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“OMNIUM GATHERUM”
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characterizes traditional Western intellectuals: a representative
of the independent and resistant intellectual, as Said sees him
(1996: 16-17)
—
the embodiment of the idealistic aspects of the
intellectual indeed
—
Stephen of
Portrait
may be proud and
rebellious, but is soon defeated by the harsh realities of daily
life when setting out to undertake the enterprise of forging the
uncreated conscience of his race. Like Icarus, he soars too high
in
Portrait
, and the wax on his wings melts; inevitably and
heavily, he falls to the ground in
Ulysses
. What remains after
the fall is merely glumness, frustration, and wasted potential,
and despite the subversive power of the Parable, it is left
unappreciated and powerless. Stephen himself is equivocal
about his “vision”: “He gave a sudden loud young laugh as a
close” (Joyce, 1986: 119, 122), feeling awkward and
unconfident, in sharp contrast to the Stephen of
Portrait
who
proudly announces his enterprise. Stephen’s predicament
reveals the insufficiency of the overtly idealistic aspects
characteristic of many intellectuals: ignoring the realistic
aspects, they end up being stranded in their idealism, which
turns out to be no more than empty rhetoric. O’Connell
endeavored to bring about the repeal of the Act of Union by
constitutional means supported by stirring speeches, but the
government prohibition on rallies, together with his insistence
that there be no bloodshed, resulted in the dwindling of his
influence and the failure of the parliamentary system. Young
Irelanders and Revivalists might have striven to reconstruct an
Ireland unspoiled by Anglicization, but this endeavor was
doomed to failure on account of its idealization of the remote
past and divorce from social reality. Stephen, obviously, is not
the only one who confronts limits to his project.
Significantly, Joyce depicts Bloom as an intruder in the
“OMNIUM GATHERUM,” the only person who actually