Ulysses: Episode 17: Ithaca: "For Real": 06/20/09
I am down to my last episode, having now finished "Ithaca." While I'm glad to have read the book, I am ready to be done.

Episode 17 "Ithaca" of Ulysses has Bloom brining Stephen home for a late night cup of tea. The entire seventy page episode is told as a catechism. It's basically one last info dump in question and answer format of useless details from Dublin and Bloom's life on June 16, 1904.

Frankly I don't care how many gallons of water the local reservoir can hold or what the exact longitude and latitude of Bloom's house is. I don't care for a blow by blow description of how Bloom or Stephen are feeling or how or where they are sitting.

The only thing I can really say about this section is that it's easy to read. The language is simplistic (compared to most of the book).

The Ithaca section of Ulysses reminds me of the season five episode of Teen Titans called "For Real." The Titans are traveling the world to prepare other super heroes for an upcoming threat. While they are gone, they send Titans East to protect their home. While it's not quite the same as finally returning home after a long war and dangerous trip home, there is still the combined themes of missing home and danger abroad.

Now I could have picked any number of episodes from season five to fit "Ithaca" but I think "For Real" is the best fit for Control Freak's fan boy attention to detail. He knows every stat for each of the Titans and when presented with a new set goes on to learn all of their stats and to build an ultimate test for each of them.

Next Saturday I'll post my thoughts on Episode Eighteen: Penelope and write my final review of the book. If you want to read along, Ulysses is available online at Read Print.

books | fiction | James Joyce | 1918

Comments (0)

Permalink