James Joyce's Ulysses - Episode 5: Lotus Eaters
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2017
- Video 8 in my series...
I love this episode of Ulysses. It is easy to follow but there is so much going on! Look for all the references to narcotics and the self-medication of the Dublin population.
In this episode, Bloom takes his first step as a hero. Did you catch it? This is the beginning of Bloom's odyssey and he has made his first great decision and avoids the narcotics that have overtaken the other Dubliners.
I would love your comments...
This was a funny chapter many can relate to. Having your mind flutter around different topics when someone is talking to you and sneaking picks of women. By coincidence, I was taking the metro to the Chinese embassy in the morning, the car is packed with people heading for work in DC. While I listen to music, you can't help but look at your new neighbors and make judgments of them: who's attractive, who's not? how come that old man has a full head of hair while I lost all of mine in college? lucky bastard. etc. We all have random thoughts swimming in our head all the time (who was the child actor in Home Alone?) and it adds a nice addition to literature. It took time at first to differentiate between what is being said aloud or internally or is it the narrator narrating? But if you are reading Ulysses consistently and engaging with the text, the wrinkles iron out and you start to get the hang of things. Don't give up!
you have allowed many people to understand this book in a very easy and fun way. Thank you.
Thank you! It's been a really enlightening video about this chapter.
Mr. Reich, many thanks for this guide. It is very comprehensive and a great aid in reading through the book for the first time. I hope you continue to make videos. Thank you!
I cannot tell you how helpful these clips have been in helping me understand this wonderful, if sometimes cryptic, book. Thank you for providing concise, well-researched and thought out explanations.
Sir, for you only I have come up to this and you are enlightening, pushing me hard..... and you are so passionate. You do it in one cut !!! Love you Sir.
I just discovered you. I hope you did finish your Ulysses guide lectures. I'm saving this one and will continue to do so. This relatively short time with you has encouraged me to continue my studies. Thank you. Back to you as soon as I can. Diana, Chicago.
Hi Chris, thanks so much for this. Reading this book is a totally different experience with your help. I am really enjoying this.
Thank you for all your insight and work that has gone into these videos Chris, it has really enhanced my understanding of Ulysses! I think that I might have given up otherwise, whereas with these videos I can honestly say I can now enjoy the book and know what to look out for (without doing hours of prior reading per chapter!) Great job and my best wishes to you- thoroughly enjoying this literary odyssey so far
This videos are so great. I am reading the novel for the first time, I have been meaning to do it for years but I always found it intimidating. And sure enough, it is challenging (particularly since English is not my first language) but having this detailed yet approachable discussion and insights to rely on after every chapter makes it so much easier. I am really thankful that you took the time to make this series, greetings from Argentina!
Thanks a lot for encouraging me to start reading Ulysses which I will approach as an adventure . Love the way you make it look easy and fascinating.When I read some episodes I'll tell you what I think of it. Thanks again!!! Greetings from Argentina!!
Hi Chris, thanks again for another great session. This time I want to write a little bit about some words Joyce uses consistently in the first pages of this episode: IDLENESS, SLEEPING and LETHARGY. In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus and his companions have a mission: go back home whatever it takes. However the temptation of the easy way out is always in their way. Lethargy is very insidious because we rarely understand how dangerous it can be.
I join all the previous comments thanking you for your passion and insight and help understanding this masterpiece. I would like to point out the poetry throughout the book and tuits musicality, for example in the liquidity/fluidness of the sound “l” in the last para grape, describíng the bath.
Sir, I listen to your explanation after reading each chapter to fill gaps and complete understanding of the story. U are doing a wonderful job of making sense of this tough book, explaining context of thoughts and incidents therein, to get their meaning and relevance. Thanks a lot
Hi Chris! I have been enjoying your videos on Ulysses so far. It is my first time reading it, and your videos have helped clarify certain challenging passages as well as pointing out allusions that I missed! It’s a challenging read, but I’m enjoying it so far, and a big part of that is this series!
I am reading Ulysses for the first time. After I read the first episode I went looking for a companion video to unpack some of the themes. I am now watching each of your videos before proceeding to the next episode.
Realy good lecture which has enlightened me a lot as I read this chater for the second time. Usurpation. Emasculation. Narcotics of various forms including the Catholic mass and masturbation. References to castration. The start of Blooms Odyssey. And especially the idea that the meeting with Kernan is a premonition of what he may become. Booms first step on the heroes journey - refusing Martha and masturbation in the bath. His positive feelings for Molly and his desire to turn things round and slay some demons. Thanks so much. I think you nailed this chapter and have understood well its pivotal place in the book.
Beautiful video Chris, I am getting immersed in Joyce Thanks to you. I like your repetitions, your hammering the essential points, the key point. On my part, when I read an episode for the first time I just enjoy the rhythm the consonants make.
Chris, i am rewatching your series on Ulysses for my third reading of the novel. I also read Dubliners and Portrait in the meantime and am planning to read Finnegan's Wake soon. I would love to hear your opinion on one of these books, maybe in the form of a new series. I truly appreciate your effort put into the Ulysses series and know that it cost you a lot of time and work. So please know that I am only asking for a new round of commentary about some other of Joyce's works because I love your content. I'd also be happy to chat about your reading of the other novels so hit me up in case you're free and interested. Thanks again! Your videos are truly special!
Great stuff, Chris! Thank you for making this great book more accessible! I'm surprised you haven't drawn out the Hamlet references as much. I like your intrepretation of the bath as a baptism, but I think its also a reference to Ophelia drowning. The many flower and medicinal references can also be a reference to Ophelia as well. Is it that he's tortured in his love for his wife the same way that Ophelia is tortured by Hamlet's fluctuating passions?