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TRIVIA CHALLENGE
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EPISODES: How many 'episodes' or chapters does 'Ulysses' contain, paralleling Homer's Odyssey - 10? 2O? 18? 12?
EPISODES: How many 'episodes' or chapters does 'Ulysses' contain, paralleling Homer's Odyssey - 10? 2O? 18? 12?
18 Episodes. Each echos The Odyssey, and each is written in a different style.
VOCABULARY: Shakespeare used about 31,000 unique words in his entire collected works. How does Ulysses compare?
VOCABULARY: Shakespeare used about 31,000 unique words in his entire collected works. How does Ulysses compare?
Ulysses has about 30,030 unique words in just the one book. Joyce’s single novel contains a vocabulary almost equal to everything Shakespeare ever wrote (plays and poems combined).
TIMELINE: How long did it take James Joyce to write Ulysses while moving from Trieste to Zurich to Paris to avoid the First World War?
TIMELINE: How long did it take James Joyce to write Ulysses while moving from Trieste to Zurich to Paris to avoid the First World War?
Seven years. He began work on it in 1914 and finished it in 1921. He calculated that he spent approximately 20,000 hours writing it!
Seven years. He began work on it in 1914 and finished it in 1921. He calculated that he spent approximately 20,000 hours writing it!
THE ANGEL INVESTOR: Why was the support of Harriet Shaw weaver important to Joyce?
THE ANGEL INVESTOR: Why was the support of Harriet Shaw weaver important to Joyce?
It allowed him to write without working. Over the years, this funding, which included monthly stipends, amounted to the equivalent of a million of today's US dollars; it enabled the writing of Ulysses, supported Joyce until the book could be published legally in the US in 1933 and even underwrote the creation of Finnegans Wake (which she disliked).
It allowed him to write without working. Over the years, this funding, which included monthly stipends, amounted to the equivalent of a million of today's US dollars; it enabled the writing of Ulysses, supported Joyce until the book could be published legally in the US in 1933 and even underwrote the creation of Finnegans Wake (which she disliked).
AILMENT: Which physical ailment plagued James Joyce for much of his adult life, requiring numerous surgeries: A) Tuberculosis? B) Eye trouble (iritis/glaucoma)? C) Deafness? D) Kidney stones?
AILMENT: Which physical ailment plagued James Joyce for much of his adult life, requiring numerous surgeries: A) Tuberculosis? B) Eye trouble (iritis/glaucoma)? C) Deafness? D) Kidney stones?
B) Eye trouble. He often wore an eye patch and wrote on large sheets of paper with red crayon.
B) Eye trouble. He often wore an eye patch and wrote on large sheets of paper with red crayon.
THE HUMAN COMEDY: How many characters are there in Ulysses?
There are over 100 named characters in Ulysses. Joyce joked that it was dangerous for him to return to Dublin because so many people recognized themselves as Ulysses persona (and found themselves to be portrayed in an uncomplimentary manner).
THE MENAGERIE: Excluding humans, roughly how many different types of animals are referred to in Ulysses?
Over 100. From Bloom's cat (who said "Mkgnao!") to the dogs (the shape-changer in Proteus and Garryowen in Cyclops) to the horses (especially Throwaway, Zinfandel and Sceptre), to the metaphorical beasts, the book is a zoo of symbolism.
THE MENU: Joyce famously listed everything Bloom ate. How many different edible items (food and drink) are mentioned in the book?
Over 400. Scholars have cataloged every single item, from Bloom's "inner organs of beasts and fowls" to his burgundy wine and Gorgonzola cheese sandwich to the hyperbolic catalog of goods sold in the mystical marketplace of Cyclops (Episode 13)
THE PUBLISHER: When Ulysses was banned in the US and UK (after having been partly published in serial form in the magazine, The Little Review), who was the only person brave enough to publish the book?
Sylvia Beach. She was the American owner of the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris. Despite never having published a book, she took the risk and incurred the financial burden of printing Ulysses in Dijon when established publishers refused.
PUBLICATION: When was Ulysses published?
February 2, 1922. Joyce got the first copy on his 40th birthday. Nora Barnacle, his wife-to-be, received the 1000th copy which she threatened to sell.
THE DEDALUS FAMILY: In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus is a semi-autobiographical character. Who is his father?
THE DEDALUS FAMILY: In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus is a semi-autobiographical character. Who is his father?
Simon Dedalus. Simon is a colorful, witty, but financially irresponsible character largely based on James Joyce’s own father, John Stanislaus Joyce.
Simon Dedalus. Simon is a colorful, witty, but financially irresponsible character largely based on James Joyce’s own father, John Stanislaus Joyce.
