Mass Media and Paralysis: Ulysses\' (Aeolus) Critique on Mass Media as a Paralyzed Social Entity

Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

Mass Media and Paralysis: Ulysses’ (Aeolus) Critique on Mass Media as a Paralyzed Social Entity THE WRITER’S PREROGATIVE

There are two kinds of writers: those who pursue a purely artistic vocation and those who focus their powers on being straightforward and objective; the creative writer and the journalist. The latter, often accused by the former to lack any imagination whatsoever while the former laughed at by the latter to lack any job security. Jokes aside, journalism and creative writing are two opposite extremes of one continuum, and a writer has no choice but to lean towards just one inevitably, unless that writer is Ernest Hemingway. One way or another, this is the case for the author whose work will be analyzed in this essay. JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES

James Joyce’s Ulysses, specifically Aeolus is rich in critiques on mass media, particularly of print media (i.e. newspapers, magazines, etc.), in terms of how it paralyzes the masses and how it is a paralyzed entity itself. These criticisms may have stemmed from a prejudice towards journalism or from finding legitimate fault in how this medium works. JOYCE AND JOURNALISM

Earlier, it was said that these critiques might have stemmed from prejudice, and this is because of Joyce. Joyce was relieved to have escaped a career as a journalist. He constantly pitted the artist against the journalist, and, being the artist, he found the former superior in accuracy, imagination, and use of language. However, Joyce also had a sufficient, objective reason for his critique: “if Dublin was (as Joyce claimed) ‘the centre of paralysis’, then one of the causes of that blockage was a self-deceiving oratory and a hopeless provincial journalism (Joyce 991)”, and Aeolus is a report from “the dead centre of that dead centre”. The “selfdeceiving oratory” part will not be touched upon in this essay.

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Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus) AEOLUS

Aeolus, the seventh chapter of Ulysses, was set in the newspaper offices of the Freeman’s Journal and the Evening Telegraph, where Stephen Daedalus and Leopold Bloom, key characters of Ulysses, first crossed paths. The chapter reports the workings of the newspaper industry, Bloom’s hopeless efforts to endorse his advertisement with the “innuendo of Home Rule”, and Stephen’s poetry, which underwent an elaborate poetic process, later ridiculed by Professor MacHugh. In this chapter, the newspaper editor of Evening Telegraph and the contributors went out for drinks and discussed the glory days and the best people of their profession. This set up the territory of Joyce’s critique. STRUCTURE: HEADLINES

The structure of Aeolus was also an ingenious device to criticize an aspect of print media where “each section has its own parodic headline in the newspaper mode. (Joyce 991)” It should also be taken into consideration that “headlines in the newspaper are seldom written by the author of the underlying paragraph, and can sometimes actually distort the material,(Joyce 992)” as it deliberately is in this chapter. “At first, the titles are factual and restrained, set over reasonably sustained paragraphs… (Joyce 991)” Some of these instances include the first headline up to We See the Canvasser at Work. Included in these headlines is William Brayden, Esquire of Oaklands, Sandymount, which reports the entrance of William Brayden, the editor of the Freeman’s Journal, a stately, respectable man, whom Murray and Bloom mumbled about and whom Murray likened to “Our Savior” (Jesus Christ). Another is the section How A Great Daily Organ is Turned Out, which reports the contents of the newspaper, the “organ”. All these instances illustrate how appropriate the headings are to the “content”.

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Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus) HOUSE OF KEY(E)S

By The House of Key(e)s, the headlines start to become vague and barely connected to the content they are heading; “they grow progressively more offhand and slangy, in the popular modern fashion. (Joyce 991)” Going back to House of Key(e)s, it is vague whether it is a true headline, the print of Bloom’s advertisement, or both. The following are three examples of different versions of Ulysses, showing the page where the section is:

Version: 1961, Random House Publisher, The Modern Library

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Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

Version: n.d., Planet PDF, digital copy

Version: unknown date, unknown publisher, Class copy*

From the different versions, it is noticeable that The House of Key(e)s typeface is not different from the other headlines. This confusion might be deliberate to question the purpose of 4

Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

a headline, whether it is a necessity, or even going as far as making a blatant criticism that a headline’s sole purpose is to confuse, although a perusal of Joyce’s manuscripts is necessary to either confirm or invalidate this. THE OMNIPRESENT ENGLISH MONARCH

