Sounding Dismodernism in James Joyce’s Ulysses

Morse, Daniel Ryan

Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies (2018), 12, (4), 459–475.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/jlcds.2018.36
Language: English
Pages: 17

Abstract

The article argues that James Joyce’s use of a wide variety of methods to read and write (including audiobooks, dictation, and enlarged print) provides a new way to understand the representation of disability in Ulysses. Focusing in particular on the role of dictation in versions of Ulysses (both by Joyce and later readers), the article recuperates the novel’s various challenges to a culture of silent reading. Written texts and audiobooks supposedly serve separate audiences, deserve different levels of cultural prestige, and create divergent means of consuming literature. This article connects this false binary with that between the disabled and normate body to demonstrate how both combine to enforce a culture of compulsory able-bodiedness. Joining the methods and insights of textual criticism and disability studies, the article makes the case for a more capacious account of the novel’s writing that could serve as a model for research on other writers with disabilities and non-print versions of books.

FormatArticle

£25.00

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Alter, Alexandra. “The New Explosion in Audio Books.” The Wall Street Journal. 1 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Jun. 2014. The New Explosion in Audio Books. The Wall Street Journal Google Scholar

Beach, Sylvia. Shakespeare and Company. New York: Harcourt, 1959. Print. Shakespeare and Company Google Scholar

Bednarska, Dominika. “A Cripped Erotic: Gender and Disability in James Joyce’s ‘Nausicaa.’” James Joyce Quarterly 49.1 (2011): 73–89. Print. A Cripped Erotic: Gender and Disability in James Joyce’s ‘Nausicaa.’ James Joyce Quarterly 49.1 73 89 Google Scholar

Bender, Abby. “The Language of the Outlaw: A Clarification.” James Joyce Quarterly 44.4 (2007): 807–12. Print. The Language of the Outlaw: A Clarification. James Joyce Quarterly 44.4 807 12 Google Scholar

Bérubé, Michael. “Narrative and Intellectual Disability.” Companion to American Literary Studies. Ed. Caroline Levander. Malden: John Wiley, 2011. 469–82. Print. Narrative and Intellectual Disability. Companion to American Literary Studies 469 82 Google Scholar

Bishop, John. Joyce’s Book of the Dark. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1986. Print. Joyce’s Book of the Dark Google Scholar

Brannon, Julie Sloan. Who Reads Ulysses?: The Rhetoric of the Joyce Wars and the Common Reader. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print. Who Reads Ulysses?: The Rhetoric of the Joyce Wars and the Common Reader Google Scholar

Budgen, Frank. James Joyce and the Making of “Ulysses.” 1934. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1972. Print. James Joyce and the Making of “Ulysses.” Google Scholar

Camlot, Jason. “Early Talking Books: Spoken Recordings and Recitation Anthologies, 1880–1920.” Book History 6 (2003): 147–73. Print. Early Talking Books: Spoken Recordings and Recitation Anthologies, 1880–1920. Book History 6 147 73 Google Scholar

Conrad, Joseph. The Secret Agent. London: Methuen, 1907. Print. The Secret Agent Google Scholar

Cooper, Rand Richards. “Can We Really Read with Our Ears? The ‘Wuthering’ Truth about Novels on Tape.” New York Times. 6 Jun. 1993. Web. 25 Aug. 2016. Can We Really Read with Our Ears? The ‘Wuthering’ Truth about Novels on Tape New York Times Google Scholar

Cormier, Andre. “‘Our Eyes Demand Their Turn. Let Them be Seen!’: The Transcendental Blind Stripling.” Joyce Studies Annual (2008): 203–25. Print. ‘Our Eyes Demand Their Turn. Let Them be Seen!’: The Transcendental Blind Stripling. Joyce Studies Annual 203 25 Google Scholar

Crispi, Luca. Joyce’s Creative Process and the Construction of Characters in Ulysses: Becoming the Blooms. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2015. Print. Joyce’s Creative Process and the Construction of Characters in Ulysses: Becoming the Blooms Google Scholar

Curtin, Adrian. “Hearing Joyce Speak: The Phonograph Recordings of ‘Aeolus’ and ‘Anna Livia Plurabelle’ as Audiotexts.” James Joyce Quarterly 46.2 (2009): 269–84. Print. Hearing Joyce Speak: The Phonograph Recordings of ‘Aeolus’ and ‘Anna Livia Plurabelle’ as Audiotexts James Joyce Quarterly 46.2 269 84 Google Scholar

Dariusz. “Fantastic!” Audible. n.p., 14 Nov. 2008. Web. 25 Aug. 2016. Fantastic! Audible Google Scholar

Davidson, Michael. Concerto for the Left Hand: Disability and the Defamiliar Body. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2008. Print. Concerto for the Left Hand: Disability and the Defamiliar Body Google Scholar

