Readalong

Ulysses

Hosted by listenwithaudrey
16 Jun 24 - 25 Jul 24
117 participants

About

Join the Audrey community to listen to Ulysses on the Audrey app starting on Bloomsday, June 16th 2024  🧜

This is a notoriously tricky book, but it's so rewarding and so worth reading. Our Audrey guide and resident Joyce expert Sophie Corser will hold your hand through every episode, with contextual notes, personal reflections, recaps of each episode and character descriptions. This is a unique opportunity to finally read, enjoy and finish this classic of English literature!

Here's the schedule and more about the book on Audrey and this listen-along. If you haven't already, do sign up to receive our emails and reminders (and to be in with a chance of winning next month's listen-along book!)

The following people have been involved in the production of the Audrey guided edition of Ulysses, and we're so excited for you to enjoy it!

Narrators: Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan
Guide: Sophie Corser
Illustrator: Julie Ann Monks

Forums

Introductions 👋

Hello! Please introduce yourself, tell us where in the world you are, and most importantly how you're feeling about facing Ulysses!

Do we have anyone here who's read it before? Or tried? We know there are lots of first timers and quite a lot of apprehension, but we're gonna have a lot of fun!
106 comments

Happy Bloomsday! General Forum

A space for general questions, thoughts, and comments about Ulysses and the Audrey app. 😊

  • Who are your favourite and least favourite characters? 

  • Is there a quote (or two, or ten!) from Ulysses that resonated with you? Please share them with us! 

  • What are your favourite words from Sophie’s ‘good word radar’ or other words from the book? 

  • What is the most interesting thing you have learnt from Sophie’s guide notes? 

23 comments

I. 1. Telemachus

Target: 16 Jun 2024

Welcome to Dublin, Ireland, and Part I, Episode 1 of Ulysses: Telemachus! 

We have virtually journeyed with Joyce, 120 years in the past. It’s 8 a.m. on June 16, 1904. We’re in Sandycove, near Dún Laoghaire — just south of Dublin City. 

You did it, you finished the first episode! 🎉 Please remember Sophie’s advice that there are lots of words that will make us all go “eh?” in Ulysses and it’s usually fine to keep pushing on regardless.  Did you enjoy it? How do you feel as you embark upon this epic listening odyssey with us? 

If you’d like a little more guidance along the way, Sophie refers to this brilliant resource called The Joyce Project. It is a free website which includes the physical text of the book, so you can read along as you listen along — puns intended! It also has handy colour-coded hyperlinks for many words and phrases that might be going over your head, with short explanations and images. Sophie refers to many other online resources for additional support throughout the guide notes. 

Good word radar ✨ 
  • ‘scrotumtightening’ 
  • ‘snotgreen’ 
 Share your thoughts on these words or any of your personal favourites from Episode 1!

Sophie’s guide includes a photo of the view of Howth in the distance across Dublin Bay, taken from the top of the Martello Tower at Sandycove. Howth is the setting of the final memory at the very end of Ulysses. Sophie reflects on how incredibly moving it is that you can see where Ulysses ends when you stand at the point where it begins. Joyce stayed for a while in the tower at Sandycove as a young man. What do you think about these connections?

Have you read Homer’s Odyssey? Sophie explains that the title of this episode ‘Telemachus’ is a character from The Odyssey. Ulysses rewrites this epic Ancient Greek poem, condensed into a single modern day in 1904, which happens to be today’s date, June 16th — Bloomsday! 

Have you listened to Sophie’s curated Spotify playlist for Ulysses? She has included a couple of songs from Ulysses, and some that are linked to the themes and concerns of the book. We encourage you to listen to the playlist throughout the listen-along to spot any of these links — we’d love to hear what you think! 🎵 

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
60 comments

I. 2. Nestor

Target: 17 Jun 2024

CW: We meet Mr Deasy who expresses antisemitic and misogynistic views. 

Welcome to Part I, Episode 2 of Ulysses: Nestor. It’s 10 a.m. on 16 June 1904 in Dalkey (or Deilginis) in Dublin, straight after the events of Episode 1. 

What do you think of Stephen Dedalus so far?

In Sophie’s voice note about Stephen and Cyril, she discusses the deep humanity and emotion explored in Ulysses. How do you feel about this so far, and more generally regarding fiction novels’ capacity to display our humanity and empathy through characters and their stories? 🤝

Good word radar ✨ 
‘seacold’ 
“The seas' ruler. His seacold eyes looked on the empty bay: history is to blame: on me and on my words, unhating.” 
Share your thoughts on this word or any of your personal favourites from Episode 2!

