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 Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:16 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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Sure!  |
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Haihao
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| Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:17 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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I would like to make sure that in:
| Quote: | LYNCH
I'm not looking.
ZOE
(Makes sheep's eyes.) No? You wouldn't do a less thing. Would you suck a lemon?
(Squinting in mock shame she glances with sidelong meaning at Bloom, then twists round towards him, pulling her slip free of the poker. Blue fluid again flows over her flesh. |
1. Does the first underlined part mean: You wouldn't be satisfied only with that (looking)?
2. Does the second part refer to the expression 'suck a lemon' with its hidden meaning?
3. Is it because the slip is blue?
Thank you!
Haihao |
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Haihao
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| Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:32 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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Hello Haihao, I hope the tea brewed well.
1. That does seem to be the meaning. I wonder if it's an Anglo-Irish idiom, though; in context, it could be a sarcastic "You wouldn't do such a thing, of course". (Apart from the innuendo, "sucking a lemon" might give you a primly purse-lipped appearance.)
2. Yes, I think so: a sideways glance full of significance, as her slip is still pulled up.
3. Yes; and perhaps "fluid" because of "under the sapphire a nixie's green", where her slip is likened to the sea (i.e. the green flesh of a nixie under the sapphire of the sea).
See you later,
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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Haihao
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| Sat Jul 26, 2008 20:45 pm Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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| Quote: | I'm not looking.
ZOE
(Makes sheep's eyes.) No? You wouldn't do a less thing |
Hi Haihao,
This quote evokes homely/unsophisticated Irish lingo and means as much as "That's exactly what you would do!" Misapplied double negation paired with expressions of ironic understatement tend to serve as a basis for (mock) modesty.
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Ralf
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| Sat Jul 26, 2008 23:22 pm Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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| Ah! Is "You wouldn't do a less thing" still to be heard, Ralf? |
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MrPedantic
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Ralf
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| Sun Jul 27, 2008 0:08 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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Hi Ralf,
Thank you for the information that's really helpful!
Best regards,
Haihao |
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Haihao
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| Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:03 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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There is another sentence I'd like to make sure of:
| Quote: | | (Prompts in a pig's whisper.) Insects of the day spend their brief existence in reiterated coition, lured by the smell of the inferiorly pulchritudinous female possessing extendified pudendal nerve in dorsal region. |
1. The 1st underlined part must be a pun, I guess, on: a. hints with a low voice; b. hints quickly; c. quick quickly (though grammatically wrong).... However, which is true here? a or b?
2. Could I reword the 2nd part as:
(Male is) lured by the smell of the inferiorly pulchritudinous female who possess highly developed pudendal nerve in the back?
| Quote: | BLOOM
Bee or bluebottle too other day butting shadow on wall dazed self then me wandered dazed down shirt good job I... |
3. Could I reword this one as:
The other day, either a bee or a bluebottle butted its own shadow on the wall and dazed itself. Then it dazed me and wandered down my shirt, doing a good job on me (giving me a lot of trouble)?
| Quote: | | Will some pleashe pershon not now impediment so catastrophics mit agitation of firstclass tablenumpkin? |
4. Could I reword it to:
Will not someone please pursue now impediment to catastrophe with agitation of first class table napkin?
| Quote: | | He snaps his jaws suddenly on the air. |
5. Is it: a. He snaps and his jaws goes suddenly on the air. or, b. He moves his jaws suddenly on the air.
| Quote: | | Henry Flower combs his moustache and beard rapidly with a pocketcomb and gives a cow's lick to his hair. |
6. Is it just a cowlick?
Haihao |
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Haihao
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| Sun Jul 27, 2008 23:16 pm Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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Hello Haihao,
| Quote: | | (Prompts in a pig's whisper.) Insects of the day spend their brief existence in reiterated coition, lured by the smell of the inferiorly pulchritudinous female possessing extendified pudendal nerve in dorsal region. |
1. I think this may be a reference to the pigs in the "Circe" episode of the Odyssey (i.e. Odysseus's crew, which Circe turned into pigs). Odysseus was protected from Circe's spells by the herb "moly" (!), supplied by Hermes. Virag's conversation is also porcine: the prostitutes are discussed in meaty terms. (There may also be a reference to the phrase "in a pig's ear!", which is an expression of doubt about the truth of a preceding statement.)
