ABSTRACT
The development of consumer capitalism posed questions about value, and about personal worth, which no reassertion of social or political allegiances could answer. Nelly Ambrose’s identity rests, equivocally, but to a significant degree, on the choice between red and blue feathers; Leopold Bloom’s on an ideal advertisement. How could a sense of worth so subjective, so whimsical, ever be acknowledged, measured, endorsed or denied?
