What Makes Them Dubliners? James Joyce’s “An Encounter” and the Foundations of Masculinist Nationalism in Ireland

Abstract

This article performs a close reading of James Joyce’s “An Encounter,” the second story in Dubliners, in an effort to examine a key aspect of the story that has been heretofore overlooked: Joyce’s commentary on the role of masculinity in the construction of Irish identity. Since prior critical readings of “An Encounter” have focused almost exclusively on the final scenes of the narrative, the rest of the story has been given short shrift. By concentrating on only the perverted and homophobic aspects of the narrative, critics largely fail to recognize the themes of the story that are developed over the entirety of the text, not just its climax. The boys’ journey to the field and the other elements that Joyce uses to set the scene should not be seen as mere prologue; particularly noteworthy are the literary, pop-cultural, and religious references that pepper the first half of the text. A more holistic look at the events in “An Encounter” reveals a commentary not only on homosexuality and perversion but on broader topics such as masculinity, coming of age, the dissemination of sociocultural knowledge, and the construction of Irish national identity. In bringing those themes to the fore, I intend to explicate the way in which the experience of the English colonization of Ireland was written onto every aspect of an Irishman’s life, even the process of sexual maturation and gendered citizenship.