Today we
read as far as "distrusting aquacities of thought and language", 17.240
(Gabler), p. 785 (Penguin)
We follow the " keyless couple" Bloom and Stephen on their way home to Bloom's house. They are both "keyless" because Stephen has given his to Mulligan and Bloom has left his in another pair of trousers' pocket. They virtually end up breaking into Bloom's home by climbing over the railings in front of the house. We follow them closely through accurate descriptions of even the most mandane and familiar movements (common actions one would never think about with such awareness) like searching a pocket or turning on a tap.
Accuracy and precision are going to be some of the leading motives of Ithaca. It is
written in a question-and-answer form, reminiscent of that of the Catechism
(the way the Catholic church dishes out its truths). It also has a scientific touch, nearly mathematical in its attempt to be exact. Everything is treated as if it were of equal importance (a dust bucket seems as important as a tree or the Roman Catholic
Church). Things are described neutrally, precisely, exhaustively and from a detached
point of view, in an objective language - the kind you would use for instructive
texts or legal documents, focusing on accuracy, and at the cost of brevity. (Joyce told
his friend Frank Budgen that Ithaca was "the ugly duckling" in the
book.)
