Aspects of Cultural Utopia Displayed Through Anarchy in the Characters of Ulysses

This paper will be focused on an investigation in the expansion of cultural utopia through an invading anarchy in some characters of Ulysses. In the 18th and 19th century is widely perceived a new anarchy and utopia, different from that of religious connotation. In many utopian ideas, with anarchist connotation, is expressed the belief of creating a despotism, which lately will disappear to leave the place to a country avoiding class division, leading to the transformation of the individual. At the beginning supportive of Irish Renaissance, but shortly very critical, Joyce attempts to epitomize the spiritual emptiness linked to Irish Catholicism together with the absentee of ideas from its leaders in the independence movement of Ireland. In all his works prevail the perception that imperialism is sustained by a Catholicism that plays the role of a camouflaged European nationalism. Many controversies are the basis of Illuminist inspiration in the 19th century. Supposed to be the source of a changing society, they embraced much exclusion, starting from the fact that it was not taken into consideration the difficult situation of slaves, women, prohibited religions etc. Through an empirical analysis of some characters in Ulysses, I will arrive to the point to evaluate these ideas that perturb the characters of Ulysses, and above all Joyce himself, abound in the episodes of Ithaca, Nestor, Cyclopes, Thelemacus