Talk:Sandymount Strand
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What DID Gerty do?
[edit]I'm afraid I may have opened a giant can of worms here as it was me who initially included the section on the characters of Ulysses and their actions on Sandymount Strand. But anyway; here are the facts: Joyce DELIBERATELY left it ambiguous as to what exactly happens with Gertrude McDowell and Leopold Bloom on Sandymount Strand. In a letter addressing a reader's question of what DID happen, Joyce states that NOTHING happened between Joyce and Gerty as the whole incident HAPPENED IN BLOOM'S IMAGINATION. Personally I feel that the idea of a whole chapter of a book happening purely in the mind of the protagonist whilst masturbating is a little bit too confusing and involved for a Wikipedia article which is only about a location and not the book. Therefore I suggest leaving out all details of what Gerty did and leaving it as I have re-written it:
"later the same day, Leopold Bloom sits on a rock and watches while young Gertie lifts her skirt as Bloom masturbates."
I feel this is enough for the casual browser and satisfies Joyce fans who will discover that the whole thing was Bloom's erotic fantasy if they read the episode and have ALL their wits about them. Writing the article this way also does something to explain the next sentence about why exactly this chapter was SO bad (a middle aged man masturbating in public over a possibly under-age girl) to have the book banned. Is this ok for everyone? Shane.Bell (talk) 08:49, 13 March 2008 (UTC)