Demonic Joyce

In this article, I revisit ?Cyclops? as a scene of political and interpretive conflict, which I re-interpret using Ewan Fernie?s notion of the ?demonic.? I first show how ?Cyclops? has been a focal point for conflicts between groups of twentieth-century Joycean critics, notably the ?humanist critics like Ellmann? (whom I call the L-men) and the historicists, with the figure of ?the Citizen? understood either as an inhuman monster or a figure of political resistance. I go on to use Fernie?s account of the demonic, supported by ideas from psychoanalysis and anthropology, to open a new perspective on-scene staged by Joyce in ?Cyclops? with the contrast between the narrative and the interpolations re-envisaged as a clash between the realm of discursivity (and thus of a certain intersubjective rationality) and another realm where forbidden, unspeakable enjoyment shows itself and eclipses the human subject.authorsversionPeer reviewe