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.
