‘Khaki Hamlets’ and ‘The Absent Minded Beggar’: The Boer War in Joyce’s Ulysses

Abstract

Joycean critics and scholars have paid little attention to the references to the Boer War, especially in “Penelope,” the most feminine chapter in Ulysses. The historical setting of Ulysses fixed on June 16, 1904 makes it almost impossible to directly deal with the Great War, so this anachronistic positioning is Joyce’s tactical approach to the problematic operations of war ideology in general. Joyce’s references to Boer War-related events and characters scattered throughout Ulysses show the ways in which Joyce criticizes the operations of war ideologies in the cultural strata, exemplified in Kipling’s poem, ’The Absentminded Beggar,’ and its endorsement of British imperialism. In “Penelope,” Molly compains that she was teased by pro-British people for three reasons: her father participated in the Boer War, she wore a brooch for Lord Roberts, the British hero of the victory over the Boers, and she sang a song, “The Absentminded beggar,” based on Kipling’s patriotic poem. In thise sense, Molly could be regarded as pro-British, but she also scorns Bloom’s talks about politics, by showing indifference to such Irish famous politicians as Arthur Griffith. So it is difficult to categorize Molly either antinationalist or supporter for British imperialism, since she exists outside the world of androcentric values.