Episode 15
Stephen, and later Bloom, emerge from Amiens Street Station, which is the
entrance to Nighttown, a red-light district in north inner Dublin, known
as Monto. When Ulysses was published in 1922, its renowned brothels were
gradually being closed down and prostitution was being pushed underground.
Bloom catches up with Stephen at Bella Cohen’s where Stephen is playing
the piano, drinking and dancing. The time is 11.10 – 12.40 midnight.
(> click on the red spots)
Episode 15 was written in Trieste in 1919 and in completed
in Paris in 1920/1921.
Joyce did not invent Bella Cohen. She was real live Dublin Madam in 1904.
Most of the streets in that area have changed both their name and appearance
since 1904, so it is difficult to know exactly where Bella Cohen’s house
of ill repute was. We have made an educated guess by synchronizing the maps
of 1904 and 2004.
