Narrative Summary:
In this section, we meet Stephen Dedalus, his friend or roommate(?) Buck Mulligan, both Irish, and an Englishman who has stayed with them overnight, named Haines. Mulligan and Haines are students. Mulligan is studying medicine. Dedalus is (I think) a student also, but not of medicine. It is clear that Haines is with them at Mulligan’s invitation and that Dedalus is not happy about Haines’ presence. I’m not sure whether the relationship between Dedalus and Mulligan is platonic or sexual/romantic.
We learn that Dedalus’ mother died fairly recently (he’s wearing mourning colors) and that, because Dedalus has left Catholicism, he refused his dying mother’s request to pray for her soul. Dedalus’ denial of his Mother’s deathbed wish is said to have “killed” her. The relationship between Dedalus and Mulligan is charged, and we learn that Mulligan was quite callous about Dedalus’ mother’s death. When Dedalus raises this with Mulligan, Mulligan compounds the offense by becoming belligerent. There is also financial tension between the two. While Mulligan seems to come from a more affluent family than Dedalus, Dedalus has some cash at the moment, and Mulligan is close to broke. Dedalus gives Mulligan money. Dedalus is going to receive a payment later in the day — a stipend from the school he attends? — and they make arrangements to meet at a pub after he receives the money, with Dedalus to buy the drinks. There is also some tension about who keeps a key — either to their room or to a locked food cupboard. Dedalus has the key and wants to keep it because he pays the rent, but when Mulligan asks for the key Dedalus hands it to him. It seems as though Dedalus does not plan to actually show up at the pub later or even return to the room he shares with Mulligan that night.
Thoughts and Impressions:
It’s strange, but I had no memory of the beginning of Ulysses. I’ve read the beginning of it several times, but prior to reading it this time I could not have told you how it started. Now, it seems impossible to forget how the book begins. Not because it’s surprising or astonishing, but because I had to work hard to figure out what is going on.
The opening setting is odd — a tower or gun turret, where three men have spent the night. The men’s place in the world and their relationship are likewise not plainly discernible. I puzzled over what’s going on, who these men are, where they are and what they are doing. It’s slow reading, and I marvel that I have no memory of trying to figure this out before, or the previous conclusions that I came to about what was taking place.
I did read this section twice this time. Once last night, and most of my effort went to figuring out the basic plot. I re-read this morning, to pick up more of the atmospherics. I enjoyed it the second time.
There are many references and allusions here that are tough to decode. For example, there are a lot of Latin phrases, which I presume are from Catholic ritual or worship, but since I’m not Catholic and don’t speak Latin, I’m not sure exactly how to interpret (“In nominee Patris” is pretty clear, but other passages are less so). There are quotations from poems, one of which seemed familiar. Once I was done reading the section, Google informed me that the poems are Yeats’ Who Goes With Fergus, and Swinburne’s Oblation. I read both poems online, and they are not that difficult to understand (I think), but I’m pretty sure they both inform the narrative in a way that I’m not entirely getting. There are portions of bawdy drinking songs and perhaps nursery rhymes which may have been popular at the time the book was written. The most glaring “HUH???” moment for me is when Joyce writes about an “ashplant” like we all know what it is. Maybe back then they all did know, but I had to guess from the context that it’s a walking stick and confirm it later via the internet.
And these are just the things I caught! I can only wonder what references and allusions I’ve completely missed because I don’t know enough to be aware of them.
I know that some of the writing is hard for me to understand because this book takes place in Dublin over eighty years ago — a world much different from the United States today. Things existed then that don’t now, or that have become obscure or obsolete. However, a lot of the opacity has to be purposeful. To me, the only reason for the book to begin with Mulligan shaving on the roof of a gun turret is so the reader will have a hard time figuring out what is going on.
It is clear Joyce wanted the book to be read slowly, absorbed a little bit at a time. The slow pace, the requirement that in order to understand the narrative the reader must engage with and immerse themselves in the material is part of the point. I can only surmise right now that in addition to deepening the reading experience, this level of engagement relates to coming events in Ulysses, or reflects the emotional condition of the characters in later chapters.
There are a lot of guides and annotations to help make reading Ulysses easier. The first time I tried to read it, I looked up everything I didn’t understand as I was reading. It frustrated me — it made the reading too choppy. I wanted to just read the book. My plan of action this time is to do a “first read” of each section without the help of guides or annotations. I’ll just try to figure out what I can while I’m reading, and check the annotations later if I couldn’t understand what was going on. Once I’ve figured out the basics of the plot for the section, I can, if necessary, go back and read it again so I can pick up the finer nuance that I missed the first time. I know it seems tedious, but I think the flow will be better for me this way. And yes, I kind of like trying to figure it out myself. It’s a game. Perhaps that’s part of the point too.
It is becoming clear that this is going to take a while! And writing, for me, is also a slow process. I may need to adjust my original plan of reading a section and blogging about it all on the same day. We’ll see!
One more thing: While editing this post, I found myself wondering if I am overstating the difficulty of figuring out the narrative. I don’t think I am, but now that I think I know what’s going on, and have summarized it here, I’m starting to feel like it wasn’t that hard.
What should that tell me?
D
Blogging Ulysses 