Ulysses (James Joyce) - A literary discussion

[Yankee]

Hi Ralf

Well, there's still the fact that he somehow knew his feet were precisely two feet ten inches from the ground after he'd lowered his body. It's as though he had some sort of sophisticated radar equipment in his shoes. Either that, or he knew exactly how high the structure was.
.

[MrPedantic]

It was a good moment for the letter anecdote.

I particularly like this part of the book. I think we have to take it to the bridge:

[Haihao]

Thank you all!

Here is another souvenir for you from my trip:

[Ralf]

Here's a riddle that may help you solve this problem:

The trees and the leaves outside, turned into brown and lifeless pieces of straw and paper in October, which made the forest look so stark, stood out against the setting sun.
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[Haihao]

Thank you, Ralf. I got it.

There is another trifle:

[MrPedantic]

Hello Haihao,

[Haihao]

Hello MrP,

Thank you so much again for the wonderful paraphrasis, a welcome-back feast to me after descending from the hills!

Best regards,

Haihao

[Haihao]

A trifle again:

[MrPedantic]

Hello Haihao, good morning,

For #1: the "house of bondage" is Egypt/Bloom's; the reference is to the Exodus of the Jews under Moses from Egypt, and their subsequent wanderings in the "wilderness". A summary (perhaps over-detailed for these purposes) may be found here.

There is also a reference to Psalm CXIV (not CXIII, as the omniscient narrator mis-says), and possibly to a passage in Dante, Purg. II.

For #2: the cat entered (ingress) as Stephen left (egress).

All the best,

MrP

PS:

In "In what order of precedence, with what attendant ceremony was the exodus from the house of bondage to the wilderness of inhabitation effected", "effected" means "made to happen", i.e. "In what order...was [the emboldened part] made to happen?"

[Haihao]

Thank you, MrP, again. I am fully satisfied. Just another trifle:

[Ralf]

Hi Haihao,

I don't think he is addressing the chair and the piano in the paragraph 'With what sensations did Bloom contemplate in rotation these objects?' After 'elevating the candlestick' he elaborates on his sensory perceptions, so it seems likely that he simply describes what he can see; 'a large dull passive' - the darkness of the room, and 'a slender bright active' - the flickering candle.
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[MrPedantic]

I'm not too sure about this one. The candle seems a natural contender for the "slender bright active"; but the splayfoot chair is described as "slender" and "bright". Perhaps Bloom's chair is appropriately the "dull passive", and Molly's the "bright active".

The "antecedent act" is also obscure; Bloom in this paragraph is reviewing the objects previously described, so "repeating the words" would seem to refer to the sheet music on the piano, and "gradual discolouration" to the "diffusing...discolouration" of the easychair; but there is no reason why an "act" should intervene. Unless he repeats the act of "feeling on his right temple a contused tumescence".

Best wishes,

MrP

[Haihao]

Thank you, Ralf and MrP. I had the same feeling as MrP's when I was led to the splayfoot chair as "bright active" by the foregoing description as "slender" and "bright" but I failed to determine the opposite "dull passive" on Bloom's chair, which I feel comfortable to suppose as it was.

[Haihao]

I have come across some other trifles:

[MrPedantic]

Hello Haihao,

1. I think so, yes: the sandglass rolls, and as it does so, the sand within also rolls.

2. I think these must be Bloom's chest measurements before and after the 2 month's consecutive use of the pulley exerciser.

3. "Done on the premises" here means "at home". Seemingly, instead of taking his trousers to a professional laundress, Bloom gives them to Molly to wash. She puts them through a mangle; when dry, they are placed between the two mattresses; the weight of the two bodies presses them during the night. (It was once quite common to press trousers in this way.)

Best wishes,

MrP