitated 600 pages of foreshadowing? Well, everything and nothing, mostly leaning on the side of nothing. Specifically:
Music, literature, Ireland, Dublin, Paris, friendship, woman, prostitution, diet, the influence of gaslight or the light of arc and glowlamps on the growth of adjoining paraheliotropic trees, exposed corporation emergency dustbuckets, the Roman catholic church, ecclesiastical celibacy, the Irish nation, jesuit education, careers, the study of medicine, the past day, the maleficent influence of the presabbath, Stephen's collapse. ~ (courtesy of episode seventeen, "Ithaca")
The conversation, to say the least is not particularly scintillating, as Stephen and Bloom make their way through late night Dublin and into the relative calm of the cabman's shelter where various down and out denizens of the city waste away trading tall tales. "Eumaeus" may in fact be the most boring and seemingly pointless episode in Ulysses.
Of course, you must realize by now that that is simply not the case. What on the surface seems trivial and dull in Ulysses always obscures a deeper richer reality. Like Bloom himself, "Eumaeus" is full of interesting surprises and can be quite endearing once you peel below the humdrum surface. It took me a few years to gain an appreciation of what was actually happening in this episode, as it seems that absolutely nothing happens at all. As usual, you must incorporate what you know and try to contextualize. (I know! So much work this book!). And as usual, keep in mind your Homeric correspondences and major themes. Hey, I'm not saying this is the most exciting read in the book, but it is infinitely more interesting and entertaining once you get a hold of what Joyce is doing with the subtext.
As far as episode navigation, no problem, right? There is virtually nothing that should confuse you in this episode. Okay, admittedly, the narrator is a bit convoluted in his descriptions, but after what you've experienced with Joyce's shenanigans this should be a piece of cake with cream cheese icing.
All in all "Eumaeus" is not going to rock your socks as the most exciting text you've ever read, but at minimum, being obstacle free it should at least allow you a little mental breathing room.
Raw Notes
The atonement or bonding of the spiritual father and son.
Stephen goes from child-son to man-son in the space of a couple of hours.
Homeric parallel of Ulysses getting to know his now grown son Telemachus for the first time.
"...both black, one full, one lean, walk towards the railway bridge, to be married by Father Maher."
"...you who know your Shakespeare infinitely better than I, of course I needn't tell you. Can't you drink that coffee, by the way? Let me stir it. And take a piece of that bun."
"Stephen, patently crosstempered, repeated and shoved aside his mug of coffee or whatever you like to call it none too politely, adding:
—We can't change the country. Let us change the subject."
"Christus or Bloom his name is or after all any other, secundum carnem."
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