The first headline The Heart of the Hibernian Metropolis, which sufficiently describes the gist of the section, where Nelson’s pillar, the “heart” of the metropolis, is surrounded by tram cars going to different parts of the Irish Isles, enforcing how central the pillar is. It is also important to note that Nelson’s Pillar is a replica of the statue in Trafalgar Square, London. In The Wearer of the Crown, the second headline, the paragraph that follows describes the presence of His Majesty’s (pertaining to the English monarch) mailcars in Ireland. Although the mailcar only had the royal initials E.R. and is in itself only a mailcar, this triviality implies the omnipresence of the sense of being a colony of the Irish to the Britons. Even the construction and the style of the headlines following the first (William Brayden, Esquire, of Oaklands, Sandymount; The Crozier and the Pen; How A Great Daily Organ is Turned Out) give off the elegance and regality the English language has and is appropriate to the “content”, if it may be called so. Compared to the latter headlines of the chapter, which, as said earlier, become more slangy and geared towards sensationalism, as might be seen more often in Irish tabloids (or maybe even in the “formal” newspapers). A concrete example of this contrast is the comparison of the headlines At the Heart of the Hibernian Metropolis and Hello There, Central! Both refer to the place where Nelson’s pillar and the branching tramcar tracks are, but there is a stark difference on the way the headlines were written. The former sounds more formal and would be preferred by respectable men such as the clergy and the Irish government puppets of the English monarchy. The latter would probably sell more to the masses, in a newspaper’s context, because it sounds more “fun”. It is also important to note that the figures in Hello There, 5

Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

Central! are Irish newspapermen who have confused sentiments towards their English colonizers. Maybe the sensationalized headline for this section is a reflection of rebellion and separates them from puppet clergymen and government officials, even if it can be assumed that they are equals in terms of their knowledge and social consciousness. However, this insists on the inferiority complex of the Irish to their English colonizers and further implies the paralysis of Ireland. KNOWING A LOT IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD: MAKING REFERENCES AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

Another manifestation of the inferiority complex of the Irish to the Britons is how the group of Irish newspapermen express themselves, especially Stephen. Before delving deeper into Stephen, a notable quote from another person in the pack is “—Lay on, Macduff!” said by Mr. O’Madden Burke. This piece of dialogue is not conjured by Mr. Burke himself, but is from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Act V Scene viii. These little fragments of quotations to English writers (William Shakespeare being the most English of them all, so to speak) reflect a “nervous provincialism and pedantry practiced by a repressed people [the Irish] who fear that they may be second-rate.(Joyce 998)” Stephen is also affected by the same virus, as seen in the chapters Telemachus and Proteus. One quote from Telemachus is “Do I contradict myself? (Joyce 19)” from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. From Proteus, Stephen also quotes “very like a whale” which actually refers to a cloud in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Joyce 961) and “seachange” from “full fathom five”, this time from The Tempest. At least, his quotations generally occur in interior monologues, but these secretive references may reflect Stephen’s denial of the truth that he is part of a colonized people, which increases the difficulty of confronting his countless issues, including his search for a legitimate father figure and motherland (Ireland? England? Rome?). 6

Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

However, Stephen is not only influenced by English writers but also by a myriad of others, particularly from Italy/Greece. Italy and Greece are put together because of Italy (Roman Empire) was the one who revived Greek literature, philosophy, and the sciences during the Renaissance, and claimed these as their own. After Professor MacHugh criticized Stephen’s poem, Stephen tried to evaluate and revise his poem in Rhymes and Reasons through his Italian idol, Dante Alighieri. Dante’s Inferno became his model for beauty in terms of rhymes, and he compares the rhymes in Inferno to the rhymes of his own poem. In The Grandeur That Was Rome, Myles Crawford, the editor, had a speech about the Romans adapting both Jewish religion and Greek knowledge and claiming it as their own. Crawford also said, “It is meet to be here. Let us construct a watercloset. (Joyce 167)” Joyce meant, through Crawford, to “accuse the English of falsely claiming Irish literature as their own, while they themselves have contributed nothing more useful to humanity than the watercloset, and the Romans were earlier imperialists famous for doing the same. (Joyce 995)” Even so, the Irish Isles remain a colony of the English, and possibly even of Rome because of their vast influence to knowledge and learning through the Renaissance and their hold of the Catholic Church on Irish society, particularly of mass media in this chapter. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

The Crozier and the Pen and Noted Churchman an Occasional Contributor report the presence of clergymen in the newspapers on how powerful they are to be able to tell off the editors on the content of their paper, to filter the material that would reach the masses, and write articles themselves. This filter and censorship also contributes to the paralysis of mass media.

