Nielson, David R. “’Cyclops,’ Sinn Féin, and ‘The Jew’: An Historical Reconsideration.” Journal of Modern Literature 19.2 (1995): 245-57. JSTOR. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.

Related topics:

Religion

Union and Division

Link to citation page: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3831591?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Link to full text: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3831591.pdf

Nielson’s article inspects the various formulations of Irish nationalism and James Joyce’s personal experiences with both Irish republicanism and anti-Jewish European fervor in order to reinterpret the political motivations of the “Cyclops” episode and reassess its historical origins. Nielson claims that the scholarship regarding “Cyclops” has long emphasized the outward tension of Irish nationalism and the Orientalist tendencies of the Irish population, particularly in regards to Bloom’s Jewish lineage, but that academics have largely neglected to investigate deeper into “Joyce’s attitude toward either Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein, or Michael Cusack, the main force behind the Gaelic Athletic Association” (245). Nielson’s analysis posits that a more nuanced understanding of the conflict between Irish nationalism and racialized others in “Cyclops” can be obtained if one is more aware of Joyce’s own political opinion and his relationship with Ireland’s national movement.

Despite Joyce’s self-imposed exile from Dublin, Nielson claims that the author still came into contact with Irish, anti-Jewish sentiment, through the disseminated political ideals of the prominent nationalist Arthur Griffith. Nielson offers many different examples of how the nationalism of Ireland influenced Joyce’s presentation of “Cyclops” and his characterization of Leopold Bloom. An especially glaring criticism of Bloom is uttered by the citizen who deems him “the bloody freemason” (U12.300). This easily looked over attack is actually an important historical allusion that ties “Cyclops” into the political reality of early 20^th Century Irish nationalism, “Since he perceives Bloom unequivocally as a Jew, the insult obviously refers to the kind of Jewish world-conspiracy rhetoric which Griffith invoked in his newspaper” (251). Freemasonry was often equated with Judaism as an underlying sociopolitical force intent on eroding the Irish way of life.

Not only does Nielson’s writing astutely explain the origins of Bloom’s prejudiced characterization, it also offers commentary on the contemptible bigotry of Irish Republicanism, tracing the ideologies it stemmed from. Not only is “Cyclops” influenced by the popular nationalist ideals of the era, but also by older, similarly chauvinistic, Catholic scrutiny, “the clergy itself in Ireland also disseminated similar economic myths about British and Irish Jews” (Nielson 252). The nativistic and intolerant nationalism of Griffith, his peers, and the Irish-Catholic Church manifests in “Cyclops” through exclusionary barbs and aggression, “I’ll brain the bloody jewman” (U12.1811-1812). According to Nielson, the violent behavior of the citizen is a visible distillation of all these anti-foreign ideologies, “the character represents the inane convolutions of bigotry and desperate republicanism” (253).

Citations and Related Sources:

Cheyette, Bryan. “”‘Jewgreek Is Greekjew’: The Disturbing Ambivalence of Joyce’s Semitic Discourse in Ulysses.” Joyce Studies Annual 3 (1992): 43. JSTOR. Web. 5 Dec. 2016

Holmes, Colin. Anti-semitism in British Society, 1876-1939. Holmes & Meier, 1979. Print.

Larkin, Emmet J. The Consolidation of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, 1860-1870. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 1987. Print.

Related Topics:

Native and Foreign

Union and Division

Religion

Link to citation page: https://libweb.grinnell.edu/vufind/Record/.b1078472x

In The English Face of Irish Nationalism, Alan O’Day explicates on the history of Ireland’s national movement, particularly how it was shaped and given clout by an ascendant class of Anglo nobles. Starting with Gladstone’s liberal influence on the Irish question in the late 19^th Century, O’Day analyzes the multiple prominent figures and governmental channels that most thoroughly developed strains of Irish nationalism. The paramount politico Parnell, a recognized Anglo-Irish leader, stands out as one of O’Day’s most crucial profiles.

