How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph), except for the "Circe" episode, which is (Chapter.Line) and the "Penelope" episode, which is (Chapter.Page). We used the Vintage International edition published in 1990.
Quote #10
Condense Stephen's commentary.
One of all, the least of all, is the victim predestined. Once by inadvertence, twice by design he challenges his destiny. It comes when he is abandoned and challenges him reluctant and, as an apparition of hope and youth holds him unresisting. It leads him to a strange habitation, to a secret infidel apartment, and there, implacable, immolates him, consenting.
Why was the host (victim predestined) sad?
He wished that a tale of a deed should be told of a deed not by him should by him not be told. (17.119-120)
In "Ithaca," Stephen has just recited an anti-Semitic legend at Bloom's request. He offers a reading of the legend that presents both himself and Bloom as victims, but Bloom is still despondent. How could Stephen be so crass? Why is Bloom sad? Is it just the anti-Semitic content of Stephen's poem or the fact that there is now some distance between them or is it something else?