Why does Joyce associate Stephen’s conversation in the National Library of Ireland with such a dangerous Homeric episode? Scylla and Charybdis are monsters, one ready to create a lethal whirlpool, the other to snatch men out of the ship. Thinking through this surprisingly dramatic episode with us are Alex Benoit, English teacher at the Greenfield school in North Carolina, and Matthew Creasy, professor of literature at the University of Glasgow, as well as former Berkeley student, Mallory Gong.