“Academic Trekkies”: A Report on “Diasporic Joyce,” The International North American James Joyce Conference, Toronto, Canada, 21-25 June 2017

Abstract

“Academic Trekkies”:A Report on “Diasporic Joyce,” The International North American James Joyce Conference, Toronto, Canada, 21-25 June 2017 Layne M. Farmen “Diasporic Joyce” took place in the heart of Toronto at the beautiful Victoria College campus, an elegant, naturally adorned hub of a diversely vibrant city. Hosted by Garry Leonard, Professor of English at the University of Toronto, and Jennifer Levine, Associate Professor of Literary and Critical Theory at the University of Toronto, the conference was both academically rigorous and electrically social. Everything was organized efficiently but without rigidity, making for a distinctively Joycean experience in which the conversations between panels were afforded equality with the discourses taking place in the classrooms. The frequent coffee breaks, reading sessions, performances, open mic nights, and trips to the pub made it possible to meet a seemingly unending list of new friends and colleagues. We had a designated conference pub named “Bedford Academy,” which perfectly encapsulated the blurred space between erudition and inebriation that Joyce often occupied or at least exhibits in his work. The ratio of the two at the conference seemed akin to Ulysses, every Hamlet lecture balanced by a Siren’s song. “Diasporic Joyce” was intellectual yet accessible, both deeply reverent and hilariously transgressive. Every time I learned a new word it was balanced by a shit joke. To my surprise, many of the presenters throughout the day were not conventional scholars at all (some even balked at the notion), and many artists, musicians, bloggers, Joyceans, Wakeans, singers, actors, and filmmakers not only enthusiastically attended panels, but presented their own research as well. The first day was characterized [End Page 10] by a series of fascinating interdisciplinary works from scholars and non-scholars alike, all conversing with the work of Joyce in innovative ways. Musicians, artists, game designers, and actors presented different ways to engage with Joyce’s body of work, beginning the conference with an exciting, boundary-shattering flair. The “non-scholars” presented research as well, as I learned during the first session on day 2 entitled “Wormholes in the Wake.” Peter Quadrino, the incisive blogger and host of Austin’s “Finnegans Wake Reading Group,” presented a profound piece drawing out the Wake as a manifesto of peace amidst the lunacy of war, a message that is needed now more than ever (check out the Twitter account “real Finnegans Wake” to see how this works in real time). The scholars featured on every panel presented fascinating and brilliant research as well: I was expecting this, but for some reason I was surprised that the often-imposed walls between those within and without academia were all but pulverized by Joyce’s resounding trumpet. Much credit should be given to Garry Leonard and Jennifer Levine as well for organizing a conference panel lineup consisting of veteran scholars, newbies, artists, bards, and visionaries. While initially I was curious about when the “Diasporic” theme would emerge, the panel “Dublin, Ireland, Europe, The World: Thinking About Everything and Everywhere in Joyce” was the first sustained engagement I witnessed. Representatives from the University of Miami, Paige Miller and Barbara Hoffman, presented fascinating international research, Miller concerning the bilingualism at work in Molly Bloom’s closing monologue and Hoffman investigating the “Diasporic” theme in relation to the cultural politics between Ireland and Australia by looking at “Eveline” and several double meanings in the Wake. Greg Winston scrutinized the cosmopolitan and economic eccentricities in Ulysses through a focus on botany, globalism, Guinness, and Orientalism. Though attendance was never particularly low in a given session, there was barely standing room during the panel entitled “Scatological Joyce” (the topic seemed so popular that there was an embarrassment of riches: Benjamin Jon Boysen’s piece on “Zionism and Coprophilia” took place the day before, unfortunately coinciding with my own presentation). Claire A. Culleton reminded the audience of the fine line between good scholarship and stand-up comedy, presenting her analysis of the quality and texture of bowel movements in Dubliners and relating these consistencies with the individual plight of differing social classes. Tim Conley was not to be outdone, choosing to read from one of the choicest “dirty” letters and drawing comparisons between coprophilia and the consumption of...