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Monday, June 15, 2009

all their 20 pockets aren't enough for their lies

Happy Bloomsday, everyone!

I know I'm posting this a wee bit early, but I don't know if I'll get the chance tomorrow and I don't want it to go uncelebrated. I haven't the time or inclination to go to a 24-hour reading, but I do what I can, which in this case involved compiling an exhaustive list of all the things which Leopold Bloom puts in his many pockets on June 16, 1904. Just what you always wanted, I know.

Items we never see Leopold Bloom put into his pockets, but which are produced from them in any case:
  • Potato
  • Handkerchief
  • Pocketbook (containing picture of Molly)
  • Coin purse
  • Watch fob
Calypso
  • The kidney goes into Bloom's sidepocket, but is (removed) cooked and eaten in the same episode.
  • The Freeman’s Journal is, I assume, the "cut page" he acquires at the butchers' - that is, I don't see him pick up a paper at any other point, and by the time he gets to the Lotus Eaters he definitely has it with him, in his sidepocket.
  • He also puts Molly's book (Ruby: The Pride of the Ring) in his inside pocket in this episode, but I have no idea if it just stays there all day; I saw no later reference to it.
Lotus eaters
  • He takes his (Henry Flower's) card from his hatband, transfers it to his waistcoat pocket, and then replaces it later in the same episode.
  • The letter (to Henry Flower from Martha) goes in his sidepocket; the yellow flower inside it goes in his heartpocket, and the pin is discarded.
  • He removes the envelope from his pocket later in the episode and shreds it under the railway arch.
  • A cake of lemon-scented soap, unpaid-for. This goes in his hip pocket; it gets shifted around a bit, but eventually ends up back in the same pocket.
Aeolus
  • He gets the Keyes ad in this episode, and it stays stowed in his pocket for the remainder of the day after he is unsuccessful at getting it placed in the paper.
Wandering Rocks
  • He acquires the book Sweets of Sin, by Paul DeKock.
Nausicaa
  • Both Bloom's hand and his watch go in and out of pockets in this episode. The watch is stopped. The hand rather less so.
Circe
  • He acquires chocolate in this episode, which he then gives to Zoe the whore (she gives some back.) He stuffs it in his pockets with bread, but the provenance of either bread or chocolate is unclear.
  • He buys a pig's crubeen & trotter at a butcher's and feeds them to a stray dog.
  • Zoe takes the potato from him in this episode as well, but Bloom takes it back.
  • He also takes Stephen's money for safekeeping, but returns it later.
Additions, clarifications, and corrections welcome!

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