“—Do you think it is only a paradox? the quaker librarian was asking. The mocker is never taken seriously when he is most serious.”

Topics in this episode include Oscar Wilde’s “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.,” Shakespeare’s sonnets, the identity of the Fair Youth, the dedication on the folio of Shakespeare’s sonnets, the identity of Mr. W.H., Willie Hughes, homoeroticism in Sonnet 20, camp, the meaning of “ephebe,” Wilde’s connection of same-sex relationships in ancient Greece and the work of Shakespeare, gay coding in “Scylla and Charybdis,” the chilling effect of Oscar Wilde’s trial, Oscar Wilde as a model for Buck Mulligan, Lyster and Eglinton as foils for Mulligan, homophobia in “Scylla and Charybdis,” and Joyce’s thoughts on Oscar Wilde and homosexuality.

An Intimate Portrait of Mr. W. H.

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We interview author Eric Wagner about his new book, Straight Outta Dublin: James Joyce and Robert Anton Wilson

To listen to the full interview, visit patreon.com/barnaclecast

You will serve that which you laugh at.

Topics in this episode include how to pronounce “Szombathely,” Buck Mulligan’s incredible entrance into “Scylla and Charybdis,” Nicolas Cage, the heresies of Photius and Sebellius, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, why the other men must be relieved to see Buck Mulligan, whether we agree with Joyce’s claim that Mulligan wears on the reader throughout the course of Ulysses, Buck Mulligan playing the role of a Shakespearean fool in Ulysses, Will Kempe, why Mulligan’s tomfoolery must be directed at Stephen, why Mulligan’s clowning is ultimately hollow, Buck Mulligan as God’s messenger, why Stephen doesn’t accomplish anything on Bloomsday, Mulligan’s shifting identity, and joking for joking’s sake.

Puck Mulligan: A Joycean-Shakespearean Fool

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Bitches love sonnets.

Topics in this episode include putting Beurla on it, basilisks and 13th century bestiaries, Pericles and purported Shakespeare apocrypha, the Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship, Bacon ciphers, George Brandes, Sidney, Frank Harris, the power of a granddaughter’s love, Hans Walter Gabler and the most controversial line in Ulysses, Thomas Aquinas, George Bernard Shaw’s take on Shakespeare, we finally get to the sonnets, Mary Fitton, William Herbet, Shakespeare’s trauma, consubstantiality, and one of the best entrances in all of literature.

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We discuss Djuna Barnes' novel Nightwood

Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast

I, for one, think geese really do have souls.

Topics in this episode include librarian Thomas Lyster and his Quaker faith, why Lyster always seems to be dancing in “Scylla and Charybdis,” the journal of Quaker founder George Fox, what James Joyce knew about the Quakerism, Christfox, leather trews, confusing Shakespeare and George Fox in the context of “Scylla and Charybdis,” whether or not women have souls, George Fox traveling about debating people about religion, Stephen’s jealousy of spiritual leaders who attract women, Anne Hathaway at the end of her life, the real Thomas Lyster, how the real Lyster compares to the Ulysses version, what “baldpink lollard costard” means, and the extremely petty reason Joyce wrote Lyster the way he did.

Decoding Dedalus: Christfox in Leather Trews

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We finally learn the weirdest thing that Joyce and Gogarty got up to.

Topics in this episode include Giacomo Joyce and dirty love letters, the pain of not being invited, Æ’s New Songs and Joyce’s exclusion from it, why Æ Russell hasn’t released any new songs this year, Aristotle’s experiment, the meaning of nookshotten, Shakespeare plays as political propaganda, so much theosophy, the true yogibogeybox, a pawned Pali book, the time Gogarty and Joyce vandalized the chambers of the Hermetic Society, Æ the chick magnet, Joyce’s incel era, Louis H. Victory, T. Caulfield Irwin, elitism in theosophy, and Æ the gulfer of souls.

Decoding Dedalus: Yogibogeybox in Dawson chambers.

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We discuss the James Joyce short story, Giacomo Joyce.

To listen to the full episode, or see a video version, check out patreon.com/barnaclecast

No, not that Anne Hathaway. The Shakespearean one.

Topics in this episode include Socratididion’s Epipsychidion, unparalleled pettiness, Stephen’s unfair characterization of Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway, why commentary about Anne Hathaway has been so problematic historically, Anne as a Gertrude stand-in, how we can learn factual information about the Shakespeares’ lives, sixteenth century age gap discourse, Anne and Will’s marriage prospects, “Venus and Adonis,” marriage and weddings in Elizabethan England, how Anne Hathaway became a symbol of Victorian propaganda, Shakespeare and the “Scylla and Charybdis” schema, and why Ulysses is a terrible place to go to learn about Shakespeare’s life.

A Shakespearean Ghost Story Part 2: Anne Hath a Way

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Stephen Dedalus beats debt with this one simple trick!

Topics incluce: “Scylla and Charybdis’” dialectic as metacommentary on Ulysses as a whole, the perils of offending the gods of the sea, Stephen takes offense to Æ, Stephen’s many debts, the artistic value of green room gossip, contrasting Æ and Mr. Deasy, Stephen as the ship of Theseus, Aristotelian logic destroying Stephen’s sill loophole, Fr. Conmee, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, form of forms, entelechy, and many, many tangents.

Decoding Dedalus: Entelechy, Form of Forms

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