During Ireland’s struggle for national autonomy, Parnell played an integral role in motivating the Irish people and diplomatically maneuvering against Britain. While The English Face of Irish Nationalism is concerned with the entirety of Irish nationalism in the years preceding the Irish Free State, O’Day closely inspects the political moves of Parnell, how is Anglo affiliation framed his form of Irish nationalism, and how he both aligned with and differed from fellow nationalists, most importantly the leftist and ethnically Irish factions of Ireland’s national movement.

Citations and Related Sources:

MacIntyre, Angus. “The Anglo-Irish and the New Ireland.” The English Historical Review, vol. 92, no. 365, 1977, pp. 866–868.

O’Brien, C. C. (1968). Parnell and His Party, 1880-90. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Pelling, Henry. Social Geography of British Elections London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1967. Print.

Obsessions and Themes:

Religion

Ethnicity

Questions

Plock, V. “’Object Lessons’: Bloom and His Things” James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 49 no. 3-4, 2012, pp. 557-572.

Related Topics

Marxism

Materialism

Objects

Object-Subject Relationships

Link to full text: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/545243/pdf

Plock begins this article with a discussion of the modern novel, specifically looking at two essays by Willa Cather and Virginia Woolf, which both contest that “the objects and overcrowded interiors piled up” (Plock 558) in modern novels detract from the subject-object relationship. Unlike other modern, avant-gard novels, Plock argues that Ulysses is not actually filled with the clutter that plagues the others, but instead creates a strong sense of significance between subjects and objects. This connects to Plock’s thesis, as she argues that this linkage between subject and object emerges most strongly in the “Ithaca” episode, as the reader sees a change from Bloom being surrounded by “commercial, capitalist, and social exchanges” (559) to a static position amongst many private, emotionally charged, and significant objects and memoirs. Plock argues that these personal objects create a sense of intimacy and connection into Bloom’s world through physical objects.

Before actually entering the text of “Ithaca”, Plock does a sort of meta-look at this episode and how it functions, comparing it to other episodes to reveal its differences and strategies. Plock discusses the episode’s obsession with lists (560), and notes that this chapter abandons the deep thought or stream of consciousness narrative, “appear[ing] as an all-inclusive but sterile account of miscellaneous materials, one that remains untainted by emotiveness and sentiment” (560). However, while seemingly unattached, Plock discusses how we have seen this strategy from Bloom whenever he is troubled; that is, his focus on abstract or complicated theoretical problems instead of the actual issue. With this framework, Plock transitions into revealing how this framework makes “Ithaca” one of “the most introspective of all episodes in Ulysses” (561).

In discussing textual examples from “Ithaca”, Plock turns to the failing relationships between Bloom and Stephen, and Molly and Bloom, linking these failures to physical objects in the text. She examines the moment in Bloom’s kitchen with the tea cups, where Bloom deliberately chooses a similar mug to Stephen’s instead of his favorite mustache cup, commenting that “while Bloom demands that material objects perform, once more, their conjunctive work, Stephen fails to reciprocate” (563). Plock marks this instance–over a failure to connect using the material–as the deterioration of their bond. Plock also examines many of the other objects listed, suggesting that they help the reader to develop deeper and more comprehensive views of Bloom’s emotions (566). In examining the significance of physical objects in his relationship with Molly, Plock looks to two parallel instances: when Bloom picks up her old undergarments that morning, and how he performed the same actions with her newer and fancier lingerie after coming home. Plock notes that Bloom’s habits of handling her undergarments both link him to her in an intimate fashion, but paradoxically limit him from further or deeper involvement, which is symbolically representative of his relationship with her. However, Plock concludes that while object investment has not been successful in these relationships, it is an incredibly important aspect of Bloom’s personality and how he relates with and develops an emotional connection in his world. Plock reconnects with her initial discussion by concluding that Ulysses successfully “participates in the general decluttering of the modern novel advocated by Cather and Woolf” (569).

