German Jews

"I don't want to see my country fall into the hands of German jews either. That's our national problem, I'm afraid, just now": Haines justifies his name in Telemachus by spouting the theory of an international Jewish conspiracy. Near the end of Nestor, the proudly Unionist Mr. Deasy subjects Stephen to more of the same: "England is in the hands of the jews. In all the highest places: her finance, her press. And they are the signs of a nation's decay. Wherever they gather they eat up the nation's vital strength." Anti-Semitism was powerful not only in England but also in Germany, France, and other nations. In Proteus it surfaces briefly in Kevin Egan's mention of "M. Drumont, famous journalist." These three passages alluding to European nations being undermined or overtaken by treacherous Jews set the stage for Joyce's introduction of a Jewish protagonist in the fourth chapter, and for the prejudice exhibited toward him by various Dubliners in the book.

John Hunt 2011

Portrait of Wilhelm Marr by unknown artist, from Vierhundert Jahre Juden in Hamburg (Doelling und Gallitz, 1991). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Photographic portrait of Alfred Dreyfus, artist and date unknown. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

1898 cartoon by French satirist Caran d'Ache (pseudonym of Emmanuel Poiré) in the anti-Semitic weekly cartoon magazine Psst...! that he co-founded, showing a family dinner ruined by discussion of the Dreyfus affair. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Another 1898 cartoon by Caran d'Ache showing the old aristocratic oppression of French peasants replaced in modern times by bankers, Freemasons, and Jews. Source: imgur.com.