Neil R. Davison

Davison provides a thorough background to the Irish, European, and conceivably Joycean conception of Judaism within the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and reflects on how these preconceptions might have coalesced into the ultimate Joycean Jew, Leopold Bloom. While his analysis is thorough, I wish he had done a smoother job of establishing the possible formulations for determining Judaism, as the entire argument is reduced and relegated to a foot note. In this way, and others--lack of a broader historical context, or a thorough explanation of many of the historical events of the time period--this remains firmly criticism, and fails to speak to a broader audience. Which is a shame, because it certainly has the potential to speak to readers who are not Joyce critics.… (altro)