Marginalia: Odysseys & Oddities - Old Men Talk, Cows Suffer

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This started as a Buddy Read of Ulysses with friends, and devolved into mania. Here are the notes and ramblings...

Ulysses: Episode 2

"History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake
chef's kiss. easily one of the more powerful lines so far. Broody McBroodington's vibe in this chapter seems more cerebral than broody, but still haunted.

🧠 Mr. Pompous Deasy = The Worst
What a condescending blowhard. His smugness is insufferable even before he starts ranting about the Jews, and then it’s just flat-out disgusting. There’s always someone, isn’t there? Joyce doesn’t seem to be endorsing it (thankfully), but he is holding up a mirror to this kind of everyday bigotry. It’s gross.

🔁 Echoes of Book 2 of The Odyssey
I think Stephen mirrors Telemachus here - both trying (and mostly failing) to be taken seriously. Tele can't catch a break from the elders (or the icky suitors) and Broody teaches disinterested kids and is patronized by Greasy Deasy. Same energy, different nightmares.

The Odyssey: Book 3
Welcome to Pylos! Would you care to witness a sacred cow-murder?

Not too many notes here. Everyone keeps insisting that Nestor and Menlaus are so honest. Are they, though? Feels a little too convenient, but perhaps I'm plot-jaded at this point. 

Nestor is giving "back in my day" vibes ----- Greasy Deasy, is that you? Poor Tele is just watching a ritual slaughter and getting a surprise bath... Weird journey, dude."

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