Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Telemachus/017

Annotations

017.05 "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself." Mulligan is quoting Walt Whitman, Song of Myself. The brazen spirit of Whitman might be caricatured in Mulligan's buffooning, never ending (albeit well-intentioned) monologue, but it should be apparent that Joyce's intentions are also in-line with the American poet's, who shook up everything that predated him as well. 017.06 mercurial       Buck uses "mercurial" here to set himself against the jesuit he described as jejune on 004.17.
      1. changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic: a mercurial nature.
      2. animated; lively; sprightly; quick-witted.
      3. pertaining to, containing, or caused by the metal mercury.
      4. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the god Mercury.
      5. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the planet Mercury.

017.33 omphalos       Used on 007.32 to indicate the rock at the center or navel of the world.