If he doesn’t break down.
A passage very close to my last blog has
been chosen: page 225, line 699.
If he doesn’t break down. Keep a trot for the avenue. His hands and feet sing too. Drink. Nerves overstrung. Must be abstemious to sing. Jenny Lind soup: stock, sage, raw eggs, half pint of cream. For creamy dreamy.
Stephen's father, Simon finally sings, encouraged by father Cowley, who plays the piano. English translation of "M' apparì" from the opera "Martha" (1847) by the German composer Friedrich von Flotow.
The song by Lionel, a farmer, who
cannot forget Harriet, a maid of honor to Queen Anne, who has been disguised as
a maidservant. She goes by the false name of Martha.
Mr Bloom has a secret correspondence with a
woman he has never met under the false name of Henry Flower. It is a
coincidence that her name is Martha. Martha is probably also an alias. I fancy
that his correspondent may not even be a woman.
“Keep a trot for the avenue” is a reference to Simon's singing. Mr. Bloom knows that Boylan, his
wife's lover, is on his way to the Blooms' house in a carriage, and there may
be an allusion to this.
The word “overstrung”
refers to the strings of a musical instrument. In correspondence with The
Odyssey, it reminds us of the strings of Odysseus' bow.
He thinks that “his hands and feet sing”,
but this is imaginary, as Simon is out of sight of Mr. Bloom due to his position.
Jenny Lind is Johanna Maria Lind (1820 - 1887), a Swedish opera singer.She was the singer who toured America with the showman P.T. Barnum in the musical film The Greatest Showman (2017).
She was one of the most famous singers of
the 19th century. Many things were named after her. The soup that she drank for
her throat was called Jenny Lind Soup.
From what I can gather, the recipe calls
for sago, not sage. Sago is a starch from the sago palm.
The fact that Mr. Bloom recalls the recipe
suggests that he once made the soup for his wife, the singer Molly. Mistaking
sago for sage. Is this Mr. Bloom's fault, or Joyce's fault, or a mistake in
editing the manuscript?
Boylan, Molly's lover, is a showman. There
are echoes of Lind and Barnum here.
"Eduard Magnus - Portrait of Singer Jenny Lind" by irinaraquel is licensed under CC BY 2.0
The method of this blog ⇒ Here
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