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In ancient Greek philosophy, metempsychosis was the concept of reincarnation, or the idea that the soul migrates into a new body upon death.
Metempsychosis Quotes in Ulysses
The Ulysses quotes below are all either spoken by Metempsychosis or refer to Metempsychosis. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Episode 4: Calypso
Quotes
—Here, she said. What does that mean?
He leaned downward and read near her polished thumbnail.
—Metempsychosis?
—Yes. Who’s he when he’s at home?
—Metempsychosis, he said, frowning. It’s Greek: from the Greek. That means the transmigration of souls.
—O, rocks! she said. Tell us in plain words.
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Episode 8: Lestrygonians
Quotes
His smile faded as he walked, a heavy cloud hiding the sun slowly, shadowing Trinity’s surly front. Trams passed one another, ingoing, outgoing, clanging. Useless words. Things go on same, day after day: squads of police marching out, back: trams in, out. Those two loonies mooching about. Dignam carted off. Mina Purefoy swollen belly on a bed groaning to have a child tugged out of her. One born every second somewhere. Other dying every second.
[…]
Cityful passing away, other cityful coming, passing away too: other coming on, passing on. Houses, lines of houses, streets, miles of pavements, piledup bricks, stones. Changing hands. This owner, that. Landlord never dies they say. Other steps into his shoes when he gets his notice to quit. They buy the place up with gold and still they have all the gold. Swindle in it somewhere. Piled up in cities, worn away age after age. Pyramids in sand.
[…]
No-one is anything.
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Metempsychosis Term Timeline in Ulysses
The timeline below shows where the term Metempsychosis appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Episode 4: Calypso
...underwear, but she’s actually asking for a book. She’s marked a word she doesn’t understand: “metempsychosis,” which Leopold defines as “the transmigration of souls,” or reincarnation. The book is a circus-themed...
(full context)
Episode 8: Lestrygonians
...“parallax,” which he never fully understood. He remembers Molly asking about “met him pike hoses” (metempsychosis) and remarking, “O rocks!”
(full context)
Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun
...Sea, surrounded by a herd of moaning beasts in parallax. He sees a “wonder of metempsychosis,” a radiant figure who is both Martha and Milly.
(full context)
Episode 15: Circe
...funeral. He speaks the Hamlet ghost’s words in Esau’s voice and claims to be undergoing metempsychosis. Dignam summarizes the story of his death, then John O’Connell and Father Coffey show up...
(full context)
