Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Ten of the best visits to the lavatory

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best visits to the lavatory in literature.

One title on the list:
Ulysses by James Joyce

The modern novelist is keen to take us into every private place. After breakfast, Leopold Bloom takes a copy of Titbits to the privy at the end of the garden. "Asquat on the cuckstool he folded out his paper turning its pages over on his bared knees." A prosaic episode, but shocking to its first readers. "Midway, his last resistance yielding, he allowed his bowels to ease themselves quietly as he read, reading still patiently."
Read about another entry on Mullan's list.

Ulysses also made John Mullan's list of the ten of the best parodies in literature and Frank Delaney's top 10 list of Irish novels.

--Marshal Zeringue