Blooms & Barnacles

…Gravy?

Topics in this episode include the grande finale of Stephen’s Hamlet theory, he finally proves by algebra that Shakespeare is the ghost of his own father, dio boia, James Joyce’s reaction to Karl Bleibtreu’s Shakespeare conspiracy theories, Dana, Fred Ryan, the poetry and theatrical stylings of Buck Mulligan, Oliver St. John Gogarty’s play Blight, and the origin story of Medical Dick and Medical Davy.

Poetry in Ulysses: Medical Dick and Medical Davy

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We complete our three-part series on Laurence Olivier's Shakespeare adaptations with a discussion of his 1944 version of Henry V.

Listen to the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast 

Agenbite of Lapwing.

Topics in this episode include Shakespeare’s coat of arms, the significance of Cassiopeia to Stephen’s Shakespeare theory, the auspicious stars heralding the births of Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, and Rudy Bloom, Stephen’s Hamlet dialectic fully unravels, the real Dedalus of myth, the charge of adultery against Susanna Shakespeare Hall, lapwings, a lapwing mentioned in Hamlet, the lapwing’s survival strategy, medieval slander against the lapwing, what the lapwing has in common with Agenbite of Inwit, William Blake on the lapwing, Wandering Aengus of the birds, augury, and Stephen’s gift of prophecy.

Lapwing

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We discuss the 1955 film version of Richard III.

Listen to or watch the full episode at patreon.com/barnaclecast

What if the Shakespeares were really a bunch of crumb-bums?

Topics in this episode include Shakespeare’s brothers Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, which ones Stephen thinks were bad brothers and which were good brothers, whether Shakespeare turned his brothers into villains in his plays, Anne Hathaway’s relationship to her brothers-in-law, why Shakespeare’s brothers never married, Gilbert and Richard’s criminal records, whether Gilbert traveled to London to see As You Like It, Edmund’s attempt to become an actor, which one was Shakespeare’s favorite brother, wrastlin’, brotherly incest and psychoanalysis, Stephen’s owned disappeared brother Maurice, and justice for Mr. Best.

Decoding Dedalus: Saint Thomas' New Viennese School — Blooms & Barnacles

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In which, Stephen proves through algebra that Hamlet’s grandson is Shakespeare’s grandfather.

Topics in this episode include Puritanism, whether or not Anne Hathaway became a religious fanatic late in life, Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her Puritan husband, the squandering of Shakespeare’s estate after his death, “Venus and Adonis,” the mystical estate of paternity, Hamlet and paternity, the Sabellian heresy, the authorship question, possible Shakespeare ghost writers, Buck Mulligan’s roasts, and James Joyce proves through algebra that he is his own father, just like Jesus and Shakespeare.

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We review the 2025 Chloe Zhao film, Hamnet.

To watch or listen to the full episode, visit patreon.com/barnaclecast

Ora pro nobis! Pogue mahone! Acushla machree!

Topics in this episode include Thomas Aquinas (but less than you might expect), Aquinas’ views on incest, the meaning on “new Viennese school,” whether or not Joyce had any interest in psychoanalysis (and whether it matters), how Joyce may have encountered psychoanalysis in Zurich, Professor Edward Dowden, the work of psychoanalyst Otto Rank and his view on Hamlet specifically, Hamlet as an Oedipal text or an “incest drama”, the notion of Shakespeare writing Hamlet to process the death of his father, the theme of paternity in Ulysses, Stephen’s recognition of the historic resilience of Jewish communities, Nobodaddy, whether or not Reddit atheists have embraced the poetry of William Blake, and what John Eglinton and the Unabomber have in common.

Decoding Dedalus: Saint Thomas' New Viennese School — Blooms & Barnacles

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Isn’t Carrotty Bess great?

Topics in this episode include why Stephen compares Shakespeare to Shylock, Shakespeare’s father John Shakespeare and his many business ventures, his legal troubles caused by some of those business ventures, Shakespeare’s corn-hoarding during a famine, the irony of Irish Nationalists being devoted to Shakespeare, Shakespeare’s role in providing propaganda for Britain’s colonial project, Mr. Deasy’s thoughts on Shakespeare, Chettle Falstaff, the time Shakespeare sued a guy over some malt, how The Merchant of Venice stoked Elizabethan antisemitism, plays that Shakespeare wrote to please various monarchs, James I and Macbeth, political propaganda found in Shakespeare’s comedies, and why Stephen’s point-of-view as an Irish person alters his interpretation of Shakespeare.

Decoding Dedalus: He drew Shylock out of his own long pocket.

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Sometimes the secondbest bed is the better bed.

Topics in this episode include Griselsa, Antisthenes and Helen, art of surfeit, the Dark Lady of the sonnets, the erotic adventures of Shakespeare and Richard Burbage, how the Dark Lady connects the works of Shakespeare to the world of Ulysses, misogyny in the interpretation of Shakespeare, the binary of Stratford and London, William Davenant, Fetter Lane of Gerard, giglot wantons, Anne Hathaway’s supposed infidelity, Anne’s debt to a shepherd, Shakespeare’s will and the secondbest bed, and why it isn’t as damning as one might assume.

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