

Blooms & Barnacles
Kelly Bryan
A blog and podcast that discuss James Joyce's Ulysses from a non-academic point of view. Less snooty, more movie references.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 12, 2020 • 48min
Pico della Mirandola like.
This episode of Blooms & Barnacles takes an esoteric twist as we continue deeper into "Proteus", Ulysses' third episode. Topics include: why Dermot is not impressed with the Library of Alexandria, the length of a mahamanvantara, what the heck a mahamanvantara is, Joyce's youthful rage put into poetry, Joyce's youthful interest in theosophy, Pico della Mirandola's desire to speak to angels, Renaissance magic, hermeticism, , correspondences in Ulysses, and why Dermot thinks Neil de Grasse Tyson is wrong.
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On the Blog:
James Joyce's Poetic Rage
Mahamanvantara
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Media recommended in this episode:
"The Holy Office", James Joyce
Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Frances Yates
"Giovanni Pico della Mirandola" on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Corpus Hermeticum
On the theosophists' influence on cremation: https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/1684-up-in-smoke-theosophy-and-the-revival-of-cremation
"Pico della Mirandola" by Walter Pater
Further Reading:
Carver, C. (1978). James Joyce and the Theory of Magic. James Joyce Quarterly, 15(3), 201-214. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25476132
Ellmann, R. (1959). James Joyce. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gilbert, S. (1955). James Joyce’s Ulysses: a study. New York: Vintage Books.
Joyce, S. (1958). My brother’s keeper: James Joyce’s early years. New York: The Viking Press.
Tindall, W.Y. (1954). James Joyce and the Hermetic Tradition. Journal of the History of Ideas, 15(1), p. 23-39. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/y3jt7uwp
"Theosophy." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Retrieved April 13, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/theosophy
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Feb 27, 2020 • 44min
Who is this Dan Occam fellow, anyway?
Dermot and Kelly tickle your brain with Stephen Dedalus' thoughts on the Eucharist, William of Occam, hypostasis, consubstantiation, transubstantiation... we've got it all! Other major philosophical queries discussed include: How can so much bread and wine all become Christ's body and blood. Does Stephen really understand hypostasis.When does soup become soup? Is it immoral to impersonate a priest as long as you don't hear someone's confession?
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark afloat. Please subscribe!
“Save the Last Word” Press Release
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Further Reading:
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/vy6j4tk
Kimball, J. (1973). The Hypostasis in "Ulysses". James Joyce Quarterly, 10(4), 422-438. Retrieved February 20, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/25487079
Lernout, G. (2004-2005). A horrible example of free thought: God in Stephen’s Ulysses. Papers on Joyce. 10/11, 105-42. Retrieved from http://www.siff.us.es/iberjoyce/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/11-Lernout-Proofed-and-Set.pdf
Pace, E. (1910). Hypostatic Union. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 20, 2020 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07610b.htm
Thornton, W. (1968). Allusions in Ulysses: An annotated list. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/ucwq3x7
Turner, W. (1912). William of Ockham. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 20, 2020 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15636a.htm
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Feb 13, 2020 • 1h 16min
The Complex Life of Lucia Joyce- (w/Linus Ignatius & Llewie Nuñez)
Linus Ignatius and Llewie Nuñez starred in the play Lucia Mad as James and Lucia Joyce, respectively, back in their university days. They drop by the podcast for a deep dive into the complex and tragic life of James Joyce's daughter Lucia. We discuss how they prepared to portray the Joyces on-stage, Lucia's genius as an artist, her struggle with mental illness, the stigma she faced within the Joyce family, her influence on Finnegans Wake and the relationship between Joyce and his daughter.
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https://www.instagram.com/linusignatius
https://www.instagram.com/llwwllyynn
Linus's film website, the Elliott Collective:
https://www.elliottcollective.com
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Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Jan 30, 2020 • 48min
The Hundredheaded Rabble
Join Kelly and Dermot for a story about James Joyce's youthful rebellion against the literary establishment of Dublin, his obsession with the apocalyptic predictions of a 12th century monk, a tale of psychic horror by W.B. Yeats, Jonathan Swift and Dublin's oldest public library. It's a jam-packed episode!
