All those words

Bloom likes to write love letters with dirty words in them—as did his creator (though in later life Joyce was notably prudish in society, refusing to countenance conversational obscenities). Ulysses is sparing in its use of dirty words, but even when they are tactfully omitted, their absent presence opens windows onto unseen worlds.

JH 2013

Cover of Ellen Sussman's Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex (Bloomsbury USA, 2008).

The stairway to heaven. Source: birdchadlouis.wordpress.com.