Tuesday, May 15, 2007

A classic review ...

... of a classic: Edmund Wilson on Ulysses. (Hat tip, Joe of New York.)

I find Wilson's reference to " the homeless symbolism of a Catholic who has renounced the faith" interesting. I read Ulysses pretty carefully a few years ago to prepare for a long piece for the centenary of Bloomsday, and it struck me, as a Jesuit-trained Catholic, that critics tend to get Joyce's Catholic connection wrong. Joyce's animus toward the Church was rather specifically directed toward the Irish Church and while he certainly ceased to practice his faith, he remained uncommonly loyal to the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Indeed, Ulysses can be fruitfully read as a fictional demonstration of Thomism.

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