Related Articles:

Temple-Thurston, Barbara. “The Reader as Absentminded Beggar: Recovering South Africa in ‘Ulysses.’” James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 1, 1990, pp. 247–256. www.jstor.org/stable/25485129.

With nationalism and imperial as topics central to parts of Ulysses, Barbara Temple-Thurston seeks to expand this conversation within the novel by drawing comparison to the Boer War in South Africa, and illustrates that Joyce likely used the conflict as source material to broaden the conversations within the novel. After pointing out that the conflict was frequently in Irish newspapers between 1899 and 1902, she makes the claim that “the complexities and ironies of the South African struggle provided Joyce with rich source material for metaphors for his own views on… nationalistic fanaticism, the brutality of imperialism, and the cruelty of betrayals resulting from collusion” (247-248). Notable discussions about nationalism and English imperialism flood Cyclops, with Bloom and the Citizen narrator at each other’s throats trying to define what a nation is and who fits in Ireland as a nation specifically. Temple-Thurston explains how Joyce was a student at the time of the Boer War, and resistance against the English popularized the Boer cause among Irish Nationalists, while also calling on stories from Joyce’s life and interaction with these ideas. Referencing Joyce’s own childhood and history, paired with textual analyses of the imperialist and nationalist metaphors, Temple Thurston’s historicist analysis of the Boer War opens the door to analysis of imperialism and nationalism in Ulysses outside of the specific Irish context, offering a deeper analysis of these contexts.

Obsessions and themes:

Imperialism and Nationalism

Blackness

Irish History

Joyce’s Own Life and Childhood

African History

Bar

Forms:

Bar (N) [musical term], Bar (N) [ legal term], Bar (N) [Slang for currency] Bar (N) [geographic]

Related:

Barmaid, Barrister, Crown

Explication:

It is hard to pin down the usage of the term bar in Ulysses, as it is not used with any particularly consistent meaning. With numerous brief, one-off uses as slang for money or geographical features, it is difficult to find a unifying symbolic meaning tying all uses together. Despite this, there are certain instances where individual uses of the word fit well into analysis of other related words. I expected to find it used in reference to a tavern frequently throughout the novel, simply because of how central bars are to so much of the book. However, it is used in this sense almost only to refer to the role of Barmaids. There is an instance where Bloom tries to remember something he has heard about MR Power’s wife. He remarks to himself, “Not pleasant for the wife… there is no carnal. You would imagine that would get played out pretty quick… What is this she was? Barmaid in Jury’s.” (U.6.245-248). Additionally, in Sirens, the episode is kicked off with a long interaction between Miss Douce and Miss Kennedy, a pair of barmaids at the Ormond bar. They begin to talk about the horrors of “being married to a man like that” (U.11.169) which echoes the sense of unpleasantness that Bloom thought of while recalling Power’s wife. Bloom’s remark of how unpleasant his barmaid wife may be is echoed by Douce and Kennedy’s expression of how unpleasant it would be marrying greasy Bloom.

Bar appears as a geographic marker carrying the meaning of a riverbank or something blocking the entrance to a harbor. Its use in this form appears a few times through the novel, seeming only to provide a location present or remembered.

 Bar appears in terms of its musical definition as a unit of measurement of a written piece of music. It has a literal meaning as a physical line used to measure music on a page, as well as is used to refer to a section in recital. In this form, it is used as “He drones bars of Ferrando’s aria di sortita,” (U. 3.) to refer to the brief excerpt whistled to Stephen, not written on a page. The frequent act of recalling and singing brief pieces of songs tends to invoke this use of the word, even if Joyce does not explicitly use it.

