Ep. 164 - Puck Mulligan

Scylla and CharybdisPodcastStephen Dedalus
Written By Kelly Bryan

You will serve that which you laugh at.

Will Kempe

Topics in this episode include how to pronounce “Szombathely,” Buck Mulligan’s incredible entrance into “Scylla and Charybdis,” Nicolas Cage, the heresies of Photius and Sebellius, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, why the other men must be relieved to see Buck Mulligan, whether we agree with Joyce’s claim that Mulligan wears on the reader throughout the course of Ulysses, Buck Mulligan playing the role of a Shakespearean fool in Ulysses, Will Kempe, why Mulligan’s tomfoolery must be directed at Stephen, why Mulligan’s clowning is ultimately hollow, Buck Mulligan as God’s messenger, why Stephen doesn’t accomplish anything on Bloomsday, Mulligan’s shifting identity, and joking for joking’s sake.

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On the Blog:

Puck Mulligan: A Joycean-Shakespearean Fool

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Further Reading:

  1. Bell, R. H. (1991). Jocoserious Joyce : the fate of folly in Ulysses.  Ithaca : Cornell University Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/jocoseriousjoyce00bell/page/230/mode/2up

  2. Budgen, F. (1972). James Joyce and the making of Ulysses, and other writings. London: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AMF2PZFZHI2WND8U 

  3. Chircop, K. (2015). Joyce and Pirandello’s ‘Foolosopher’kings and mocking gargoyles: Buck Mulligan and Enrico IV. Retrieved from https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/123456789/8517/1/Joyce%20and%20Pirandello%E2%80%99s.pdf 

  4. Kellogg, R. (1974). Scylla and Charybdis. In C. Hart & D. Hayman (eds.), James Joyce’s Ulysses: Critical essays (147-179). Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/wu2y7mg

  5. Schwarz, D. (2004). Reading Joyce’s Ulysses. Palgrave Macmillan. 

  6. Tanyol, D. (2003). Mummery, Murmuring Memory, Mum: Buck Mulligan as Resurrector in “Ulysses.” James Joyce Quarterly, 41(1/2), 111–126. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25478031 

  7. Turner, J., & Mamigonian, M. (2004). Solar Patriot: Oliver St. John Gogarty in "Ulysses". James Joyce Quarterly,41(4), 633-652. Retrieved fromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/25478099

Kelly Bryan
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Ep. 163 - The Spirit of Reconciliation