When "Ulysses" was first published, both readers and critics were baffled and the book was too easily dismissed as being merely an excuse for Joyce to revel in incoherence, chaos, obscurities and obscenity. Joyce, realising the difficulties that the book presents, began to provide exegeses for his friends, initially through his letters. In order to provide the French critic and novelist, Valery Larbaud, with hints for a lecture on "Ulysses" at Adrienne Monnier’s bookshop in Paris, Joyce provided a plan for the book obtained from documents that he had been quietly circulating to friends since the book’s publication. Of course, the very title of the book should have alerted the perceptive to Joyce’s plan, but it was not until the public dissemination of details of the plans/schemata Joyce had provided Carlo Linati and Stuart Gilbert (in 1920 and 1930 respectively) that the highly structured, encyclopaedic intent was properly revealed. Joyce wanted, in each chapter of "Ulysses", "not only to render the myth sub specie temporis nostri but also to allow each adventure (that is, every hour, every organ, every art being interconnected and inter-related in the somatic scheme of the whole) to condition and even create its own technique." Clearly, Joyce had a passion for literary form!

Subsequently, others have conjectured different plans/schemata to include elements that Joyce either left out for our own discernment or wished to remain concealed (how, for example, could Joyce have omitted elements relating to sexuality and politics when his own predilections and his encyclopaedic notions seem to demand their inclusion!!). So, Richard Ellmann (in his book "Ulysses on the Liffey") takes Joyce’s well-established use of Giordano Bruno’s and Giambattista Vico’s philosophies to provide his own "intellectual" framework for the book. Guy Davenport (in an essay entitled "Joyce’s Forest of Symbols") takes Joyce’s reading of Roderic O’Flaherty’s book "Ogygia" to find in each chapter correspondences to each of the 18 letters of the Irish alphabet, one of such antiquity that these letters are names of trees with magical properties. Bernard Moxham (unpublished research), taking Joyce’s assertion that Dublin is in a state of paralysis, modifies the correspondences for the organs of the body to those of pathology, where the diseases are not life threatening but diminish the quality of life. In addition, he has conjectured correspondences to cover the temper of male and female characters within each chapter, linking this with elements relating to politics and sexuality. Correspondences have also been discerned for the Gods from Greek mythology.

In recent times, the use of the schemata to provide an understanding of the form/symbols of "Ulysses" has been attacked from various sources. For those who abhor the "scientific" aspects of Joyce’s mind, and who wish to project their own views on contemporary literature and critical theory, the plans are anathema. On the other hand, there are those who, wishing to "return the book to the people", emphasise the "realist" aspects of the book and regard the schemata as irrelevant to the act of reading and as being unnecessarily obscurantist! And yet, Joyce called the book "Ulysses" and not "Bloomsday" (which would have best fitted the anti-elitist tendency) and rejoiced in details and obscure sciences and encyclopaedic listings. Further, Joyce cannot be regarded as a proto-deconstructionist or a post-modernist (his crystal-ball-gazing ability was very poorly developed!!) and, in whatever way the book was conceived and written, Joyce was modifying and embellishing his text to draw out the correspondences right up to the time of publication. Indeed, when all the intellectual (and anti-intellectual) noises abate, it is only really through the plans/schemata that Joyce himself provides us with an exegesis.

 

 

 

 

 

TABLES OF CORRESPONDENCES TAKEN FROM:

 

 

 

 
  = LINATI
  = GILBERT (GORMAN)
  = ELLMANN
  = MOXHAM
  = DAVENPORT

 

 

 

ã Richard Ellmann, 1972

ã Bernard Moxham, 1998

ã Guy Davenport, "Joyce’s Forest of Symbols", 1973

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter

Time

Colour

Homeric Reference

Science / Art

Sense / Meaning

1

8-9am

gold / white

TELEMACHUS

Theology

The dispossessed son

2

9-10am

brown

NESTOR

History

Wisdom of the Ancients

3

10-11am

blue

PROTEUS

Philology

Primal matter

4

8-9am

orange

CALYPSO

Mythology

Departing Wayfarer

5

9-10am

dark brown

LOTUS EATERS

Chemistry

Temptation of Faith

6

11-12pm

black-white

HADES

Occult

Descent into Nothingness

7

12-1pm

red

AEOLUS

Rhetoric

Derision of Victory

8

1-2pm

blood red

LESTRYGONIANS

Architecture

Dejection / Despondency

9

2-3pm

none

SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS

Literature

The 2-edged sword/dilemma

10

3-4pm

rainbow

WANDERING ROCKS

Mechanics

The hostile environment

11

4-5pm

coral

SIRENS

Music

Sweet deceit

12

5-6pm

green

CYCLOPS

Surgery & Politics

Egocidal Terror

13

8-9pm

grey

NAUSICAA

Painting

The projected mirage

14

10-11pm

white

OXEN OF THE SUN

Medicine

The eternal herds

15

11-12am

violet

CIRCE

Dance

Man-hating Ogress

16

12-1am

none

EUMAEUS

Navigation

Ambush at Home

17

1-2am

starry milky

ITHACA

Astronomy

The armed Hope

18

2-

starry milky

PENELOPE

Geology

The Past sleeps

 

 

 

 

Chapter

Organ (Disease)

Symbol (mainly Linati)

Scene / Terrain

Symbol (Gilbert, Williams)

1

- (Neither flesh nor blood)

Intellectual conflict

The Tower Rocky shore

cow, gold teeth, sea

2

- (Cachexia)

Common sense

The School School floor

horse

3

- (Comatose)

Metamorphosis

The Strand Sandy shore

tide - flotsam

4

Kidneys (Renal colic)

Exile

The House Kitchen floor

nymph

5

Genitals (Impotence)

