The mistreatment of Molly Bloom is symptomatic of much that has been awry in Joyce studies
Les Doherty and Kat Ballhaus as Leopold and Molly Bloom on Sandymount Strand in advance of the 2021 Bloomsday Festival. Photograph: Alan BetsonThe world of James Joyce studies, as is now well known, has been convulsed by the debarring of 96-year-old Fritz Senn, one of its founder members, from the International Symposium in Glasgow last June over alleged sexual harassment.
There are two answers, both actually rather positive from the point of view of this beleaguered field. First, there is a very large proportion of younger scholars involved in it, many of them women. It is a very active area, with a great many different approaches being used.‘I love Ireland. Ireland is 100% different to back home. It’s peace, calm’
The strong involvement of these younger scholars in Joyce studies contrasts to some extent with the scene in other areas. Not all writers, even famous ones, receive this degree of attention from such a diverse community. Nor is a specialisation in Joyce necessarily a “good career move” – the field is very crowded.
Quite apart from the behaviour of certain people at Joyce-related events, the work itself is in some respects challenging to current norms, and can be seen as problematic. The text is edgy, risky, a fact rather concealed by both the Modernist and mythopoeic overlays with which it has been treated. Moreover, the writer himself may not be seen as particularly admirable either.
Another development that would be beneficial would be the retirement of certain practices that definitely belong to an older era. What passes for humour in some Joyce circles is often dismal and deplorable, as well as highly insensitive. The one thing it is not is funny.
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