Macropolitics and Micropolitics in “Wandering Rocks”
In: Joyce's "Wandering Rocks"
Author:
Andrew Gibson
Andrew Gibson
Royal Holloway, University of London
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Abstract
The relationship between the macropolitical context of “Wandering Rocks” and the micropolitical concerns of the episode is complex and subtle. This essay demonstrates how a radical imbalance of power in the former, in which significant power is all on one side, is reflected in a culture of disadvantage, compromise and complicity in the latter. At the same time, the essay also shows how the micropolitical dimension of “Wandering Rocks” registers ‘flickers’ of resistance to contemporary macropolitical realities, ‘flickers’ which Joyce both sustains and amplifies in order to open a space for dissidence which the remainder of Ulysses may then exploit.