Bar is used in Episode 12 to refer to “The Bar” in a legal sense, as a profession and as an institution. An interesting amalgamation of this meaning and the musical meaning is found in the moment when the Irish singer Caruso Garibaldi is described, and it is said that “His superb highclass vocalism, which by its superquality greatly enhanced his already international reputation, was vociferously applauded by the large audience among which were to be noticed many prominent members of the clergy as well as representatives of the press and the bar and the other learned professions” (U. 12). Here, the obvious use of the bar is in reference to the profession. However, in describing the skill of this singer, saying that other musicians, or representatives of the bar in this different sense of the word also noticed his skill would also get the point of his skill across. With a term like bar that is used most frequently in colloquial slang, the overlap and blending of these two meanings in this instance demonstrates the possibility of creative usages for a word with so many meanings. Another occurrence of bar in the legal sense is in Aeolus, lines 705-710, where J.J. O’Molloy and Myles Crawford are having a conversation about the state of law in Ireland, pining after the days of famous and great barristers “like Whiteside, like Isaac Butt, like silvertongued O’Hagan.” Crawford remarks that the current members of the bar are “in the hook and eye department” and “in the halfpenny place,” meaning that they are of significant lower quality than these great, famous barristers. While this usage does not carry the musical double meaning with it, it is still a useful and interesting example of characters’ thoughts on the Irish governmental and legal system outside of an explicitly colonial context. Much of the discourse regarding the state of Ireland centers on England’s involvement in Irish affairs, while here we have Irish people talking about Irish affairs on their own terms. Joyce occasionally uses “The Crown” as a stand in for the Bar, both referring to the same legal institution as a proper noun. This is important to keep in mind as it offers a similar double meaning with bar used as a slang for currency.

Bar is used briefly in this sense Wandering Rocks, referring to the value of a pound. While this is brief usage, it opens the door to examining another double meaning of the word bar. Crown is also used as a slang for currency (e.g. U.8.1132: “Send her a postal order two shillings, half a crown.”) This means there are two usages of bar that Joyce equates to two different usages of crown, a great demonstration of the interesting games that he plays with language and meaning, as well as the possibility that comes from blurring the intended meaning of a word with other synonymous and slang usages.

Definitions and Examples:

1. In Music. ‘A vertical line drawn across the stave to divide a musical composition into portions of equal duration, and to indicate the periodical recurrence of the accent’ (F. Taylor in Grove Dict. Music); also, the portion contained between two such lines, technically called the ‘measure.’ double bar: two parallel vertical lines, marking the close of a strain or section. attrib. in bar-line.
2. “He drones bars of Ferrando’s aria di sortita. The grandest number, Stephen, in the whole opera. Listen.” (U. 3.100)
3. “These opening bars he sang and translated extempore.” (U.16.1817)

1. In Law. The whole body of barristers, or spec. the barristers practising in a particular court, circuit, or country. (Cf. 23b.)
2. “His superb highclass vocalism, which by its superquality greatly enhanced his already international reputation, was vociferously applauded by the large audience among which were to be noticed many prominent members of the clergy as well as representatives of the press and the bar and the other learned professions.” (U.12.922-926)
3. “Where have you a man now at the bar like those fellows, like Whiteside, like Isaac Butt, like silvertongued O’Hagan. Eh?… Only in the halfpenny place. (U.7.706-708)

3. See Crown: 3. The sovereignty, authority, or dominion of which a royal crown is the symbol; the rule, position, or empire of a monarch.

• “The Crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.” (U.6.473)

• A pound; esp. in half a bar, ten shillings. slang.

1. “Two bar entrance, soldiers half price.” (U.10.1136-1137)

1. See Crown: British or English coin (latterly silver) with a face value of five shillings or (now) 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes. Hence: a monetary unit based on this, the sum of five shillings.

• “Send her a postal order two shillings, half a crown.” (U.8.1132-1133)

1. A bank of sand, silt, etc., across the mouth of a river or harbour, which obstructs navigation.
2. “Were there schemes of wider scope?

