Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion

[Ralf]

[MrPedantic]

Hello Haihao, hello Ralf, a pleasant weekend to you both.

[Haihao]

Hello MrP, Hi Ralf, thank you both ever and always for making every weekend as well as every weekday every very pleasant day for me!

[Haihao]

I have another one here:

[Ralf]

Hi Haihao,

I'd say your reading was quite accurate. Back in Joyce's day, the word 'Jew' was often used in a derogatory way (alluding to all types of negative Jewish stereotypes). The Jews were often accused of killing Jesus, so Bloom justifies himself by saying that Christ was originally Jewish as well. By saying 'though I'm really not' he probably means that he doesn't pursue Jewish believes actively.

See you soon,

Ralf
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[Mister Micawber]

.
Actually, Bloom is not Jewish; he's of 'Jewish descent'. His father was Jewish, while his mother was Catholic. Bloom was baptized Catholic (or Episcopalian?)

The Citizen doesn't like Bloom, as a Jew, but Bloom protests that Christ himself (the Citizen's God) was a Jew (as were, of course, Joseph and Mary). That's how the Holy Family enter the conversation.
.
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[MrPedantic]

Cf. Buck's Ballad of Joking Jesus:

"My mother's a Jew, my father's a bird..."

i.e. the Holy Spirit, often portrayed as a dove.

(Divine parentage does not affect Christ's status: Jewishness is matrilinear.)

MrP

[Haihao]

Thank you all!

Another interesting one:

[MrPedantic]

Hello Haihao,

That's an ingenious thought. It seems Joycean, if not necessarily Bloomian. I wonder whether there's also a possibility of ellipsis, e.g.

"You have every bit as much right to live by your pen in pursuit of your philosophy as the peasant has [to live by manual labour]."

All the best,

MrP

[Ralf]

Hi Haihao,

Yes, everyone should be allowed to pursue one's philosophy - either by writing treatises or cutting turf. Voltaire's Candide found true happiness after travelling the world and chasing rainbows for over a decade when he finally settled to cultivate a small farm to keep "free of three great evils: boredom, vice and necessity".
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[MrPedantic]

I suppose Candide is a not very successful Odysseus, in some respects.

MrP

[Ralf]

You're right there, Mr P. But Candide rids himself (and us) of the idea that everything will turn out for the best by necessity. And he finds an alternative to the holy grail - garden cultivation
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[Haihao]

[MrPedantic]

But if Candide has found a happy alternative in horticulture and poor Cunégonde's pastry-making, then Pangloss is surely right...

(Surely not...)

[Haihao]