English Literature books summary

efforts and insisting that he is only replying to a newspaper advertisement

and not writing a letter as Goulding had suspected.

The piano sets a lively tone for those who are in the bar, including

Simon Dedalus, Douce, Kennedy, Lenehan, Boylan, a singer named Ben Dollard,

Father Cowley and Tom Kernan. This lively group provides intermittent comic

relief from Bloom№s depressing meal. Dedalus is a strong singer and he

engages in several rounds of a few Irish folk songs including the patriotic

ballad, "The Croppy Boy." Ben Dollard, a professional singer, is also

rather obese and he is the butt of a few of the barmaids№ jokes. For their

parts, Douce and Kennedy, fully thrust themselves into their "siren" roles,

luring Boylan and after he departs for 7 Eccles, focusing their attentions

on Lenehan who squanders a significant amount of money in their bar.

Chapter 12: The Cyclops

During the time of Molly's affair, Leopold Bloom wanders into Barney

Kiernan's pub. Bloom is not a drinker and this is not a pub that he

regularly frequents; indeed, Bloom seems to be lost in thought when he

literally wanders into Kiernan№s where he is to meet Cunningham and Power

for a trip to see the Widow Dignam. The pub's fierce scene is a severe

contrast to the mellow drunkenness of the Ormond's bar and Bloom is

immediately uncomfortable. A rabid Irish nationalist called Citizen,

terrorizes Kiernan's pub and focuses most of his verbal attack on Bloom.

Citizen, like many of Joyce№s patriots, is both anti-Semitic and

isolationist in his thinking.

Citizen initially begins his drunken discourse on the subject of the

lost Celtic culture. Though he briefly touches upon the death of the Irish

language, Citizen№s primary focus is on the renaissance of the ancient

Celtic games. Citizen№s verbal spouting is not held in regard, though none

of the pub№s patrons feel as uncomfortable as Bloom. A large dog named

Garryowen is equally menacing for Bloom, and despite Garryowen№s allegiance

with Citizen, who feeds the dog biscuits, Citizen is not the dog№s owner.

Lenehan is present and his conversation reveals the results of the

horserace where Throwaway has upset the heavily favored Sceptre. When

Citizen's anti-Semitism flares, Bloom is forced to assume a heroic role in

defending himself. Specifically, the Citizen accuses Bloom of stealing from

widows and orphans and he goes further, insinuating that Jews can never be

true Irish citizens. Bloom defends himself as an honest person before

offering Citizen a brief catalogue of Jews who have made significant

contributions to European and Irish culture. When Bloom informs Citizen

that his own God (Christ) also happened to be a Jew, Citizen becomes

enraged and as Bloom exits the pub victorious, Citizen chases behind him,

throwing an empty biscuit tin at Bloom's head. The sun temporarily blinds

Citizen, whose missile falls far short of the target. Upon exiting

Kiernan№s pub Bloom continues on his mission to visit the Dignam widow,

accompanied by Martin Cunningham and Jack Power. They intend to discuss the

specifics of Paddy Dignam№s insurance policy and help the widow get her

finances in order.

Chapter 13: Nausicaa

Nausicaa takes place several hours after "The Cyclops," and ends with

the clock striking nine. In the interim between the chapters, Bloom has

visited the Dignam widow to discuss Paddy's insurance policy and in this

chapter he is walking along Sandymount strand, the same beach where Stephen

strolled during "Proteus." There is a group of young people on the beach

including a young woman named Cissy Caffrey who is watching Tommy and Jacky

Caffrey and a smaller baby. Alongside Cissy is her friend Gertrude "Gerty"

MacDowell. Gerty's mostly thinks about her previous boyfriend and later she

considers thoughts of marriage. In her conversation with Caffrey, MacDowell

hides the emotional disappointment that she has suffered. Even as she

maintains a rigid and impassive exterior, MacDowell is deep in thought,

considering (apparently, for the first time) that she may not be able to

find a boyfriend whom she might convince or seduce into marriage.

