Ep. 91 - Bantams and Bathtubs

“Bantam” is an anagram of “Batman.” Coincidence?

The Lincoln Place baths, 1860’s

Topics include the state of Bantam Lyons’ hygiene, horseracing, Conway’s pub, cat wrangling, the Ascot Gold Cup, Throwaway, Bloom’s accidental racing tip, Dublin geography, Bloom’s disinterest in gambling, lotuses, the fleshpots of Egypt, Dermot’s dad’s betting tips, Orientalism, the Lincoln Place baths, sports as a lotus, Joyce’s love of cricket, Turkish hammams, the Victorians’ love of baths, the morality of baths, the precarity of the middle class, Bloom’s bath-sturbation, Bloom’s unholy communion, magical soap, the bath as a womb, and the bath as a vagina.

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Frank Budgen’s rendition of Bloom in the bath

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Further Reading:

1. Breathnach, T. (2004). For Health and Pleasure: The Turkish Bath in Victorian Ireland. Victorian Literature and Culture, 32(1), 159-175. Retrieved February 1, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25058658

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. Herring, P. (1974). Lotuseaters. In C. Hart & D. Hayman (eds.), James Joyce’s Ulysses: Critical essays (71-90). Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/yy2gpfhs 

4. Gifford, D., & Seidman, R. J. (1988). Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/vy6j4tk 

5. Gilbert, S. (1955). James Joyce’s Ulysses: a study. New York: Vintage Books.