Undermining the Great Tradition of Empire in “Oxen of the Sun”

“Oxen of the Sun” is known for Joyce’s imitation of the styles of the great authors from Old English to Carlyle. Scholars have long been aware of his sources. The selections turn out to be nationalistic, militaristic, and imperialistic. This paper examines how Joyce undermines the great tradition of empire by parodying the originals. The paper will be focused on the comparison and contrast between Joyce’s parody and the original essays by the influential Victorian sages, particularly Carlyle and Macaulay. Carlyle as a strong upholder of imperialism believed that the English were a superior race and thus should govern the colonies. He had contempt for the common man, while he admired heroes like a sort of god. Also, for him men must be masters in their own house. In his parody, Joyce attempts to deconstruct the colonial and patriarchal discourse of the Empire through Carlyle. Also, Joyce resists Malthusian theory, which warned against the population growth, a theory favored by the English ruling class. Opposed to the idea that a civilized man can control himself but a barbarian multiplies heedlessly, Joyce celebrates the fertility of Ireland. Similarly, Joyce simply erases the Empire as it is glorified by Macaulay. Furthermore, at the end of the episode, the anthology of literary prose styles gives way to the oral cultures at the periphery which English culture has repressed. This hints at the subversiveness or menace of Joyce the Irishman, qualitatively different from Englishman. Joyce enacts resemblance or parody and, in the process, becomes a “hybrid,” that which is potentially disruptive. For Bhabha, mimicry and resemblance are modes of resistance. By imperfectly mimicking the colonizer’s culture, Joyce the “mimic man” implicitly questions the authority of colonial discourse.