Mrs Marion

From the moment he reenters his house and sees a letter addressed to "Mrs Marion Bloom," Bloom becomes relegated (and relegates himself) to the position of a servant. Rather than being acknowledged (and acknowledging himself) as the master of his house, he is shunted into a subordinate role. An Homeric logic plays through this degradation, highlighting Molly's role as Calypso and recreating the usurpation that Stephen experiences in Telemachus.

John Hunt 2017


John Jones, pen and watercolor wash illustration of "What a time you were, she said," reproduced in David Pierce's James Joyce's Ireland (1992) courtesy of John Jones.