The book of Ulysses that I read has 933 pages. This companion book, the line-by-line annotations of the novel, has 634 pages, big pages written in two columns. It is quite incredible. Each chapter is broken down with detailed explanations, starting with a map of the episode and the parallels with The Odyssey, also citing the Linati scheme. Each place mentioned in the book is placed on the map of the city, each character is described and, where necessary, placed in a historical context. The notes explain the references to the Bible, to Shakespeare, to The Odyssey, to mythology, to Irish history, to every single poem or song that appears in the book. Without this guide, I would never have been able to understand all the references James Joyce sprinkled throughout the book. Incredibly useful. A huge work.
“Episode 17: Ithaca, 17.1-2332 (666-737). In Book 17 of The Odyssey, Telemachus and Odysseus go their separate ways to Odysseus’s pal-ace. Odysseus is still in disguise as a beggar down on his luck. In Books 17-20 Odysseus – having entered his house “by a stratagem,” as Bloom does (Ulysses 17.84 [668:20]) -plots to kill the suitors. The state of his house “corrugates” his brow-as Bloom’s brow is corrugated (17.322 [675:34]). Antinous, one of the chief suitors, is irritated by Odysseus and throws a stool at him (Book 17) – as Bloom runs into his displaced (by whom?) furniture (17.1274-78 [705:23-28]). On the morning of slaughter-day the suitors compete to see who can string Odysseus’s great bow, but none can; the disguised Odysseus finally strings it with extraordinary ease, and Zeus reassures him with a thunderclap out of a cloudless sky (Book 21) – as the liturgical review of Bloom’s day is rewarded by a “loud lone crack emitted by the insentient material of a strainveined timber table” (17.2061- 62 [729:17-19]). Odysseus and Telemachus pen the suitors in the great hall of the palace – as Stephen helps lock the door (17.119 [669:27]). The slaughter of the suitors begins (Book 22) after Odysseus has strung the bow (correspondence: Reason), and Antinous (the part Mulligan is playing) is the first to be killed – as Bloom has already disposed of Mulligan (16.279-99 [620:31-621:11]). The second of the suitors to be killed is Eurymachus (Boylan’s part), whom Athena has identified (Book 15) as the suitor on the verge of success because favored by Penelope’s father and brothers. At the height of the killing in Book 22, the aegis of Athena shines under the roof of the hall, terrifying the suitors – as, at 17.1210 (703:23-27), a “celestial sign” appears. The lives of the poet and the herald are spared. When the killing is over, Telemachus is sent on an errand and Odysseus fumigates his house – as Bloom does (17.1321-29 [707:5-15]).”