Volume 18, Number 5 · March 23, 1972
Why Molly Bloom Menstruates
By Richard Ellmann
The denouement of Ulysses has been much disputed. What seems to end the book is that Bloom, who nodded off at the end of the 'Ithaca' episode, and his more wakeful wife Molly both snore away in the arms of Morpheus, or as Joyce puts it, in the arms of Murphy. But is this really the end? Did Joyce have no future in mind for his characters? The question is particularly likely to be asked because A Portrait is often said to find its sequel in Ulysses where Stephen appears after an interval of about two years. But A Portrait seems self-contained, it celebrates the birth first of Stephen's body and then of his soul, it brings him from inchoate to real selfhood, from possibility to decision. If he reappears in Ulysses, and I won't deny that he does, he is there for a different purpose, not to present his further adventures.
Feature, 5442 words
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