Using emoji to summarise Ulysses

like using basic english
("Ogden also made a translation of the last four pages of ‘Anna Livia Plurabelle’ into Basic English with Joyce’s assistance. It was published in the journal Psyche in October 1931." cite)



episode one

episode five lotuseaters

episode 12 cyclops

misc1 misc2

Gossip

What 'laws of gossip' does Ulysses embody? (it's complicated)

Can we extract a spreadsheet of variables describing who'll gossip how, to whom, about whom?

Malicious vs sympathetic gossip: Purefoy's pregnancy, Dignam's death and family

Does Joyce ever show a character NOT gossiping when they have a chance to? (exercising discretion) ...Yes, Martin Cunningham has kept Bloom's father's suicide quiet, Stephen almost never gossips... Bloom too?

We glimpse others discussing Bloom's ethnicity, his work history, his marriage, his generosity, the lottery scam, his connection to the freemasons. And especially well-documented is the spread of the false rumor about Throwaway.


Similarly we see Breen's UP postcard making the rounds.


We hear Simon badmouthing Mulligan and others.

Mulligan and Lenehan seem especially unguarded.


Mulligan throws gossip about Stephen back in his face


Stephen 'gossips' about Shakespeare.

The newsmen gossip about Gallaher and Dawson.


Molly's thoughts are full of gossip but we never see her talking to anyone but Poldy. (did she gossip to boylan about poldy???)


Conmee is very discreet-- the Church defines who can gossip how.


People have varied absolute inclinations to pass on gossip. Some tell everything they know at every opportunity.  Some exaggerate what they hear.


Maybe a grid of who's heard which gossip about Bloom?

A model of how Throwaway changes as it spreads



each person needs a grid of who-cares-about-who, and how-well-does-each-know-each, so that gossip can be passed mainly to those who care but don't already know

if you don't already know someone you need to sound them out


useful gossip: un/trustworthiness

Sexual gossip

sexual gossip is one of the primary drivers of finnegans wake's lifecycle: HCE exposed himself to or spied on some nursemaids

imagine color-coding the various sorts of sexual trespass that gossip addresses (exhibitionism, voyeurism, masturbation, impotence, promiscuity, cuckoldry, incest, pedophilia...)

and then tagging occasions in ulysses where anyone commits or gossips about each variant (truthfully, exaggeratedly, or wholecloth fabrication)

Kim Kardashian Hollywood

the goal of KK's highly successful game is to claw your way onto the hollywood A-list by dating famous people, doing scandalous photo shoots, buying the right clothes and makeup, getting the right cosmetic surgery, etc.


so maybe let the young writers of dublin try to climb the social ladder, getting poems and plays published and performed, getting invited to Moore's, meeting Lady Gregory, cultivating a persona, offending others, exploiting peasant culture, renting a tower, going vegetarian, dating Maud Gonne...



read more: [5-important-lessons] [atlantic]



one of the cities KKH supports is dublin:

(Sullivan's is a real Irish microbrewery so this is probably a paid placement but it's not Dublin-based; Pop Clam is imaginary. no grafton street???)



gameplay:

Puzzle games

Since Joyce described the 12 central episodes as Bloom's "Odyssey" in which he confronts and masters 12 life-challenges, we might look for ways to echo these in classic videogame fashion.

Ideally the 'skills' we have to discover should represent real human virtues, not just stunts.


telemachia

1

2

3


odyssey

4 escaping kitchen duties?

5 avoiding drugs, advancing secret affair

6 facing humiliation and death in foreign land?

7 language skills? word puzzles?

8 consumption in moderation (being eaten?)

9 drunk stephen struggles to assemble pieces of elaborate argument

10 shifting paths/ points-of-view = empathic versatility?

11 music as an illusion/ drug? mastering music basics?

12 nationalism as ego

13 flirtation/ seduction: what charms vs what alienates

14 sex vs pregnancy? masturbation, condoms

15 lust and guilt


nostos

16

17

18

Ulysses expert system

Could we feed enough questions-with-answers into a knowledgebase to make it seem like a Ulysses expert?

Eg by writing Wikipedia-style articles on every person place and thing, and letting IBM's Watson train on them?

Academic litcrit would produce a lot of hogwash, so it would need to be attributed to individuals. (A Ulysses-expert expert)

Simulating Jesus?

Do we know enough about the state of the middle east ca 30 AD to model any part of the rise of Christianity?

How stories of miracle-workers spread?

Courts and punishments?

Jewish law vs Roman law?

Recorded early conversions?