Ep. 66 - Potato I have.

This week, we’re talkin’ ‘bout ‘tatoes!

Kelly and Dermot unpack the deeper symbolism behind Leopold Bloom’s idiosyncratic hobby of carrying a potato upon his person. Topics include Tayto crisps, Stephen and Bloom’s parallel lost keys, Bloom’s potato as a protective object, why the potato may actually possess magic powers, the potato as Odysseus’ moly, the potato as a panacea, the potato as a remedy for rheumatism, spud guns, potatoes as a fertility symbol, the potato as a mezuzah, the blasphemy of the potato, potato snobbery, the age of margarine, the potato’s role in Irish history, and amor matris.

This week, we're talkin' 'bout 'tatoes! Kelly and Dermot unpack the deeper symbolism behind Leopold Bloom's idiosyncratic hobby of carrying a potato upon his person.

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On the Blog:

Mezuzah

Bloom’s Potato

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“…potatoes and marge, marge and potatoes.”

Media Mentioned in this Episode:

Atlas Obscura on therapeutic potatoes

The Irish History Podcast on the Great Famine

The Straight Dope on potatoes

Further Reading:

1. Chou, H. (2019). “Poor Mama’s Panacea” - The Potato in Ulysses. EurAmerica, 49 (1), 1-43. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/yaq452th

2. Ellmann, R. (1972). Ulysses on the Liffey. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.65767/page/n39

3. Kenner, H. (1987). Ulysses. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=Ajlz5rzPBOkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false

4. Majumdar, S. (2013). Prose of the world: Modernism and the banality of empire. Columbia University Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/ybp3yxh4

5. Merritt, R. (1990). Faith and Betrayal: The Potato in "Ulysses". James Joyce Quarterly, 28(1), 269–276. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/25485131

6. Roos, B. (2006). The Joyce of Eating in Ulysses: Feast, Famine and the Humble Potato. In Hungry Words: Image of Famine in the Irish Canon. Irish Academic Press. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/226072/The_Joyce_of_Eating_in_Ulysses_Feast_Famine_and_the_Humble_Potato

7. Ulin, J. (2011). "Famished Ghosts": Famine Memory in James Joyce's Ulysses. Joyce Studies Annual2011, 20-63.doi:10.1353/joy.2011.0015.