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It was in such a cultural milieu that Joyce grew into an
intellectual. Like his predecessors and contemporaries, Joyce
had his finger on the pulse of political turmoil and social
unrest, but took a stance different from theirs. He might have
appreciated O’Connell’s advocacy of Jewish emancipation and
abolition of slavery, but was impatient with his sectarianism.
Young Irelanders and Revivalists’ appeal to Gaelic materials
repulsed him, as he perceived in their ideals parochialism,
nostalgia, and divorcement from reality. His admiration for
Parnell was sincere, but he chose a literary vocation over
politics. In
Ulysses,
Joyce the intellectual writes about
intellectuals, anatomizing elite figures in a tumultuous Ireland
striving for freedom. Undisputedly, Joyce has been celebrated
for his portrayal of the common people, Leopold and Molly
Bloom in particular, but he has also presented an unforgettable
character of the intelligentsia, Stephen Dedalus, in whose
resistance and nonconformity Said sees the defining
characteristics of the intellectual (1996: 16-17). In addition to
Stephen the artist, we observe in
Ulysses
a diversity of
intellectuals: educators, men of letters, politicians, solicitors,
physicians, etc. Their appearance in the text reveals Joyce’s
awareness of the constant presence of intellectuals in
early-twentieth-century Dublin. Unlike the much-discussed
Stephen, however, these characters have received little critical
attention; the question as to how and why Joyce depicts these
potentially influential members of the elite remains largely
unexplored. In an attempt to dissect Joyce’s representations of
the intellectuals, this paper will center on “Aeolus,” the
episode of “OMNIUM GATHERUM” which brings together
“[a]ll the talents” (1986: 111)
—
talents of the press, the law,
Classics, and literature.
1In contrast with those of his
1
“Scylla and Charybdis” and “Oxen of the Sun” are the other episodes which
abound in intellectuals, dominated by literary personages and medical
students respectively. “Aeolus,” on the other hand, gathers intellectuals from