‘There being more languages to start with than were absolutely necessary’: James Joyce’s Ulysses and English as a World Language

Abstract

This chapter considers how the practice of non-translation has implications for the development and critical practice of ‘world literature’, taking the ‘Eumaeus’ episode of Joyce’s Ulysses as its focal point. In particular, non-translation offers a route to re-read two related and important literary-historical models that have been influential in conceptualizing world literature: the idea of a ‘minor literature’, as elaborated initially by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and that of a ‘dominant language’ within a ‘world history of literature’, elaborated by Pascale Casanova. It is important to do so because, remarkably enough, despite the obvious relevance of non-translation, neither model addresses the phenomenon of plurilingual, macaronic writing. The matter of non-translation offers an illuminating index through which to consider, and revise, these influential literary-historical models. The chapter also examines the contemporary context of language reform exemplified by the Society for Pure English.