STRATEGY: In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, what three 'weapons' does Stephen Dedalus claim he will use: A) Pen, paper and ink? B) Logic, rhetoric and grammar? C) Silence, exile and cunning? D) Faith, hope and charity?
STRATEGY: In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, what three 'weapons' does Stephen Dedalus claim he will use: A) Pen, paper and ink? B) Logic, rhetoric and grammar? C) Silence, exile and cunning? D) Faith, hope and charity?
C) Silence, exile and cunning. And that is what Joyce tried to do.
C) Silence, exile and cunning. And that is what Joyce tried to do.
HISTORY: In 1916 which of these events occurred: A) The battle of the Somme began? B) The Easter Rising against British rule took place in Dublin? C) Jeannette Rankin became the first woman in the US Congress? D) A Portrait of the Artist was published?
HISTORY: In 1916 which of these events occurred: A) The battle of the Somme began? B) The Easter Rising against British rule took place in Dublin? C) Jeannette Rankin became the first woman in the US Congress? D) A Portrait of the Artist was published?
A), B), C) and D). All of these events took place in 1916
A), B), C) and D). All of these events took place in 1916
HUBRIS: Which Irish poet did Joyce admire but also famously told, 'You are too old for me to help you'?
HUBRIS: Which Irish poet did Joyce admire but also famously told, 'You are too old for me to help you'?
William Butler Yeats. The young, arrogant Joyce reportedly said this to the established Yeats during their first meeting.
DIAGNOSIS: Who diagnosed Joyce with schizophrenia?: A) Freud? B) Adler? C) Jung? D) William James?
DIAGNOSIS: Who diagnosed Joyce with schizophrenia?: A) Freud? B) Adler? C) Jung? D) William James?
C) Karl Jung. Jung determined that both James Joyce and his daughter Lucia had schizophrenia, but that he could control and make use of his condition because of his great intelligence. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Lucia who ended up in an institution for much of her life.
C) Karl Jung. Jung determined that both James Joyce and his daughter Lucia had schizophrenia, but that he could control and make use of his condition because of his great intelligence. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Lucia who ended up in an institution for much of her life.
INFLUENCES: Where did Joyce find these techniques and approaches that influenced his style?:
INFLUENCES: Where did Joyce find these techniques and approaches that influenced his style?:
A) Epiphanies (sudden revelations)
A) Epiphanies (sudden revelations)
B) Indifference (the ability to let characters lead their own lives without interference)
B) Indifference (the ability to let characters lead their own lives without interference)
C) Craftsmanship (the "mot juste" scrupulous use of precise descriptions and images with effective rhythm, sound and flow)
C) Craftsmanship (the "mot juste" scrupulous use of precise descriptions and images with effective rhythm, sound and flow)
D) Interior Monologue/Stream of Consciousness
D) Interior Monologue/Stream of Consciousness
A) The Catholic Church - Many of Joyce's modes of thinking were moulded by his excellent Jesuit education.
A) The Catholic Church - Many of Joyce's modes of thinking were moulded by his excellent Jesuit education.
B) Henrik Ibsen - The young Joyce learned Norwegian/Danish to read his plays in the original because he admired his social conscience and ability to have his characters express their true thoughts and emotions without social constraints,
B) Henrik Ibsen - The young Joyce learned Norwegian/Danish to read his plays in the original because he admired his social conscience and ability to have his characters express their true thoughts and emotions without social constraints,
C) Gustave Flaubert - Joyce read all of his work as well as much of that of his friends Guy de Maupassant and Ivan Turgenev.
C) Gustave Flaubert - Joyce read all of his work as well as much of that of his friends Guy de Maupassant and Ivan Turgenev.
D) Édouard Dujardin - Joyce called himself an unrepentent thief for picking up this technique (in which interior monologue narration changes from character to character) from the novel Les Lauriers sont coupés
D) Édouard Dujardin - Joyce called himself an unrepentent thief for picking up this technique (in which interior monologue narration changes from character to character) from the novel Les Lauriers sont coupés
STASIS: What did Joyce mean by "stasis"? A) The sense of repletion of someone who has eaten a good meal? B) The state of elation after experiencing an epiphany? C) The satisfaction and relief of having had a good bowel movement? D) The state of mind that one has when one's political candidate has won an election?
STASIS: What did Joyce mean by "stasis"? A) The sense of repletion of someone who has eaten a good meal? B) The state of elation after experiencing an epiphany? C) The satisfaction and relief of having had a good bowel movement? D) The state of mind that one has when one's political candidate has won an election?
B) The state of elation after experiencing an epiphany. The ecstatic relief and suspended animation after finding clarity, meaning, significance, understanding - a necessary pause in the face of overwhelming truth and the beginning of a new cycle with stasis leading to a new epiphany.
