Hunter and Gatherers: On the Trail of the Dubliners "Ulysses" and Its Mysterious Hero

It has long been thought that in late 1906-early 1907 Joyce intended to write a story for Dubliners to be entitled "Ulysses." Although little certain information is known about it except its intended title and that it was to have featured a Mr. Hunter, recent research has established basic biographical facts. Yet in the accounts of the pre-birth of Ulysses, including Richard Ellmann's and Gordon Bowker's Joyce biographies, speculations about the unwritten "Ulysses" and Hunter are presented as if they were well-documented facts. In the light of the paucity of evidence about the Dubliners "Ulysses" and new information about Hunter, one must confront the fact that very little of what is asserted about the unwritten ur-Ulysses is documentable and that much of what has long been claimed is wrong. This essay attempts to sort through all available information in order to determine what is known and what is not known and what can be asserted confidently as fact and what should be relegated to the category of baseless speculation.