A scheme to be formulated and submitted for approval to the harbour commissioners for the exploitation of white coal (hydraulic power), obtained by hydroelectric plant at peak of tide at Dublin bar or at head of water at Poulaphouca or Powerscourt…” (U. 17.1710-1714)

1. Barmaid: A female who sells food and drink at the bar of a tavern or hotel.
2. “Not pleasant for the wife. Yet they say, who was it told me, there is no carnal. You would imagine that would get played out pretty quick. What is this she was? Barmaid in Jury’s.” (U.6.245-248).

Lawrence, Karen R. “BEGGARING DESCRIPTION’: POLITICS AND STYLE IN JOYCE’S EUMAEUS.'” MFS Modern Fiction Studies, 2nd ed., vol. 38, John Hopkins University Press, 1992, pp. 355-76.

muse.jhu.edu.grinnell.idm.oclc.org/article/244009/pdf.

Lawrence argues that Joyce offers a comprehensive analysis of the complexities of the socioeconomic stratification present in turn of the century Ireland through his usage of political and economic signifiers and comedic literary devices throughout “Eumaeus”. Through an in-depth analysis of dialogue from Bloom and Stephen Lawrence asserts the presence of a “bourgeois common sense” (364) in the tone of their language, despite their “outsider” status; Bloom’s Jewish roots situate him as a cultural outsider and Stephen’s trade as an artist (poet) is not held in high esteem. Lawrence places their outsider status in the context of Ireland as a whole explaining that Britain’s colonization of Ireland situated all of Ireland’s citizens as “beggars” and undermined the existence of a class system in Irish society. She writes: “Rather than be- ing merely a symptom of the isolated bourgeois consciousness, the writing in “Eumaeus” is a kind of diagnosis of the tension of this consciousness in its particular Irish colonial formation.” (358).

Lawrence identifies a fundamental contradiction that runs throughout “Eumaeus,” that is conveyed through the manner in which Bloom and Stephen conceptualize and discuss social and economic status. The contradiction is in the perceived it is through the language in which these contradictions are expressed and the interactions Bloom and Stephen have with other Irish peoples that Joyce lays out “an anatomy of socioeconomic identifications and divisions” (356) for Ireland’s social climate. While they did exist, class divisions between the Irish during this time were minimal and not clearly defined and the Irish were a marginalized community as a whole under British rule. Lawrence uses this distinction to note the “absurdity” of the class system that exists in Irish society.

Lawrence points out the way idioms, clichés, and puns inform and alter the way various words are defined; often adding a political or economic layer to the definition. The strongest aspect of Lawrence’s argument can be found in her unpacking the utility of these comedic literary devices. Lawrence purports that by shrouding darker themes like classism and marginalization in humor the true absurdity of their existence in this particular setting is amplified in a way that allows for what she calls the “materialization of the bottom”: “By a comic process of literalization in the language, bourgeois abstrac- tions for the working classes are demystified and the “bottom” of the social body materializes.” (370).

References

Law, Jules David, Morris Beja, and Shari Benstock. “Simulation, Pluralism, and the Politics of Everyday Life.” Coping With Joyce: Essays from the Copenhagen Symposium. Ohio State UP, 1989.

Obsessions & themes

Native & foreign, performance, the unspoken

Hayward, M. “Bloom’s Job: The Role of the Advertisement Canvasser in Joyce’s Dublin.” Modernism/modernity, vol. 22 no. 4, 2015, pp. 651-666.

Related Topics

Colonialism

Consumerism

Link to full text: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/605713

Hayward begins by summarizing the development of the scholarly discourse on advertising in Ulysses, noting that the 1993 double issue of the James Joyce Quarterly devoted to the subject was considered by some to be the last word on the subject. Hayward declares that their goal is to reopen the topic for renewed scrutiny, with a special focus on Bloom and his role as an advertising agent. Hayward then posits that Bloom’s role has often been misinterpreted by scholars, and attributes this, in part, to shoddy and broad historicization

Hayward argues that while recent critics have taken Bloom’s status as an adman quite seriously, Joyce’s portrayal of Bloom gains a significant layer of irony when one considers Bloom’s lowly position with the industry. Joyce breaks from previous writers such as Trollope and H.G. Wells, who both satirized the advertising industry, by allowing humor to emerge from Bloom’s failure to participate significantly in his own business.