2. I think that would be a fair rewording. The reference is presumably to the long caudal filaments of mayflies (members of Ephemeroptera: Greek for "winged things of a day"). "Extendify" is a humorously polysyllabic term for "to make long".
| Quote: | BLOOM
Bee or bluebottle too other day butting shadow on wall dazed self then me wandered dazed down shirt good job I... |
3. Possibly: "The other day, either a bee or a bluebottle butted its own shadow on the wall and dazed itself. Then it butted me and wandered down my shirt. It was a good job [?I had my trouser fly closed]."
| Quote: | | Will some pleashe pershon not now impediment so catastrophics mit agitation of firstclass tablenumpkin? |
4. Maybe: "Will some person please | not now so catastrophic an obstacle | with agitation of first-class table napkin".
Whatever that means!
| Quote: | | He snaps his jaws suddenly on the air. |
5. I think: "He moves his jaws suddenly together on air", i.e. he makes a biting motion on nothing (like a crocodile).
| Quote: | | Henry Flower combs his moustache and beard rapidly with a pocketcomb and gives a cow's lick to his hair. |
6. Yes, I think so: he gives himself a cowlick (like Bill Haley's).
All the best,
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:49 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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Hello MrP, thanks again.
Another phrase beyond my reach: Mocking is catch. I wonder if it could mean: Making a joke becomes real; or Truth is in the joke, or, What was make-believe has become true... It seems to me with some deep meaning or without any deep sense at all, just my overthinking?
Regards,
Haihao |
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Haihao
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| Mon Jul 28, 2008 23:52 pm Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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That one mystifies me. Later, the Hours run out and "catch the sun in mocking mirrors"; but I'm not sure how that relates to this passage.
RG seems to favour truncated utterances; so perhaps it means "mockery is catching". But that seems very mundane.
So I think I still have a ? in the margin for that one!
All the best,
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Tue Jul 29, 2008 0:25 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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| Haihao wrote: | | Mocking is catch. |
Hi Haihao,
Since the indefinite article in front 'catch' is missing, this odd phrase could mean anything from 'mockery is fertile' or even 'mockery is a deadlock/dilemma' to 'catching sneers'. What's the context here?
Cheers,
Ralf
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Ralf
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| Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:42 am Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion |
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Hello MrP, thank you all the same for the sharing.
Hi Ralf, the context is like this:
| Quote: | BLOOM: (COWED) Exuberant female. Enormously I desiderate your domination. I
am exhausted, abandoned, no more young. I stand, so to speak, with an
unposted letter bearing the extra regulation fee before the too late box of
the general postoffice of human life. The door and window open at a right
angle cause a draught of thirtytwo feet per second according to the law of
falling bodies. I have felt this instant a twinge of sciatica in my left
glutear muscle. It runs in our family. Poor dear papa, a widower, was a
regular barometer from it. He believed in animal heat. A skin of tabby lined
his winter waistcoat. Near the end, remembering king David and the Sunamite,
he shared his bed with Athos, faithful after death. A dog's spittle as you
probably ... (HE WINCES) Ah!
RICHIE GOULDING: (BAGWEIGHTED, PASSES THE DOOR) Mocking is catch. Best
value in Dub. Fit for a prince's. Liver and kidney.
THE FAN: (TAPPING) All things end. Be mine. Now,
BLOOM: (UNDECIDED) All now? I should not have parted with my talisman. Rain,
exposure at dewfall on the searocks, a peccadillo at my time of life. Every
phenomenon has a natural cause. |
All the best,
Haihao |
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Haihao
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Location: Japan
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