Bielawa, Michael J. “’U.p.’ at Bat: Baseball Symbolism in Ulysses’’Nausicaa’” NINE: A
Journal of Baseball History and Culture 14.1 (2005): 143-50. Project Muse. Web.
Related Topics
Sports and Competition
Baseball
Numerology
In this article, Bielawa analyzes Ulysses’ thirteenth episode, “Nausicaa,” focusing on the striking prevalence of baseball references within the episode, in an effort to understand ways in which Joyce brings America’s pastime to his depiction of Dublin life. Bielawa begins the piece by drawing on an uncanny comparison between James Joyce and American ballplayer James Henry O’Rourke (ironically sharing a name with Ulysses character Larry O’Rourke), who was nicknamed “The Orator,” as a result of his Yale law degree and intelligent reputation. Similarly, Bielawa highlights 1904 as a major year for both James’, with Ulysses taking place on June 16, 1904, and O’Rourke’s nostalgic return to the Major Leagues on September 22, 1904, at the age of 54, eleven years after retiring (144). Bielawa suggests that this unique resemblance between the two, coupled with Joyce’s potential “dissatisfaction with 1904’s lack of a World Series,” drives the pervasive symbolism that he points out in the episode (146). In describing the numerous connections between baseball and “Nausicaa,” Joyce highlights the role of numerology and baseball imagery, using the two as key points in linking the American pastime and the episode.
In his numerological analysis of “Nausicaa,” Bielawa focuses on the number 9, noticing its prevalence in the episode in a variety of forms, finding his observations especially intriguing given the importance of nine in baseball, being the number of innings in a standard game. Referring to nine as, “The Mystic Number,” Bielawa points out nine’s appearances in various forms, for example, in the 54 total instances of derivatives of “nine,” (noting that 5+4=9), Baby Boardman’s age of eleven months and nine days, and the novel’s 18 total episodes (1+8=9), as evidence of this baseball connection (146).
While numerology presents some unique evidence for Joyce’s less visible baseball evidence, Bielawa zeroes in on baseball imagery as the pivotal aspect of his argument. From the “‘arcing fly balls,’” of the twins’ play, to Bloom’s use of a “stick” (which Bielawa points out is slang for “bat”), and especially the stare down between Gerty and Bloom from a distance Bielawa suggests is 60 feet and six inches, the traditional distance between the mound and home plate, these visual images Joyce paints contain an undeniable baseball tint (147). Coupled with the notion that time has stopped, like the untimed feature in baseball, due to Bloom’s broken watch, serves as a major confirmation of Bielawa’s previous claims. With this litany of connections in mind, Bielawa suggests readers look towards the rest of the novel with “Nausicaa’s” baseball symbolism in mind, especially as Bloom seeks to reach home, just like every batter that steps up to the plate.
