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[This is expanded from an Apr2000 mailinglist posting: password]
Joyce was fanatical about realism in Ulysses, so when in the Hades episode he places four men in a carriage, and follows them the whole way across Dublin, we can be sure he had considered where each was sitting, and the particular sights each was seeing from his unique perspective.
But he's actually being very careful not to give it away-- we have to deduce it from very subtle clues, especially an intimate knowledge of Dublin's layout in 1904. (Hart and Knuth have supplied the maps, but they're hard to come by, so I'll summarize them below.)
I'm assuming the fourseater carriage places two men side by side looking forward, the other two facing them, looking back. (If the seats are different, all bets are off.) It apparently has a door on each side:
order getting in (from left): MC, JP, SiD, LB [text]
order getting out (on right): MC, JP, SiD, LB [text]
This seems to imply Martin Cunningham and Jack Power are on the right, and Bloom and Simon on the left. This is supported by some key landmarks:
6.198: Red Bank restaurant on right (MC and JP see Boylan first)
6.317: temperance hotel, Falconer's, college, Gill's, catholic club, industrious blind, all on left (LB's side)
Bloom must look out windows on both sides though:
6.54: Wallace, bottleworks, Dodder on right (order reversed, though)
6.121: gasworks (right)
6.171: National school, Meade's, hazard (left)
6.175: pointsman (left? LB's window)
6.180: concert rooms (right)
6.183: St Mark's (right)
6.184: Queen's (left)
6.191: Plasto's (right)
And it's Cunningham who first spots Reuben J Dodd on the left:
6.253: Elvery's (left)
More mixed evidence:
6.376: Mater (right)
6.428: Dunphy's (right, JP first)
6.453: Boroimhe (left)
6.462: Dennany (right)
6.469: Childs (right, JP first)
6.487: railings (right)
Facing forward is normally more desirable, but it appears Cunningham, entering first, selfishly takes that position, as does Simon, leaving Bloom and Power facing back. (This solution was reached by Brown & Knuth as well, in a 1981 monograph.)
6.9 "Mr Bloom entered and sat in the vacant place. He pulled the door to after him and slammed it twice till it shut tight."
(does this imply the door's hinges were towards Bloom?)
6.24 "Then wheels were heard from in front... Other hoofs and creaking wheels started behind."
(doesn't necessarily imply in-front-of and behind Bloom)
6.33 "What way is he taking us? Mr Power asked through both windows."
confused because facing backwards
6.54 "Mr Bloom smiled joylessly on Ringsend road. Wallace Bros: the bottleworks: Dodder bridge."
he names these in reverse order because he's imaging them, not seeing them...?
6.111 [LB speaking] "He's behind with Ned Lambert and Hynes."
(he would have nodded that way as he said this, I think)
6.120 "Mr Bloom put his head out of the window. --The grand canal, he said... A raindrop spat on his hat. He drew back"
this is probably Joyce bluffing us into thinking Bloom is facing front, when really he has to twist, but we aren't told that. (shouldn't they all know where they are, though???)
6.192 "--How do you do? Martin Cunningham said, raising his palm to his brow in salute.
--He doesn't see us, Mr Power said. Yes, he does. How do you do?
--Who? Mr Dedalus asked.
--Blazes Boylan, Mr Power said. There he is airing his quiff.
Just that moment I was thinking.
Mr Dedalus bent across to salute. From the door of the Red Bank the white disc of a straw hat flashed reply: passed."
Bloom sees only the final flash, after everyone else, so this ought to mean Bloom is facing back, Simon forward. MC speaks first, supporting him facing forward (but Power may have noticed BB first, so this is not conclusive)
6.250 "Martin Cunningham nudged Mr Power.
--Of the tribe of Reuben, he said.
A tall blackbearded figure, bent on a stick, stumping round the corner of Elvery's elephant house showed them a curved hand open on his spine.
--In all his pristine beauty, Mr Power said.
Mr Dedalus looked after the stumping figure and said mildly:
--The devil break the hasp of your back!
Mr Power, collapsing in laughter, shaded his face from the window as the carriage passed Gray's statue."
if Power were facing forward, on the opposite side from Elvery's, he wouldn't have to hide his face from Dodd. and MC sees Dodd first so this seems consistent (MC forward on right, JP back)
6.376 "Eccles street. My house down there."
if Bloom were facing forward I think he'd say 'back' here, because Eccles is angling back at this point
6.427 "--Dunphy's, Mr Power announced as the carriage turned right."
if Power were facing forward he would have seen Dunphy's long before the turn (and Bloom sees it after the turn, not before)
6.468 "Mr Power pointed.
--That is where Childs was murdered, he said. The last house.
--So it is, Mr Dedalus said. A gruesome case. Seymour Bushe got him off. Murdered his brother. Or so they said.
--The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.
--Only circumstantial, Martin Cunningham added. That's the maxim of the law. Better for ninetynine guilty to escape than for one innocent person to be wrongfully condemned.
They looked. Murderer's ground. It passed darkly."
is it some ways off, that they can continue looking so long after Power (facing back, hypothetically) points to it?
faces
6.72 [of SiD] "Mr Bloom glanced from his angry moustache to Mr Power's mild face and Martin Cunningham's eyes and beard, gravely shaking."
this seems very odd-- Simon is directly across, Power is beside him, so MC should be inbetween-- maybe Bloom keeps his eyes lowered and looks up at each in turn?
6.242 "His eyes passed lightly over Mr Power's goodlooking face. Greyish over the ears. Madame: smiling. I smiled back."
he sees the ears best because he's beside him
6.260 [of MC] "His eyes met Mr Bloom's eyes"
kittycorner
6.343 [suicide gaffe] "Martin Cunningham's large eyes. Looking away now... He looked away from me. He knows."
looks out window, probably
6.412 "--Why? Mr Bloom asked, turning to Mr Dedalus."
directly in front, though?
Watery lane
But the key question in this whole exercise is which side does LB see Stephen on:
6.38 "The carriage swerved from the tramtrack to the smoother road past Watery lane. Mr Bloom at gaze saw a lithe young man, clad in mourning, a wide hat.
--There's a friend of yours gone by, Dedalus, he said.
--Who is that?
--Your son and heir.
--Where is he? Mr Dedalus said, stretching over across."
If we assume Bloom is looking back, he may well see Stephen down near Leahy's, so the visions of Simon cursing Richie may be synchronised!?!
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