“Cyclops” and Nationalism: Inherent Political Dilemma of Joyce’s “Hybrid” Text

Abstract

The paper focuses on the dilemmas presented in James Joyce’s “Cyclops” episode, a chapter of his opus magnum, Ulysses. Beginning briefly by outlining the parallels with Homer’s Odyssey as the source text of Joyce’s intertextuality helps us understand elementary discrepancies in ideological agendas and the basic relations between the protagonists. In this regard some subtle distinctions between imperialism and colonialism, as proposed by Ania Loomba in Colonialism/Postcolonialism, are introduced. The dichotomy between the chapter’s seemingly easily comprehensible relations and a polyphony of voices that constantly interrupts them has been discussed at greater length in several current postcolonial studies. The postcolonial attitude opens pertinent questions but leaves aside certain points that were no doubt essential to Joyce. Most of those studies – some of them are mentioned in the text – simply ascribe currently popular notions of postmodern plurality to Joyce’s mode of writing. Without completely dismissing the views mentioned, the paper considers Joyce rather an unlikely forerunner of another approach – the one suggested by Slavoj Žižek in his reflections on a postcolonial thought. His criticism directed at the traditional line of thought still inherent to many postcolonial theorists (if not to postcolonial studies in general), when applied to the topic, creates a more credible explanation of many of Joyce’s personal and literary decisions. – The article argues that Joyce was well aware of political dilemmas; by recalling some biographical notes and excerpts from his non-literary writing, the discussion emphasizes the often overlooked bonds between his political statements and the structure of the “Cyclops” episode. Without the framework put forward by Žižek, both – Joyce’s literature and his biographical persona – could indeed be understood as merely ambiguous towards its underlying political questions and encouraging arbitrary interpretations, those seemingly beyond a clear political agenda.