Ulysses 1922-2022

Raine Marjorie (Place)

Rationale

       The object I chose from Special Collections is the “Ulysses Map of Dublin”. This 1922 ordnance map was "Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey by permission of the Minister for Finance" and was gifted to the University of Victoria by Robin Skelton. I could find no information regarding replication or updating. Printed on 26 x 60 cm glossy paper, it is folded widthwise equally to 26 x 20 cm. sections. The outer cover, left panel, shows a stark, black and white portrait of Joyce, while the centre section shows an informal photograph of Joyce at a book stall. Captions at the top read “Donagh MacDonagh © 1963” and “Designed by Signa Limited, Design Consultants, Dublin & London”. The main cover page, outer cover, right, states “Ulysses Map of Dublin” at the top of the page. “Ulysses” is in white, possibly Times New Roman font, and is striking against the grey-black mottled background. The words “Map of Dublin” are the same font and size as “Ulysses”, but contrast with a deep golden colour. At the bottom of the page is a seven-line passage, in small, white, Times New Roman font, stating brief details of Joyce’s life, ending with “This map shows the setting of each of the eighteen episodes of Ulysses”. The inner cover, left panel, shows a sepia-tone map of the Dublin area, extending from Ireland’s Eye at Howth in the north to coastal Bray Head in the south, west to beyond Phoenix Park and east to the entrance to Dublin Bay. The Dublin downtown core is outlined with a black rectangle. Black numbers indicate episode locations outside downtown, Glasnevin Cemetery and Eccles Street. The middle and right panels of this inner cover show the enlargement map of 1922 downtown Dublin. A mustard-coloured background, with streets and landmarks in black, makes the map difficult to read. White numbers, scattered throughout, correspond to locations in Ulysses, listed on the remaining third of this right panel, showing episode names and times of day for each. This list is in black, Times New Roman font, on a white background.

Outer cover of “Ulysses Map of Dublin”                       Inner cover of “Ulysses Map of Dublin”

                               

The problem here is that when merging a temporal artifact, such as Ulysses, on to a spatial format, such as the map of Dublin, the time span of the novel disappears, as does any narration in the novel. What is left, however, is the ability to see the entire route followed sequentially on the map, unclear in the novel. Locations in the book seem haphazard with no relation to each other and the locations are seen separately in sequence, rather than all at once. On a map, however, all locations, and therefore events, are seen simultaneously. This merger causes time and narration to vanish, basically negating the novel, but giving a greater understanding of the meandering route, or space, taken by Bloom on June 16, 1904. This phenomenon, paradoxically, helps in understanding Ulysses.

          This map, then, is a visual representation of Bloom’s and other characters movements on that day. I selected this object as viewing a map helps to ground and orient me, and it also keeps situations or events focused. This map gives a spatial continuity to Bloom’s route and makes the story easier to follow, keeping the episodes focused, orderly, and logical, rather than random or unfocused. It provides locality, defined as the position of something, influenced by its immediate surroundings, including location, people, and other factors. In the Hades episode, Bloom becomes withdrawn and quiet in the carriage on the way to Paddy Dignam’s funeral, when faced with anti-Semitism from his fellow companions. His locality, with this enclosed location and the people around him, have negatively affected his behaviour. I propose that an understanding of Ulysses is enhanced by examining how locality, one’s immediate surroundings of location and people, influences human behaviour, specifically Bloom’s, which in turn influences personality and social interactions.

Reviews

             The extensive search for material linking locality with behaviour in Ulysses revealed few references. However, I found enough sources to provide material for the short paper. I am defining “locality” here as somebody's immediate surroundings, inclusive of location, people, and other factors, and think of “behaviour” as how one acts or presents oneself around other people. I think that behaviour, both recurring and aberrant, forms personality, or character. By acting both consistently and inconsistently, people form opinions about what to expect from you, and this becomes your character, as viewed by others. My focus is on the effect of locality on Bloom’s behaviour only, as he is the main protagonist, and although Stephen is worthy of examination, his situation does not fit within the parameters of this paper.

The reviewed book is Hart and Knuth’s Topographical Guide, consisting of two separate parts –“Text” and “Maps”. “Text” explains how Joyce used multiple issues of Thom's (Thom’s Official Directory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) to secure real Dublin addresses. He boasted that Ulysses could be used to rebuild a destroyed Dublin, but he found the locations and facts in Thom’s. The chapter “Itineraries” describes significant locations and related characters’ actions in each episode of Ulysses, including times and corresponding map numbers (in “Maps”). Following chapters include “A Note on the Maps” and “Bibliography”. The impressive final chapter comprises thirty pages of a “List of Addresses, With Commentaries…[and] Information from Thom’s”, providing detailed insight into location. “Maps” consists of eighteen large, schematic maps of the Dublin area and neighbourhoods and three diagrams (of the Martello Tower and 7 Eccles Street) on twelve pages of 31.5cm by  42.5cm heavyweight paper. This resource should prove invaluable to me in examining locality.

