ERIN, GREEN GEM OF THE SILVER SEA— The ghost walks, professor MacHugh murmured softly, biscuitfully to the dusty windowpane.
Mr. Dedalus, staring from the empty fireplace at Ned Lambert's quizzing face, asked of it sourly :
— Agonising Christ, wouldn't it give you a heartburn on your arse ?
Net Lambert, seated on the table, read on :
— Or again, note the meandering of some purling rill as it babbles on its way, fanned by gentlest zephyrs tho' quarelling with the stony obstacles, to the tumbling waters of Neptune's blue domain, mid mossy banks, played on by the glorious sunlight or 'neath the shadows cast o'er its pensive bosom by the overarching leafage of the giants of the forest. What about that, Simon? he asked over the fringe of his newspaper. How's that for high ?
— Changing his drink, Mr. Dedalus said.
Ned Lambert, laughing, struck the newspaper on his knees, repeating :
— The pensive bosom and the overarsing leafage. O boys ! O boys !
— And Xenophon looked upon Marathon, Mr. Dedalus said, looking again on the fireplace and to the window, and Marathon looked on the sea.
— That will do, professor MacHugh cried out from the window. I don't want to hear any more of the stuff.
On the surface, this excerpt is just making fun (with bad humour) of Gaelic and Greek art. In this section of the Ulysses, Leopold Bloom is in his workplace as a journalist, typing up newspaper articles while thinking about other things. His thoughts constitute the bulk of this section. Obviously, Bloom is very much distracted from work.
Unless I understand all the allusions here, I can't reach at the meaning of the text. "ERIN ... SEA" refers to Cuisle Mo Chroidhe by Curran. "Ghost walks..." is to Hamlet. "Xenophon... sea" is to Byron's The Isles of Greece.
In addition to the allusions, Joyce is also making fun of the English and Irish press of his time. That is why the section has "headings" in bold characters, followed by a brief "article." In this sense, the text at this moment is highly local, which means that I must also know something about 20th century Ireland in order to fully understand what Joyce is getting at.
Gosh, so much to learn just to decipher this particular excerpt! Maybe that is one of Joyce's messages — that everyday messages always presuppose a richer background context, and that that context cannot be deciphered unless I am prepared to devote a whole lot of time to study and learn seemingly trivial things. Again, a very realistic message, realistic to the point where it is almost impossible to live up to. Backs up the proverb: ignorance is bliss.
Unless I understand all the allusions here, I can't reach at the meaning of the text. "ERIN ... SEA" refers to Cuisle Mo Chroidhe by Curran. "Ghost walks..." is to Hamlet. "Xenophon... sea" is to Byron's The Isles of Greece.
In addition to the allusions, Joyce is also making fun of the English and Irish press of his time. That is why the section has "headings" in bold characters, followed by a brief "article." In this sense, the text at this moment is highly local, which means that I must also know something about 20th century Ireland in order to fully understand what Joyce is getting at.
Gosh, so much to learn just to decipher this particular excerpt! Maybe that is one of Joyce's messages — that everyday messages always presuppose a richer background context, and that that context cannot be deciphered unless I am prepared to devote a whole lot of time to study and learn seemingly trivial things. Again, a very realistic message, realistic to the point where it is almost impossible to live up to. Backs up the proverb: ignorance is bliss.
