Ulysses

From Oneiropedia

“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.”

~ First sentence of Ulysses

Ulysses is a 1922 novel. The day is June 16, 1904. The place is Dublin. The author is James Joyce. That first line ain't so inscrutable, is it?