We have finished episode 13, "Nausicaa".
The point at which we pick up the reading (when "far on Kish bank
the anchored lightship twinkled, winked at Mr Bloom" (13.1180)) is one
that marks the division between the two parts in this chapter: the first part
is rendered in Gerty's style (sugary, inflated, aiming high), the second in
Bloom's postorgasmic, more down to earth, deflated style. The twinkle occurs with
the rocket going up and we get an overview of Dublin: we briefly see Sandymount,
the hill Howth, the newspapers that are being distributed, music is coming from
the church (things Bloom could not see or hear). In Fritz Senn's explanation, this
flight into a different perspective is like a "cinematographic sweep",
ending back on Bloom. The passage is like having a bit of the interior
monologue embedded into a cinematic sweep.
Bloom then looks out at a lifeboat and imagines how hard life must be
for the people working as coastguards for the lighthouse. He thinks of their working
equipment, one of which is the "breeches buoy" - something like a lifebuoys
fitted with trouser-legs, used to manoeuvre a coastguard between ship and shore
to rescue people on ships in danger (13.1183):
Bloom then remembers Milly, who was fearless during a boat-ride, whereas
he didn’t like it so much, nor the danger (the irony of this: Bloom, the
Odysseus figure, not liking a boat ride).
An explanatory note: "Must
be getting on for nine by the light. Go home. Too late for Leah. Lily of Killarney. No. Might be still up" (13.1211).
Bloom is thinking that he should not stick around at the beach and should
move on. It is getting late, too late to go to see the play Leah, he thinks (which
would be starting at 8 p.m.). What is likely to be going on here is that Bloom,
on his roaming around the whole day, might also be trying to stay away from
home. He may have told Molly earlier that he would go to see a play. At this
point in the evening, Molly might still be up and, therefore, Bloom does not
want to go back yet. The irony of this is that we have an Odysseus (a
home-going figure) who, here, is in no
hurry at all to get home.
Bloom does feel tired, though, which is also reflected in the language.
It too is getting heavy and the voice more drowsy (in contrast to the flying-high-up
mood of the 1st part). After “Long day I’ve had” we get a recall of what we
read earlier (Martha’s letter, bath, funeral, Keyes’s ad, museum etc.). He
looks back at the episode in the pub (chapter 12, "Cyclops") and seems
able to see it in a more relaxed way. The “Look at it other way round” is again
a typically Bloomian attempt to see the other's perspective and the other side
of the story. Very thoughtful of him -- yet, to give his slightly revengeful side credit too, he does
imagine the citizen from "Cyclops" as hanging around with a ‘not much
to look at’ woman:
Three cheers
for the sister-in-law he hawked about, three fangs in her mouth. Same style of
beauty. Particularly nice old party for a cup of tea. The sister of the wife of
the wild man of Borneo has just come to town. Imagine that in the early morning
at close range. Everyone to his taste as Morris said
when he kissed the cow. (13.1221)
Bloom is about to doze off and his mind drifts into a dream-like state,
when images take over. The closing paragraphs reflect Bloom's mind, which is in
a fuzzy state of consciousness (we get echoes, vague references, bits of memory
that surface with no logical order). A second time it refers back to instances
we read about in previous chapters (met him pike hosed, Raoul, the perfume your
wife uses, Mulvey etc.) (13.1279).
A note on the text: Some editions lack what has been restored by Gabler.
The paragraph starting "O sweety all your little"
(13.1279) should read as follows:
O sweety all
your little girlwhite up I saw dirty bracegirdle made me do love sticky we two
naughty Grace darling she him half past the bed met him pike hoses frillies for
Raoul de perfume your wife black hair heave under embon senorita young eyes Mulvey plump hubs me breadvan Winkle red
slippers she rusty sleep wander years of dreams return tail end Agendath swoony
lovey showed me her next year in drawers return next in her next her next.
There was some speculation during the reading as to what Bloom might
have been writing in the sand with a stick he found on the beach.
"I", then "AM. A." (13.12.58). Incomplete sentences tempt
us to fill in. Fritz Senn wonders would Bloom be writing "I am a naughty
boy" (in memory of Martha's letter) or "I am alone", and points
out that "Ama" also happens to carry Latin overtones for love, which
would be appropriate, the idea of love being at the root of Nausicaa (not that
Bloom would be aware of it but we as readers may make the connection).
At any rate, Bloom would likely chalk up the encounter as a positive
one. There are no signs of disillusionment, disappointment or bitterness at the
visual encounter with Gerty (rather, he thinks, “Made me feel so young”
(13.1272)). Indeed, there has been some kind of understanding and language between
him and Gerty.
At the close of "Nausicaa", the narrative breaks up into three
parts or strands: Bloom – Gerty – priest’s house, accompanied by three strikes
of the clock with repetition of the three Cuckoos (with their references to
cuckoldry - Bloom's fate at the moment). The three "Cuckoos" are reminiscent of
the end of Shakespeare's
play Love's Labours Lost, which
are, "Cuckoo! / Cuckoo,
cuckoo!' O word of fear, / Unpleasing to a married ear".
After that, for just a few lines, we get back into the language of the
first part of the episode and its homey style. The chapter had started with
"The summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious
embrace" and maybe the Gerty-style closes the embrace (a little like a
bracket).
