Monday, June 29, 2009

Ten of the best vegetables

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best vegetables in literature.

One title on the list:
Ulysses by James Joyce

The most significant yet mysterious vegetable in literature is surely Leopold Bloom's potato. "Potato I have", he thinks as he checks his pockets on first leaving his house; he carries it everywhere. A prostitute takes it, but he retrieves it, explaining: "It is nothing, but still, a relic of poor mama". Later, we hear phantom voices chanting, "Potato Preservative Against Plague and Pestilence, pray for us".
Read about all ten vegetables on Mullan's list.

Ulysses also made John Mullan's lists of the ten of the best parodies and ten of the best visits to the lavatory, and Frank Delaney's top ten list of Irish novels.

Learn about John Reader's top 10 potato books.

--Marshal Zeringue