Over the past couple of days I have changed the name and the domain of this website – or in hosting parlance ‘migrated’ – from ‘Culturedallroundman.com’ to ‘Culturedarm.com’. The new name is shorter and potentially more inclusive; and I was already using it for my Twitter, Instagram, YouTube accounts and more.
As the ‘About’ section of the site now belatedly explains, the name ‘Culturedallroundman’ derives from a line in James Joyce’s Ulysses. In the tenth episode, ‘Wandering Rocks’, Lenehan and M’Coy discuss Bloom, who they have just spotted browsing a bookseller’s cart. Lenehan recalls attending a dinner at the Glencree reformatory in 1894, at which Bloom and his wife Molly were also present; and Lenehan describes for M’Coy his fondling of Molly in the back of the coach during the ride home, as Bloom sat opposite and pointed out the stars and comets in the night sky.
* * *
‘āĀ The lad stood to attention anyhow, he said with a sigh. She’s a gamey mare and no mistake. Bloom was pointing out all the stars and the comets in the heavens to Chris Callinan and the jarvey: the great bear and Hercules and the dragon, and the whole jingbang lot. But, by God, I was lost, so to speak, in the milky way. He knows them all, faith. At last she spotted a weeny weeshy one miles away. And what star is that, Poldy? says she. By God, she had Bloom cornered. That one, is it? says Chris Callinan, sure that’s only what you might call a pinprick. By God, he wasn’t far wide of the mark.
Lenehan stopped and leaned on the riverwall, panting with soft laughter.
ā I’m weak, he gasped.
MāCoyās white face smiled about it at instants and grew grave. Lenehan walked on again. He lifted his yachtingcap and scratched his hindhead rapidly. He glanced sideways in the sunlight at MāCoy.
ā Heās a cultured allroundman, Bloom is, he said seriously. Heās not one of your common or garden ā¦ you know ā¦ Thereās a touch of the artist about old Bloom.’
* * *
In the context of Ulysses, the phrase ‘cultured allroundman’ suggests Bloom’s breadth of character in a way that subverts narrow concepts of masculinity. However beyond that context, I wondered whether the name ‘culturedallroundman’Ā was viewed as indicating a site meant for men: designed, for instance, to tell them about shaving nicely.
The address culturedallroundman.com, and all links pointing to pages and posts on that site, should now lead to the equivalent here. If you are reading this, you will already have navigated and may even have noticed the change. But if your journey has proven difficult, or if you go astray attempting to navigate further – or otherwise spot a broken link or image or have any thoughts regarding theĀ new or oldĀ name – send me an email at:Ā [email protected]
