“ The first two paragraphs of “Proteus” are especially difficult unless one realizes that Joyce, through a stream-of-consciousness technique, is recording the complexity of Stephen’s thoughts as he muses upon the question of what is real, and what is not merely appearance. Stephen is a well-read young man, conversant in philosophy as well as in literary theory, and the first two paragraphs mirror his preoccupation with the processes of knowing and being. Although there is probably no exact source that Joyce used for the opening words of the chapter (“Ineluctable modality of the visible”), the subject matter of the following allusions is found in Aristotle’s De Anima. Aristotle taught that we are first aware of bodies through their translucence or transparency (diaphane), then through their colors. Dante judged Aristotle to be bright and called him maestro di color che sanno, “master of those who know.”

The first paragraph questions whether what we see is real; the second, the reality of the audible, as Stephen closes his “eyes to hear.” The nacheinander refers to objects as they are perceived in time — that is, one after another; the nebeneinander, as they are perceived in space — that is, one beside the other. The latter deals with visual appearances; the former, with auditory ones. In Ulysses, Stephen must disentangle the reality of his past (in Paris as well as in Dublin) from obfuscating memories; he must discover who he really is, as opposed to the person that others, such as Mulligan, perceive him to be. ”

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Cliffs Notes | “Ulysses: Summary and Analysis”

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I’m very thankful for two things: This calling the first two paragraphs “especially difficult”—which made me feel slightly less like an idiotic twat—and helping me to understand that what I read was, in fact, english. Because I had my doubts. Also, I now have an idea of what it all meant.

“Ineluctable modality of the visible”: I probably spent five minutes reading, over and over again, and trying to understand the meaning of those words.