Abstract
Focusing on those animals that have been overlooked in reading Joyce’s work opens up new perspectives for understanding his writing. One of his earliest essays, “Force” (1898), written at the age of sixteen, shows his so far unexplored concern about the domestication of animals and extinction of species, and develops a theory of subjugation. The essay provides a useful mainstay for considering the “tuskers,” (the mammoth and mastodon, the elephants, their tusks, and ivory) in the context of the cultural discourses of modern society. The game-changer discovery of the notion of extinction; representation of mammoths and mastodons as fearful creatures; the novelty of elephants exposed to curious gaze on exhibition; the sculpture of Elvery’s Elephant House in Sackville street; a circus elephant and “terrible queer creature” episode in Stephen Hero; the forced labor perpetrated in the Congo Free State to exploit rubber and the ivory of wild elephants. These seemingly disparate topics deeply wedded to modernity will be interrelated with each other in “Force,” shaping a constellation of “Joyce’s tuskers.”
Highlights
Readers of James Joyce’s works come upon a multitude of animals, birds, and insects, and this diversity holds great allure for current criticism
After historicizing the experience of “seeing elephants” in the nineteenth century, we discover how the subjugation theme emerges in an elephant episode in Stephen Hero
Joyce connects the subjugation of animals to that of children, juxtaposing the images of the elephant beaten with a stick and Stephen on his knees being beaten by the pandybat as one among the subjugated
Summary
Readers of James Joyce’s works come upon a multitude of animals, birds, and insects, and this diversity holds great allure for current criticism. This study focuses on the extinct proboscideans (mammoths and mastodons), extant elephants, their tusks, and ivory, all of which are important in considering the subject of “Joyce and animals.” These can be gathered together under the rubric of tuskers, based on the word mistakenly used by the character. In order to emphasize the significance of these elements of Joyce’s writing, this paper will use the term modern animals, by which I wish to highlight the newness or conspicuousness of animals that evoke excitement, curiosity or marketability stemming from their frightening, queer, or exotic images, zoological peculiarity, and not-yet-fully controllable ferocity These terms and the perspective they highlight is based on my assumption that the gaze to which the animals depicted in Joyce’s texts were exposed was rather different from that of today. These tuskers will signal the author’s developing concern with animals and the theme of subjugation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
