This is a recording of our live show from the 2023 Bloomsday Festival at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin. We discuss the occult influences on Ulysses with special guest Conner Habib. Support us on Patreon to access episodes early, bonus content, and a video version of our podcast. Conner Habib: https://connerhabib.com/ Blooms & Barnacles Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Subscribe to Blooms & Barnacles: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube...
Aug 30, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 117
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming live show as part of the Joycenights Festival at the Joyce Tower and Museum. We will be welcoming special guests Vivien Igoe and Robert Nicholson to talk about their upcoming book, "Tales from the Tower." You can get your tickets here: https://joycetower.ie/events/blooms-barnacles-tales-from-the-tower-live-podcast/
Aug 23, 2023•1 min
Inspired by your beauty…effulgent. Topics in this episode include lemon soap, Ned Lambert, Wilson Ruttledge, Hedges Eyre Chatterton, waiting for your rich uncle to die, Dan Dawson and “Our Lovely Land,” Aristotle’s Rhetoric , epideictic speeches, encomia for Helen, what Dan Dawson’s speech has in common with classical rhetorical treatises, making fun of subpar art, masturbatory art, Dan Dawson’s true identity, biscuitfully, misidentifying the Sacred Heart, weathercocks, getting to know J.J. O’Mo...
Aug 16, 2023•44 min•Ep. 116
Dermot chats with Ulysses Seen artist Robert Berry about the joys of drawing Ulysses . To listen to the full episode and see a video version (very much recommended for this episode!), visit patreon.com/barnaclecast
Aug 09, 2023•7 min
Why is this Bloomsday different from all other Bloomsdays? Topics in this episode include orthography, Dermot’s recollections of working in graphic design, the saving grace of calligraphy, spellingbee conundrums, dayfathers, nightfathers, Old Monks, unions, an obituary surprise, Passover and how it shows up in Ulysses , Rudolph Bloom’s Haggadah, how Charlton Heston traumatized us as children, seders, the oddity of a Catholic seder, embroideration, Bloom’s youthful atheism, the wisdom to be found...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 115
We finally unlock the secrets of Ulysses ! Topics in this episode include Joseph Nannetti Sr. and Jr., the debts of Joe Hynes, Bloom’s passivity, the real Alexander Keyes, his struggle to advertise in print in Dublin, advertising in late Victorian Ireland, an innuendo of Home Rule and the Manx Parliament, heraldic imagery in Bloom’s ad, how our Dubliner friends have been double crossed by economics, the paralyzing economics of colonialism, the Vatican, St. Peter and the keys of heaven, the Urim ...
Jul 19, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 114
Kelly and Dermot discuss Joseph Strick's 1967 film adaptation of Ulysses . To hear the rest of the show, support us on Patreon: patreon.com/barnaclecast
Jul 17, 2023•13 min
All aboard for the heart of the Hibernian metropolis! Topics in this episode include HEADLINES, trams, Nelson’s Pillar, The GPO, the mythic kingdom of Aeolia, post boxes, Joyce’s portrayal of his uncle John “Red” Murray, excessive piety, reformed atheists, Ruttledge the ghost, Davy Stephens the king’s courier, the creeping threat of native advertising, William Brayden’s neck, lungs and the rhythm of breathing, Mario the Tenor, Martha, croziers, the rivalries of bishops, and who will save the cir...
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 113
Once maligned, later tentatively praised, James Joyce's only existing play, Exiles , may be his least popular work. Though it is rarely staged these days, Bloomsday in Melbourne's Steve Carey is up to the challenge. We talk why Exiles has been so maligned, why it's actually good, and how to go about staging a play that is famously unpopular. Come see us in person this Bloomsday! Get tickets to our live show (in person or online) here ! This episode was originally a Patreon bonus episode. For mor...
Jun 07, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 112
We're thrilled to announce our live show at the James Joyce Centre this Bloomsday. Follow this link for more info and for links to in-person and online tickets.
Jun 02, 2023•2 min
All men are mortal, and Socrates is a man. Therefore, all men are Socrates. Wait... In this episode, we discuss the art and technic of "Aeolus": rhetoric and "enthymemic." Topics include Stuart Gilbert and his schema, rhetoric as a classical art form, the Jesuits and rhetoric, the extremely comprehensive lists of rhetorical forms found in "Aeolus", how "Aeolus" is structured like a classical rhetorical treatise, just a smidge of Aristotle's Rhetoric , how the rhetorical examples found in "Aeolus...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 111
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind… We kick off our series on Ulysses ’ seventh episode, “Aeolus”! Topics in this episode include Book X of The Odyssey , Homeric parallels found in “Aeolus”, the headlines, the Evening Telegraph as it appears in Ulysses , Stromboli, brazen walls and floating isles, wind and air imagery, the history of the Freeman’s Journal , the Sham Squire, Sir John Gray, the downfall of the Freeman’s Journal , bathos, the degradation of language, and the oppression o...
