Cyclops

by hlewis, Monday, June 17, 2019, 09:45 (2484 days ago) @ HCE

It's probably not terribly original to cite this as one's favorite chapter, but aside from the barroom carrying-on making you feel like you're in the actual pub with them, I've always had this near obsession with the Polyphemus tale, from deep in my childhood, that makes me actually read this as a stand-alone chapter pretty frequently.

My obsession with the cyclops part of the Odyssey originated the way it probably did for many kids of my age - with Ray Harryhausen. The first time I saw "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" it freaked my ass right out. It was mainly the fighting skeletons that gave me nightmares, but there was also this:

As a young adult I became somewhat obsessed with JMW Turner when I read Simon Schama's analysis of his work in "Landscape and Memory." Obviously, I can't afford an original Turner, but I do have a 120 year old mezzotint of "Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus," viz:

I didn't have that print at the time I first read "Ulysses," but when I saw it in the gallery I developed a mental picture of a giant flying biscuit tin coming from the left-hand side toward the the ship as it escaped.

Edit - over on NDNation, I used to post under the name Blazes Boylan. I had narrowed my choices to that and Barney Kiernan, but chose the former because I thought it was more readily identifiable to the story.