“Smart girls writing something”

It’s lunchtime in the “Lestrygonians” episode, whose narrative technique is peristalsis. Thus five men advertising a Dublin printer and stationer circulate through the streets. How can I not post a passage about stationery supplies and a Bloom scheme to sell them?

James Joyce, Ulysses (1922).

A few glosses:

~ Bloom was once employed as a traveling salesman for Charles Wisdom Hely, (1856–1929), Dublin printer and stationer.

~ The letters on the hats remind Bloom of something he noticed when he stopped into a church earlier in the day: IHS, the letters on the back of the priest’s vestments. Bloom thinks they mean “I have suffered.” Not so. In two other appearances, the final hat has an apostrophe: ’S.

~ Skilly: skilligalee, a thin broth or porridge.

~ Boyl: Blazes Boylan, businessman of many endeavors and the sometime manager of Molly Bloom’s singing career. In the Odyssey scheme of things, he is “the suitors” to Molly’s Penelope. Bloom’s dread of what will happen/has happened during Boylan’s afternoon visit to Molly runs through the hours of the day.

~ M’Glade: not mentioned elsewhere in the novel.

~ Bloom’s penchant for unusual ideas is well on display in this passage. His idea of a transparent showcart is far more inventive and amusing than the placing of an ad for Plumtree’s Potted Meat under the obituaries.

Related reading
All OCA Joyce posts (Pinboard)