Or Am I Now I? is a podcast adaptation and alteration of Chapter 17 (“Ithaca”) of James Joyce’s Ulysses. “Ithaca” follows Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom in the early hours of June 17th, 1904, in the Bloom home. Both are exhausted, coming off of a long day, and attempting to make some sort of connection to match up to the grand reunion of the characters which they are based on: The Odyssey’s Odysseus and Telemachus, the ideal father and son. Instead, they talk about all sorts of things, seem unable to find a moment of true connection, and urinate together in Bloom’s backyard before Stephen takes his leave and walks into the night. This is the final time we see these two characters in Ulysses, and truly the final time the narrative is firmly grounded in space or time before the novel ends with Molly Bloom’s extensive monologue in Chapter 18 (“Penelope”). “Ithaca” is the last that we will see of these men, and even there, the narrative is confined to its strict mode of catechism.
In our topsy-turvy translation of “Ithaca”, our host poses the same questions asked by the narrator of “Ithaca” to two actual characters rather than the all-knowing voice who replies in the novel: instead, Stephen and Molly, chime in. The religious style of the catechism becomes the modern format of the trivia podcast and all of the inquiries are taken directly from Joyce’s text. The questions are often unfair, ridiculous, and overly specific. Some ask about Bloom’s feelings, some ask about Stephen’s, and some ask about the detailed inner workings of the Dublin sewage system in 1904. The “right answer” is often ridiculous and unguessable. Through this piece, we are not only able to access Stephen’s actual thoughts which feel so masked in the original text, but also incorporate those of a character who does not truly get to speak until after “Ithaca” occurs: Molly.
Molly’s voice becomes particularly vital for this piece since she is both discussed by Stephen and Bloom in the span of “Ithaca” but also is physically in the same space as the episode occurs, spending the time just above them in the bedroom while Stephen and Bloom occupy the kitchen. Inserting Molly back into the narrative also allows her to take a more critical look at Stephen (who Bloom mostly accepts despite his missteps), particularly his performance of the ballad “Little Harry Hughes”. We are also able to more deeply assess Stephen’s reasons for his performance of the anti-semitic song, something which the actual chapter was unable to do because of its distance from the characters occupying it.
The performance of “Little Harry Hughes” is credited to the RTE audiobook recording of Ulysses. The performance of all other music in the podcast is credited to Melannie Jay. Or Am I Now I? was written by Melannie Jay, Leah Wang, and Anna Collins with text from James Joyce; it was edited by Melannie Jay.
Or Am I Now I? also features the performance of Melannie Jay as Host, Leah Wang as Stephen Dedalus, and Anna Collins as Molly Bloom.
Thank you to Paul Saint-Amour and Robert Berry for their support and encouragement throughout this process.
The title Or Am I Now I? comes from Chapter 8 (“Lestrygonians”) of Ulysses from the monologue of Leopold Bloom:
“I was happier then. Or was that I? Or am I now I? Twentyeight I was. She twentythree. When we left Lombard street west something changed. Could never like it again after Rudy. Can’t bring back time. Like holding water in your hand. Would you go back to then? Just beginning then. Would you? Are you not happy in your home you poor little naughty boy? Wants to sew on buttons for me. I must answer. Write it in the library.”