Hayward then goes on to critique claims that Bloom’s position as a canvasser is anachronistic, and that this represents the backward nature of Dublin’s advertising industry relative to London. Hayward argues that this claim represents a misinterpretation or outright dismissal of extant facts, and that Dublin in fact possessed a flourish advertising industry. Hayward concludes that Bloom’s seeming inability to acknowledge other parts of Dublin’s advertising world is due not to the nonexistence of this world, but rather that, “Bloom is meant to be a very small player in the Dublin advertising industry.” (657)

Hayward concludes by analyzing Bloom’s responsibilities in his occupation; he finds that Bloom is solely the negotiator in the case of the Keyes add, a job Bloom thoroughly botches. Hayward then brings up the fact that Blazes Boylan apparently has his own billsticking company, meaning he has a relatively significant role in Dublin’s advertising industry. This point allows Hayward to finally bring his argument back to Ulysses itself, as he concludes that, “Bloom’s disconnection from his trade emphasizes his social alienation as a Jewish outsider in Dublin, and his material powerlessness against his “rival” Boylan.” (663)

Citations and Related Sources

Jennifer Wicke, Advertising Fictions: Literature, Advertisement, and Social Reading (New York:

Columbia University Press, 1988), 146

Jennifer Wicke, “Modernity Must Advertise: Aura, Desire and Decolonization in Joyce,” James

Joyce Quarterly 30, no. 4–31, no. 1 (1993): 611.

Forms: Tongue(s), tongued

Related terms: Lap, lick, language

Explication

The tongue is represented within Ulysees as a mechanism that relates meaning, though that meaning varies widely over the course of the text, depending on the context wherein occurrences of ‘tongue’ occur. While there are references to ‘tongue’ wherein the different definitions of the word overlap, complicating and expanding the meaning of the moment that contextualizes it, it does not seem that these meanings are gradually consolidated over the course of the text. Considering the prominence of ‘tongue’ in certain key moments and images within the text, there are inevitably instances wherein the reader’s interpretation of the ‘tongue’ in a respective context will consider one that occurred earlier in the text, perhaps even in a different chapter. In certain instances, there is a strong case to be made that Joyce intentionally widens the reader’s lens through the usage; for the most part however, the tongues of Ulysses do not have a life beyond the specific moments wherein the tongue is invoked.

Tongue is used primarily within the text as a noun, primary in a figurative sense, but also literally, and the majority of the time in the singular, though also often in the plural. Despite that the tongue in most of the context wherein it appears is implicated in some form of action, which vary widely in the text, it is used only once as a verb. When used figuratively, the tongue generally refers to and/or illustrates some form of verbal communication, in many instances to an entire language (Gaelic most frequently, but also Latin, Greek, British English and Spanish), but more frequently to emphasize more specific, and often highly nuanced, forms and functions of speech and communication, human and animal alike. The tongue often serves to challenge the distinction we make between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom, at times to suggest the sentience and intelligence of animals, but more often to accentuate the animalistic, carnal, and brutish nature of specific characters, but also man in general.

Descriptions of various animals (dogs in particular, especially throughout Ep. 15) often refer specifically to the tongue. Tongues of animals are often described as “hanging” or “lolling” out of their mouths, and their degree of protrusion seems to directly correspond to how the speaker perceives and/or means to convey them; the longer the tongue, the more beastly the animal. How these animals are perceived—in other words, the degree of distance that the speaker asserts between themselves and the animal—generally serves as an effective predictor of the nature of the speaker. For instance, when the citizen remarks on a dog’s “tongue hanging out of him a yard long,” before calling him a “hungry bloodly mongrel,” is is his own brutishness that is emphasized (U12.498). Through these various descriptions of animal tongues, Joyce establishes the tongue as an expression of the carnal.