When Mr Deasy states his antisemitic views, Stephen doesn’t resist. 
“— History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.” 
In what ways do Stephen’s words here resonate with you?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
22 comments

I. 3. Proteus

Target: 18 Jun 2024

Welcome to Part I, Episode 3 of Ulysses: Proteus 

We’re in Sandymount Strand at around 11 a.m. on 16 June 1904. 🧜🏻‍♂️

Sophie discusses the narrative style of this episode and how we are very much in Stephen’s esoteric thoughts. She explains that most of this episode can be linked to ideas of mutation, change, metamorphosis, and their opposites.  Can Stephen change what he sees? How unfixed is the tide and the tidal landscape? What can we do nothing about? What can we alter?

Good word radar ✨ 
‘shellcocoacoloured’ 
‘lacefringe’ 
‘seawardpointed ears’ 
‘greengoldenly’ 
‘seesoo, hrsss, rsseeiss, ooos’ 
‘wayawayawayawayaway’ 
‘shamewounded’ 
Share your thoughts on these words or any of your personal favourites from Episode 3!

Tell us your favourite spot for a long, lonely walk to ponder life in your town. It doesn’t have to be a beach, for those of us in landlocked cities.  🌊 🌳 🏞️

A little question for the Dubliners and those who have visited the city – have you been to Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin? 

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 

And just like that, we’ve finished Part I: Telemachia, but we are only 7% into the book!  We have a catch-up day tomorrow, and then we’ll dive into Part II: Odyssey. Please reach out in the general forum, or via Instagram or email if you have any questions or feedback about the listen-along or the Audrey app. 😊 
26 comments

II. 4. Calypso

Target: 20 Jun 2024

Welcome to Part II, Episode 4 of Ulysses: Calypso 

We’re back to 8 a.m. again at the Blooms’ home - 7 Eccles Street, in north central Dublin City.  

Music in Calypso! Did you notice that the 2 songs referenced in this episode are in our custom Spotify playlist, curated by Sophie? Check it out here! 🎵

In Sophie’s voice note, she discusses this quote about the morning sun in this episode: 
“A cloud began to cover the sun wholly slowly wholly. Grey. Far” 

She compares it to this quote in Episode 1: 
“A cloud began to cover the sun slowly, shadowing the bay in deeper green.” 

They both occur around 8 a.m., and there is a temptation to connect these descriptions as two different perspectives of the same moment being seen from South Dublin and North Dublin. What do you think of Sophie’s reflection? 🌥️

Good word radar, cat noises edition 🐈
‘Mkgnao!’ 
‘Mrkgnao!’ 
‘Mrkrgnao!’ 
‘Gurrhr!’
Do these cat-words line up with what you heard on the audiobook (right near the beginning of the chapter, if you want to go back and listen)? How would you say them aloud?

How did you feel about Bloom’s interactions with his cat, “the pussens”?
13 comments

II. 5. Lotus Eaters

Target: 21 Jun 2024

It’s 9 or 10 a.m., and we’re still with Bloom as he runs a few errands and goes to a funeral. 

Sophie discusses how things link both forward and back across Ulysses, making the narrative a bit challenging. Have you noticed some foreshadowing already?

“Better get that lotion made up. Where is this? Ah yes, the last time Sweny’s in Lincoln Place. Chemists rarely move.” 
We love that Sweny’s still stands and you can grab your own lemon soap today! Has anyone ever visited Sweny’s or other famous literary locations in the real world? 🍋

Bloom, mysteriously, collects a letter addressed to ‘Henry Flower’ – a pseudonym he appears to be using to exchange sexy letters with a woman named Martha. First, he opens the letter in his pocket, feeling what’s inside the envelope, and then he goes somewhere private to read the letter by concealing it inside his newspaper. It’s clear why he wants some privacy! What do you think about Bloom’s behaviour? 🌻 

“Time to get a bath around the corner. Hammam. Turkish. Massage… Enjoy a bath now: clean trough of water, cool enamel, the gentle tepid stream. This is my body.” 
Have you been to a Hammam or Turkish bath before? 🛁

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
17 comments

II. 6. Hades

Target: 23 Jun 2024

CW: In the carriage ride to the funeral, there is a discussion of suicide. There is also some veiled antisemitism. 

