Summary
Episode Eleven begins with a jumbled prelude of phrases—fragments,
it turns out, of the text to come. Episode Eleven also uses a technique
s-imlar to Episode Ten, whereby sections of text that describe events
happening in another location interrupt the narrative at hand.
The Ormond Hotel barmaids, Lydia Douce and Mina Kennedy, strain
to see the viceregal cavalcade out the window, then gossip and giggle
over their tea. Meanwhile, Bloom is walking past shop windows nearby.
Simon Dedalus enters the Ormond bar, followed by Lenehan, looking
for Boylan. The barmaids serve them drinks and discuss the blind
piano tuner who tuned the Ormond piano earlier today. Dedalus tests
out the piano in the saloon. Boylan arrives and flirts with Miss
Kennedy while he and Lenehan await the wire results of the Gold
Cup race.
In the meantime, while buying notepaper to write to Martha, Bloom
has noticed Boylan’s jaunty car on Essex Bridge. Mindful of Boylan’s
fast-approaching four o’clock rendezvous with Molly, Bloom decides
to follow the car to the Ormond Hotel. Outside the hotel, Bloom
runs into Richie Goulding and agrees to have dinner with him inside—Bloom
plans to survey Boylan. They sit down in the dining room.
Boylan and Lenehan, leaving, pass Bob Cowley and Ben
Dollard on their way in. In the dining room, Pat the waiter takes
Goulding’s and Bloom’s drink orders. Bloom hears the jingle of Boylan’s
car pulling away and nearly sobs with anxiety. In the saloon, Dedalus and
Dollard reminisce about past vocal concerts and the time Dollard
had to borrow evening clothes from the Blooms’ second-hand clothing
shop for a performance. The men discuss Molly appreciatively. In
the dining room, Bloom, too, is thinking about Molly, as Pat serves
dinner.
Interspersed with these passages are the jingle of Boylan’s
car and updates on its progress toward the Blooms’.
