What are the Linati and Gilbert schemas?
The Linati and Gilbert schemas are two charts Joyce made to explain Ulysses. They list each episode's Homeric title, hour, organ of the body, art, colour, symbol and technique. Joyce sent one to Carlo Linati in 1920 and lent another to Stuart Gilbert, who printed it in 1930.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Several episodes. Joyce, describing the book's plan in a letter accompanying the Linati schema.
It is the epic of two races (Israel-Ireland) and at the same time the cycle of the human body as well as a little story of a day (life).
What it means in plain English
The episode names everyone uses, from “Telemachus” to “Penelope”, come from these charts, not from the book.
The two versions differ in places. Joyce gave them out privately and did not want them printed in the book itself.
Literary context
Gilbert's study James Joyce's Ulysses (1930) was written with Joyce's help.
References
- James Joyce, letter to Carlo Linati, 21 September 1920
- Stuart Gilbert, James Joyce's Ulysses (1930)
- Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (revised edition, 1982)
Continue in the Reading Room
Questions readers ask
Are the episode titles in the book?
No. They come from Joyce's schemas.
Related terms
Episode
Joyce's term for the 18 chapters of Ulysses, each set at a particular hour and place and written in a distinct style.
Homeric parallels
The loose mapping of Ulysses onto Homer's Odyssey, with each episode echoing a scene from the ancient poem.
The Odyssey
Homer's Odyssey is the ancient Greek epic of Odysseus (in Latin, Ulysses) and his ten-year voyage home from Troy. Joyce maps it onto one Dublin day: Bloom is Odysseus, Stephen is his son Telemachus, and Molly is his wife Penelope. Mulligan is the first to bring up the Greeks.