Ulysses/Sirens

Chapter 11 Sirens

Gilbert Schema

Scene: The Concert Room

Hour: 4 PM

Organ: Ear

Symbol: Barmaids

Art: Music

Technic: fuga per canonem(a)

Summary

If Chapter 8 Ulysses/Lestrygonians is like stopping for lunch during your path through Ulysses, then Chapter 11 is like an early afternoon happy hour.

Odyssey

From Wikipedia [1]:

In Greek mythology, the sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.

...

Odysseus was curious as to what the sirens sang to him, and so, on the advice of Circe, he had all of his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he might beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they bound him tighter. When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus demonstrated with his frowns to be released. Some post-Homeric authors state that the sirens were fated to die if someone heard their singing and escaped them, and that after Odysseus passed by they therefore flung themselves into the water and perished.

Links

Yale Modernism page: https://modernism.courseresource.yale.edu/2017/07/13/the-sirens/