We shall continue next week with the sentence, "Did the process of divestiture continue?" Gabler (17.1479), Penguin (836.36)
Bloom is all alone after the departure of Stephen - out of his house, out of his life, out of this novel, and consequently out of our lives. It is almost dawn. Bloom - like Stephan - has not slept that night. He has had a long and busy day. Thinking of many a people, many a thing, he does not seem to be tired at all. Still, it is wrong to assume that he is a nocturnal being as the one other time when he had witnessed the disparition of three final stars, the diffusion of daybreak, the apparition of a new solar disk was about twenty years ago! In 1887, to be precise.
Bloom retraverses the garden, reenters the passage, recloses the door, and reapproaches the door of the front room, the hallfloor. These 're's pose a problem, indeed. If at all, Bloom had used this door when he left home that morning, and when Stephen left they had come out from the rere of the house. So, what is this about reentering the passage, reclosing the door, ...?
Anyway, when Bloom reenters the front room, hall floor, he hits his head against the walnut sideboard, which has been rearranged along with the plume plush sofa, the blue and white checker inlaid majolica topped table, and two chairs - one a squat stuffed easychair, and the other a slender splayfoot one of glossy cane curves. (Naturally the latter signal Boylan and Molly). There are additional signs in the room of its recent occupants: a pair of long yellow ladies' gloves on a vertical piano, an ashtray with used matches and cigarettes, and music sheets of Love's Old Sweet Song. The question arises as to why on earth would Molly wear long gloves to practice a song at home with Boylan! A. N. reminded that the color of her gloves is the same as that of the dressing gown of Buck Mulligan (see the second sentence of the novel) and that the color yellow symbolizes adultery!
Perhaps to get rid of the stale smell of the cigarettes, Bloom lights an incense stick. His eyes then travel to the objects (on the mantlepiece) he had got as matrimonial gifts: a timepiece of striated Connemara marble, stopped at 4.46 a.m. on 21 March 1896, a dwarf tree, and an embalmed owl. After that he sees in the mirror not only his own reflection but also that of several books on the two bookshelves opposite. The catalogue of the books include books like Shakespeare's Works, The useful ready reckoner, Philosophy of the talmud, Soll and haben etc, which are described variously according to their bindings, the typesets used, names of publishers/printers, etc. No trivial detail is left out. Too much information is given making most of it redundant and insignificant.
Bloom then slowly gets rid of his collar (size 17) and waistcoat (5 buttons), scratching himself imprecisely, takes out of his left lower pocket a shilling, the sight of which makes him recall and list his expenditure of the day, excepting that in the Nighttown!
Thus these pages serve to recapitulate the happenings of the day. From different points of view. Prioritizing different aspects of the day.
Bloom is all alone after the departure of Stephen - out of his house, out of his life, out of this novel, and consequently out of our lives. It is almost dawn. Bloom - like Stephan - has not slept that night. He has had a long and busy day. Thinking of many a people, many a thing, he does not seem to be tired at all. Still, it is wrong to assume that he is a nocturnal being as the one other time when he had witnessed the disparition of three final stars, the diffusion of daybreak, the apparition of a new solar disk was about twenty years ago! In 1887, to be precise.
Bloom retraverses the garden, reenters the passage, recloses the door, and reapproaches the door of the front room, the hallfloor. These 're's pose a problem, indeed. If at all, Bloom had used this door when he left home that morning, and when Stephen left they had come out from the rere of the house. So, what is this about reentering the passage, reclosing the door, ...?
Anyway, when Bloom reenters the front room, hall floor, he hits his head against the walnut sideboard, which has been rearranged along with the plume plush sofa, the blue and white checker inlaid majolica topped table, and two chairs - one a squat stuffed easychair, and the other a slender splayfoot one of glossy cane curves. (Naturally the latter signal Boylan and Molly). There are additional signs in the room of its recent occupants: a pair of long yellow ladies' gloves on a vertical piano, an ashtray with used matches and cigarettes, and music sheets of Love's Old Sweet Song. The question arises as to why on earth would Molly wear long gloves to practice a song at home with Boylan! A. N. reminded that the color of her gloves is the same as that of the dressing gown of Buck Mulligan (see the second sentence of the novel) and that the color yellow symbolizes adultery!
Perhaps to get rid of the stale smell of the cigarettes, Bloom lights an incense stick. His eyes then travel to the objects (on the mantlepiece) he had got as matrimonial gifts: a timepiece of striated Connemara marble, stopped at 4.46 a.m. on 21 March 1896, a dwarf tree, and an embalmed owl. After that he sees in the mirror not only his own reflection but also that of several books on the two bookshelves opposite. The catalogue of the books include books like Shakespeare's Works, The useful ready reckoner, Philosophy of the talmud, Soll and haben etc, which are described variously according to their bindings, the typesets used, names of publishers/printers, etc. No trivial detail is left out. Too much information is given making most of it redundant and insignificant.
Bloom then slowly gets rid of his collar (size 17) and waistcoat (5 buttons), scratching himself imprecisely, takes out of his left lower pocket a shilling, the sight of which makes him recall and list his expenditure of the day, excepting that in the Nighttown!
Thus these pages serve to recapitulate the happenings of the day. From different points of view. Prioritizing different aspects of the day.
