Blooms & Barnacles

In which, Stephen proves through algebra that Hamlet’s grandson is Shakespeare’s grandfather.
Topics in this episode include Puritanism, whether or not Anne Hathaway became a religious fanatic late in life, Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her Puritan husband, the squandering of Shakespeare’s estate after his death, “Venus and Adonis,” the mystical estate of paternity, Hamlet and paternity, the Sabellian heresy, the authorship question, possible Shakespeare ghost writers, Buck Mulligan’s roasts, and James Joyce proves through algebra that he is his own father, just like Jesus and Shakespeare.
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We review the 2025 Chloe Zhao film, Hamnet.
To watch or listen to the full episode, visit patreon.com/barnaclecast

Ora pro nobis! Pogue mahone! Acushla machree!
Topics in this episode include Thomas Aquinas (but less than you might expect), Aquinas’ views on incest, the meaning on “new Viennese school,” whether or not Joyce had any interest in psychoanalysis (and whether it matters), how Joyce may have encountered psychoanalysis in Zurich, Professor Edward Dowden, the work of psychoanalyst Otto Rank and his view on Hamlet specifically, Hamlet as an Oedipal text or an “incest drama”, the notion of Shakespeare writing Hamlet to process the death of his father, the theme of paternity in Ulysses, Stephen’s recognition of the historic resilience of Jewish communities, Nobodaddy, whether or not Reddit atheists have embraced the poetry of William Blake, and what John Eglinton and the Unabomber have in common.
NIGHTTOWN in the Netherlands — tickets here
 
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On the Blog:
Decoding Dedalus: Saint Thomas' New Viennese School — Blooms & Barnacles
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Isn’t Carrotty Bess great?
Topics in this episode include why Stephen compares Shakespeare to Shylock, Shakespeare’s father John Shakespeare and his many business ventures, his legal troubles caused by some of those business ventures, Shakespeare’s corn-hoarding during a famine, the irony of Irish Nationalists being devoted to Shakespeare, Shakespeare’s role in providing propaganda for Britain’s colonial project, Mr. Deasy’s thoughts on Shakespeare, Chettle Falstaff, the time Shakespeare sued a guy over some malt, how The Merchant of Venice stoked Elizabethan antisemitism, plays that Shakespeare wrote to please various monarchs, James I and Macbeth, political propaganda found in Shakespeare’s comedies, and why Stephen’s point-of-view as an Irish person alters his interpretation of Shakespeare.
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On the Blog:
Decoding Dedalus: He drew Shylock out of his own long pocket.
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Sometimes the secondbest bed is the better bed.
Topics in this episode include Griselsa, Antisthenes and Helen, art of surfeit, the Dark Lady of the sonnets, the erotic adventures of Shakespeare and Richard Burbage, how the Dark Lady connects the works of Shakespeare to the world of Ulysses, misogyny in the interpretation of Shakespeare, the binary of Stratford and London, William Davenant, Fetter Lane of Gerard, giglot wantons, Anne Hathaway’s supposed infidelity, Anne’s debt to a shepherd, Shakespeare’s will and the secondbest bed, and why it isn’t as damning as one might assume.
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