Davidson, Michael. “Cripping Consensus: Disability Studies at the Intersection.” American Literary History 28.2 (2016): 433–53. Print. Cripping Consensus: Disability Studies at the Intersection. American Literary History 28.2 433 53 Google Scholar

Davis, Lennard J. Bending over Backwards: Disability, Dismodernism, and Other Difficult Positions. New York: New York UP, 2002. Print. Bending over Backwards: Disability, Dismodernism, and Other Difficult Positions Google Scholar

Ed. “Worth the Time and Effort.” Audible. n.p., 30 Apr. 2009. Web. 25 Aug. 2016. Worth the Time and Effort. Audible Google Scholar

Eliot, T. S. “The Approach to James Joyce.” The Listener. 14 Oct. 1943: 446–47. The Approach to James Joyce. The Listener 446 47 Google Scholar

Eyre, Pauline. “Deafened by Laughter: Reading David Lodge’s Deaf Sentence as a Carnivalesque Dismodernist Text.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 6.1 (2012): 17–34. Print. Deafened by Laughter: Reading David Lodge’s Deaf Sentence as a Carnivalesque Dismodernist Text. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 6.1 17 34 Google Scholar

Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury. New York: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1929. Print. The Sound and the Fury Google Scholar

Freddy. “Perfect, Excellent Audiobook.” Audible. n.p., 29 Jan. 2010. Web. 25 Aug. 2016. Perfect, Excellent Audiobook. Audible Google Scholar

Gifford, Don and Robert Seidman. Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s Ulysses. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988. Print. Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s Ulysses Google Scholar

Groden, Michael. Ulysses in Progress. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1977. Print. Ulysses in Progress Google Scholar

Gutjahr, Paul C. “No Longer Left Behind: Amazon.com, Reader-Response, and the Changing Fortunes of the Christian Novel in America.” Book History 5 (2002): 209–36. Print. No Longer Left Behind: Amazon.com, Reader-Response, and the Changing Fortunes of the Christian Novel in America Book History 5 209 36 Google Scholar

Jajdelska, Elspeth. Silent Reading and the Birth of the Narrator. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2007. Print. Silent Reading and the Birth of the Narrator Google Scholar

Jameson, Fredric. “Ulysses in History.” The Modernist Papers. New York: Verso, 2007. 137–51. Print. Ulysses in History The Modernist Papers 137 51 Google Scholar

Jolas, Eugene. Man from Babel. New Haven: Yale UP, 1998. Print. Man from Babel Google Scholar

Joyce, James. “Aeolus” 1924. “James Joyce Reading from Ulysses.” YouTube. Web. 25 Aug. 2016. James Joyce Reading from Ulysses. YouTube Google Scholar

Joyce, James. Anna Livia Plurabelle. London: Faber, 1930. Print. Anna Livia Plurabelle Google Scholar

Joyce, James. Letters of James Joyce. Vol. 1. Ed. Stuart Gilbert. New York: Viking, 1966. Print. Letters of James Joyce Google Scholar

Joyce, James. Ulysses. 1922. Ed. Hans Walter Gabler. New York: Random House, 1986. Print. Ulysses Google Scholar

Joyce, James. Ulysses: Autograph Manuscript. Philadelphia, PA: The Rosenbach Museum & Library. Ulysses Google Scholar

Keane, Damien. “Quotation Marks, the Gramophone Record, and the Language of the Outlaw.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 51.4 (2009): 400–15. Print. Quotation Marks, the Gramophone Record, and the Language of the Outlaw. Texas Studies in Literature and Language 51.4 400 15 Google Scholar

Kenner, Hugh. “Maelstrom, Reflux.” Ulysses. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1987. 93–106. Print. Maelstrom, Reflux. Ulysses 93 106 Google Scholar

Kittler, Friedrich. Discourse Networks 1800/1900. Trans. Michael Metteer. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1990. Print. Discourse Networks 1800/1900 Google Scholar

Krentz, Christopher. “Borges in the Mind’s Eye.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 10.1 (2016): 37–51. Print. Borges in the Mind’s Eye. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 10.1 37 51 Google Scholar

Linett, Maren. Bodies of Modernism: Physical Disability in Transatlantic Modernist Literature. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2017. Print. Bodies of Modernism: Physical Disability in Transatlantic Modernist Literature Google Scholar

Loukopoulou, Eleni. “Joyce’s Progress Through London: Conquering the English Publishing Market.” James Joyce Quarterly 48.4 (2011): 683–710. Print. Joyce’s Progress Through London: Conquering the English Publishing Market. James Joyce Quarterly 48.4 683 710 Google Scholar

Lyon, Janet. “Capacious Physiology.” Disability and Modernism Conference. University of Pennsylvania. 15 Mar. 2013. Plenary Address. Capacious Physiology. Google Scholar

Marshall, Jodi. Are They Really Reading?: Expanding SSR in the Middle Grades. Portland: Stenhouse, 2002. Print. Are They Really Reading?: Expanding SSR in the Middle Grades Google Scholar