Hi Mom,

No worries about the recording—your very mild (and likely accurate) general comments about [xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] were the least interesting part of our conversation. We covered so much ground—it's going to take me some time to wrap my head around it all. You went into real detail on topics that I've only heard you mention rarely and vaguely. I appreciate so much knowing more about your life, and whatever I share about it will be respectful of all parties involved.

I can't help but think you would have been an interesting classmate: your comment about Bloom needing "to be indoctrinated into Catholic teachings" is something that I haven't seen mentioned yet. No doubt there's plenty of scholarship out there on religion in Uly, but nothing like this has popped up in any of the casual-but-thorough reading I've been doing about the novel. I have some interlibrary loan materials arriving at the library soon; one of these is a look at how JJ created his characters and I'll definitely check for anything about Leopold needing to convert (?!?) for Molly.

I do want to share this blog from a Jewish news source: Molly Bloom, Jewess?

I haven't checked this piece of light reading against more scholarly sources to assess its claims (as I would advise anyone writing a term paper to do) but I appreciate the spirit (as it were) of the piece. It is actually really interesting that Ulysses and Bloomsday exist in the popular consciousness as Irish to the point of stereotype—when Joyce actually seems to be disrupting and questioning identity in a number of ways (national, religious, artistic, professional etc.). Also this bit in her blog is good:

...what I never realized is that, in the maze-like text of “Ulysses,” there are a few clues that she may be a Jewess too. Apparently it’s a matter of unsettled scholarly debate because Molly’s mother’s name, Lunita Laredo could well be Sephardic.

And yet, throughout the novel Molly identifies Leopold as the Jew and herself as an Irish Catholic. My first thought was, this would be a great joke on Joyce’s part — to have the Catholic Molly actually be Jewish due to her mother’s lineage, while the self-identified Jew Leo has a non-Jewish mother and therefore isn’t considered Jewish by traditional religious law. Joyce, famously finicky and precise, would get a kick out of that. Equally if not more likely, though, the mystery surrounding Molly’s heritage is part of Leopold’s perspective on his wife, and leaving her Irishness and Jewishness in question is a reflection of her semi-estranged husband’s conflicted feelings about her.

Of course—another wrinkle that comes to mind suddenly is: were Leopold and Molly married in a church? Was there a civil/ non-religious option for marriage at the time? Endless threads to tug on here. I'll let you know if I come across anything that addresses your point about the Catholic church's requirements for marriage.

And as for Dad only remembering Molly Bloom from Ulysses... I'll leave you two to discuss that privately in whatever manner you will both enjoy. Maybe it's a sign he has good taste in women?

Cheers,

K.

ps. Brave of you for tackling a Pynchon at the same time as Ulysses. The Bleeding Edge isn't known to be one of his better books, but it's probably more approachable than Gravity's Rainbow or even The Crying of Lot 49.