By Muhammad Ali Hashmi[i]
The blog post has Homeric/Joycean parallels. Each episode in this narrative corresponds to the Joycean schemata of Ulysses/Odyssey.
It is 4:20 p.m. The turret of 830 Lakeshore stands in priestly[ii]
isolation surrounded by a water country and defiant skyscrapers. I put on my sweater and head out for a run.
The weather is unusually warm for November. I cross over to the other side of Ontario street. "This is life.' Shedd Aquarium’s panel flutters on a pole in the Chicago wind.
'History is a dream from which I am trying to awake'[iii]— on my left, an endless array of stone and steel jutted out by civilization; on the right, the murky green water of lake Michigan breathes in geological placidity. The engineering marvel of Fazlur Khan, the cross-bracing structure within the structure of the Onterie building, makes itself visible behind the W hotel.
'Ineluctable modality of the visible'[iv]. As I peer into the distance, something keeps clinging to my consciousness. The narrow strip of Ohio street beach reels in my mind superimposed over Manet’s The beach at Boulogne.
Just over half kilometer and am still trying to settle into rhythm. A grizzled man dressed in brown jacket is reading a book in an apartment on the Chestnut street. He seems quiet, comfortable, and languid[v]. Glad I got out of the cosy apartment. The sun nearing the turret of 830 Lakeshore.
Pace brisk now, and the heart pumping as I cross the Walton street. Calf muscles hurt today. Industry is the opiate of masses. People oblivious to their surroundings are driving in their sedans. 'Always passing, the stream of life.'[vi]
Nina Simone rolls in with her sinister Dambala in my head. Pace slows down. Cannot concentrate. An unkempt black man, who looks like the ghost of Du Bois with 'bloodshot eyes'[vii], sits on the concrete trail steps on the left. In his eyes everything is visible. I see him. I see myself. I see the negritude of the world melting into a cacophony.
The song finishes and I slough off the uneasy dread. The windy[viii] city shakes again, the wind picks up speed. I pick up speed as I run over a copy of Chicago Tribune. Notice a seagull eating[ix] a fish on the edge of the lake.
Settled into rhythm now. Lake Michigan appears much deeper and more bluer around the curve around the Oak Beach. A strange vertigo between the towering Hancock centre and a deepening lake Michigan[x].
The Lakeshore trail widens into a flat concrete pavement. Goethe street abandoned. See many runners now. Some teenagers roller-blading amid stray[xi] pedestrians.
Beethoven’s Scherzo[xii] looms in my head now. Driven forward by the mad timpani beats. Breathing heavily but feeling charged, the chess pavilion in sight.
Sweating profusely. Take off my shirt. A girl[xiv] with 'lustrous lashes and dark expressive'[xv] brows passes a smile at me.
Largo from Dvorak’s 9th symphony breaks in with sombre big horns and soothes into subtle violins perforated by oboes, nostalgic reeds, speaking about going home. Chains me to Rumi’s Lament of the Reed. Resume my running, a crowd[xvi] under the waning sun.
The DRAKE[xvii] sign in Old English typography visible behind the horns of Hancock tower. Conjures clandestine thoughts of a sin city.
I see Marko, my Mexican friend, running along the curving Lakeshore trail. He takes some time to recognize me[xviii]. He waves his hand from distance as I curve away from him.
The Ferris wheel at the Navy Pier lures me to the comfort of my home[xix]. Listening to Cecom. Sailing into the wind and reaching the dawn. I check the time: roughly 25 minutes for 5 km. Not bad but not good either. Make my way to home.
[i] The blog is based on my daily run but it has Homeric/Joycean parallels. Use Joyce's schemata as a key for this text: http://www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/ulysses/#schema
[ii] In the first para ‘priestly’ alludes to Telemachus: "Introibo ad altare Dei" I will go up to God's altar.'He faced about and blessed gravely thrice the tower, the surrounding country and the awaking mountains' is text from the chapter Telemachus. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/1/
[iii] 'History is a dream from which I am trying to awake’ is an inversion of the text ‘History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake’ from chapter Nestor. The art discussed in the chapter is History.http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/2/
[iv] 'Ineluctable modality of the visible' is a text from the chapter Proteus. The allusion to Ohio beach echoes the introduction in chapter Proteus.‘Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot. Snotgreen, bluesilver, rust: coloured signs.’ http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/3/
[v] ‘He seems quiet, comfortable, and languid.’ As Ulysses was imprisoned by Calypso, the man in brown jacket is imprisoned by the comforts of life.
Bloom is portrayed as Molly's servant in the chapter Calypso. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/4/
[vi] 'Always passing, the stream of life' is text from Lotus-eaters. Industry is the opiate of masses is allusion to Lotus-eaters. Chapter: Lotus-eaters. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/5/
[vii] ‘bloodshot eyes’ is a text from the line ‘Mr Bloom nodded gravely, looking in the quick bloodshot eyes’ in Ulysses. Hades = Grotesque/’Underworld’ in Chicago. Chapter: Hades. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/6/
[viii] wind/windy is a reference to Aeolus, god of wind, in Ulysses. 'The sack of windy Troy,' Chapter: Aeolus. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/7/
[ix] seagull ‘eating’ a fish is alluding to Laestrygonians, a tribe of cannibal eaters. Homer visits them during his journey back to Ithaca. Chapter: Lestrygonians. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/8/
[x] towering Hancock & deepening lake Michigan = Scylla and Charybdis, the two sea monsters in Odyssey.Chapter: Scylla and Charybdis. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/9/
[xi] ‘amid stray[xi] pedestrians.’ Is an allusion to wandering rocks from Ulysses, ‘wandering rocks’ were a group of rocks, between which the sea was merciless. Chapter: Wandering Rocks. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/10/
[xii] ‘Beethoven’s Scherzo’ is allusion to Sirens, the three dangerous bird-women who lured nearby sailors with their music. Chapter: Sirens. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/11/
[xiii] ‘A squint eyed’ is an allusion to Cyclops, single eyed giants from Greek mythology. In Ulysses, Cyclop is represented by an ill-tempered nationalist. Chapter: Cyclops. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/12/
[xiv] Reference to Nausicaa. Chapter: Nausicaa. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/13/
[xv] ‘A girl’ is allusion to Nausicaa, who falls in love with Odysseus as he comes out of the sea stark naked; 'lustrous lashes and dark expressive' is a text from Nausicaa in Ulysses which describes Gerty, a young girl. Chapter: Nausicaa. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/13/
[xvi] ‘crowd now under the waning sun’ is an allusion to Oxen of the Sun, the beloved cattle of the sun-god Helios. Chapter: Oxen of the Sun. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/14/
[xvii] DRAKE is allusion to Circe, a nymph, witch, enchantress. Chapter: Circe. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/15/
[xviii] ‘Marko, my Mexican friend... recognize me’ is an allusion to Eumaeus, Odysseus's swineherd and friend; he does not recognise Odysseus is in disguise when he is back. Chapter: Eumaeus.http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/16/
[xix] ‘comfort of home’ is an allusion to Ithaca, the home of Odysseus. Chapter: Ithaca. http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/17/
Chapter Penelope: http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/ulysses/18/
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