“It’s No Use...Force, Hatred, History, All That:” Joyce’s Rejection Of Macro-Historical Narrative And Terministic Screens With Satire And Perspectivalism In Ulysses

The connection between James Joyce's troubled relationship with the Catholic Church and his, often parodic, portrayal of the religion in his fiction has been the central focus of copious amounts of scholarship. In relation to Joyce's Ulysses, Joyce's interest in the Homeric tradition, its historicity, and parody have also been brought to the forefront. However, Biblical historicity has been left somewhat in the background of Joyce studies. My intent with this research is to show that, not only was Joyce aware of and interested in the study of the historical background of the Church, he devoted a significant portion of Ulysses to point out how the suppressed history of the Church, once exposed, illustrates the hypocrisy of Papal authority. Through the rhetoric of parody, both the history and the doctrine supported by the Catholic Church are found lacking -- thereby challenging the notion that history is a definitive discipline and that authority must always go unchallenged.