Where the tongue appears in reference to people rather than animals, it is rarely used in a purely literal, anatomical sense but rather to express various functions of their speech or its absence, which contributes further characterization and illuminates interior thoughts and emotions. The dynamics of power and authority within various contexts are relayed through the tongue where it is used in this manner; as far as the tongue is described as an autonomous entity, the reader is impelled to consider the nature of the relationship between character and that which is conveyed through language, and to attempt to locate the truth upon this continuum.

Finally, tongue is used as a synonym for language, Gaelic in particular. An alignment with this tongue within the texts indicates a nationalist political affiliation . It remains uncertain what effect the revival of the “old tongue” that is sought would have, as well as whether that revival is even possible. The tongue in this usage is therefore a thing invested with both the potential to unite across various existing divides, as well as to further distinguish and secure distinction; the power of the tongue in this sense rests upon limiting access to it. Yet tongue is often used to refer to a universal language, such as when Stephen ironically recommends gesture “universal language, the gift of tongues,” rather than a spoken language (U15.104). Overall, considering the sum of the various instances where it is used, the degree to which the tongue bridges various forms of distance versus maintaining or even increasing it, varies widely through Circe, and ultimately remains unclear.

Definitions & Examples

1. Tongue, n. (I) The bodily member.

·      “his tongue hanging out of him a yard long for more. Near ate the tin and all, hungry bloody mongrel” (U 12.498).

·      “Why are their tongues so rough?” (U 4.46).

·      “Mr. Bloom walked towards Dawson street, his tongue brushing his teeth smooth” (U 8.1029-30).

II. Tongue, n. (II) In reference to speech. Fig.  

·      “The sacred pint alone can unbind the tongue of Dedalus, he said” (U 1.565).

·      “How do you know that? Mr Dedalus asked, his tongue in his cheek” (U 10.670).

·      “She was about to retort but something checked the words on her tongue” (U 13.121-22).

·      “the gift of tongues” (U 15.104).

(8.a) The speech or language of a people or race; also, that of a particular class or locality, a dialect.

·      “revival of the Irish tongue” (U 7.795).

·      “O, yes, he must speak the grand old tongue” (U 9.313).

·      “the cause of our old tongue” (U 12.907-08).

III. Tongue, v. (OED 4.a) To touch with the tongue; also, to lick up. 

“Hot I tongued her” (U8.916).

Citation

Sultan, Stanley. “The Strand (Bloom).” Critical Essays on James Joyce’s Ulysses. By Bernard Benstock. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1989. N. pag. Print.

Annotation

Starting with a summary and deconstruction of the interaction between Bloom and Gerty MacDowell, and moving through analyses of Bloom’s relationship with Molly, Bloom’s masturbation and Gerty’s turgid, sentimental rhetoric, Stanley Sultan concludes that “Nausicaa” is representative of Bloom’s spiritual self-defeat and destruction in the wake of Molly’s affair with Boylan (168). Sultan first analyzes Bloom’s character and emotional state at the outset of “Nausicaa”, juxtaposing Bloom’s “undiminished ardor for Molly” with the knowledge of Molly’s affair (169); he concludes Bloom is passive, impotent, and reliant on masturbation as escape from his own impotence. Gerty MacDowell, Sultan argues, is no better: in fact she’s worse, brainwashed by syrupy novelettes into an escapist sentimentalism so fundamentally hypocritical it turns “black into white” (173).

Sultan moves to a broader social context by comparing “Nausicaa” to a popular novel he posits Joyce was directly parodying, The Lamplighter. Gerty, in this context, becomes “the ultimate popular development of Flaubert’s Emma Bovary, the product of the degeneration of romantic idealism into sentimental wish-fulfillment and self-delusion” (174). Ultimately, Sultan claims, Bloom is saved by his own “frank analysis” after the fact (176): ashamed and exhausted, he nevertheless escapes the institution of sentimentalism by accepting the blame for his passivity, a fate not afforded to Gerty and her like-minded audience “blighted by self-deluding sentimentality” (174).

