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 20th 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.
