In Ulysses James Joyce has his protagonist Stephen recite a vicious antisemitic nursery rhyme -a medieval blood libel-to Bloom, the Jew who's suffered a million antisemitic papercuts throughout the day.
How well Joyce knew the soul of the Irish!
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weeklyblitz.net/oped/the-gold-…
The meaning of a bloodied baby as murdered by Jews depicted above is better grasped in all its gruesome detail and venomous hatred if we read the poem:
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Earlier in that day, there was this scene:
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Now read the article: how well James Joyce's captured the meanness of the Irish spirit when it came to Jewish suffering. It reads like a prophecy of his people's disgrace in WW2 from which they know not how to come back, except by more vicious blood libels.
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The greatly missed Norm Geras explained it once like this:
"It is part of human nature to hate the man you have hurt." ~Tacitus
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Read the article:
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weeklyblitz.net/oped/the-gold-…
Now back to Ulysses, where a theoretical affinity between the two peoples is discussed. Note how it ends. What is that song, sung by Bloom in 1904 in Dublin, (which Joyce wrote between 1914-1921).
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Soon after the blood libel nursery rhyme is recited by Stephen, smiting any illusion that Ireland might want to or is capable of excising its pathological need for antisemitism to sustain its self-esteem.
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