LEOPOLD BLOOM, EVERYMAN AND NOMAN: THE SIMULTANEOUS EBB AND FLOW OF CONSCIOUSNESS, TIME, AND NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IN JAMES JOYCE'S ULYSSES

Abstract

James Joyce's Ulysses contains many radical and challenging narrative structures that change from episode to episode, constructed by an amorphous narrative presence called the arranger. Though the novel relies on Homer's Odyssey for its skeletal structure, the changing narrative styles provide the true journey for the reader. Thinkers such as Henri Bergson applied philosophy to the problems of identity and disillusionment faced by their modernist contemporaries. He created a theory about achieving wholeness of identity secularly and authentically. Bergson called this process duration, an ideal unity in a person's identity that implies simultaneous blending knowledge of one's unconscious, memories, and new perceptions. In these terms identity is not fixed, but is an everchanging river of permutations as new experiences merge with conscious and unconscious memories. This paper explores the interaction between these philosophic concepts and the changing narrative styles on the character development of Leopold Bloom, creating a space for him to achieve pure duration. First, this paper examines the "Circe" episode and how it delves into Bloom's unconscious, analyzing the importance of repressed memories and archetypes on identity forming. Next, this paper examines the "Eumaeus" episode and how Bloom's consciousness blends with a narrative collective consciousness and how he experiences irruptions from his unconscious. Lastly, this paper explores the narrative style of catechism in the "Ithaca" episode with Bloom's continued journey of self-discovery. Most importantly, this paper argues that Bloom achieves pure duration at the end of "Ithaca," reaching a greater understanding of himself and humanity through the narrative spaces provided by the arranger.