Confessions of a Joycean Opium Eater

Book Reviews Volume 32:3, 1989 and bad from the father (as Theoharis believes) or that good health derives either from the mother or, if not, then from the father. I make the above case because the passages on which Theoharis builds his argument often seem to me more ambiguous than they do to him. In general, however, he presents his material carefully: the book has few real errors, although Theoharis repeats Leopold Bloom's mistake in thinking that Rip Van Winkle appears in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (35) and, curiously, the bibliography attributes to Denis Donoghue a 1967 James Joyce Quarterly article that was actually written by Don Byrd (221). These errors stand out because they are so rare in this study. AU in all, I think Theoharis has made a real contribution to our knowledge of Ulysses. Personally, I read Ulysses as a more ambiguous , ironic, and fragmented text than he does, but he is clear and persuasive in demonstrating that Joyce adopted the terms and ideas of these four writers for his own purposes. Theoharis is admirably lucid and enlightening in his background discussions, and his applications of Aristotle, Bruno, Dante, and Arnold to Joyce are consistently intriguing. Beginners will find this book too specialized for their purposes, but seasoned Joyce scholars will discover much in it to enrich their own appreciation of Joyce's epic novel. Patrick A. McCarthy University of Miami CONFESSIONS OF A JOYCEAN OPIUM EATER James Joyce. James Joyce's 'Dubliners'. James Joyce's 'Ulysses'. James Joyce's Ά Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'. AU edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1988. $27.50 $24.50 $24.50 $24.50 I BEGAN READING JOYCE CRITICISM at the age of fifteen, when a copy of A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake accidentally came into my possession, and although I am "downright fond" of the Joyce texts themselves, I admit to being "fair mashed" on the critical books and essays. Until the supply began to outstrip the demand I overdosed by reading everything that I could find in print (at least in languages I could pretend to understand), but I have of late tapered off sufficiently to experience withdrawal symptoms. The old addict in me was somewhat awakened by the existence of four books of essays newly available from Chelsea House and edited with introductions by none other than Harold Bloom. ("How's that for high?" I hear The Joyce Himself 378 Book Reviews Volume 32:3, 1989 comment.) Avaüable within these covers are a total of 47 essays, not counting H. B.'s four (really three) introductions, by 36 scholars of varying shades of Joycean commitment. Heading the list (in the jousting sense perhaps) are Hugh Kenner and Richard Ellmann with four each, although not actually evenly distributed in the four volumes—which looks as if H. B. is impartial in the classic Battle of the Joycean Heavyweights (although only numerically, as it turns out). Weighing in with two each are Anthony Burgess, Patrick Parrinder, Mary T. Reynolds, John Paul Riquelme, and Fritz Senn, with the following providing one each (in alphabetical order): Samuel Beckett, Ross Chambers, Dorrit Cohn, Robert Adams Day, TUIy Eggers, WUliam Empson, Daniel Ferrer, S. L. Goldberg, Suzette Henke, Cheryl Herr, Phillip Herring, Wolfgang Iser, Fredric Jameson, Karen Lawrence, Harry Levin, Jennifer Schiffer Levine, A. Walton Litz, Ronald McHugh, Margot Norris, Thomas B. O'Grady, Deborah Pope, Martin Price, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Ramón SaldÃ-var, Gabrielle Schwab, Michael Seidel, Lindsey Tucker, Francis Warner, and Raymond Wüliams. The group is a distinguished one, and varied, most of the names easily recognizable to Joyce studies addicts, although some might easily have long been lost had H. B. not retrieved them. No common denominator is apparent since some have written copiously on Joyce and others may be represented by the only article on the subject ever published by them—all the essays are reprints, except for the introductions. Which leads one to speculate on the principles by which the selections were made. In each volume the essays are in chronological order, suggesting the possibility of a historical survey on the particular subject...