Midway through her thoughts, Gerty notices the voyeur, Bloom. Leopold

Bloom is still dressed in all black on account of Dignam№s funeral and he

is a somber contrast to the white sand of the beach. MacDowell can easily

detect that Bloom is watching her though he continues his failed attempts

to conceal his furtive staring. Cissy Caffrey suspects that something is

awry when MacDowell appears to be distracted and focused in the direction

of the dark stranger. MacDowell then decides to use Caffrey in a ploy to

get a better look at Bloom who is sitting in the distance. Knowing the

Caffrey did not have a timepiece with her, MacDowell asks her for the time

and when Cissy replies that she does not know, MacDowell ventures over to

Bloom, an "uncle" of hers, so that she might find out.

Upon returning to her original seat with Caffrey, MacDowell feels

sympathy for Bloom, who she decides must be the saddest man alive. In place

of her thoughts on her boyfriend, Reggie Wylie, MacDowell suggests to

herself that Bloom might be a character worth saving, as only she could

truly understand him. It is not long before MacDowell notices that Bloom is

again engaged in furtive behavior, masturbating himself with a hand cloaked

in his pocket. After a brief consideration, Gerty decides to "loves" him

back, teasing Bloom by displaying her garters as he masturbates. Soon after

this, MacDowell and the Caffreys depart from the beach, having stayed for

the display of the nearby Bazaar№s fireworks. After MacDowell№s flirtatious

departure, Bloom's considers his wife Molly and at the end of "Nausicaa,"

our hero confesses that his nauseous post-orgasmic lassitude is a sure sign

that he is aging.

Chapter 14: The Oxen of the Sun

"The Oxen of the Sun" begins no earlier than 10 pm and ends at

approximately 11pm. After the "Nausicaa" episode, Bloom finally arrives at

The National Maternity Hospital to visit Mina Purefoy who has been in labor

for three days. Because Bloom is concerned that Purefoy has not been able

to deliver the child, he waits in the hospital before briefly seeing Mrs.

Purefoy, whose husband, Theodore, is not present. After a brief discussion

with one of the midwives, Bloom decides to wait outside the maternity room,

until he has received word that, with the aid of Dr Horne and midwives,

Mina Purefoy has given birth to a healthy son.

While Bloom is waiting for information regarding Purefoy's labor, he

meanders into a darkened waiting room where he encounters Stephen Dedalus,

who is sitting at a long table, drinking absinthe in the company of several

other young men who are also drinking. Apparently, Stephen№s acquaintances,

including Buck Mulligan, are mostly medical students and interns at the

hospital. When Bloom sits at the drinking table of the younger men, he is

initiating the first union between the novel's principal characters (Bloom

and Dedalus). Buck Mulligan is a menacing presence in the hospital and

Bloom consciously assumes a paternal role, fearing that Mulligan has laced

Stephen's drink with a harmful substance.

Even after Bloom joins the conversation of the semi-inebriated men,

Mulligan remains as bawdy and irreverent as before, making crass references

to contraception, sexual intercourse, masturbation and procreation. And

Bloom№s paternal aura seems to only extend to Stephen, who he singles out

as the one decent character in the group. Repeatedly, the young men are

cautioned to lower the volume of their laughter and profanity. After

Stephen separates from Mulligan at the chapter's end, Bloom worries for

Stephen's safety and he decides to follow Stephen who has departed for

"Baudyville," alongside his friend Vincent Lynch; presumably, the young men

intend to visit a brothel.

Chapter 15: Circe

Bloom follows Stephen and Lynch out of the maternity hospital as they

head to Bawdyville, a brothel in the red-light district of Dublin that

Joyce refers to as Nighttown. The reader is presented with grisly scenes of

street urchin and deformed children, rowdy British soldiers and depraved

prostitutes. Bloom follows the young men by train but he gets off at wrong

stop and has initial difficulty keeping track of them. He is then accosted

by a stranger who refuses to let him pass and a "sandstrewer" runs him off

the road.

