Greaseabloom

In Brief

By the time readers get to Sirens they have encountered a number of strange violations of what Joyce called the "initial style" of his opening chapters. Some of these, notably Bloom's echoes of the narrator's words in Hades and the narrator's echo of Stephen's words in Scylla and Charybdis, take the form of pushing free indirect style past its limits so that the narrative, instead of merely approximating a character's consciousness, enters into conversation with it. The beginning of Sirens extends and deepens this practice, as two barmaids in the Ormond Hotel deride an old pharmacist. Their mockery of his sexual unattractiveness bleeds over into the narrative's characterization of poor cuckold-to-be Bloom.

Discussing the sunburn that she acquired on her vacation at the beach, Miss Douce recalls that "I asked that old fogey in Boyd's for something for my skin," an observation that makes Miss Kennedy protest, "O, don't remind me of him for mercy'sake!...No, don't....I won't listen....Don't let me think of him or I'll expire. The hideous old wretch! That night in the Antient Concert Rooms." As she is giggling out these protests and sticking her fingers in her ears, Miss Douce is cocking her head to one side in imitation of the pharmacist, "ruffling her nosewings," grunting "For your what?" in "snuffy fogey's tone," and snorting "down her nostrils that quivered imperthnthn like a snout in quest": "Hufa! Hufa!" Shrieking in delight, Miss Kennedy finally joins in: "Will you ever forget his goggle eye?" Soon they are both convulsed in peals of full-throated screaming laughter, taking only a brief break to express the absolute horror of having sexual relations with such a cadaverous old wretch:

     — O greasy eyes! Imagine being married to a man like that! she cried. With his bit of beard!
      Douce gave full vent to a splendid yell, a full yell of full woman, delight, joy, indignation.
      — Married to the greasy nose! she yelled.

While this has been going on, the narrator has been tracking Bloom's movement through the streets toward the Ormond: "Bloowho went by by Moulang's pipes bearing in his breast the sweets of sin.... Bloom.... But Bloom?... Bloowhose dark eye read Aaron Figatner's name.... By Bassi's blessed virgins Bloom's dark eyes went by." The musically altered "Bloowho" suggests "boohoo," appropriate to this chapter in which Bloom will watch Boylan depart for his 4:00 assignation with Molly. Poor Bloom, feeling old and spent, rejected as a sexual partner by the woman he loves, nears the room in which two desirable young women are mocking a hideous old man, and the narrator picks up their language: "Married to Bloom, to greaseaseabloom.... By Cantwell's offices roved Greaseabloom, by Ceppi's virgins, bright of their oils." As these two narrative strands run side by side, the "goggle eye" of the old pharmacist becomes linked with Bloom's "dark eye," and his anaphrodisiac manner wraps itself around Bloom's dumpy unprepossessing person.

The barmaids are not talking about Bloom, but "Greaseabloom" lets their conversation control the way he is narratively presented. Accomplishing this feat chiefly through the deployment of a single word, greasy, means that Joyce has not yet entirely transcended his earlier usage of free indirect style, where mere adjectives like "Stately" and "plump" suffice to bring the sensibility of a character into the narrative. But the impossible communication between barmaids and narrator––the sense that a fourth wall has been momentarily dissolved––announces coming changes in the novel. In the first half of Nausicaa, the entire narration––every sentence, every phrase, every choice of words––will embody the consciousness of a young woman thinking about an older man. And Gerty's romantic interest in Bloom will compensate somewhat for the humiliation that "greasy" brings to him in Sirens.

John Hunt 2023

Greaseabloom

In Brief

Read More