Department of English

My research project intends to examine the function of viscerality and sentimentality in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Viscerality, in regards to Molly Bloom, functions as a way to either represent her desire for physical touch, desirability, or sexuality. Its multi-functional status reveals its importance in Molly’s life as a key component to her form of love. However, this definition does not cover all of Molly’s bases for love. While it is a major factor, we will see how sentimentality works in conjunction with viscerality to reveal how Molly interprets her form of love. The following paper explores Molly’s love in Ulysses and how Joyce’s presentation of Molly’s love reveals fears surrounding her youth, maternity, and societal pressures. I intend to focus on the relationship between Molly’s love and these three specific anxieties. The immense popularity surrounding Joyce’s Ulysses led to an array of literary criticism examining various aspects of the novel offering a multitude of theories regarding Molly’s love and sexuality. However, not many critics have explored Molly’s love on its own in regards to three men: Hugh E. ‘Blazes’ Boylan, Stephen Dedalus, and Leopold Bloom, and their significant roles in Molly’s life. An emphasis on Leopold is placed as the synthesis between these two men and offers a deeper and more insightful understanding which would further aid existing scholarship.