John Patrick McHugh on Calypso - a podcast by BBC Radio 3

Five Irish writers each take a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses and, through a close reading, explore its meaning and significance within the wider work, as well as what it means to them. This February marks the centenary of the novel's publication. Reading Ulysses is a famously challenging experience for most readers, so can our Essayists help?

In the second essay of the series, young Irish writer John Patrick McHugh selects the fourth episode of the novel: Calypso. In it we encounter the novel's main character: Leopold Bloom. John gives us a close reading of its opening which sees Mr Bloom make breakfast for his wife and feed his cat. John says it's a chapter that "smells both of melted butter and defecation" and explores Joyce's unique description of a cat's miaow. He tells us about feeling lightheaded when he first encountered Ulysses and how his experience of the book has changed on re-reading it.Presenter: John Patrick McHugh
Producer: Camellia Sinclair

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