It’s 11 a.m. and we’re with Bloom and several others who are going to a funeral at Glasnevin Cemetery, north of Dublin. 

Sophie reflects on Bloom’s somewhat morbid, practical, and kind of, beautiful thoughts. She discusses Bloom’s ideas about the flowers of the botanic gardens nearby being formed from death, and the telephone or gramophone connection to the dead. 🌹

“Have a gramophone in every grave or keep it in the house. After dinner on a Sunday. Put on poor old greatgrandfather. Kraahraark! Hellohellohello amawfullyglad kraark awfullygladaseeagain hellohello amawf krpthsth. Remind you of the voice like the photograph reminds you of the face.” 
What do you think of this idea? 📞

🔔 Narrative klaxon! 🔔
Hugh Kenner (in his study Ulysses, 1980) determined that there are 2 key rules at play in how Ulysses gives us information: 
  1. “The writer should be alert to what his characters would know.” 
  2. “The reader should not be told what no one present would think worth an act of attention.” 
What are your thoughts on the narrative klaxon Sophie discussed in the guide notes for this episode?

Joke alert ⚠️ Did you catch the joke about Macintosh/ M’Intosh?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
12 comments

II. 7. Aeolus

Target: 24 Jun 2024

It’s 12 p.m. and we’re back in Central Dublin at a newspaper office for the Evening Telegraph. 📰

Our audiobook narrator, Jim Norton, does a good job of marking the shift in style with the capitalised and often nonsensical headlines, by yelling them! Sophie highlights how several critics have pointed out that it is like someone has mischievously taken the episode and edited it – cutting it up, adding weird titles, playing around, with little interest in clear communication.
What did you think of these headlines or ‘crossheadings’?

Sophie candidly admits she struggles with some of the camaraderie and showing off in male-dominated episodes. How did you find this aspect of Aeolus?

Joke alert  ⚠️
“What opera is like a railway line? […] The Rose of Castille. See the wheeze? Rows of cast steel. Gee!” 
Did you enjoy the YouTube clip of the opera?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
22 comments

II. 8. Lestrygonians

Target: 26 Jun 2024

CW: The n-word appears in this episode. 

It’s lunchtime or 1 p.m. and Bloom is looking for some good food around the streets of Trinity College Dublin, then Davy Bryne’s pub, and ends up at the National Library. 

Hello from Homer! 👋
Sophie explains how the food references in this episode link to the Odyssey. The namesakes of this episode, the Lestrygonians are the man-eating giants that Odysseus and some of his men escape on their perilous journey. What do you think about the name of Episode 8?

Many people celebrate Bloomsday with a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy! Have you ever had this meal, or might you try it in the future? 🍷 🧀 🥪

“Me. And me now.” 
Sophie highlights how Bloom can’t help but compare his past self with his present: his past situation with his present. His relationship with Molly is not as it used to be. 💔
Have you ever thought of a divide between your past and present selves?

“Can’t bring back time. Like holding water in your hand.” 
Did you catch this gem of a quote while listening? What does it mean to you?

Good word radar ✨ 
‘quopped’ 
“His heart quopped softly.” 

We are treated to Sophie narrating a snippet towards the end of this episode and explaining what’s going on in relation to Bloom’s heart. Sophie also reminds us that a lot of what’s going on will get clearer in retrospect – later on in the book. Keep going!!
Can you keep track of Bloom’s thoughts?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
15 comments

II. 9. Scylla and Charybdis

Target: 28 Jun 2024

CW: The n-word reappears in this episode, said by Stephen towards the end. 

It’s 2 p.m. and we’re picking up from the end of the last episode at the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street, but we’re with Stephen now. 

Sophie reminds us that Stephen is a fictional version of a young James Joyce. So this debate over whether or not Shakespeare’s biography is of any relevance to his writing is being enthusiastically participated in by a semi-autobiographical avatar of the author of the novel we are listening to!
Have you read and/ or enjoyed Shakespeare’s Hamlet? What did you think of Stephen’s views?

“Every life in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves.” 
What does this quote mean to you, today?

“A dark back went before them, step of a pard, down, out by the gateway, under the portcullis barbs.” 
Did you catch Bloom? 

