Molly Bloom's Soliloquy
from Ulysses
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Molly Bloom's Soliloquy
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Narrated by:
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Marcella Riordan
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By:
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James Joyce
About this listen
Molly Bloom’s soliloquy, the remarkable climactic conclusion to Ulysses, remains, nearly a century after its first publication, one of the most remarkable chapters in world literature. It is night, the end of a long day (16 June 1904) for Leopold Bloom’s wife, Molly. She lies in bed, muses on the events of the day, her life with her husband, her affair with Blazes Boylan, and drifts towards sleep. Joyce tried to document a woman’s thoughts in an unexpurgated stream of consciousness: subjects, memories, fantasies interweave among the incomplete sentences.
Regarded as scandalous and brilliant in its intimacy, the soliloquy is captivating and engrossing, especially when read so convincingly by the Irish actress Marcella Riordan. For those who have found it difficult to get to the end of Ulysses, here, unabridged, is the soliloquy on its own - and curiously it works almost as an extended poem, with a rhythm and an intimate power that are unforgettable.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
Public Domain (P)2012 Naxos AudioBooksEditor reviews
The final chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses is a stream of consciousness soliloquy delivered by Leopold Bloom's wife Molly. Her thoughts are meandering, wistful, and at times explicit, containing a physicality that the novel's male characters often lack.
One challenge that a performer encounters with this material is Joyce's sparse punctuation - the entire soliloquy only contains eight sentences - but Irish actress Marcella Riordan punctuates Molly's words with natural pauses and sighs that enhance their meaning. Riordan clearly understands the author's intentions and helps listeners do the same. Her voice is at times sultry, ethereal, and yearning, not to mention melodic when she bursts into song. This performer is truly worthy of Joyce's final passage.