ABSTRACT
The hold of The Iliad over the literary imagination and its educational concomitants are profound. Great poetry it unquestionably is and central to its greatness is battle and its associated friendships. While fiction extolling and celebrating war is still produced and remains popular, other forms of popular media play their part, not least the cinema. Nationalistic literature has indeed left most of the classrooms in Europe. However, writing in other humanistic traditions, can be carefully studied, perhaps re-read and re-read, bringing new insights on each reading. It is not surprising therefore that Joyce's Dublin in Ulysses reflects upon the anti-Semitism that was common at the time across Europe. At several points in the book, it is made clear that Bloom the Irishman is not seen as such by his countrymen, friends and acquaintance. The complex relationships between the Irish themselves and their relationship with England and the English are a constant theme as they remain today.