Related Topics

Thought and Action

Native and Foreign

Waste

Forms

crown, crowns, crowned, crowning, Crown

Related terms

head, royal, coronation, king

Explication

Crown, a word that can be deployed as a noun or a verb, is used in a wealth of different ways in Ulysses. While the definition with the largest number of uses is 8 (the coin), it only makes up one-fourth of the total uses. Many of its usages evoke the British monarchy – there are many mentions of “the crown” and the “Crown” which are both synecdoches that refer directly to British rule. More symbolically, Bloom’s “sham crown Derby” teacup – a gift from Milly – is mentioned four separate times. Crown Derby is a real English porcelain manufacturer which is still in business today.

Crown also tends to carry a spiritual association – “crown of thorns,” “saint Stephen’s iron crown,” etc. Considering this double association – with English royalty and with Christian religion – crowns and crowning seem to be tied to national (and personal) identity.

An interesting property of crown is that its range of definitions is wide enough that it can almost be considered one of the self-opposite words that Joyce often employs. Crown can be used to represent the highest power in a country (and perhaps the world), but it can also denote something as common and working class as the foam on the top of a glass of beer. Similarly, while only one person in a nation can wear the crown as it refers to monarchy, everyone in a nation possesses a crown as it refers to the top of one’s head.

Definitions and Examples

I. crown, n. (OED 1) An ornament for the head, and immediately derived senses. (also: Christian crown of thorns)

“Crown of thorns and cross.” (5.329)

II. crown, n. (OED 2) A wreath or circular ornament for the head symbolizing victory.

“And all came with nimbi and aureoles and gloriae, bearing palms and harps and swords and olive crowns…” (12.1714)

III. crown, n. (OED 3) The sovereignty, authority, or dominion of which a royal crown is the symbol; the rule, position, or empire of a monarch.

“The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.” (6.472)

IV. crown, n.,  fig. (OED 5) Something which adorns or adds distinction like a crown; a chief or crowning ornament or achievement.

“But Gerty’s crowning glory was her wealth of wonderful hair.” (13.116)

V. Crown, n. (OED 11) Esp. in names of constellations: a group of stars likened to a crown; usu. with distinguishing word or phrase; spec. = Northern Crown

“Whence, disappearing from the constellation of the Northern Crown he would somehow reappear reborn above delta in the constellation of Cassiopeia…” 17.2019

VI. crown, n. (OED 19.a) The top part of the skull; the top of the head.

“He put his boot on what he had spat, wiping his sole along it, and bent, showing a rawskinned crown, scantily haired.” (10.636)

VII. crown, n. (OED 20) The top part of a hat or other covering for the head.

“The sweated legend in the crown of his hat told him mutely: Plasto’s high grade ha.” (4.69)

VIII. crown, n. (OED 8.b) A British or English coin (latterly silver) with a face value of five shillings or (now) 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes. Hence: a monetary unit based on this, the sum of five shillings (now hist.).

“He shot from it two crowns and two shillings.” (2.221)

IX. Crown, n. In reference to the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company, the oldest remaining English porcelain manufacturer. (not found in OED)

“He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby, smiling.” (4.283)

X. crown, v. (OED 1.a) To place a crown, coronet, etc., on the head of, as a symbol of newly acquired sovereignty or royal status; to invest with sovereignty or regal power by coronation. Also: to place a crown, etc., on or around (the head).

“…he reflected about the errors of notorieties and crowned heads running counter to morality such as the Cornwall case a number of years before…” (16.1201)

XI. crown, v. (OED 5.a) To cover, surround, or occupy the head or summit of, as a crown does, usu. so as to add beauty or dignity.

“The face of William Shakespeare, beardless, appears there, rigid in facial paralysis, crowned by the reflection of the reindeer antlered hatrack in the hall.” (15.3823)