Reading Ulysses for Fun: Circe Part 2

[@gillianleather5147]

I couldn’t have made it this far without you or the leader of our group. Thank you for helping me find meaning and beauty and hell and humour in this monster of a novel

[@apostatepaul]

I didn’t find this one too hard having studied and read psychedelic stuff and psychoanalytic material. An amazing chapter. Thank you for your brilliant commentary. 👌

[@mesutcicek448]

Instead of guilts, I read the hallucinations as more like Bloom and Stephen’s fears and desires. Facing what he fears and desires makes Bloom bloom. This hellish atmosphere is purely their fantasies as well. And Thank you so much for helping me to understand the chapters and continue.

[@glenernstrom9256]

Made it! Thanks to your videos, Chris, and reading along while listening to the RTE radio re-enactment. What a production! The radio version adds even more creepiness with their sound effects, especially of the inanimate objects "speaking". I was thinking, would it ever be possible to actually recreate this chapter in a movie. I know there is a 1967 movie, but I haven't seen it. I just can't see how these psychological flashes, discontinuities, costume changes, voices, flashbacks, could ever be fully captured on film. Kind of ironic I guess since Joyce wrote it as a play.

[@ameliagilbert9170]

Thank you! I’m studying this for my Masters and have found it so helpful

[@TeachUBusiness]

Thank you so much for your comment! It helps others be encouraged. Please let me know how you progress!

[@andreamorales3924]

Hi! Not only did I survive Circe, but I have enjoyed it a lot. Somtehing happens to me since I started reading this book. It doesn't let go of me. I don't know wheter it is something good or bad! During night time I re think about what I've read and many ideas come up!! No wonder this episode takes place late at night because it is at that time that our ghosts, guilts and odd ideas awake and torture us somehow. Thanks a lot for your help!!!!

[@TeachUBusiness]

Your comments on this episode are brilliant! This is a tough one and if you have captured the feeling of it, you are a great reader. Your comments are encouraging others to push ahead and finish the book. And, you are RIGHT! It does get a hold on us.

[@edliradibrani8629]

As I am now finishing my MA thesis specifically on the character of Bloom, this chapter was by far the most difficult one to wrap my head around it. I reread it many times but your explanations gave a much clearer understanding to me and into understanding Bloom so much more. Thank you so much. You are an inspiration and I enjoyed watching and listening to all your videos :)

[@mariajackson1484]

Hi, just want to say I am really enjoying your interpretation and guidance through these episodes. I live in Dublin and volunteer at the Joyce Tower museum in Sandy cove. You should try and visit sometime, Slante

[@EquuLHD]

Hello Chris, and first of all thanks for the time and effort you've put into the videos thus far. You've not only improved my compression of what's going on in some of the more dense passages but also contributed hugely to my enjoyment of the text. Macroscopically the book so far has been a complete rollercoaster of themes and emotions with nice parallels to Homers work (which I plan on reading and was wondering if you had an opinion on this, is it fun, is it worthwhile) and its really outgrown my expectations as time went on through the episodes. As an Irish native its also fascinating to get Joyces perception of all things Dublin in and around the culmination of Irish Republicanism and soon to be freedom. The evolution of transmigration of the human mind is absolutely fascinating and I look forward to the rest of the book. Again great work. Go raibh maith agat. Slainte.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Greetings! I appreciate your comments and insight. I would recommend reading the Odyssey as it will show you how brilliantly Joyce runs parallel to each episode. The book is a ride. Each episode is so different and vivid. Circe is about the creepiest thing I have ever read. Ithaca is among the most beautiful. I appreciate that you are not too hard on Joyce for his views. If he could see Ireland today, I think he would be very proud. Slainte to you, my friend.

