Beware of imitations: advertisement as reflexive commentary in 'Ulysses.' - book written by Irish author James Joyce

Twentieth Century Literature, Winter, 1996 by Daniel P. Gunn

6 On the distinction between high and low culture in Joyce, see, for example, Leonard, "Joyce and Advertising," 578-79. In the special issue of James Joyce Quarterly, advertising in Ulysses is characterized variously as "the textual avenue of decolonization" (Wicke 610); as a force that "allows the individual to develop some degree of power, identity, and agency resulting in a positive self-image" (Ochoa 783); as a depiction of Bloom's "economic philosophy of making both ends meet" (Osteen 718); and as a sign of "the homologous dynamics of interpreting the form of dreams and the form of commodities" (Jones 740).

7 Gifford suggests that there may be a reference here to a minor version of the Helen of Troy story, in which "only a ghost, or 'imitation,' of Helen went to Troy with Paris" (65) - in which case the phrase "Beware of imitations" would refer directly (and self-consciously) to the Trojan War material as well.

8 Groden makes a similar point about this advertisement in a different context, arguing that Joyce included it "as if to acknowledge indirectly his use of Berard's geography" (85). My point, though, is that the advertisement alludes not just to Joyce's use of Victor Berard's epic geography but also to the whole idea of symbolic correspondence and the superimposition of one text on another.

9 Wicke revises her view of the political force of this ad in "Modernity Must Advertise," 609-10. Osteen also treats the ad at length (728-34), arguing that it makes the connection between personal and national renewal explicit: "like Bloom, Bloom's nation is keyless, lacking the home rule such keys and such a parliament represent" (731).

WORKS CITED

Berger, Alfred Paul. "James Joyce, Adman." James Joyce Quarterly 3 (1965): 25-33.

Dettmar, Kevin J. H. "Selling Ulysses." James Joyce Quarterly 33.4/34.1 (1993): 795-812.

Gifford, Don, and Robert J. Seidman. Ulysses Annotated. 2nd ed. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988.

Groden, Michael. Ulysses in Progress. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1977.

Jones, Ellen Carol. "Commodious Recirculation: Commodity and Dream in Joyce's Ulysses." James Joyce Quarterly 33.4/34.1 (1993): 739-56.

Joyce, James. Letters of James Joyce. Ed. Stuart Gilbert and Richard Ellman. 3 vols. New York: Viking, 1966.

-----. Ulysses. Ed. Hans Walter Gabler. New York: Random, 1986.

Kershner, R. Brandon. "The World's Strongest Man: Joyce or Sandow?" James Joyce Quarterly 33.4/34.1 (1993): 667-93.

Leonard, Garry. "Joyce and Advertising: Advertising and Commodity Culture in Joyce's Fiction." James Joyce Quarterly 33.4/34.1 (1993): 573-92.

-----. "The Virgin Mary and the Urge in Gerty: Advertising and Desire in the 'Nausicaa' Chapter of Ulysses." University of Hartford Studies in Literature 23 (1991): 3-23.

-----. "Women on the Market: Commodity Culture, 'Femininity,' and 'Those Lovely Seaside Girls' in Joyce's Ulysses." Joyce Studies Annual 2 (1992): 27-68.

Ochoa, Peggy. "Joyce's 'Nausicaa': The Paradox of Advertising Narcissism." James Joyce Quarterly 33.4/34.1 (1993): 783-93.