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 

*Sophie notes that this episode is where Ulysses shifts into another level of difficult. She encourages us to continue if we can, and if not, check out the Audrey exclusive recap and skip forward to ‘Wandering Rocks’! 
11 comments

II. 10. Wandering Rocks

Target: 01 Jul 2024

CW: the n-word reappears, quite early on, and precedes a section in which Father Conmee thinks about race and missionaries. 

It’s 3 p.m. in Central Dublin and we’re with a whole host of characters moving around the city. This episode has one of the oddest narratives yet and is divided into 19 sections (18 proper, plus 1 coda). Sophie’s guide notes have a helpful list explaining what’s happening in each section. 

Did you check out the link to the online map to follow everyone around during this episode?  🗺️

Sophie says that whenever people complain about inaccurate urban details in novels, films, or TV, she thinks about ‘Wandering Rocks.’ How does this episode compare to other novels you’ve read set in cities? What level of detail, or accuracy, do you think we need (or want!!!) when reading about characters moving around a shared urban space?

“He read the other title: Sweets of Sin. More in her line. Let us see.
He read where his finger opened.
— All the dollarbills her husband gave her were spent in the stores on wondrous gowns and costliest frillies. For him! For Raoul!
Yes. This. Here. Try.
Her mouth glued on his in a luscious voluptuous kiss while his hands felt for the opulent curves inside her deshabillé. 
Yes. Take this. The end.” 
Bloom buys a book for Molly titled ‘Sweets of Sin’ at a stall in Merchants’ Arch. What do you think about this? 🌶️
 
In her voice note, Sophie discusses the interruptions or interpolations, including her favourite about the old women with their bag of rolling cockles.  Sophie explains that Stephen saw these women in Proteus, the narrative has followed up on Stephen’s memory, and then decided to tell us about what these women are doing right now. Sophie says that the aerial narrative eye sees all, but perhaps it cannot make good decisions about which things to tell us about! What did you think about these interpolations? 🐚  

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
11 comments

II. 11. Sirens

Target: 04 Jul 2024

It’s 4 p.m. and several characters converge at the bar of the Ormond Quay Hotel. 

‘Sirens’ is all music! What fun! How did you find the musicality of this episode? Do you think you would have appreciated this without listening to an audiobook? 🎵

Sophie explains how Joyce made connections between the two barmaids in this episode and the sirens. Do you agree? Where else can we see siren-like qualities or associations (e.g. music, temptation, flirtation, risk, knowledge) in this episode? 🧜‍♀️
 
What do you think is the logic behind this wonderful opening section? An overture? Is an orchestra tuning up for the rest of the episode? A keyboard? A collage? 🎹

Did you check out the two Ulysses-themed playlists with 250 or 350 songs? What did you think?

Sophie highlights some repetition and messages you may have missed that piece together a puzzle – we are reading a novel about adultery, which happens off-page and is easy to miss! How does Ulysses compare to other novels about adultery that you’ve read? 💔

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
7 comments

II. 12. Cyclops

Target: 06 Jul 2024

CW: antisemitism, racism, xenophobia. 

It’s 5 p.m. and we’re in Barney Kiernan’s pub. This episode is told by an unnamed narrator, and interrupted by several long sections of parody or satire, linked to events of the episode, which makes those events quite hard to follow. 

Sophie discusses how the difficult topics in this episode, nationalism and prejudice, are narrated by a bigot! The episode has a negative (or, at best, mixed?) representation of Irish nationalists, particularly via the character of the Citizen. The best critics argue that it makes sense for such a key work of Irish literature to paint a complicated picture of what nationhood means. What do you make of the Citizen’s views? And why do you think Joyce gave him this name? 🍀

🔔 Narrative klaxon! 🔔
Sophie questions when this episode is being narrated. An individual is telling us a story, but it’s important to think about who the story is being told to. One theory is that this is a story told later in the day, at another pub, to another group of drinkers. Thoughts? Do you trust his version of events? 🤔

“The fashionable international world attended en masse this afternoon at the wedding of the chevalier Jean Wyse de Neaulan, grand high chief ranger of the Irish National Foresters, with Miss Fir Conifer of Pine Valley… after the papal blessing the happy pair were subjected to a playful crossfire of hazelnuts, beechmast, bayleaves, catkins of willow, ivytod, hollyberries, mistletoe sprigs and quicken shoots. Mr and Mrs Wyse Conifer Neaulan will spend a quiet honeymoon in the Black Forest.” 
Did you catch the tree wedding? 🌲

How did you find all the lists in this episode?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 

23 comments

II. 13. Nausicaa

Target: 09 Jul 2024

CW: the n-word appears twice, and masturbation. 

