Transmigration of Souls

“Why did he desist from speculation?
Because it was a task for a superior intelligence to substitute other more acceptable phenomena in place of the less acceptable phenomena to be removed.

Did Stephen participate in his dejection?
He affirmed his significance as a conscious rational animal proceeding syllogistically from the known to the unknown and a conscious rational reagent between a micro- and a macrocosm ineluctably constructed upon the incertitude of the void.

Was this affirmation apprehended by Bloom?
Not verbally. Substantially.

Was this affirmation apprehended by Bloom?
Not verbally. Substantially.”

I want to better understand Joyce’s thoughts on the transmigration of souls-- a concept that may or may not be a Platonic reality. In this passage, we’re presented with a manifestation of the two contrasting modes of being that Bloom and Stephen seem to exhibit throughout the book-- specifically, the ways in which they interpret the unknown.

Stephen is described as distrusting “aquacities of thought and language.” He accepts or disregards his sensations with regard to his ability to articulate them in the terms of the systems of thought-- in which he has been educated-- that are deemed acceptable according to the popularly accepted standards of the contemporary academic community. He is a little surprised by Bloom’s earnest hospitality and he is conscious of his intellectual superiority to Bloom, as well as his academic background.

Bloom apprehends Stephen’s assumptions, although he would be unable to articulate the reasons for his apprehension, as the narrator alludes in his parodies of the thought processes of the two characters-- the pedantic and eloquent explanations given for Stephen, the laconic and sparse answers given for Bloom.

Later, the narrator will describe Bloom’s apprehension as a misapprehension. Is this Joyce’s critique of Bloom’s assumption of synchronicity with Stephen?

Is there a substantiveness to the transmigration of souls? In class, Robin said that there is if we allow there to be, as Bloom does and Stephen does not. I think that this chapter is a suggestion of what will happen if we allow there to be inexplicable realities, and it suggests the effects that might be provoked by the acceptance of such an assumption.