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Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

In The Crozier and the Pen, “—His grace phoned down twice this morning, Red Murray said gravely,” implies that there might have been something in the paper that offended the Church. “His grace” refers to someone from the Church, while a “crozier” refers to an ornamental staff of office carried by high-ranking members of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, etc. Church. Combining these two hints, Murray said an important person from the Church called the newspaper office to tell off the editor, exercising his high, religious power even on the pen. Even the stately William Brayden is no match for the Catholic Church. The Noted Churchman an Occasional Contributor section is self-explanatory, where the newspaper foreman was looking for the archbishop’s letter to be repeated in the Telegraph, and is referred to the dayfather named Monks, maybe another play of words, emphasizing how monks contribute to the paper. THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE “GLORY DAYS” SYNDROME

The section called The Great Gallaher, where Myles Crawford, the editor, and the rest of the newspaper group including Stephen, told them about Ignatius Gallaher, who made “the smartest piece of journalism ever known, (Joyce 172)” about “the Invincibles who assassinated Chief Secretary Burke and Undersecretary Cavendish in Phoenix Park, May 1882. …Much of the chapter criticizes the revivalist notion that all great deeds were done in the past. To Joyce, this idealization of the past was a thin cover-up to the mediocrity of the present [state of journalism]. (Joyce 996)” BRAIN DRAIN

In the section following The Great Gallaher, Clever, Very, tackles another reason why the Irish media was experiencing stagnation. This heading being a pure mimicry of the first line of the section, “—Clever, Lenehan said. Very,” shows the lack of creativity on the part of the headline maker, whoever he/she is. In this section, the newspaper group reminisced again and 8

Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

praised the works of past newspapermen of their time, this time in advertising. Also giving off a feel of glorification of the past, the editor talked about “The Old Woman of Prince’s street” advertisement, in which one of the conceivers Paddy Hooper who went from working for Tay Pay (T.P. O’Connor) of The Star to Blumenfeld, the editor of the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, papers in London. “These references indicate the provincial journalists’ dream of making a success in London. (Joyce 996)” Joyce mocks the idea that an English career is the beall and end-all of an Irish journalist. To them, this glorification of the past made up for the poor quality of the news they were producing. GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS

The approval of Professor MacHugh, Lenehan, and Mr. O’Madden Burke, all media men working in the press, may be reflective of how they make the achievement of the past their own without doing anything to contribute themselves. The lack of motivation on their part makes the stories of Gallaher and Hooper just feel-good anecdotes, and the following chapters may not go back to these media figures to show how they went about their profession, whether they went ahead to be the new Gallahers or Hoopers of their time or not. Relating this to a modern example, this glorification is much like how the current students of an educational institution boast of their alumni and make their achievements their own. There is an uncertainty of whether these students would follow the steps of their alumni or these achievements may just be fuel to their pride rather than the quality of their work in the future. This glorification is good excuse for their indolence, giving way to mediocrity, and thus paralysis. Instead of sincere media, the journalists’ profession has become a victim to the rat race and to personal interests, the goal being getting the best story or advertisement to move up the ranks and work for the best papers that pay the most.

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Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus)

THE BEST CRITICAL ESSAY YOU’VE EVER READ

Aeolus does have a lot to say about Ireland’s mass media and the workings of the newspaper industry. The faults and reasons of the paralysis of media presented by Joyce are rational enough to not generalize that his prejudice is just pure disgust of the lack of imagination of the profession. The reasons of the paralysis of mass media include but are not limited to the Church’s influence, the “Glory-Days Syndrome”, or the glorification of the past that gives way for indolence, and the constant feeling of repression and inferiority of the Irish people to their British colonizers. More importantly, Joyce masterfully presented these faults through his fiction in just one chapter! The headlines, the literary device focused on in this paper, can be separated from the text as a critique of the sensationalist goal of the Irish newspaper industry. The misleading headlines of Aeolus, such as the headline of this section, misinform and deceive the reader by offering to them a careless, inaccurate gist of the content, which might not be the main issue of the news. Worse, readers might just read the headlines and the headlines only, which would propagate more misinformation, and the masses themselves would be as paralyzed as their newspapers. The power of media is too much of a responsibility to be in the hands of careless harbingers, and Joyce, among other socially conscious Irishmen, knew this.

(Word Count: 2566 words) 10

Eng 131 – British English Literature

Amper, Gabrielle Yvonne G. Text: James Joyce’s Ulysses (Aeolus) Bibliography

Joyce, James. "Aeolus." Ulysses. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 147-89. Print. Note to Ma'am Atienza: I cannot find the version you gave us for class in the internet or anywhere and I meant to ask for the publication details but did not because I constantly forgot that I had to. Thus, the publication details and the year the version was published is not included in this citation. Joyce, James. “Aeolus.” Ulysses. The Modern Library: New York. 1961. 120-121. Print. Joyce, James. “Aeolus.” Ulysses. Planet PDF. N.d. PDF File. Joyce, James. “Notes on Aeolus.” Ulysses. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 990-1000. Print.

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