As Bloom progresses deeper into Nighttown with the hopes of finding

young Stephen, the frenetic pace of the red-light district provokes several

hallucinations in Bloom and his secret thoughts and hidden fears are played

out before us. A sober Bloom is greeted by the spirits of his dead parents

as well as the image of his wife Marion (Molly) who speaks to him in

"Moorish." The farce continues when Bloom's bar of lemon soap begins to

speak and Mrs. Breen, the wife of the lunatic Denis, appears in the road

and flirts with Bloom before mocking him for getting caught in the red-

light district. Bloom is suddenly in a courtroom, charged with accusations

of lechery. Several young girls recount sordid stories of his Bloom, the

conspicuous voyeur, and the courtroom's roll includes various characters

from earlier in the day including Paddy Dignam and Father Coffey, who

presided over Dignam's funeral.

The narrative abruptly shifts when Bloom finally arrives at Bella

Cohen's brothel. When Bloom finds Stephen inside, he immediately seeks to

protect the young man from being swindled. Stephen continues his own

descent into drunken madness and Bloom holds Dedalus' money to avoid any

further losses. Stephen's despairing hallucinations reach their climax when

he encounters the vengeful ghost of his mother who begs him to return to

the Roman Catholic Church. Dedalus breaking his symbolic chains to past by

smashing Cohen's cheap chandelier with his walking stick. Chaos ensues when

Bella Cohen tries to overcharge Stephen for the damage and Bloom must

defend Stephen's interests. Again, as they are leaving the brothel, Bloom

comes to the defensive when Private Carr assaults Stephen. Carr attacks the

intoxicated young man despite Bloom's insistence that Stephen is incapable

of protecting himself. Stephen has lost his glasses, his hand wounded and

he immediately faints after Carr's blow. Vincent Lynch deserts Dedalus in

Nighttown and Bloom directs Stephen towards shelter. In the final scene of

"Circe," Bloom is distracted by the vision of his dead son, Rudy, not as a

newborn infant but at the age that he would have been had he lived.

Chapter Sixteen: Eumaeus

After Stephen is revived, Bloom directs him towards a "cabman's

shelter," a coffeehouse owned by a man named "Skin-the-Goat" Fitzharris. As

Stephen begins to slowly sober up, Bloom begins a conversation in earnest,

discussing his ideas of love and politics. Bloom's desperation makes his

desire for a "son" transparent and even when Stephen is sober, he does not

seem to be particularly interested in Bloom's thoughts. The conversation

between Bloom and Dedalus resembles the conversation in the Dignam funeral

carriage, where Bloom appears as a man who is desperate for acceptance.

In his efforts to win Stephen№s favor, Bloom attempts to play the role

of an intellectual. Upon entering the cabman№s shelter, Bloom hears a few

Italians speaking their native language and he turns to Stephen, to

proclaim his love of the Italian language, specifically its phonetics.

Stephen (who knows Italian) calmly replies that the Italian melody that

Bloom has heard, was a base squabble over money. Though Bloom soon realizes

that he does not know the brooding young Dedalus very well, he believes

that the student's company would be beneficial for the Blooms. He could

perhaps be a singer like his father and his economic potential is all the

more pleasant to Bloom because he considers Stephen to be an "edifying"

partner in conversation. Later in the conversation, Bloom demonstrates his

intellectual deficiencies as he attempts to discuss politics with Dedalus

arguing a shallow and superficial Marxist Leninism. Bloom№s reform calls

first, for all citizens to "labor" and second, for all citizen№s needs to

be secured regardless of their varying abilities, provided that this reform

is carried out "in installments." Perceiving Stephen№s negative reaction to

be a non-intellectual aversion, Bloom seeks to immediately assuage Dedalus

by explaining that poetry is "labor."

Bloom leaves the cabman's shelter and invites Stephen to his home at 7

Eccles Street and the young man grudgingly accepts. While inside the

coffeehouse, Stephen's paid less attention to Bloom and more attention to a

man named W. B. Murphy, a self-described world sailor who had just come

home to see his wife after many years. The comic sea bard adds a comic note

to the tiring chapter, with his stories of acrobats, conspiracies and

tattoos. As he is leaving the cabman's shelter, Stephen sees his dissipated

friend, Corley. When Corley explains that he is in need of work, Stephen

suggests that Corley visit Mr. Deasy's school to apply for an opening, as

Dedalus intends to vacate his post.