Evaluation of peer-reviewed articles begins with Farahmandian and Shao’s essay on “Social Isolation”, examining how “Bloom’s social isolation and [detachment]” (1) manifests itself. Bloom creates his own social isolation through his avoidance and disengagement with other people. Techniques used to counter this isolation involve Bloom exerting his struggle for superiority, his need for independence, and his resignation to restrictions. I found all three of these techniques in Bloom’s behaviour throughout Ulysses, highlighted in Gordon’s paper.

Gordon’s “Deterrent Effect” explores Bloom’s passive-aggressiveness in Kiernan’s pub in “Cyclops”. Bloom persistently forces opposing opinions on the citizen during the discussions on capital punishment, the virtues of lawn tennis, and the subtle mockery of Boylan, and will not desist. As Gordon states “That is not the Bloom we know, who elsewhere … [is] reticent, … tongue-tied … [and] anxious to avoid conflict” (124). I believe that this behaviour, as when Odysseus is at his worst during his Cyclops encounter, may be Bloom at his worst when facing the citizen. Bloom’s locality here, in Kiernan’s pub with intoxicated, opinionated people around him, is creating anxiety in him and causing him to become argumentative, as opposed to being quiet in the carriage, a clear case of locality affecting his behaviour.

 Senn’s “Hell, Purgatory, Heaven” essay concentrates on “Wandering Rocks” and references “Heaven”, “Hell”, or “Purgatory” onto comments, surface events, and corresponding locations. The liberal use of the word “hell” is noted in “Cyclops” to emphasize negative emotion, and in “Wandering Rocks” to emphasize positive emotion. The remainder of the paper concerns itself with discussion and location of fathers, both secular and ecclesiastical. Possibly significant for this paper is the hallucination of Bloom, through his behaviour, ascending to Heaven as Elijah did in the Bible.

Finally, Senn’s “On Not Finding Places” examines unknown locations from Ulysses, using conjecture to approximate locations. Discussed are unknown locations of Miss Dunne’s office and the “tallwhitehatted sandwichmen” (398), the Dedalus home, and Stephen’s future residence, if not the Martello Tower (Joyce’s home in early 1904). The essay descends into discussion of Stephen’s “absurd name” (400), ending with the confession that the paper is rambling and that not all Ulysses characters are anchored in a residential location. This rambling style fits both Bloom’s traverse through Dublin and Joyce’s writing style. Joyce’s style varies unpredictably with each episode and the Ulysses map shows Bloom’s journey is just as haphazard and unpredictable as Joyce’s writing. Yet both are paradoxically logical at the same time, as discussed in the short paper.

In paying attention to locality versus behaviour, a newer understanding of character behaviour in Ulysses, especially Bloom, begins to emerge as we recognize that the factors contributing to our locality, both in and out of our control, can influence our behaviour and what ramifications these may have on our character.

These references will form the basis for the short paper connecting the Special Collections object “Ulysses Map of Dublin” to Ulysses, explaining further how locality can affect behaviour.

Response: A Short Paper

   The Ulysses Map of Dublin shows Bloom randomly wandering throughout Dublin on June 16, 1904, repeatedly criss-crossing and zig-zagging on his route around town. This is not obvious in Ulysses but in the map’s spatial format, all eighteen locations are shown simultaneously and in relation to each other. What this spatial rendering loses, however, is the narration. In the book, narration is maintained, while locality is lost, providing little indication of distance or space between locations.

   Joyce’s writing style is erratic depending on episode and includes stream of consciousness and script, among others. Bloom’s behaviour is erratic based on locality, previously defined as his immediate surroundings, including both location and people. Both are unpredictable and both are “all over the map”. However, both are paradoxically logical at the same time. Reading Ulysses, you discover that, while Joyce has seemingly written erratically, each episode is written in the literary style of a different era, so it is logical even if not apparent. Bloom, as well, appears to wander haphazardly but there is a logic to his journey, seen by following his route on the map as he goes about his chores that day, interrupted by the funeral and the travel associated with it, and the need to stay away from his home.

