Calypso: Comments by Joyce

"Your complete man in literature is, I suppose, Ulysses?"
"Yes," said Joyce. "No-age Faust isn't a man. But you mentioned Hamlet. Hamlet is a human being, but he is a son only. Ulysses is son to Laertes, but he is father to Telemachus, husband to Penelope, lover of Calypso, companion in arms of the Greek warriors around Troy and King of Ithaca. He was subjected to many trials, but with wisdom and courage came through them all. Don't forget that he was a war dodger who tried to evade military service by simulating madness. He might never have taken up arms and gone to Troy, but the Greek recruiting sergeant was too clever for him and, while he was ploughing the sands, placed young Telemachus in front of his plough. But once at the war the conscientious objector became a jusqu'auboutist*. When the others wanted to abandon the siege he insisted on staying till Troy should fall."

(Frank Budgen, James Joyce and the Making of "Ulysses," p. 16 / pp. 16-17)
*a "to-the-end"-ist: someone who sticks it out until the end, who is in it for the duration