May 10, 2023•53 min•Ep. 110
Break out the Tantalus glasses - we’re finally getting out of the Underworld! Topics in our final episode covering “Hades” include paying the ferryman, turning a suit, rats, Robert Emmet, the speech from the dock, toxic nostalgia, cremation, the Catholic Church’s position on cremation, quicklime, Zoroastrianism, the Parsi Tower of Silence, the unexpected consequences of a reduced vulture population, the gentleness of seadeath, leaving the Underworld, Mrs. Sinico and “A Painful Case”, Leopold Blo...
Apr 26, 2023•53 min•Ep. 109
Sometimes, Bloom is right to be wrong. Topics in this episode include Charles Stewart Parnell’s funeral and grave, Parnell as Agamemnon, Parnell as a Christ figure, graveyard iconography, Old Ireland’s Hearts and Hands, All Souls’ Day, euphemisms for death, Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” a stuffed owl, Milly’s funeral for a bird, white stones on Irish graves, Ireland’s devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the paintings of Zeuxis, grandfather’s graveyard gramophones, and...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 108
What’s up with that donkey in Glasnevin? Topics in this episode include seagulls in Ulysses , the Blooms’ old digs in Lombard St. West, The Joyce Project , Mesias the tailor, donkey lore, superstitions of death, a strange work of art, Lucia di Lammermoor, Ivy Day, the location of Bloom’s future grave, Altman the Saltman, Finglas, Joe Hynes, the crimes of Charley M’Coy, Bonnie Prince Charlie, more M’Intosh, kabbalah, numerology, hypostasis and umbilical cords. Support us on Patreon to access epis...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 107
Who is the man in the macintosh? Topics in this episode include trying to figure out the identity of Ulysses ’ most enigmatic figure, Penrose, HCE, Peter Falk, the details we can decipher from M’Intosh’s brief appearances in Ulysses , the infallibility of Bovril, Dusty Rhodes, why searching for Easter eggs can be unsatisfying, Theoclymenos, James Clarence Mangan, Wetherup, James Duffy, artist cameos, ghosts, the nadir of misery, and Carl Jung. Support us on Patreon to access episodes early, bonu...
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 106
Beware the Ides of June. Topics in this episode include the power of keys, John O’Connell the St. Peter of Dublin, “Silver Threads Among the Gold”, Daniel O’Connell the Hercule of Dublin, Daniel O’Connell’s cheatin’ heart, the Persephone of Dublin, Christian burial practices, blood libel, vampire imagery and antisemitism, Leopold Bloom’s version for everlasting life after death, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a hilarious Latin joke, Robinson Crusoe and Friday, the funeral practices of ants, and Jewish...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 105
Corpses rarely wear hats. Topics include the correspondent organ of Hades (the heart), the O’Connell Circle, Daniel O’Connell’s heart, Tom Kernan, hats, losing your identity in the underworld, freemasonery, whether or not Leopold Bloom is a mason, Mount Jerome and the Irish church, Bloom’s denial of an afterlife, humor in the face of death, ghosts in a modern epic, Corny Kelleher, John Henry Menton, a fateful game of bowls, Dublin’s Ajax, John O’Connell as Hades, John O’Connell as St. Peter, Mul...
Feb 15, 2023•48 min•Ep. 104
Is there really a church in Dublin full of deadly corpsegas? Topics discussed in this episode include Cardinal McCabe and his mausoleum, the fate of orphans and widows in 1904, “Three Women to Every Men,” Leopold Bloom’s irreverence in the face of mortality, Victoria and Albert, getting up a whip, John Henry Menton, Elpinor, Cerberus, Father Coffey, a thing with a knob on the end going into a bucket, Cock Robin, Mervyn Browne, St. Werburgh’s organ, corpsegas, aspergills and aspersoriums, and goi...
Feb 01, 2023•59 min•Ep. 103
Wanna grab a pint at the Brian Boroimhe? Or is it Boroihme? Boru? Topics discussed in this episode include the days when cattle roamed the North Circular Road, the Royal Canal, the identity of Dublin’s own Charon, locks, how realistic it would be for Bloom to walk to Mullingar (it’s not), the Brian Boroimhe House, Tom Kernan’s debts to Mr. Fogarty, white silence, the popularity of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem “Hiram Powers’ Greek Slave” , thunderous loins, M’Intosh foreshadowing, the Childs...