It’s 8 p.m. and we’re at Sandymount Strand, initially focused on Gerty MacDowell and then on Bloom. 

This episode draws heavily on an 1854 novel called The Lamplighter by Maria Cummins, which tells a sensationalist story about a girl named Gerty or Gertrude Flint. She was an orphan who overcame her personal failings and difficult background, found God and – as a reward – marriage. What are your thoughts on this connection to Ulysses’ Gerty? Have you read The Lamplighter?

Sophie discusses how Ulysses was banned for obscenity in the US until 1934, due to the episode being easier to read and therefore, easier for censors to clue into Bloom masturbating during ‘Nausicaa.’ Sophie also explains how The Little Review, an important modernist magazine that first published Ulysses, episode by episode, in 1920, was co-edited by two queer women, Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap – who were also lovers! Sylvia Beach, who published Ulysses in full in 1922 was also queer! 

There has been a lot of discussion in bookish communities recently about book banning in the US, primarily targeting books with themes about queer communities and different racial communities. What are your thoughts on Ulysses or other books being banned? 📚 🚫

Sophie discusses Bloom’s cruel, negative and offensive description of Gery’s physical disability. She says that Bloom’s meanness seems out of character, but she doesn’t know if it can be excused. Some critics put weight on Bloom’s shame or embarrassment, while others focus on his emotional reaction to Molly’s affair. What do you think about Bloom’s attitude towards Gerty?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
34 comments

II. 14. Oxen of the Sun

Target: 11 Jul 2024

CW: there is a problematic imitation of Black American vernacular at the very end of this episode. 

It’s 10 p.m. and we’re at the Maternity Hospital on Holles Street. Sophie warned us that this is a difficult episode stylistically and her least favourite episode. She encouraged us to bear with it or skip it and check out the Audrey exclusive recap. 

So, since you’re here, did you get through Episode 14? This is a safe space for honest answers! 

How do you feel about the way Joyce has parodied these writers – Thomas Malory, John Milton, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, and John Milton, to name a few?

Sophie mentions that John Milton is probably the most recognisable name as the author of Paradise Lost. Did you know that we are in the process of editing Paradise Lost on Audrey? Our version is narrated by Anton Lesser, guided by Alex Wylie, and illustrated by Dubravko Kastrapeli. Keep your eyes peeled for updates, via Instagram or email. 👀

In the meantime, here is a comprehensive and searchable list of all the books currently in our Audrey library, or coming soon! You can even search for books by your favourite Audrey guide.  💖

How useful are you finding the Homeric links or framings in Sophie’s guide notes? It’s a huge topic of debate amongst readers, critics, and scholars: how much attention should we pay to Homer?

We are getting closer to the finish line! We're at 59% based on minutes listened or 78% based on chapters. Episode 15 is the longest one, but Sophie encourages us to not be put off by that. The whole episode is written like a play which is strange, fun, and full of the unexpected! We have also divided Episode 15 into 2 parts on the Audrey app, and will be listening to it over 4 days, followed by a catch-up day on Monday 15 July. How are you feeling as we get to the home stretch of Ulysses? 🐢🏁

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
23 comments

II. 15. Circe

Target: 15 Jul 2024

Note: This forum is for parts 1 and 2 of Episode 15, so please finish part 2 on the Audrey app to avoid spoilers or confusion. 

CW: NSFW! Sexual content is described in detail, including sadomasochism, in a brothel setting. There is a short racist minstrel show and the n-word is used once. 

It’s midnight and we’re in Nighttown (aka Monto), the red-light district of Dublin. The long episode is written like a play, and you made it through it! 'Circe' is 4 hours long, which is longer than the first five episodes put together (in our Audrey audiobook version).

Sophie explains that scholars of Joyce’s writing processes have pointed out that this episode was written after the legal furore of ‘Nausicaa’ when The Little Review stopped publishing episodes of Ulysses. Do you think that freedom, or even anger, might have fuelled some of the liberties (😂) taken in ‘Circe’?

