This schema, or explanatory outline, for the novel Ulysses was produced by its author, James Joyce, in 1920 in order to help a friend (Carlo Linati) understand the fundamental structure of the book.[1] The schema has been split into two tables for better ease of reading.
| Title | Time | Colour | People | Science / Art | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telemachus | 8 — 9 a.m. | Gold / white |
| Theology | Dispossessed son in contest | |
| Nestor | 9 — 10 a.m. | Brown |
| History | The wisdom of the ancients | |
| Proteus | 10 — 11 a.m. | Green |
| Philology | Primal matter | |
| Calypso | 8 — 9 a.m. | Orange | Mythology | The departing wayfarer | ||
| Lotus Eaters | 9 — 10 a.m. | Dark brown | Chemistry | The temptation of faith | ||
| Hades | 11 a.m. — 12 noon | Black-white | - | The descent into nothingness | ||
| Aeolus | 12 noon — 1 p.m. | Red |
| Rhetoric | The derision of victory | |
| Lestrygonians | 1 — 2 p.m. | Blood red |
| Architecture | Despondency | |
| Scylla and Charybdis | 2 — 3 p.m. | - | Literature | The double-edge sword | ||
| Wandering Rocks | 3 — 4 p.m. | Rainbow |
| Mechanics | The hostile milieu | |
| Sirens | 4 — 5 p.m. | Coral | Music | The sweet deceit | ||
| Cyclops | 5 — 6 p.m. | Green |
| Surgery | Egocidal terror | |
| Nausicaa | 8 — 9 p.m. | Grey | Painting | The projected mirage | ||
| Oxen of the Sun | 10pm - 11pm | White | Physics | The eternal herds | ||
| Circe | 11 p.m. — 12 midnight | Violet |
| Dance | The man-hating ogress | |
| Eumaeus | 12 midnight — 1 a.m. | - |
| - | The ambush on home ground | |
| Ithaca | 1 — 2 a.m. | - |
| - | Armed hope | |
| Penelope | infty | - |
| - | The past sleeps |
| Title | Technic | Organ | Symbols | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telemachus | Dialogue for three and four,narration,soliloquy | - | Hamlet, Ireland, Stephen | |
| Nestor | Dialogue for 2,narration,soliloquy | - | Ulster, woman, practical sense | |
| Proteus | Soliloquy | - | World, tide, Moon, evolution, metamorphosis | |
| Calypso | Dialogue for 2,soliloquy | Kidneys | Vagina, exile, nymph, Israel in captivity | |
| Lotus Eaters | Dialogue, prayer, soliloquy | Skin | Host, penis in the bath, froth, flower, drugs, castration, oats | |
| Hades | Dialogue, narration | Heart | Cemetery, sacred heart, the past, the unknown man, the unconscious, heart defect, relics, heartbreak | |
| Aeolus | Simbouleutike, dikanike, epideictic, tropes | Lungs | Machines, wind, fame, kite, failed destinies, the press, mutability | |
| Lestrygonians | Peristaltic prose | Oesophagus | Bloody sacrifice,food,shame | |
| Scylla and Charybdis | Whirlpools | Brain | Hamlet,Shakespeare,Christ,Socrates,London,Stratford,scholasticism,mysticism,Plato,Aristotle,youth,maturity | |
| Wandering Rocks | Shifting labyrinth between two shores | Blood | Caesar,Christ,errors,homonyms,synchronisms,resemblances | |
| Sirens | Fuga per canonem | Ear | Promises,female,sounds,embellishments | |
| Cyclops | Alternating asymmetry | Muscles, bones | Nation,state,religion,dynasty,idealism,exaggeration,fanaticism,collectivity | |
| Nausicaa | Retrogressive progression | Eye, nose | Onanism,feminine,hypocrisy | |
| Oxen of the Sun | Prose, embryo, foetus, birth | Matrix, uterus | Fertilisation,frauds,parthenogenesis | |
| Circe | Exploding vision | Locomotor apparatus, skeleton | Zoology,personification,pantheism,magic,poison,antidote,reel | |
| Eumaeus | Relaxed prose | Nerves | - | |
| Ithaca | Dialogue, pacified style, fusion | Juices | - | |
| Penelope | Monologue, resigned style | Fat | - |