Notes on Chapter 9, "Scylla and Charybdis" HOMERIC PARALLEL Odysseus navigates between two dangerous obstacles, a whirlpool and a man-devouring monster on a rock. He must opt for sailing close by the monster and thus lose a few men in order to save the whole ship from being drowned in the whirlpool. In Ulysses" -- Whirlpool = Plato, mysticism The Rock = Aristotle, dogma Joyce set Ulysses equal to Socrates, jesus, and Shakespear, but he must also be equivalent to Bloom, who sails throught he chapter briefly, hunting for his ad, unscathed by the debaters. STYLE Highly variable. Initial style: supercilious, falsely urbane, tending to mock the shallowness of the people present (151) Recurrence of Joyce's "high style," now more mannered than ever (151) Arranger in various guises, and more intrusive now (162, 167, 171ff) THE ARGUMENT AE (George Russel): Art is a manifestation of the Idea, the Absolute Stephen: Art is the particular (e.g., william Blake. Cf. Blake vs. Reynolds) The two are figured here as Plato vs. Aristotle, the Ideal vs. the Real. 151 ------ AE's credo 152-153 -- Stephen's credo 154-155 -- Shakespeare's multiple selves the basis for the Hamlet ghost-story; Anne Hathaway is central this. 156-157 -- On the learning process of genius, and a defense of looking into Shakespeare's private life to understand his art. 165-167 -- Evidence that Shakespeare felt betrayed by Anne. 168 ------ Shakespeare's personal implication in his creations. 171-172 -- Suspicions about Shakespeare's brother Richard 174-175 -- Summation: Shakespeare is all-in-all in his work. --------------------------------- Implications for this book? Cf. metempsychosis