The Essay: Reading Ulysses

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The Essay: Reading Ulysses: Colm Tóibín on Sirens

Colm Tóibín on Sirens

Reading Ulysses

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Reading Ulysses, Colm Tóibín on Sirens

Colm Tóibín explains singing in Ulysses, exploring a passage from the Sirens episode.

Colm Tóibín tells us how characters in Ulysses are connected by song. Colm selects a passage from the Sirens episode, where Simon Dedalus is 'made a hero' when he sings.

Five Irish writers each take a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses and, through a close reading, explore its meaning and significance within the wider work, as well as what it means to them. Reading Ulysses is a famously challenging experience for most readers, so can our Essayists help?

In the third essay of this series, acclaimed Irish writer Colm Tóibín talks about the role of songs and singing in the novel. He says that in early twentieth century Dublin, professional and amateur concerts and operatic singing flourished - and he argues that many of the characters in Ulysses are connected by music and song.

Colm selects a passage from the Sirens episode of the book which sees the character, Simon Dedalus, sing in his rich tenor voice. Colm examines the parallels between the character of Simon Dedalus and Joyce's own father, John Stanislaus Joyce - both good singers. Colm argues that all the "badness" in Simon "is washed away by his performance as singer" and he explores how the reverberations of Simon's song echo later in book.

First broadcast in February 2022 to mark a centenary since the novel's publication. 

Presenter: Colm Tóibín
Producer: Camellia Sinclair

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Five Irish writers re-read James Joyce's difficult classic novel Ulysses.

Five Irish writers re-read James Joyce's novel Ulysses, providing insights into the meaning of a notoriously difficult classic of world literature.

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