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Synopsis
by Gerry O'Flaherty
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| Barney
Kiernan's |
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It is
about five o'clock. The nameless narrator meets Joe Hynes and the
two go to Barney Kiernan's public house on Little Britain Street
to meet the Citizen. They find him sitting in the corner with a
sheaf of papers 'working for the cause'.
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| Cusack |
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Bloom,
who has an appointment with Martin Cunningham to settle Dignam's
insurance, comes in. He refuses a drink but accepts a cigar. The
talk turns to capital punishment and the Citizen, who is anti-Semitic,
speaks of revolutionaries and martyrs and he rants about foreigners
coming into the country. He spits when Bloom says that he is Irish.
Bloom
goes out to look for Martin Cunningham but Lenehan spreads the
word that Bloom had a bet on Throwaway and has gone to collect
his winnings. When Bloom returns and does not offer to buy drinks,
things become difficult. Cunningham gauges the situation and jostles
Bloom out to a waiting car. When Bloom asserts that Christ was
a Jew like him, the Citizen loses his temper and throws a biscuit
tin after the departing car but misses.
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| Throwaway |
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In
Homer, Odysseus/Bloom is held captive by the one-eyed giant Polyphemus/Citizen
but escapes, having blinded him with a burning stick/ Bloom's
cigar. Polyphemus/Citizen throws a rock/biscuit tin at the departing
ship but misses it.
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In his essay "The Passing of Barney Kiernan's"
Roger McHugh outlines the history of the bar
in which 'Cyclops's episode of Ulysses is set. It
was a bar frequented by barristers and a place where
many cases were settled. The bar was packed with memorabilia
and emphemera associated with history and crime. The
collection the hangman's letter's, which are read
out in the Cyclops episode, were likely objects to
adorn the bar.
The bar also has a piece of rope which was used to
bind the Sheares brothers, and this may have
something to do with them being mentioned in one of
the parodic interpolations. The list of items on display
is fairly exhaustive, all relating to history and
many to nationalist and republican figures - adding
a sense historical clostrophobia that prevails in
the chapter.
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The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo
Words and music by Fred Gilbert
This song was a great favourite of Joyce's, he sang it often himself. There is a passing reference to
it in a comic list of names from antiquity in the Cyclops episode of Ulysses.
Listen >>
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