How to use this glossary
Skim it before you start to recognise the major names, or dip in whenever a term trips you up mid-chapter. Each definition is meant to be quick and clear; where there's more to say, a link carries you to a full explainer. This is a living reference — we add entries as the guide expands, so check back as you read deeper into the book.
Key terms and names in Ulysses
- Bloomsday
- The annual celebration of Ulysses held every 16 June, the day on which the whole novel takes place. Read more →
- Leopold Bloom
- The central character: a kind, curious advertising canvasser whose wanderings give the novel its shape. Joyce's modern Odysseus. Read more →
- Stephen Dedalus
- The young writer who opens the novel — brilliant, grieving, and adrift. Joyce's Telemachus, the searching son. Read more →
- Molly Bloom
- Leopold's wife, a singer, whose long unpunctuated monologue closes the book on the word 'yes.' Joyce's Penelope. Read more →
- Buck Mulligan
- Stephen's witty, blasphemous flatmate, a medical student. He opens the novel parodying the Catholic Mass at the tower. Read more →
- Chrysostomos
- Greek for 'golden-mouthed.' A single word in Stephen's mind in Episode 1, prompted by Mulligan's gold-filled teeth — an early taste of interior monologue. Read more →
- Interior monologue
- The technique of rendering a character's unspoken thoughts directly on the page, as they actually occur. The engine of the book's style. Read more →
- Stream of consciousness
- The broad idea of representing the continuous flow of a character's mind; interior monologue is its most direct method. Read more →
- Martello tower
- The squat coastal defence tower at Sandycove where Stephen lodges in Episode 1. A real building, now a Joyce museum. Read more →
- Homeric parallels
- The loose mapping of Ulysses onto Homer's Odyssey, with each episode echoing a scene from the ancient poem. Read more →
- Eccles Street
- The Blooms' home address (number 7), where Bloom's day begins in 'Calypso.' Read more →
- Nighttown
- Dublin's red-light district and the setting of 'Circe' (Episode 15), where the day's repressed thoughts erupt into hallucination. Read more →
- The Citizen
- The aggressive nationalist Bloom argues with in 'Cyclops' (Episode 12) — Joyce's one-eyed Cyclops. Read more →
- Sandymount Strand
- The beach where Stephen walks alone in 'Proteus' (Episode 3) and where 'Nausicaa' (Episode 13) is set. Read more →
- Episode
- Joyce's term for the 18 chapters of Ulysses, each set at a particular hour and place and written in a distinct style. Read more →
Words, references, and techniques
Many of the trickiest moments in Ulysses are single words or buried allusions rather than whole concepts. As the glossary grows, we'll add more of these — Latin tags, Dublin slang, song titles, and the recurring motifs that knit the book together. For the techniques behind the style, start with interior monologue and the Homeric parallels.