Bloom

Fathers and sons and lovers. June, 1904. Leopold Bloom, Dublin Jew and cuckold, attends a funeral, recalls his infant son dead 11 years, faces an anti-Semite at a pub, has a phantasmagoric dream while at a brothel, feeds a drunken young poet Stephen Dedalus, bonds briefly with Stephen as if father and son, and gets into bed next to his wife Molly. Stephen spends his day teaching, talking about literature with pals, pondering Shakespeare and “Hamlet” and fatherhood, brooding on his dead mother, drinking too much, and accepting Bloom’s hand. Molly, lusty Molly, recalls vividly her courtship and affirmation of Bloom. Homer’s “Odyssey” provides the story’s structure.