Is it Hades because it’s hell to read? I’m pretty sure this episode is where I gave up on Uly all those years ago.

I almost skipped this one, honestly.

But then I guilted myself into it because I thought all the death and the dying and the suicide and the murder and the dead son and the funeral rites and the mourning would be sad. I thought if I skipped this one, I’d miss out on something emotionally affecting: I wouldn’t experience the tragedy, the pathos, the humanity that our genius boy JJ put onto the page.

My expectations were not met, to say the least.

Per the Slote et al. annotation:

6.792: Gravediggers in Hamlet
In Hamlet, two peasants digging Ophelia’s grave indulge in ironic wordplay about death with Hamlet (V.i). The scene is clearly a source for Bloom’s gallows humour in this chapter.

Clearly.

This did send me off to YouTube for some Hamlet. Here is Kenneth Branagh whispering at a skull. And how about teen heartthrob of the 1990s Ethan Hawke as Motorcycle Hamlet? That leather trench coat over a hoodie is certainly a “lewk”, as the young folk say these days. (While not at all related to Uly, remember this adaptation? Certainly my preferred Shakespeare play.)

Again the reaction to Catholicism.... he remembers the texts, the rituals, but no sense of comfort.

This gave me a chuckle—even setting aside Bloom’s Jewishness—I’d bet that many a Catholic (and putatively Catholic kid dragged to church) knows the rituals and the texts and a great deal of discomfort. I appreciate the gloss provided by Patrick Hastings of Ulysses Guide.

The men turn their attention to Paddy Dignam, celebrating his good humor in life and mourning the suddenness of his death. Dignam died of complications related to his alcoholism, which the men euphemize as a breakdown of the heart. Humane Mr. Bloom finds solace in the fact that Dignam died quickly, with no suffering. However, for Catholics such as Bloom’s companions in the carriage, a sudden death is catastrophic because it affords no opportunity for the sacrament of last rites, whereby the dying person would receive final absolution for sins and the soul prepared for heaven. Mr. Bloom, trying only to be sympathetic, once again finds himself silently ostracized.

Bloom does come off as a nice guy, though—perhaps all the Shakespearean gallows humour is a coping mechanism for the losses he has experienced, and a means of returning to equanimity. How grand we are this morning indeed.

Next up seems to be… newspaper headlines? Let me know how you’re getting on with episode 7. After the rapid-fire emails last week, I’m wondering at your silence.

Hope all is well.

K.