The James Joyce Library

Ulysses Episode 15 - Circe Part 1

In which a nocturnal scene unfolds along a grimy city street alive with a motley crowd of characters—drunken navvies, singing women, tricksy children, and wandering watchmen—while the ambient glow of lamps and distant flashes mingle with whispered secrets and local banter. Amidst this stirring milieu, Bloom threads his way cautiously through mishaps and encounters, marking a delicate balance between comic misadventure and quiet introspection in the company of spectral memories and inscrutable acquaintances.

Ulysses Episode 14 - Oxen of the Sun Part 6

In which the gentle passage of time and the solemn dignity of family life mingle with the vivid bustle of Dublin streets, where memories cling like lilac fragrances amidst bursts of youthful clamour and nightly revelry. Here, amid solemnity and merriment, the varied choir of voices—from scholarly to streetwise—offer a rich tapestry of human longing, labour, and fleeting joy beneath a star-shimmered sky.

Ulysses Episode 14 - Oxen of the Sun Part 5

In which the gentle tides of memory and myth mingled with lively discourse, as friends and scholars gathered to muse on the mysteries of birth, fate, and the mercies of science amid the ordinary brightness of a spring day. The shadows of past lives and the hopes for the future flicker softly through their talk, while the quiet joys and trials of motherhood shine with a tender light, cradled beneath the ancient constellations.

Ulysses Episode 14 - Oxen of the Sun Part 4

In which a modest and dignified presence tempers a raucous gathering of wayward souls, while a newly born infant’s arrival stirs both earnest reflections and ribald conjectures about life’s mysteries and human folly. Amid discourse on birth and mortality, the past entwines with the present as a haunted confession unfolds, revealing the burdens borne by a restless conscience and the mutable spirit of a man lost in time’s mirror.

Ulysses Episode 14 - Oxen of the Sun Part 3

In which a lively gathering of men recounts the tale of a celebrated bull of Ireland, woven with humour and local colour, while one among them, Mr Mulligan, proposes a singular scheme to cultivate fertility on Lambay Island, blending earnest intent with whimsical camaraderie. The discourse flows with witty exchanges and tender reflections on human nature, interrupted only by the rhythms of rain and the summons of an awaiting visitor.