Jan 18, 2023•59 min•Ep. 102
Kelly and Dermot talk about James Joyce's "The Dead" as well as John Huston's 1987 film of the same name. This episode was originally released as a bonus episode on our Patreon. To view a video version of this episode, check it out on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PSeZPqX5xyk To support the show and get monthly bonus content, join our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/barnaclecast
Jan 11, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Kay ee double ell wy. I can’t this song out of my head. Topics in this episode include Dermot on quantum mechanics, the phenomenon of ebullition, galloping funeral carriages, the Gordon Bennett, top speeds of old race cars, 100+ year old music hall songs, the Mater hospital, Orion, Joe Cuffe, sassy Leopold Bloom, kindness to animals, the North Circular Road, Dunphy’s Corner, drinking to the health of a corpse, the elixir of life, incubism, why Hades is where the heart is, embalming practices, an...
Jan 04, 2023•55 min•Ep. 101
We are thrilled to welcome Martin Mooney, taphologist extraordinaire, as the guest on our 100th episode! Martin gives us a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Glasnevin Cemetery. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us at Patreon .
Dec 21, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 100
Rattle his bones over the stones! He ’s only a pauper whom nobody owns! Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of infant death and suicide. Topics in this episode include an O’Connell St. history quiz, how Dermot was radicalized as a ten-year-old, the demise of Nelson’s pillar, the floozie in the jacuzzi, Paddy’s adelite face (or was it adelaide?), John Barleycorn, the spiritual tragedy of a sudden death, last rites, extreme unction, Bloom’s lack of understanding about Catholic death...
Dec 07, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 99
How long can you hold a grudge? Topics in this episode include Mr. Power’s kept woman, hot 1904 gossip, rumpsteak, Reuben J. Dodd the Younger’s plunge into the Liffey, Bloom’s storytelling ability, pre-decimal currency, petty score settling, Elvery’s elephant, our favorite vegetarian restaurant in Dublin, Barabbas, chisellers, gombeens, usury, antisemitic stereotypes, whether Bloom is a self-loathing Jew, Benjamin Disraeli, the relationship of the real Reuben J. Dodd and John Joyce, the relation...
Nov 23, 2022•59 min•Ep. 98
Do you have the address of Henry Gibson? Kelly and Dermot welcome special guest Paul Ringo to Blooms & Barnacles . Topics include Joyce’s love of Henrik Ibsen, Paul’s love of Finnegans Wake via the stage, Joyce’s study of Norwegian, realism as seen in the works of Joyce and Ibsen, the artist as a conduit for the world’s filth, Joyce’s dream to Europeanize Ireland, the search for Henry Gibson, Joyce’s attempt to introduce Ibsen to Ireland, Joyce’s letter to Ibsen on his birthday, Joyce’s revi...
Nov 09, 2022•52 min•Ep. 97
The Worst Man in Dublin. Topics in this episode include begrudgery, so much Dublin geography, mourning customs, buildings found on Great Brunswick (Pearse) St., jarvies and the hazard, the Invincibles, the Antient Concert Rooms, Joyce’s music career, John McCormack and J.C. Doyle, Dermot’s history with the erstwhile Antient Concert Rooms’ building, St. Mark’s Church, Bloom’s strange alibi, Blazes Boylan, Books Upstairs, St. Mark’s church on Pearse St., a tale of graverobbery, Sir Philip Crampton...
Oct 26, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 96
What kind of person has a picnic party in a funeral carriage? Topics in this episode include a heartfelt thank you, cats that hate technology, the name Poldy, Eton suits, the Blooms’ middle class pretensions, Rudy’s conception, Raymond Terrace and the cease to do evil, Milly Bloom, crustcrumbs and picnic parties, Milly’s trip to Lough Owel, M’Coy, “Grace”, Joe Hynes, incubism, unpaid debts, the Grand Canal, cures for whooping cough, duchas.ie , Athos the dog, Rudolph Bloom’s suicide note, Argos ...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 95
I’ll tickle his catastrophe, believe you me! Topics include Ulysses tarot cards, incubism, the system of correspondences found in Ulysses , Martin Cunningham, Mr Power, Simon Dedalus, armstraps, caring for corpses, women’s role in caring for the dead, hats as identities, economic incubism, Bloom’s outsider status, Irish funeral customs, embalming, why Dignam’s widow doesn’t attend his funeral, keening, Rudy, 9 Newbridge Avenue, circulation and the heart, Dublin through a corpse-eye-view, funeral...
Sep 14, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 94
Shakespeare is in the eye of the beholder. Topics in this episode include the real-world inspiration for Paddy’s Dignam’s funeral, Matthew Kane, the funeral cortège to Glasnevin, attendees to Matthew Kane’s funeral, Martin Cunningham, Sisyphus, the short story “Grace,” the true story behind “Grace,” the Jesuits, Matthew Kane attending his own funeral, Matthew Kane’s appearance in “Ithaca,” Michael Hart, Tom Kernan, Matthew Kane’s appearance, Shakespeare in the eyes of his beholders, visiting Mat...
Aug 30, 2022•31 min•Ep. 93
