In Ulysses, the eclectic Dublin poet George Russell is loosely acquainted with Stephen Dedalus. In “Scylla and Charybdis,” Russell loans Stephen money, but doesn’t include him in his anthology of young up-and-coming Irish poets. He also vigorously rejects Stephen’s convoluted theory about Shakespeare’s family because he views art as an expression of “eternal wisdom,” or universal truths unconnected to the realities of everyday life. Joyce, who really met Russell in his youth, repeatedly pokes fun at Russell’s theosophy and the unusual pseudonym he used to publish his work (“Æ”).
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George Russell Character Timeline in Ulysses
The timeline below shows where the character George Russell appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Episode 8: Lestrygonians
...sick. Then, Bloom suddenly passes Charles Parnell’s brother John on the street. The poet George Russell cycles past with a woman. The coincidence of seeing another famous person astonishes Bloom, who...
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Episode 9: Scylla and Charybdis
...ego by suggesting that he views himself as another Milton or Shakespeare. The poet George Russell comments that authors’ biographies and correspondences with their characters are irrelevant: what’s really important is...
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...Best, reports that Haines has left to go buy a book of Irish folk poetry. Russell argues that common people are the true source of all meaningful artistic and political movements,...
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...to his son Hamnet, who died as a boy just before Shakespeare wrote the play. Russell objects that the “the family life of a great man” is irrelevant to the man’s...
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Russell comments that he has to leave, then tells Eglinton that he won’t be able to...
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