Did you find yourself wondering what was ‘real’ or ‘really happening’ in this episode? 🤔

Sophie discusses the references to sadomasochism, gender, and sexuality in this episode. There are so many moments of gender-swapping, dress-up, role-paying and norm-inversion. Did any moments stand out to you in particular? 

Have you read Madeline Miller’s novels Circe (a retelling of the Odyssey with Circe as the protagonist) or Song of Achilles (a queer retelling of the Iliad)? 🏺

Do you have other book recommendations based on Greek mythology? 🏛️

In case you missed it, here is Bloom’s reformist, pacifist, socialist vision for the future: 

“I stand for the reform of municipal morals and the plain ten commandments. New worlds for old. Union for all, jew, moslem and gentile. Three acres and a cow for all children of nature. Saloon motor hearses. Compulsory manual labour for all. All parks open to the public day and night. Electric dishscrubbers. Tuberculosis, lunacy, war and mendicancy must now cease. General amnesty, weekly carnival with masked licence, bonuses for all, esperanto the universal language with universal brotherhood. No more patriotism of barspongers and dropsical impostors. Free money, free rent, free love and a free lay church in a free lay state.” 

Would you vote for these policies? 🍽️

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
9 comments

III. 16. Eumaeus

Target: 18 Jul 2024

Welcome to part III of Ulysess! These final three episodes are known as the ‘Nostos’ or ‘return’. 

It’s 1 a.m. and we’re at a cabman’s shelter with Bloom and Stephen. 🚕

Sophie explains the connection of ‘Nostos’ to Homer and ancient Greek literature generally. It is the return home, often by sea, of a great hero. In this third and final part of Ulysses, Bloom gets home, and Sophie suggests keeping the broad idea of ‘return’ or ‘homecoming’ in the back of our minds.

What are your expectations for the plot? Is there a relationship between the concept of homecoming and notions of narrative resolution? What effect does it have on your listening, as you work your way towards the end of Ulysses, to know that some sense of reunion is rumbling away in the Homeric background to this novel?

In Sophie’s voice note, she discusses the notion that Bloom and Stephen have a kind of father and son relationship. How do you feel about the narrative structure where Bloom and Stephen are constantly missing each other in previous episodes, and now meeting in this episode? Thoughts on the anti-climax?

“For which and further reasons he felt it was interest and duty even to wait on and profit by the unlooked-for occasion, though why, he could not exactly tell, being, as it was, already several shillings to the bad, having, in fact, let himself in for it.” 

Did you spot the excellent use of commas in this quote? Are you a stickler for grammar and punctuation? 

What are your thoughts on Joyce rushing to get the first edition of Ulysses published on his 40th birthday on 2 February 1922? Sophie flagged that you can now easily buy a copy that replicates all of the original errors, or a copy with the corrections! 🎈

Sophie included a photo of her Ulysses mug, based on the first edition’s cover. Do you have any Ulysses or other bookish merch? ☕

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
10 comments

III. 17. Ithaca

Target: 22 Jul 2024

It’s 2 a.m. and we follow Bloom and Stephen to 7 Eccles Street for a cup of cocoa!  ☕ 

This episode is written in question-and-answer format. Sophie explains that ‘Catechism (impersonal)’ is how the style of ‘Ithaca’ is labelled in one of Joyce’s schema. Elsewhere, he described it as written in ‘the form of a mathematical catechism’. What did you think of the style of this episode? 

Sophie’s voice note discusses Bloom’s ‘stratagem’ including how some Joyce critics tested the theory out! What are your thoughts on Bloom's method of breaking into his own house using the railings?

“New clean bedlinen, additional odours, the presence of a human form, female, hers, the imprint of a human form, male, not his, some crumbs, some flakes of potted meat, recooked, which he removed.” 
In the Odyssey, we know Penelope stays faithful in Odysseus’ absence. In Ulysses, there are physical traces of Boylan all over this episode. Did you spot them?

Sophie highlights some of her favourite questions and answers in ‘Ithaca’. About halfway through the episode, we find this quote about Bloom’s daughter Milly: 
“Furthermore, silly Milly, she dreamed of having had an unspoken unremembered conversation with a horse whose name had been Joseph to whom (which) she had offered a tumblerful of lemonade which it (he) had appeared to have accepted (cf hearthdreaming cat).” 
Is this scientific, mathematic, cold, fact-based, or deeply deeply sweet? 🐎

Good word radar ✨
'theirhisnothis'
Share your thoughts on these words or any of your personal favourites from Episode 17!

