This week, we’re talkin’ ‘bout ‘tatoes!
Kelly and Dermot unpack the deeper symbolism behind Leopold Bloom’s idiosyncratic hobby of carrying a potato upon his person. Topics include Tayto crisps, Stephen and Bloom’s parallel lost keys, Bloom’s potato as a protective object, why the potato may actually possess magic powers, the potato as Odysseus’ moly, the potato as a panacea, the potato as a remedy for rheumatism, spud guns, potatoes as a fertility symbol, the potato as a mezuzah, the blasphemy of the potato, potato snobbery, the age of margarine, the potato’s role in Irish history, and amor matris.