B) The state of elation after experiencing an epiphany. The ecstatic relief and suspended animation after finding clarity, meaning, significance, understanding - a necessary pause in the face of overwhelming truth and the beginning of a new cycle with stasis leading to a new epiphany.
FREQUENCY: How often do epiphanies take place in Ulysses: A) Rarely? B) Frequently? C Once in a while?
FREQUENCY: How often do epiphanies take place in Ulysses: A) Rarely? B) Frequently? C Once in a while?
B) Frequently, As tune went by there were more and more epiphanies - In The Dead there is one; in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man there is one per chapter (5 in total); in Ulysses they are occurring all the time (It could be argued that Finnegans Wake is nothing but epiphanies).
B) Frequently, As tune went by there were more and more epiphanies - In The Dead there is one; in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man there is one per chapter (5 in total); in Ulysses they are occurring all the time (It could be argued that Finnegans Wake is nothing but epiphanies).
ADMIRATION-A TWO-EDGED SWORD: Several great writers found that their admiration for Joyce's writing ability caused them to deprecate their own abilities: Who said:
ADMIRATION-A TWO-EDGED SWORD: Several great writers found that their admiration for Joyce's writing ability caused them to deprecate their own abilities: Who said:
A) "I play pat ball, he plays a championship game."?
A) "I play pat ball, he plays a championship game."?
B) "I write like a carpenter, he writes like an architect."?
B) "I write like a carpenter, he writes like an architect."?
C) "I have learned a lot from him, but when I set about a writing project, I feel inadequate."?
C) "I have learned a lot from him, but when I set about a writing project, I feel inadequate."?
A) Vladimir Nabokov, B) William Faulkner, C) Anthony Burgess
A) Vladimir Nabokov, B) William Faulkner, C) Anthony Burgess
EXPOENTIAL ADMIRATION: For whom did Joyce have a worshipful respect?
EXPOENTIAL ADMIRATION: For whom did Joyce have a worshipful respect?
William Shakespeare. Even though Joyce was aware that he had an extraordinary talent, he knew that he could never top Shakespeare whose multifaceted literary abilities have never been exceeded by anyone. Most days Joyce would read something of the Bard.
William Shakespeare. Even though Joyce was aware that he had an extraordinary talent, he knew that he could never top Shakespeare whose multifaceted literary abilities have never been exceeded by anyone. Most days Joyce would read something of the Bard.
DISLIKE: Who disliked Joyce's writing: A) Ezra Pound? B) TS Eliot? C) George Bernard Shaw? D) Virginia Wolfe?
DISLIKE: Who disliked Joyce's writing: A) Ezra Pound? B) TS Eliot? C) George Bernard Shaw? D) Virginia Wolfe?
C) George Bernard Shaw. Shaw thought that Joyce did a superb job of portraying Dublin life - everything that Shaw had moved to London to avoid.
C) George Bernard Shaw. Shaw thought that Joyce did a superb job of portraying Dublin life - everything that Shaw had moved to London to avoid.
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "—You pray to a local and obscure idol: our temples, majestic and mysterious, are the abodes of Isis and Osiris, of Horus and Ammon Ra. Yours serfdom, awe and humbleness: ours thunder and the seas. Israel is weak and few are her children: Egypt is an host and terrible are her arms. Vagrants and daylabourers are you called: the world trembles at our name..."
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "—You pray to a local and obscure idol: our temples, majestic and mysterious, are the abodes of Isis and Osiris, of Horus and Ammon Ra. Yours serfdom, awe and humbleness: ours thunder and the seas. Israel is weak and few are her children: Egypt is an host and terrible are her arms. Vagrants and daylabourers are you called: the world trembles at our name..."
Aeolus (Ulysses Episode 7). Part of a quoted speech in support of the revival of the Irish language in this chapter written in newspaper style with headlines.
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "Agendath is a waste land, a home of screechowls and the sandblind upupa. Netaim, the golden, is no more. And on the highway of the clouds they come, muttering thunder of rebellion, the ghosts of beasts. Huuh! Hark! Huuh! Parallax stalks behind and goads them, the lancinating lightnings of whose brow are scorpions. Elk and yak, the bulls of Bashan and of Babylon, mammoth and mastodon, they come trooping to the sunken sea, Lacus Mortis. Ominous revengeful zodiacal host! They moan, passing upon the clouds, horned and capricorned, the trumpeted with the tusked, the lionmaned, the giantantlered, snouter and crawler, rodent, ruminant and pachyderm, all their moving moaning multitude, murderers of the sun."
