“Counterparts,” the Iliad, and the Genesis of Joyce’s Mythic Method

This essay proposes that Joyce modeled his story “Counterparts” on Homer’s Iliad, utilizing many of the techniques of translation and allusion that would play such a vital role in the “mythic method” of Ulysses. Moreover, this early experimentation with Homeric translation provides deeper insight into the political and aesthetic motivations of Joyce’s work.