[@Gigi-ml8bh]

Reading this chapter was actually a most pleasant experience for me. Making my way through Ulysses while always reflecting on each chapter with the help of your commentary has maybe led to acquainting me more profoundly with Joyce's intention. The first chapters were especially difficult to me as I first had to sort of enter Joyce's Dublin, his symbolism and always altering therefore unique styles. By now we know not to read Ulysses as any other novel but have learned to treat and read each chapter with respect for its uniqueness. Circe is by far my favourite chapter so far. Thank you Chris! Btw have you any plans for uploading more videos? I would like to see more from you. Greetings from Germany.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

I agree. I don’t find it particularly difficult because it kinda sweeps you off your feet and gains momentum that infatuates you. It was hard to approach the work at first because, as you mention, Joyce’s symbolism is a quirk that takes getting used to, but once you do, it’s smooth sailing (relatively speaking).

[@theresabruno2452]

Chris I did it! Finished it. And it was such a good chapter. I listened to the audio book at the same time. Its one of my favourite chapters and I didnt think it would be. I finished it a few days ago and wish I'd commented sooner but i now love his lists. I love how his ego was elevated into higher and higher realms. I also love how the chapter explores those root emotions that shape the ego. There were so many other things that I loved. I think when I go back to study chapters this might be one of the first

[@TeachUBusiness]

Congratulations!!! You are amazing. Great job. You make my heart sing with you enthusiasm. I am trying to catch up work so I can make more videos. You give me encouragement. Thank you!

[@wasfuerkeksigkeit]

Yes I find listening to the RTE audio production while reading the book incredibly helpful

[@rahilsamiee7165]

Thanks for clarifying everything. you made the journey a lot easier for me.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Thank you! Any closing thoughts on your journey?

[@jellycaster]

Thanks for doing these Chris. They have been very helpful for a first time reader!

[@wasfuerkeksigkeit]

Zoe is relatively kind to Bloom and perhaps not coincidentally she has the same name as Bloom’s grandmother. Her surname is Higgins and the alternative name for Zoe during the chapter is Fanny. Fanny Higgins was Bloom’s grandmother.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Good catch!

[@glenernstrom9256]

Great find. So many names to track.

[@neilarmstrong5]

Hi Chris, I really want to thank you for your excellent videos. They are so helpful and entertaining.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Thank you so much! I feel a need to make new videos but my upload speed is horrible! Thanks so much.

[@ariadnasetentaytres2686]

Loved this video. Thanks!

[@Tolstoy111]

I think writing this section in dramatic form made it easier to read than a prose rendering would have. Imagine all those “voices” without character names delimiting them. Also, is this section Joyce’s tip of the hat to the Walpurgis Night section of Faust?

[@kurthansen6386]

Wow ....... this was a really hard chapter to get through. Very delirious, very strange, very scary and some times very funny if you like the grotesque way. Thank you Chris for your encouraging comments, and for keeping me on track. Without you, I would never have made it through, and I'm glad it worked out.

[@TeachUBusiness]

I used to dread this episode but now I see it as a great take on the human psyche. You must be quite proud to survive the journey. The next episode is a huge relief! Take care, Kurt. Chris

[@maybhle2317]

I'm writing my dissertation on exactly this episode. I'm trying to establish a sense of 'aura' and 'auratic pulses' not only specifically in this episode but across Ulysses. My question is if you were able to deduce some sense of aura from this episode and how you might describe it? Loved the two videos on Circe, incredibly helpful and it feels very good to listen to someone besides my professors and lecturers, the way you present your knowledge is captivating so thank you again for this content.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Greetings! Thank you for your very kind comments. I would enjoy engaging with you on your topic of aura regarding the chapter and book. The word "aura" can be somewhat ethereal in its meaning. Could you clarify what you mean by aura? If you mean a sense of feeling about what the chapter evokes, then yes, there is an aura to each chapter. Joyce gives us a book that lives on many levels. Circe plays with the mystical, sexual, psychological, and mythical parts of us all. This chapter is one of the most challenging. The feeling of descending into a very dark, ugly place is very intense, at least it is for me. As we get closer to Bella Cohen's place (palace?) it gets uglier and uglier. The men do become pigs. It is a brilliant portrayal of the darkest corner of the human psyche. If by aura, you mean a "glow" that reaches us viscerally, then yes, each chapter (episode) has its own aura that could be characterized in a word. Nausicaa is one that deeply hit me the first time I read it. It's rather creepy and perverse. Then, when Gerty walks away, ugh, sickening. The aura of the Madonna evaporates.