Bonus: Dermot interviews Kelly about completing her blog series about "Proteus." Check out those blog posts here.
Double Bonus: The difference between Elisha and Elijah from Chuck Knows Church.
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark afloat. Please subscribe!
On the blog:
Houses of Decay
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Texts Mentioned in this Episode:
The Tables of the Law by W.B. Yeats
The Day of the Rabblement by James Joyce
Further Reading:
Ellmann, R. (1959). James Joyce. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fargnoli, A.N., & Gillespie M.P. (1995). James Joyce A to Z: The essential reference to his life and writings. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/y4l26tc7
Gilbert, S. (1955). James Joyce’s Ulysses: a study. New York: Vintage Books.
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gogarty, O. (1948). Mourning became Mrs. Spendlove and other portraits grave and gay. New York: Creative Age Press.
Greer, J.M. History’s Arrow. The Archdruid Report. Retrieved from http://archdruidmirror.blogspot.com/2017/06/historys-arrow.html
Hart, M. F. (1994). The Sign of Contradiction: Joyce, Yeats and ‘The Tables of Law.’ Colby Quarterly, 30 (4), 237-243. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=3034&context=cq.
Joyce, J. (2018). Critical writings. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications.
Joyce, S. (1958). My brother’s keeper: James Joyce’s early years. New York: The Viking Press.
McGinn, B. Apocalypticism explained: Joachim of Fiore. Frontline. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/explanation/joachim.html
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Jan 15, 2020 • 1h 13min
Translating Finnegans Wake into Japanese (w/ Kenji Hayakawa)
Kelly and Dermot are joined by translator Kenji Hayakawa to discuss the gargantuan task of translating Finnegans Wake into Japanese. We discuss Naoki Yanase's translation of Joyce's classic novel into Japanese, creating special software Japanese characters to tackle Joyce's various coinages, why Japanese is an ideal language in which to read Finnegans Wake, why only translators truly understand Finnegans Wake, the sadism of Finnegans Wake, the influence of Harriet Shaw Weaver, and how Finnegans Wake is the antidote to book club hierarchies.
No need to speak Japanese or have read Finnegans Wake!
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!
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Further Reading
For more information on Yanase's Japanese translation of Finnegans Wake: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13844245._Yanase_Naoki
For images of the Japanese text, please visit our website.
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Jan 1, 2020 • 46min
Nuncle Richie
Stephen contemplates the horror of a visit to his Aunt Sara and Uncle Richie's house. We discuss parallels in this scene with Joyce's real life aunt and uncle, why Joyce's Aunt Josephine gave away her first edition of Ulysses, the intractable Dubliner/culchie divide, middle class pretension, Hiberno-English, Wilde's Requiescat, and the difficulty of parsing conversations written in Joyce's signature stream of consciousness.
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!
On the blog:
Decoding Dedalus: A Dedalus Never Pays His Debts
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Further Reading
Asalas, R. Lithia water fountain. Atlas Obscura. Retrieved from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lithia-water-fountain
Ellmann, R. (1959). James Joyce. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fargnoli, A.N., & Gillespie M.P. (1995). James Joyce A to Z: The essential reference to his life and writings. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/y4l26tc7
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kingston, A. (2017, Feb 15). Oscar Wilde and the sister’s death that haunted his life and work. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/oscar-wilde-and-the-sister-s-death-that-haunted-his-life-and-work-1.2976363
O Muirithe, D. (1997, Jan 18). The words we use. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-words-we-use-1.22981
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Dec 21, 2019 • 1h 1min
James Joyce Tower and Museum
Dermot and Kelly get an insider's view of the Sandycove Martello Tower - the Omphalos of Dublin itself! Maggie Fitzgerald, James Holohan and Andrew Basquille give Blooms & Barnacles a tour of all the museum's nooks and crannies. Discussions include the Joycean historical items on display in the museum, the history of the tower, what really went down the night Joyce stormed out of the museum, how to get a milk can up a ladder, the work of maintaining a Joycean landmark, an original song by Andrew, and why exactly a museum in Dublin is flying the Munster flag.
A special thanks to Michael Steen.