Chapter Seventeen: Ithaca

The novel's penultimate chapter marks the pre-dawn hours of June 17,

1904. Stephen returns with Bloom to his residence at 7 Eccles Street and

after a strained conversation and a cup of cocoa, Dedalus departs, turning

down Bloom's invitation to stay for the night. When the two gentlemen reach

7 Eccles, Bloom realizes that he does not have his key and he is forced to

literally jump over a gate in order to gain entry into the house. After

navigating his way through the dark house, Bloom retrieves a candle and

returns to lead Stephen through the dark house. Their conversation is more

spirited as Stephen is considerably more conscious and lucid than he was in

the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters. And unlike his demeanor in the

cabman№s shelter, Stephen is less sullen as he sits in the Bloom residence

drinking cocoa. Bloom№s conversation eventually tires Dedalus though, and

despite Bloom№s efforts, he departs without committing to Bloom№s offer for

a future engagement for "intellectual" conversation. Dedalus does not know

where he is going to go, as he declines returning to his father№s house and

is locked out of Martello. Guiding Stephen outside of the house, Bloom

lingers outside to stare at the multitude of early morning stars. Upon re-

entering the house, Bloom retires for the night, focusing his thoughts on

the untidy house.

There is visible evidence of Boylan's earlier visit and after briefly

contemplating a divorce, Bloom silently climbs into bed, offering Molly a

kiss on the rear end. It seems that Bloom is eager to forget the matter,

and will sacrifice his self-respect for comforts of married stability.

Bloom's submissiveness presents a sharp contrast to the triumphal actions

of Homer's Ulysses. In the original "Ithaca" episode, Ulysses and his son

Telemachus attack Penelope's suitors, executing them all before re-

establishing Ulysses on his throne.

Chapter Eighteen: Penelope

"Penelope" is Ulysses' eighteenth and final chapter. Molly Bloom

thinks on her life before marriage and she defends and regrets her affair

with Boylan, while bemoaning the social restrictions on women. Mrs. Bloom

catalogues the detriments of her married life, describing her nagging

loneliness, the deceptive allures of adultery and the betrayals she has

suffered on account of her emotionally absent "Poldy." Molly№s narrative

quickly slides between the distant and recent past and we learn of her

years as an unmarried and attractive young lady in Gibraltar, a British

colony on the southernmost tip of Spain. Her years with her mother Lunita

and her father, a military man named Tweedy, seem to offer her the most

pleasure as she is largely displeased with Boylan№s rough manners and her

husband№s effeminate deficiencies.

For all of the negative assessments of hearth and home, "Penelope" is

emphatically braced with the word "Yes" at the beginning and conclusion,

and we have every reason to believe that-at least for June 17-the Bloom's

intend to preserve their marriage. Perhaps in irritation and gratitude for

Bloom's "kiss on the rump," Molly intends to turn his servility on its head

by waking up early to serve Bloom "his breakfast in bed with a couple of

eggs." After analyzing Bloom№s faults, Molly suggests that she knows Bloom

better than anyone else and that their shared memories represent an

emotional wealth that she would be unable to duplicate in a relationship

with Boylan.

Vanity Fair by W.Thackeray

Chapter 1. Chiswick Mall

Two young ladies-Amelia Sedley and Rebecca (Becky) Sharp are preparing

to leave Miss Pinkerton’s finishing school. Amelia is the kind hearted,

conventional beauty who is loved by all, while Rebecca is a defiant young

woman, who is disliked by almost everyone, including Miss Pinkerton. Only

Miss Pinkerton’s sister, Jemima, and Amelia seem to be fond of Becky. Becky

is to leave with Amelia and spend some time at her home before she can take

her job as a governess at Queen’s Crawley.

