{"product_id":"ulysses-in-west-britain-michael-murphy-9781460008843","title":"Ulysses in West Britain: James Joyce's Dublin \u0026 Dubliners","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe term \"West Britain\" for Ireland was worn proudly by those loyal to the English Crown, but for patriotic Irishmen it was a slight. In \u003cem\u003eUlysses\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eDubliners\u003c\/em\u003e, Joyce presents the men of Dublin as reluctant but impotent citizens of West Britain rather than of Ireland.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUlysses\u003c\/em\u003e is widely commemorated now on Bloomsday as a celebration of Joyce's native city. \u003cem\u003eUlysses in West Britain\u003c\/em\u003e insists that \u003cem\u003eUlysses\u003c\/em\u003e is not a salute to Joyce's Dublin or its citizens, nor a cry de profundis for its release from colonial oppression. Joyce's satire on Dublin and Dubliners is directed not at the oppressor but at his own fellow citizens, those he called sarcastically the \"gratefully oppressed.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen life in the Dublin of \u003cem\u003eUlysses\u003c\/em\u003e isn't shabbily unheroic, it is an undivine comedy, laced with mordant Swiftian humor. Even the lives and deaths of Irish patriots are made objects of derision rather than respect. Joyce was wrong that there are no heroes and there is no heroism in Dublin or in ancient Greece. He was simply unable to see it. Though Joyce's work is fashionably presented as \"post-colonial\" in much recent criticism, post-colonial in any positive sense it is not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Ulysses the heroic tale of \u003cem\u003eThe Odyssey\u003c\/em\u003e is inverted to an anti-epic. Odysseus subverted an enemy city with a group of valiant men and a horse made of wood; Joyce does it to his hometown alone and unheroically with a devilishly ingenious explosive made from paper and print. Among other things, this book explores some ways in which he manages it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMichael Murphy is Professor Emeritus at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Murphy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1460008847\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781460008843\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Epic Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/05\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.72lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.51d","brand":"Michael Murphy","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48458475241727,"sku":"9781460008843","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_626f3a9a-8c47-4ae5-a762-a80878ec5b99.jpg?v=1777404674","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/ulysses-in-west-britain-michael-murphy-9781460008843","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}