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Ulysses Lecture V - Scylla and Charybdis (Patreon)

Published:
2022-09-21 16:45:15
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

"Every life is 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."

Today we are in the National Library, between Scylla and Charybdis, as Stephen reveals his theory of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

In the Penguin Modern Classics edition, this takes us from pages 235-280.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Scylla and Charybdis
  • 2:13 what happens in episode nine?
  • 4:00 what is the homeric parallel?
  • 6:00 Plato vs Aristotle
  • 10:05 Joyce vs Shakespeare
  • 10:50 the artist vs the art
  • 11:20 on Shakespearean allusions
  • 13:00 Stephen’s consciousness
  • 14:00 Stephen’s Hamlet theory
  • 19:00 Shakespeare’s characters
  • 20:00 characters in episode nine
  • 22:30 “our young Irish bards…”
  • 23:45 art & eternal wisdom
  • 27:00 who would have banished me?
  • 29:00 the theory/performance begins
  • 31:00 on the Southbank with Shakespeare
  • 32:00 working in ‘local colour’
  • 33:40 is Shakespeare Shylock?
  • 34:52 the facts of Shakespeare’s life
  • 36:00 Shakespeare’s marriage & children
  • 38:00 biographical vs spiritual readings
  • 40:20 Ignatius Loyola & composition of place
  • 43:00 prying into the artist’s private life
  • 44:00 “I am other I now”
  • 46:30 “a man of genius makes no mistakes”
  • 49:00 Shakespeare’s old mole
  • 54:00 on biographical readings
  • 54:42 Shakespeare’s second best bed
  • 57:00 Shakespeare’s brothers & cuckoldry
  • 58:00 signing one’s name in the sonnets
  • 1:01:00 cuckolds, brothers, & betrayal
  • 1:06:00 “After God, Shakespeare has created most”
  • 1:07:00 “we walk through ourselves, meeting ourselves”
  • 1:08:20 “do you believe your own theory?”
  • 1:09:00 questions & our next episodes 

Our Ulysses Journey:

Questions to Consider:

1) What do you make of Stephen’s Hamlet theory?

2) How much of the artist is in the art?

3) And have you ever felt like an exile/outsider?

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

Ulysses Lecture V - Scylla and Charybdis

0:00 Scylla and Charybdis 2:13 what happens in episode nine? 4:00 what is the homeric parallel? 6:00 Plato vs Aristotle 10:05 Joyce vs Shakespeare 10:50 the artist vs the art 11:20 on Shakespearean allusions 13:00 Stephen’s consciousness 14:00 Stephen’s Hamlet theory 19:00 Shakespeare’s characters 20:00 characters in episode nine 22:30 “our young Irish bards…” 23:45 art & eternal wisdom 27:00 who would have banished me? 29:00 the theory/performance begins 31:00 on the Southbank with Shakespeare 32:00 working in ‘local colour’ 33:40 is Shakespeare Shylock? 34:52 the facts of Shakespeare’s life 36:00 Shakespeare’s marriage & children 38:00 biographical vs spiritual readings 40:20 Ignatius Loyola & composition of place 43:00 prying into the artist’s private life 44:00 “I am other I now” 46:30 “a man of genius makes no mistakes” 49:00 Shakespeare’s old mole 54:00 on biographical readings 54:42 Shakespeare’s second best bed 57:00 Shakespeare’s brothers & cuckoldry 58:00 signing one’s name in the sonnets 1:01:00 cuckolds, brothers, & betrayal 1:06:00 “After God, Shakespeare has created most” 1:07:00 “we walk through ourselves, meeting ourselves” 1:08:20 “do you believe your own theory?” 1:09:00 questions & our next episodes

Comments

Colin ellesmere

Just to share my favourite section from this chapter. Yogibogeybox in Dawson chambers. Isis Unveiled. Their Pali book we tried to pawn. Crosslegged under an umbrel umbershoot he thrones an Aztec logos, functioning on astral levels, their oversoul, mahamahatma. The faithful hermetists await the light, ripe for chelaship, ringroundabout him. Louis H. Victory. T. Caulfield Irwin. Lotus ladies tend them i'the eyes, their pineal glands aglow. Filled with his god, he thrones, Buddh under plantain. Gulfer of souls, engulfer. Hesouls, shesouls, shoals of souls. Engulfed with wailing creecries, whirled, whirling, they bewail. In quintessential triviality For years in this fleshcase a shesoul dwelt. Beautiful.

Elizabeth Madden
>>116012953

You may need to read a bit about Eastern Spiritual beliefs to get it, Lara- or just luxuriate in the musicality and the Alice in Wonderland-like apparent 'nonsense' of the language.

Elizabeth Madden
>>116012953

Colin, if you enjoyed this, you will LOVE Finnegans Wake. Our next deep, deep dive as a group, perhaps? LOL.

Josh LaMar, He-Him

I haven’t heard this theory of Shakespeare before, so it’s very interesting to ponder. The Artist in the Art is a beautiful concept. As a fellow Artist (I studied music composition in undergrad, so have always thought of myself as an Artist first and foremost), every piece of music I write is from a deeply personal place and I cannot separate my own soul from the music that I write. That music IS me. So, yes, I assume that writers do some of the same. I read autobiographical elements into Portrait of the Artist as well as Ulysses and it rings true for me. A Platonic note from Penguin p. 243: Stephen replies, “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” This is a reference to the Lesser Hippias of Plato (Thank you to Gifford’s Ulysses Annotated), which does in fact say the same thing. The dialogue is about which is worse: making an error on purpose vs. erring without volition. It ends as Platonic dialogues typically do, but what comes out is the idea that in order to err, you have to know your craft or Art so well that you have the ability to ensure you fail. Whereas you might succeed by accident. I’m reminded of my time singing in choir and whenever we sang Happy Birthday, we always sang it as poorly as possible. Because it was funny. But also, because we knew HOW to sing well, thus could demonstrate that by singing poorly. It’s the same idea that you have to know the rules in order to break them. Picasso said, “ Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Elizabeth Madden
>>118026658

How true! I find it very irritating when some people say, "Anyone can write a book" as if being a Creative person is easy and therefore insignificant. It is, of course, possible for virtually anyone to write a book, but it takes a heck of a lot of hard work and application as well as raw talent to write a decent book, and even more to write a Great Book. The same is true of any art form or sport or whatever else. And for anyone to be able to innovate, as Joyce and Picasso did, thereby breaking the rules they had to first put in the hard graft of learning all the rules they wanted to break- again something a lot of people don't understand or appreciate.