Owing to the difference in the social status as well as their

temperaments, only Amelia is gifted a copy of Dr Johnson’s Dictionary, as

per the tradition of Chiswick Mall, as a parting gift. Miss Pinkerton

refuses to give Becky a copy. Just as their carriage is about to move, Miss

Jemima runs to Becky and hands over a copy of the Dictionary to her, but

Becky, in her defiance, flings the gift out of the carriage, leaving Miss

Jemima shocked!

Chapter 2 In which Miss Sharp and Miss Sedley prepare to open the

campaign.

Becky is wickedly satisfied with the heroic act she has just

performed. She tells Amelia that she was treated with contempt and

compelled to teach French at the mall and that she was glad to bid it

goodbye.

Amelia, excitedly, shows Becky around her house and gifts her a Cashmere

shawl (which her brother had brought for her from India), besides a lot of

other things. The knowledge that Amelia’s brother, Joseph Sedley is rich

and unmarried fills hope into Becky’s heart and she is determined to make

an attempt to woo him.

Chapter 3 Rebecca is in presence of the Enemy.

Joseph Sedley is a very stout man, vain as a young girl usually is. He

is greatly flattered, by the fact that Becky considers him to be handsome.

Becky tries all her charms on him. She shows immense interest in tales

about India and suffers the spicy Indian curries and the hot chillies to

win Jos over.

Notes

Chapter 4 The Green Silk Purse

Rebecca is all set to please everyone at the Sedley House. She makes

the right moves towards Jos. Amelia insists that Jos take her and Becky to

Vauxhall. It is decided that Lieutenant George Osborne, the godson of Mr.

Sedley, is to accompany Amelia while Jos is to lead Becky to Vauxhall. Mr.

Sedley and Mr. Osborne are good friends and wish to see Amelia and George

married.

Due to a thunderstorm, the young couples are prevented from going to

Vauxhall that night and so they spend the evening indoors. George and

Amelia sing songs, while a besotted Jos helps Becky in weaving a silk

purse. Later he is in ‘a state of ravishment,’ when he hears Becky

performing. Jos makes up his mind to ask Becky to marry him.

Chapter 5 Dobbin of ours

This chapter begins with a flashback. Years ago, at Dr. Swishtail’s

famous school, a boy named Dobbin used to be constantly ridiculed because

his father was a grocer and it was said that he paid for Dobbin’s

education, not in money but in goods.

One day, Dobbin saw the dreadful school bully, Cuff, harassing a

scared boy. Dobbin stood in support of the poor victim and as a result, had

to fight with Cuff. At his victory over Cuff, Dobbin was made the hero of

the school and the little boy, who was George Osborne, began to love him as

a friend. Humbled by the love of George, Dobbin, since that day, became

George’s shadow, his devoted friend.

Back to the present, the party prepares to go to Vauxhall and George

requests them to take Dobbin along. Dobbin enters the Sedley House and

notices the young, beautiful Amelia, singing happily, and instantly falls

in love with her.

Chapter 6 Vauxhall

As the possibility of a match between Jos and Rebecca increases, Mr.

Sedley becomes more and more indifferent towards his son. The five people,

at their best, go to Vauxhall- Becky full of hope and expectations, with

Jos and Amelia extremely happy with George. All Dobbin does at Vauxhall is,

takes care of the shawls, and make payments at the gate.

When the time actually comes for Jos to propose marriage to Becky, he gets

drunk, and in his nervousness creates such a riot that everyone is

miserably embarrassed. Disappointed though, Rebecca does not leave hope.

The next day, George pays a visit to Jos at his apartment and narrates to

him all the foolish things he (Jos) had done the previous night. Thoroughly

ashamed he flees to Scotland, in order to avoid Becky.

This completely crashes all of Becky’s attempts and with all her

pretense at work she bids a tearful goodbye to a dejected Amelia and gifts

the purse to Mr. Sedley. Becky is sure that George Osborne has a hand in

her misery and is therefore determined to take her revenge.

Chapter 7 Crawley of Queen’s Crawley

Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47