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "Agendath is a waste land, a home of screechowls and the sandblind upupa. Netaim, the golden, is no more. And on the highway of the clouds they come, muttering thunder of rebellion, the ghosts of beasts. Huuh! Hark! Huuh! Parallax stalks behind and goads them, the lancinating lightnings of whose brow are scorpions. Elk and yak, the bulls of Bashan and of Babylon, mammoth and mastodon, they come trooping to the sunken sea, Lacus Mortis. Ominous revengeful zodiacal host! They moan, passing upon the clouds, horned and capricorned, the trumpeted with the tusked, the lionmaned, the giantantlered, snouter and crawler, rodent, ruminant and pachyderm, all their moving moaning multitude, murderers of the sun."
Oxen of the Sun (Ulysses Episode 14) - In which Joyce parodies a thousand years of English literature
Oxen of the Sun (Ulysses Episode 14) - In which Joyce parodies a thousand years of English literature
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freelyfreckled shaggybearded widemouthed large nosed deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairylegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero..."
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freelyfreckled shaggybearded widemouthed large nosed deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairylegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero..."
Cyclops (Ulysses Episode 12). This cyclops turns out the be the worst kind of intolerant Irish nationalist who will run Bloom out of the pub after a series of parodies and much trash talk with a dominant narrative voice said to resemble the voice of Joyce's father.
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "...the dark tangled curls of his bush floating, floating hair of the stream around the limp father of thousands, a languid floating flower"
IN WHICH EPISODE?: "...the dark tangled curls of his bush floating, floating hair of the stream around the limp father of thousands, a languid floating flower"
Lotus Eaters (Ulysses Episode 5). Bloom imagines his upcomming bath which he will have in the public baths before going to Paddy Dignam's funeral
NAME THAT SONG: Which song did Ben Dollard sing in Sirens (Episode 11 of Ulysses): A) Rosie O'Grady? B) Ma Pari? C) The Croppy Boy? D) The Last Rose of Summer?
NAME THAT SONG: Which song did Ben Dollard sing in Sirens (Episode 11 of Ulysses): A) Rosie O'Grady? B) Ma Pari? C) The Croppy Boy? D) The Last Rose of Summer?
The Croppy Boy. His rendering of this ballad of British perfidy deeply moved his listeners at the Ormand Hotel.
The Croppy Boy. His rendering of this ballad of British perfidy deeply moved his listeners at the Ormand Hotel.
MOCKERY: In the Telemachus Episode at the beginning of Ulysses, who says: "It's quite simple. He proves by algebra that Hamlet's grandson is Shakespeare's grandfather and that he himself is the ghost of his own father"?
MOCKERY: In the Telemachus Episode at the beginning of Ulysses, who says: "It's quite simple. He proves by algebra that Hamlet's grandson is Shakespeare's grandfather and that he himself is the ghost of his own father"?
Buck Mulligan making fun of Stephen Dedalus' theory of Hamlet
Buck Mulligan making fun of Stephen Dedalus' theory of Hamlet
CLASSIC CHARACTER: In the Homeric parallels of Ulysses, which character corresponds to Odysseus: A) Blazes Boylen? B) Stephen Dedalus? C) Buck Mulligan? D) Leopold Bloom?
CLASSIC CHARACTER: In the Homeric parallels of Ulysses, which character corresponds to Odysseus: A) Blazes Boylen? B) Stephen Dedalus? C) Buck Mulligan? D) Leopold Bloom?
D) Leopold Bloom. He is the book's anti-hero, an advertising agent whose day-long amble across Dublin corresponds to Odysseus' ten-year adventure-filled sea journey to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War; but Bloom turns out to have many interesting thoughts and is a much beloved character of Ulysses enthusiasts.
D) Leopold Bloom. He is the book's anti-hero, an advertising agent whose day-long amble across Dublin corresponds to Odysseus' ten-year adventure-filled sea journey to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War; but Bloom turns out to have many interesting thoughts and is a much beloved character of Ulysses enthusiasts.
MOLLY's DAY JOB: What is the profession of Molly Bloom: A) Teacher? B) Seamstress? C) Nurse? D) Concert Singer?m?
MOLLY's DAY JOB: What is the profession of Molly Bloom: A) Teacher? B) Seamstress? C) Nurse? D) Concert Singer?m?
D) Concert Singer. One of her most popular numbers was "Love's Old Sweet Song."
D) Concert Singer. One of her most popular numbers was "Love's Old Sweet Song."
PUNCTUATION MARKS NOT: How many periods are there in the 40 pages of Penelope, the last Episode of Ulysses?
PUNCTUATION MARKS NOT: How many periods are there in the 40 pages of Penelope, the last Episode of Ulysses?
Eight. Joyce didn't want to allow anything to interfere with the free flow of thoughts in Molly Bloom's Soliloquy - the ideas coursing through the head of someone falling asleep (or trying to).
Eight. Joyce didn't want to allow anything to interfere with the free flow of thoughts in Molly Bloom's Soliloquy - the ideas coursing through the head of someone falling asleep (or trying to).
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