We are so close to the finish line. 1 more episode to go! How are you feeling about Ulysses? 
 
Episode 18 is our editor Lucy’s favourite episode. We are shifting into Molly Bloom’s perspective, and we have a whole new narrator: Marcella Riordan! We recommend making the right conditions to really enjoy this final episode, whatever that means to you. 🛋️ 🏖️ 🍃

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode, beyond these suggested discussion questions. 😊 
 
P.S. Have you signed up for August with Audrey? Join us for a break from schedules, bookish conversation and a bit of fun! 🏝️
11 comments

III. 18. Penelope

Target: 25 Jul 2024

CW: the n-word is used once in Molly’s thoughts, near the start of the episode. Sex (without euphemisms). 

It’s sometime after the 2 a.m. of Episode 17 but also in a sort of sleepy infinite non-time. We are finally with Molly, in her interior monologue!

In Joyce’s schema, ‘Penelope’ has the infinity symbol instead of a specific time of day. This can be seen as an 8 on its side, to match the 8 sentences that this whole episode is divided into. ♾️

“frseeeeeeeefronnnng train somewhere whistling the strength those engines have in them like big giants and the water rolling all over and out of them all sides like the end of Loves old sweeeetsonnnng the poor men that have to be out all the night from their wives and families in those roasting engines stifling it was today” 

Sophie discusses how the start of the 4th sentence in ‘Penelope’ depicts how this episode has no punctuation on the page at all. It can be hard to read in your head: reading aloud is always best! Marcella Riordan’s performance makes it clear how easily and logically Molly’s long sentences actually divide up, following natural pauses in breath and making it one of the easiest episodes to listen to, in Sophie’s opinion. Molly’s many ‘yeses’ are like their own kind of punctuation. 

How did you find this lack of punctuation? It is quite different in the audiobook than on the page, for those who are not reading along with the text. 

YOU DID IT!! Congratulations! 🎉 🎉 🎉

How do you feel? Relieved? Sad it’s over? Tired? Ready to read something lighter? Either way, you should be proud of yourself for making it to the end of a super-long audiobook on this tremendous journey together through Joyce’s Ulysses! 😊

Do you think the Blooms’ marriage will survive? ❤️💔

Did you skip any episodes? Which ones, and why? 
 
If you were to recommend one episode to a friend, on its own, which one would you choose – and what reasons would you give to convince them to try out a taste of Ulysses? 

Do you agree with Sally Rooney – is Ulysses a purely relational novel? How does it compare to other novels you’ve read about love and marriage? 

Did any of Sophie’s brilliant recommendations for books, podcasts, and films pique your interest?

Please feel free to share any other thoughts about this episode or Ulysses generally, beyond these suggested discussion questions. Once again, congratulations on ticking Ulysses off your TBR or bucket list! 😊 
9 comments

Thank you & Reviews 💛

Thank you for participating in our Ulysses community listen-along! This was a really long one, and we appreciate you a little extra for sticking around. We have enjoyed the thought-provoking and fascinating conversations on this odyssey together. And, it really can’t be said too many times, so well done on finishing Ulysses!  🎉
 
Whether you are finishing up this week, this month or this year… We are happy for you to take Ulysses at your own pace. Please remember that these forums will always be here, so you can come back to check out the comments. 
 
We hope you enjoyed this listen-along, and we welcome any feedback in this forum, or via the survey that will arrive in your inboxes once you finish the book. 
 
If you'd like to help our indie audiobook company grow our global community of listeners, we'd really appreciate if you can do one of these things:   
 
We have made some review template graphics specifically for Ulysses (with our custom illustrations and contributors’ names) in the Instagram story and square post formats. If you’d like to use these graphics, please reach out via Instagram DM. 
  
What’s next on our Audrey schedule? Join us for August with Audrey for a break from schedules, bookish conversation and a bit of fun! We’ll be running this group in our WhatsApp Community, after months of back-to-back listen-alongs including super-long Ulysses. You can expect a chill vibe, breakout groups for listening to audiobooks of your choice, short story weekends, scavenger hunts, and more! You also will be the first to hear about our future plans and offers... 👀 

Thank you, again! Our small team of book lovers are very grateful for your support. We hope your next book is a 5-star read! 📖
 
Rob, Lucy, Ari, Sally and Nitika 💛 
22 comments