Ulysses: What was Stephen's auditive sensation?

I wish I could quote here all of "Episode 17 - Ithaca" from Joyce's Ulysses, but in print, the section is forty-some-odd pages long. Here's a very, very short excerpt:

"What was Stephen's auditive sensation?

He heard in a profound ancient male unfamiliar melody the accumulation of the past.

What was Bloom's visual sensation?

He saw in a quick young male familiar form the predestination of a future.

What were Stephen's and Bloom's quasisimultaneous volitional quasisensations of concealed identities?

Visually, Stephen's: The traditional figure of hypostasis, depicted by Johannes Damascenus, Lentulus Romanus and Epiphanius Monachus as leucodermic, sesquipedalian with winedark hair. Auditively, Bloom's: The traditional accent of the ecstasy of catastrophe.

What future careers had been possible for Bloom in the past and with what exemplars?

In the church, Roman, Anglican or Nonconformist: exemplars, the very reverend John Conmee S. J., the reverend T. Salmon, D. D., provost of Trinity college, Dr Alexander J. Dowie. At the bar, English or Irish: exemplars, Seymour Bushe, K. C., Rufus Isaacs, K. C. On the stage modern or Shakespearean: exemplars, Charles Wyndham, high comedian Osmond Tearle(died 1901), exponent of Shakespeare."

How intimately do you know the characters in your own writing?

Ulysses: Pineapple rock, lemon platt, butter scotch

Here's another example of masterful writing from Ulysses:

"Pineapple rock, lemon platt, butter scotch. A sugarsticky girl shovelling scoopfuls of creams for a christian brother. Some school treat. Bad for their tummies. Lozenge and comfit manufacturer to His Majesty the King. God. Save. Our. Sitting on his throne sucking red jujubes white."

In this passage, Leopold Bloom, the novel's protagonist, is going about an ordinary day in Dublin. His thoughts, however, show that he, like all of us, is constantly living in two different worlds - an internal world and an external. Externally, Bloom sees children with ice cream, but this simple sensory information sends a wave of disjointed ripples through his mind.

Every human being has a fragmented mind. As a result, we often have difficulty concentrating on a single object or idea for more than a few seconds. We are often given to irrational breaks in our thoughts. This natural psychological tension in reality and in fiction, however, opens up a plethora of possibilities for writers. Let's take another look at the passage above. Against the unremarkable foreground of a girl scooping ice cream, Joyce appeals to at least three of the reader's senses; reveals Bloom’s demeanor, his opinions, and his satirical wit; and also provides a glimpse into the protagonist's past - all in only a few lines.

As a writer, are you in tune with what your characters are personally experiencing?

Ulysses: The figure seated on a large boulder...

Continuing our discussion of how creative writing should give readers an experience, I've invited James Joyce to be with us today. Joyce's Ulysses was named the best novel of the twentieth century by the Modern Library, and without doubt, this author is a master of his craft. Consider the following passage from Ulysses:

"The figure seated on a large boulder at the foot of a round tower was that of a broadshouldered deepchested stronglimbed frankeyed redhaired freelyfreckled shaggybearded widemouthed largenosed longheaded deepvoiced barekneed brawnyhanded hairylegged ruddyfaced sinewyarmed hero. From shoulder to shoulder he measured several ells and his rocklike mountainous knees were covered, as was likewise the rest of his body wherever visible, with a strong growth of tawny prickly hair inhue and toughness similar to the mountain gorse (ULEX EUROPEUS). The widewinged nostrils, from which bristles of the same tawny hue projected, were of such capaciousness that within their cavernous obscurity the fieldlark might easily have lodged her nest. The eyes in which a tear and a smile strove ever for the mastery were of the dimensions of a goodsized cauliflower. A powerful current of warm breath issued at regular intervals from the profound cavity of his mouth while in rhythmic resonance the loud strong hale reverberations of his formidable heart thundered rumblingly causing the ground, the summit of the lofty tower and the still loftier walls of the cave to vibrate and tremble."

What makes this writing effective? What do readers experience as they read this passage?