Sweny's Patreon helps keep a marvelous Dublin landmark alive. Please subscribe!
Visit Sandycove!
James Joyce Tower & Museum
Fitzgerald's of Sandycove - cosy pub with Ulysses-themed stained glass and the world's largest Finnegans Wake reading club
Blooms & Barnacles Social Media:
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Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique
Calm Seashore - No Copyright Sound Effects - Audio Library

Dec 4, 2019 • 42min
Contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality
Let's have fun with consubstantiality! Kelly and Dermot untangle Stephen Dedalus' thoughts on the dual nature of God the Father and God the Son, the Nicene Creed, the difference between being made and being begotten, the death of Arius, seahorses, a shocking fact about the Star Wars cantina and an even more shocking fact about the symbolism of doves.
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark afloat. Please subscribe!
On the blog:
Decoding Dedalus: Omphalos
Decoding Dedalus: Heresies in "Telemachus"
Social Media:
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Further Reading
Lang, F. (1993). Ulysses and the Irish God. London and Toronto: Associated University Presses. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/y3k5kxnq
Muehlberger, E. (2015, May 1). The legend of Arius’ death: imagination, space and filth in late ancient historiography. Past & Present, 227(1), 3–29. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtu042
The Trieste Notebook
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Nov 20, 2019 • 1h 1min
Sweny's Pharmacy Revisited (w/ P.J. Murphy & Jack Walsh)
Blooms & Barnacles catches up with P.J. Murphy and Jack Walsh of Sweny's Pharmacy in Dublin, the location where Leopold Bloom bought his lemon soap in Ulysses. In addition to P.J. and Jack, we had the chance to talk to many friend's of Sweny's from all over the world! Topics include the future of Sweny's Pharmacy, why you should visit Sweny's on Christmas, the repatriation of Joyce's remains to Ireland, the purchase of "The Dead" house, a reading from Ulysses in Turkish, the international appeal of Ulysses, the connection of certain Native American tribes to Ireland, songs, poetry, and the proper way to put jam on a scone.
Many thanks to P.J. Murphy, Jack Walsh, Eoin Ahern, Duncan Sheppard, Fulvio Rogantin, Joe Darcy, Jordan Lukey, Berk Tosun, and Thomas Cary.
Sweny's on the Internet:
Website | Facebook | Twitter
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark afloat. Please subscribe!
Looking for a top-notch tour guide in Dublin?
Joe Darcy
Fulvio Rogantin, Dubliniamo (in Italian)
Jack Walsh
Blooms & Barnacles Social Media:
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Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique

Nov 6, 2019 • 59min
Gaze in Your Omphalos
In this installment of Blooms & Barnacles, Kelly and Dermot engage in some good, old-fashioned navel gazing. Discussion topics include working class life in Edwardian Dublin, the poetry of Algernon Swinburne the perils of childbirth during the same period, whether Adam and Eve had bellybuttons, and why Kelly thinks people in antiquity had predominantly outie bellybuttons. They also get to the bottom of what exactly the heck an omphalos is and why everyone keeps talking about them.
Sweny's Patreon helps keep this marvelous Dublin landmark afloat. Please subscribe!
On the blog:
Decoding Dedalus: Omphalos
Social Media:
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Media Mentioned in this Episode:
Algernon Swinburne, "The Triumph of Time"
Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
On James Plunkett's Strumpet City
Further Reading:
Barry, D. (2017, Oct. 28). The lost children of Tuam. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/28/world/europe/tuam-ireland-babies-children.html
Burgess, A. (1968). ReJoyce. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gilbert, S. (1955). James Joyce’s Ulysses: a study. New York: Vintage Books.
Lang, F. (1993). Ulysses and the Irish God. London and Toronto: Associated University Presses. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/y3k5kxnq
O’Loughlin, E. (2018, Jun 6). These women survived Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries. They’re ready to talk. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/world/europe/magdalene-laundry-reunion-ireland.html
Switek, B. (2009, Nov 10), P.H. Gosse’s failure to untie the geological knot. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2009/11/p-h-gosses-failure-to-untie-the-geological-knot/
Music
Noir - S Strong & Boogie Belgique


