On misogyny in the critical reception of Molly Bloom

This essay will consider, and at times challenge, a critical history of reading the “Penelope” episode of Ulysses. I argue that misogyny in various forms has often been a shaping force which has limited our reading of the episode. In fact, the critical record may form a barrier to imaginative and empathetic understanding of women’s experience and so also limit our reading of Joyce’s fictional approach to that experience. I believe that it is important to acknowledge and move on from this misogynistic cultural background given the importance of appropriate citation in our field and beyond. My reflections thus also celebrate more generous previous scholarship by critics like Vicki Mahaffey, Marian Eide, Christine Froula, Katherine Mullin, Casey Lawrence, and Julie McCormick-Weng, which can offer us a way forward to a more nuanced, future-proof account of Joyce’s representation of women. My model is Kathleen McCormick’s 1994 revisionist history of the episode, which addressed how Molly Bloom’s reception went through several phases between 1922 and 1970 including “Earth Mother” and “Satanic Mistress” tropes, with which critics used to respond to Joyce’s work. My essay updates her account of Molly, taking us up to the present day; still, where McCormick originally saw tremendous progress in her own time, I am currently feeling more cautious. My intervention ultimately offers a warning of the dangers of regressing into a previous misogynistic mode of thought at a time of cultural crisis.