The Annotated "Ulysses"/Page 062
— Show here, she said. I put a mark in it. There’s a word I wanted to
ask you.
She swallowed a draught of tea from her cup held by nothandle and,
having wiped her fingertips smartly on the blanket, began to search the text
with the hairpin till she reached the word.
— Met him what? he asked.
— Here, she said. What does that mean?
He leaned downwards 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.
He smiled, glancing askance at her mocking eye. The same young eyes.
The first night after the charades. Dolphin’s Barn. He turned over the smudged
pages. Ruby : the Pride of the Ring. Hello. Illustration. Fierce Italian with
carriagewhip. Must be Ruby pride of the on the floor naked. Sheet kindly
lent. The monster Maffei desisted and flung his victim from him with an oath.
Cruelty behind it all. Doped animals. Trapeze at Hengler’s. Had to look the
other way. Mob gaping. Break your neck and we’ll break our sides. Families
of them. Bone them young so they metempsychosis. That we live after death.
Our souls. That a man’s soul after he dies. Dignam’s soul...
— Did you finish it? he asked.
— Yes, she said. There’s nothing smutty in it. Is she in love with the first
fellow all the time?
— Never read it. Do you want another?
— Yes. Get another of Paul de Kock’s. Nice name he has.
She poured more tea into her cup, watching its flow sideways.
Must get that Capel street library book renewed or they’ll write to
Kearney, my garantor. Reincarnation : that’s the word.
— Some people believe, he said, that we go on living in another body
after death, that we lived before. They call it reincarnation. That we all lived
before on the earth thousands of years ago or some other planet. They say we
have forgotten it. Some say they remember their past lives.
The sluggish cream wound curdling spirals through her tea. Better remind
her of the word : metempsychosis. An example would be better. An example?
The Bath of the Nymph over the bed. Given away with the Easter number