Ulysses comprises of 18 episodes written in a multitude of styles and following the movements of various characters as they go about their day in Dublin on 16th June 1904. Principal amongst the characters are Stephen Dedalus, who we know from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Leopold and Molly Bloom. The first episode of Joyce’s Ulysses takes place at the Martello Tower in Sandycove, where Joyce actually lived for six days in September 1904 with Oliver St John Gogarty, a medical student. Gogarty was the model for the character Buck Mulligan, the very first character we meet in Ulysses: “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air.”

Press ‘A’ to listen to the introduction of Leopold Bloom in Ulysses Press ‘B’ to listen to an excerpt of the final episode of Ulysses

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