Eroticism

The Bath Bathroom floor

wax, communion

6

Heart (Angina)

Heartbreak / the unconscious

The Graveyard Cemetery

grave

7

Lungs (Emphysema)

Mutability

The Newsroom Factory floor

editor

8

Oesophagus (Dysphagia)

Shame

The Lunch Dining r. floor

police

9

Brain (Epilepsy)

Youth & Maturity

The Library Library floor

cerebrum, gambling

10

Blood (Anaemia)

Resemblances

The Streets Streets

citizens

11

Ear (Tinnitus)

Sounds / embell-ishments

Concert room Pub lounge

barmaids

12

Muscle (Muscular atrophy)

Exaggeration / collectivity

The Tavern Pub saloon

Fenian

13

Eye (Astigmatism)

Hypocisy

The Rocks Sandy shore 2

virgin

14

Uterus (Infertility)

Fecundity

The Hospital Hospital floor

porcelain, babies, vulva

15

Joints (Arthritis)

Personification

The Brothel Brothel

whore

16

Nerves (Insomnia)

Boredom

The Shelter Street at night

sailors

17

Juices (Oedema)

Scruples

The House Back yard

comets

18

Fat-Flesh (Dysmenorrhea)

Web - movement

The Bed Bedroom floor

earth

 

 

 

 

Chapter

Technique

Keyword

Viconian Age

1

Narrative (young)

Transubstantiation

Theocratic

2

Catechism (personal)

Parallax

Aristocratic (rich boys)

3

Monologue (male)

Descent

Democratic

4

Narrative (mature)

Metemppsychosis

Theocratic

5

Narcissism, Prayer

Immersion

Aristocratic (rich women)

6

Incubism

Ascent

Democratic

7

Enthymemic oratory

Inflation

Theocratic

8

Peristaltic prose

Juxtaposition

Aristocratic (Nobility)

9

Dialectic, whirlpools

Weaving

Democratic (bourgeois)

10

Labyrinth

Displacement

Theocratic

11

Fuga per Canonem

Synaesthesia

Aristocratic (pretentions)

12

Gigantism, asymmetry

One-sidedness

Democratic

13

(De)Tumescence

Concurrence

Theocratic (adoration)

14

Prose, embryo. development

Similitude

Aristocratic (Kings & Popes)

15

Hallucination

Doublecross

Democratic(melange)

16

Narrative (old)

Analogy

Theocratic (religious discussion)

17

Catechism (impersonal)

Muliebrity

Aristocratic (upper middle class)

18

Monologue (female)

Transubstantiation 2

Democratic (Everywoman)

 

 

 

 

Chapter

Language

Time/Space

Wisdom

Sexuality

Female as:

1

Irish

Space

Oracular

(Delphic)

Homosex-uality

Servant Supplicant

2

Symbolic poetry

Time

Devious

Paedophilia

Mother

3

Vernacular(wave speech)

Space-Time

Sympathetic

Sexual fantasy

Muse

4

Hebrew

Space

Oracular (Solar/Nubilous)

Incest

Nymph

5

Italian (symbolic opera)

Time

Devious

Voyeurism

Temptress

6

Vernacular (Irish anecdotes)

Time-Space

Sympathetic

Necrophilia

Widow

7

Greek (sacred)

Space

Oracular (Tables of the Law)

Adultery

Gossip

8

Symbolic poetry II

Time

Devious

Oral sex

Lover

9

All levels

Space-Time

Art loves Nature

Anal sex

Madonna

10

Latin (sacred)

Space

Oracular (hidden clues)

Promiscuity

Social depend.

11

Symbolic (operatic)

Time

Devious

Flirtation

Flirt

12

Vernacular

Time-Space

Sympathetic (Love)

Bestiality

Adulteress

13

Latin (sacred) II

Space

Oracular (Virg-inal & Priestly)

Onanism

Romantic

14

Symbolic (word and word)

Time

Devious

Mating, physiological sex

Child-bearer

15

Demotic (scatological)

Beyond Space/Time

Sympathetic (Purgatorial)

Prostitution,S & M

Prostitute

16

Latin (sacred) III

Space

Oracular

(Prophetic)

Celibacy

Wife

17

Symbolic (geometry)

Time

Devious

Troilism

Mistress

18

Vernacular (natural speech)

Eternity

Sympathetic

(Acceptant)

Coprophilia

Mother Earth

 

 

 

Politics

Male as:

Deity

Botany

Irish

Empire, colonialism

Son (dispossessed)

Athene

Birch

Beth

Protestant, racism

Aggressor

Zeus

Rowan

Luis

Empiricism Individual.

Intellectual (vulnerable)

Proteus

Ash

Nion

Humanism

Everyman Father

Calypso

Alder

Fearn

Idealism

Flirt Eroticist

Aphrodite

Willow

Saille

Nihilism

Gossip

Hades

Hawthorn

Uath

Triumphilism

Working-man

Aeolus

Oak

Duir

Animal rights

Destroyer of Nature

Demeter

Holly

Tinne

Elitism

Intellectual (aggressive)

Apollo

Hazel

Coll

Environment-alism

Dispossessed wanderer

Hera

Grape-vine

Muin

Anti-feminism

Adulterer

Ino Leukothee

Ivy

Gort

Terrorism

Bigot

Poseidon

Dwarf elder

Peith

Sexual politics

Seducer

Hephaestus

Elder

Ruis

Moral politics

Misogynist

Artemis

Fir

Ailm

Corruption

Pervert

Hermes

Furze

Onn

Irish Nationalism

Bore

Erinyes

Heather

Ura

Religious politics

Rationalist

Hestia

Poplar

Eadha

Past, Present sleep

Servant Supplicant

Eos

Yew

Idho