Blooms & Barnacles

Mr. Bloom runs a mysterious errand at the Westland Row Post Office.Topics include hidden lotuses, Corny Kelleher, Leopold Bloom’s missing hour, tooraloom tooraloom tay, Orientalism and Bloom’s fantasy of the Far East, stereotypes about climate’s affects the character of a culture, Tom Kernan, how Bloom succumbs to the Lotus Eaters, Henry Flower, what Bloom has hidden in his hat, Major Tweedy and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Lotus Eaters of the British military, Maud Gonne’s awkward activism, Edward VII’s freemasonry.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Maud GonneGround Control to Major TweedySocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

We begin our foray into the languorous “Lotus Eaters” episode.Topics in this episode include how Kelly is like the Terminator, Odysseus and his crew’s misadventure with the Lotus Eaters in The Odyssey, why forgetfulness is evil in Odysseus’ view, some peculiar tales from Westland Row, cultivating an appreciation for the mundane, the Lotus Eaters that Bloom encounters in Westland Row, whether or not the Lotus Eaters were really all that bad, bliss ninnies and how they are a diversion from true enlightenment, hologram utopia, a detour into tales of psychedelia, Leopold Bloom as a Lotus Eater, religion as anaesthetic, the alchemy of Sweny’s chemist, narcissism, a wounded male ego, a one-sided affair, coping with uncertainty, Bloom’s failure to connect with his acquaintances in “Lotus Eaters,” and avoiding intellectual lotuses.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Ulysses and The Odyssey: The Lotus EatersSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher 

We explore Leopold Bloom’s connection to the ancient Phoenicians.Topic covered in this episode include: social hierarchies in Ireland, Dubliners v. culchies, Leopold Bloom’s fascination with the Orient, how imperial British culture informs Bloom’s worldview, whether or not some people in Irish society benefited from colonialism, the Celtic Revival movement, how the Revivalist applied an Orientalist worldview to the West of Ireland, the view that the first settlers of Ireland came from the Near East, The Book of Invasions, the adventures of the Milesians on their way to ancient Ireland, how DNA has changed the way we see ancient Ireland, the belief that the Irish descended from the ancient Phoenicians, the belief that Ireland was Calypso’s island in The Odyssey, Charles Vallancey’s belief that the Irish language came from Phoenicia, Irish Orientalism, the cultural function of an Irish connection to the East, Orientalism as a tool for nationalism, the inequality and racial purity of Revivalism, James Joyce’s view on Irish Orientalism, what an Irish-Phoenician connection adds to the character of Leopold Bloom, and how a connection to ancient Phoenicia allows for a more inclusive view of Ireland.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Is Leopold Bloom Phoenician?Social Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Does Leopold Bloom seem a bit anal retentive to you?Content Warning: We talk an awful lot about poo in this one. If that’s not your cup of tea, use your own discretion. In this episode, Dermot and Kelly finish Ulysses’ fourth episode - “Calypso.” Topics include Ezra Pound’s sense of propriety, the number of toilets in the Bloom household, Titbits, using dung to clean kid gloves, James Stephens, Dlugacz’s mere enthusiasm, jakes v. jacks, cuckstools, Matcham’s Masterstroke and Mr. Philip Beaufoy, Bloom’s desire to write his own prize Titbits story, Joyce’s own failed attempt to be printed in Titbits, when Molly met Boylan, Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours, Westminster Quarters, overthinking Bloom’s “heigh-ho’s”, glorious hypostasis, filth, Leopold Bloom’s anal fixation, James Joyce and psychoanalysis, the power struggle of Freud’s anal stage, the anal retentive personality and whether it is an apt description of Bloom.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe! On the Blog:In the Jakes with Mr. BloomSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Is a picnic really just picnic?In this episode, Dermot and Kelly discuss Milly’s letter from Mullingar, those lovely seaside girls, Milly’s purpose in the narrative of Ulysses, the implication of a picnic, whether or not Milly is a poor substitute for Rudy, the significance of Milly’s fifteenth birthday, how Milly’s maturity has affected her parents’ marriage, Freud’s concepts of censorship and projection, Leopold and Molly projecting their insecurities onto Milly, Milly as a looking glass, whether or not Milly is nothing but a mini-Molly, whether or not incest is a major theme in Ulysses, Leopold and Milly’s jaunt on the Erin’s King, how concerned Bloom should be about Bannon, and Bloom’s knowledge that he can’t control Milly. 