    In “Hades”, Bloom becomes withdrawn when faced with anti-Semitism during the carriage ride to Dignam’s funeral at Glasnevin cemetery. Ignoring his companions’ jibes, “Bloom begins to speak with sudden eagerness to his companion’s faces” (Ulysses 6.262) by changing the subject, but when “Martin Cunningham thwarted his speech rudely” (Ulysses 6.277), Bloom’s involvement ceases. We know he abhors conflict so this behaviour seems justified. He defers to his travel companions by letting them all enter the carriage before he does, so is probably intimidated by them. As the funeral carriage passes through upscale, downtown Dublin and in the company of possibly higher socio-economic companions, Bloom undoubtably would not wish to create a “scene” by arguing. His locality, being in a funeral carriage in downtown Dublin with people who mock him but who he shows deference to, causes him to withdraw. These insults drive him further inward, in search of belonging and independence, creating a “passive-aggressiveness” (Gordon 122). “Cyclops” is, however, written in first person style with an unknown narrator, inside Barney Kiernan’s pub, a working-man’s pub in a slightly sleazy area (Ulysses Map of Dublin #17). Bloom’s social isolation, due partly through Irish contempt of Jewishness, compels him to “flaunt his supremacy, prove his independence, and place restrictions on his life to eliminate the pressures he experiences from people and society” (Farahmandian 2). He tries asserting his superiority and “to achieve independent thought, Bloom shares his distorted views of social issues” (Farahmandian 3) by contradicting the citizen and other patrons. Gordon notes “Bloom repeatedly butts in and then just cannot shut up…[this is] not the Bloom we know, who everywhere else in the book is notably reticent…and always anxious to avoid conflict” (Gordon 123). These rational objections infuriate the citizen, resulting in the biscuit-tin-throwing incident (Ulysses “Cyclops”). Gordon continues to say that “in this company of men [Bloom’s locality of Kiernan’s pub with intoxicated companions, probably in a perceived lower class than himself], Bloom behaves irrationally, pugnaciously…and badly…[in] Odysseus…the encounter with the Cyclops shows their man at his worst…[with] Bloom, facing his own Cyclops…the conventional reading that this is Bloom’s finest hour, is wrong… not Bloom at his best…[but] at his worst” (Gordon 124). This antagonizing behaviour is inconsistent with Bloom’s apparent character. He is attempting to exert his supremacy in both these incidences by joining the conversations. His locality, however, both in the carriage with men thought superior to him, then later in Barney’s, with men deemed inferior to him, has prompted this behaviour anomaly. The difference in his behaviour, when taunted by his Jewishness both times, lies only in his locality involving location (carriage or pub) and companions (perceived upstanding citizens or intoxicated labourers).

   Thus, Bloom’s behaviour changes occur predominantly through locality. His behaviour is typical in “Circe” and “Eumaeus”, however. The kindness and generosity he shows Stephen in these episodes, in the red-light district of Nighttown (Ulysses Map of Dublin #21) and the squalid cabman’s shelter (Ulysses Map of Dublin #22), are driven by his paternalistic need to be father to a son again. The gritty Nighttown neighbourhood and shelter elicit a parent’s protection and Bloom eagerly responds here with protective behaviour towards his new surrogate son.

          It follows that locality - location, space, time, people - impacts human behaviour in various aspects, both negatively and positively. This can lead to atypical behaviour in an individual and the more often this occurs, the more often personality and social interactions change. Through these behavioural changes, Bloom has created a downward spiral of further social ostracization and loneliness for himself, the exact opposite of what he wants and needs.

 

To view a larger image of these items, please click on the images below.

Works Cited

Farahmandian, Hamid, and Lu Shao. “The Social Isolation of Neurotic Bloom in James Joyce’s Ulysses.” SAGE Open, vol. 11, no. 3, 2021, p. 215824402110475–, doi.org/10.1177/21582440211047569.

Gordon, John. “‘Deterrent Effect and So Forth and So On:’ Leopold Bloom Behaving Badly.” ANQ (Lexington, Ky.), vol. 32, no. 2, 2019, pp. 122–26, doi.org/10.1080/0895769X.2018.1477041.

Hart, Clive, and Leo. Knuth. A Topographical Guide to James Joyce’s Ulysses. A Wake Newslitter Press, 1975.

Joyce, James. Ulysses. Vintage Classics, 2022.

MacDonagh, Donagh. Ulysses : Map of Dublin. [Signa Limited, Design Consultants], 1963.

Senn, Fritz. “James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’: Hell, Purgatory, Heaven in ‘Wandering Rocks.’” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 2013, pp. 323–28.

---. “On Not Finding Places.” James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 2, 1992, pp. 397–401.