[@glenernstrom9256]

A personal related story: in my college lit class we read The Odyssey and Ulysses. That was the whole class. The two profs wanted to do an "active learning" exercise on Homer's Circe by telling the whole class to go out into a big room, get down on the ground, and pretend to wallow on the ground like pigs in the Circe episode. One prof stopped by me begrudgingly doing this and asked what I was feeling. I said, "Humiliated." And he got upset! He wondered why I didn't feel "humbled". For some reason, the prof didn't like the connotation of "humiliated", and to this day, especially after re-reading Joyce's Circe (and having a much better appreciation of it), I don't why he was bothered by my comment. Bloom is completely humiliated, no? Belittled, embarrassed, degraded. I suppose there is a transition to being humbled and then rising above.

[@TeachUBusiness]

You perfectly nailed it Glen. I try to avoid being academic because the book is so dense with ideas that we cannot presume anything! Your word is perfect in my opinion. I love the last line of your comment. And then rising above.....great insight!

[@bryanbraker8135]

I would be more lost than I am without you. 14&15 have been rough. 14 started to sink in a little, but 15 feels like a car crash. Keep up the good work though. You’re like the airbag for the car crash. 😂

[@TeachUBusiness]

Congratulations! I just saw your comment. Best wishes and thank you so much.

[@mesutcicek448]

14 is by far the hardest one. I suffered to understand it while reading but I’ve just finished 15 and I had so much fun reading it

[@kleinster99]

Just wrapped up the episode. Whew it was a long one! One of my favorites so far. Is it my imagination or was there a scene when they hold Bloom down and engage in an act of sexual coprophilia on him?

[@TeachUBusiness]

This episode is indeed a very dark look at nightmares and where they originate. We see all of Bloom's inner fears and guilts manifest in this dark, dirty, creepy, bottom of the sludge pond episode. If you survived Circe, you've made it!

[@kleinster99]

Chris Reich knowing it’s almost over is a sad feeling.

[@robertjordan355]

@@kleinster99 I seem to remember the coprophilia section as not literally 'happening' in the scene - as Chris explains - but appearing to us as one of the many mental manifestations of Bloom's own guilt. He has probably fantasised about coprophilia in the past, although likely did not actually engage in it, and his guilt is manifesting that fantasy as a real event that either happened in the past and thus exists as memory or is happening in the present (can't remember which). I could be very wrong, that's just the assumption I got from my first reading of the text.

[@VolatileChemical]

kleinster99, it wasn't your imagination but it was Bloom's imagination

[@herrklamm1454]

Just finished this chapter and feel like Satan just let me out of Hell.

[@TeachUBusiness]

It's a real shaker. Stephen King is a total Disney writer compared to Joyce and his Circe episode. Can you imagine if Joyce had written horror novels? I'd love to see a screenplay of Circe. Ugly, creepy, and dark.

[@herrklamm1454]

Chris Reich totally agree! Maybe David Lynch could pull it off. Just turned Bloomsday here in Scotland!

[@MeistroJB]

Joyce's English is in some ways more inventive and masterful then a.n.y. other Bard. W.S., J. Chaucer, Nabokov... got nothing on our guy. And C. Reich flipped the light on this for just about anyone that'll listen to these talks! We can't thank you enough.

[@victoriaehmann8415]

You don't need to be particularly embarrassed about Circe - the whole bloomin' thing has been pretty weird.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Victoria Ehmann And beautiful, right? The real glory of Circe comes in that final glimpse of Rudy. There is a beautiful moment of resolution. Thank you so much for commenting.