Leopold Bloom contemplates the purchase of immense melonfields north of Jaffa.Topics covered in this episode include the Zionist movement of the early 20th century, how to pronounce Agendath Netaim, why Joyce might have changed Agudat to Agendath, hypostasis, the business sense (or nonsense) of buying farmland in Palestine, Bleibtreustrasse 34, morphic resonance, Dlugacz the porkbutcher as Hermes, whether or not Bloom is a Zionist, Citron, Mastiansky, and St. Kevin’s Parade, why Bloom’s rejection of Zion makes him more like Odysseus, James Joyce’s thoughts on Zionism, and toxic nostalgia.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Agendath NetaimSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Happy Bloomsday, one and all!Enjoy a selection of readings from Ulysses by our talented listeners from across the globe. It’s a Bloomsday bash you can listen to anywhere. Just add gorgonzola and burgundy!Cool stuff to support:Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!U22: The Centenary Ulysses PodcastUlysses - for the Rest of Us!A free book club hosted by the Museum of Literature Ireland and Conner HabibConsider supporting Conner Habib’s PatreonFriends of Joyce Tower SocietyOranbega Retreat CenterSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | StitcherMany thanks to our readers:Ian Giles, Nestor, 08:37Brendan Tannam, Nestor, 13:19Linus Ignatius, Proteus, 21:47Ilaria Susmel, Proteus, 36:20Jenny Reece, Calypso, 40:15Conor Farnan, Lotus Eaters, 49:01Michael O’Shea, Hades, 56:52Paul Ringo, Hades, 01:03:53Tad Davis, Hades, 01:12:18Andrew Basquille, Aeolus, 01:19:35Mark Segall, Scylla and Charybdis, 01:28:00Molly McLaughlin, Wandering Rocks, 01:34:54Noah Chiles, Sirens, 01:40:16Joe Gallagher, Sirens, 01:44:38Jack Friary, Cyclops, 01:49:07Senan Molony, Cyclops, 01:51:08Margaret Harvey-O’Kelly, Nausicaa, 02:05:10Allen Mahan, Nausicaa, 02:14:02Philip de Bary, Oxen of the Sun, 02:19:54Ted Morrissey, Oxen of the Sun, 02:28:51Paul Creaner, Oxen of the Sun, 02:37:24Russell Raphael, Circe, 02:43:47Steve Carey, Circe, 02:51:34Maddy Melnick, Ithaca, 02:55:43Jinan Ashraf, Ithaca, 03:01:24Caraid O’Brien, Penelope, 03:03:35Ruth Thompson, Penelope, 03:07:26“Myler Keogh and the Portobello Bruiser,” performed by Andrew Basquille, 03:14:58

We do our best to take Molly’s advice and tell it in plain words - what is metempsychosis?Topics covered in this episode include Boylan’s bold hand, whether or not cats are kosher, moustache cups, secret letters, “La Ci Darem La Mano”, an orangekeyed chamberpot, how Molly can be both Calypso and Penelope, Joyce’s personal interest in metempsychosis, why understanding reincarnation is a key to understanding Ulysses as a whole, Molly’s quest for high quality erotica, the importance of Paul de Kock, nymphs, the truth about Photo Bits, Molly the nymph, metamorphosis v. metempsychosis, the importance of the body in Ulysses, and the union of body and mind.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Met Him Pike HosesSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

Why is Leopold Bloom so captivated by the “mysterious East”?In this episode we discuss the Orientalist motif in Ulysses, with a focus on “Calypso.” Topics include what is Orientalism?, how Orientalism manifests in Irish culture, the blurred continuum between Irish and British culture, Edward Said, why the “Orient” is really a dream, the Whig interpretation of history, what Leopold Bloom has in common with Julia Roberts, Haroun al-Raschid, Turko the Terrible, Molly’s connection to the East, Disney’s Aladdin, hypostasis of Dedalus and Bloom, In the Track of the Sun, Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s “Kubla Khan”, dulcimers, and why Bloom’s heritage makes him “Oriental” in the eyes of some.Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Leopold Bloom’s Journey Through the OrientSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher

This gland is your gland; this gland is my gland.Bloom finally makes it to the butcher to buy his kidney! In this episode, we discuss the geography (or joggerfry) of Bloom’s neighborhood, Larry O’Rourke’s, Bloom’s idea to build a tramline from the quays to the cattle market, bartenders who become rich, the art of economics, Moses Dlugacz, why a Jewish butcher sells pork, the Woods family of 8 Eccles St., the stout “nextdoor girl,” whacking, Zionism, blurred cattle cropping, and Mr. Dlugacz’s “foxeyes.”Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!On the Blog:Agendath NetaimSocial Media:Facebook | TwitterSubscribe to Blooms & Barnacles:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher