Ep. 61 -Who Was the Real Leopold Bloom?

A sketch of Bloom by James Joyce

James Joyce based many characters in Ulysses on friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies, but what about Leopold Bloom? Who were the real people in Joyce’s life who inspired the creation of one of literature’s greatest protagonists?

Topics in this episode include people who Joyce thought looked like Leopold Bloom, the story of Alfred Hunter, why Joyce chose the address 7 Eccles St., how many pounds are in a stone, the inspiration for Bloom’s kindly-curious personality, Ettore Schmitz (Italo Svevo), how true friendship influenced Ulysses, why Bloom is Hungarian, why he’s called Leopold, how Leopold Bloom embodies the quality of maturity.

James Joyce based many characters in Ulysses on friends, family, acquaintances, and enemies, but what about Leopold Bloom? Who were the real people in Joyce's life who inspired the creation of one of literature's greatest protagonists?

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George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron by Richard Westall

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Who Was the Real Leopold Bloom?

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George Holbrook Jackson, 1913

The image of Holbrook Jackson that disappointed Joyce

Ettore Schmitz (Italo Svevo)

John Martin Harvey

Media Mentioned in this Episode:

Joyce’s Trieste Notebook

Further Reading: 

1. Ellmann, R. (1959). James Joyce. New York: Oxford University Press.

2. Kenner, H. (1987). Ulysses. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=Ajlz5rzPBOkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false

3. Killeen, T. (2008, Jun 16). The original Bloom unmasked. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-original-bloom-unmasked-1.1267804

4. Lasdun, J. (2002, Aug 23). Saving Svevo. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/24/featuresreviews.guardianreview25

5. Levi, J. (2001, Dec 20). A new look at the Italian who inspired ‘Ulysses.’ The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-20-lv-books20-story.html

6. Mahaffey, V. (1995). Fascism and Silence: The Coded History of Amalia Popper. James Joyce Quarterly,32(3/4), 501-522. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/25473659

7. McNally, F. (2017, May 18). Budding Bloom – An Irishman’s Diary about Altman the Saltman, plausible role model for Joyce’s most famous character. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/budding-bloom-an-irishman-s-diary-about-altman-the-saltman-plausible-role-model-for-joyce-s-most-famous-character-1.3086650

8. O’Connor, V. (2017). ‘ALTMAN THE SALTMAN’, LEOPOLD BLOOM AND JAMES JOYCE. History Ireland,25(3), 30-33. Retrieved February 17, 2020, from https://www.historyireland.com/volume-25/issue-3-mayjune-2017/altman-saltman-leopold-bloom-james-joyce/

9. Price, S. (2016, Sep 7). James Joyce and Italo Svevo: the story of a friendship. The Irish Times. Retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/james-joyce-and-italo-svevo-the-story-of-a-friendship-1.2781454

10. Rintoul, M.C. (1993). Dictionary of real people and places in fiction. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/s53ly3h

11. Staley, T. (1964). The Search for Leopold Bloom: James Joyce and Italo Svevo. James Joyce Quarterly,1(4), 59-63. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/25486462

12. Portrait of Lord Byron: https://www.bl.uk/people/lord-byron

13. Photograph of Holbrook Jackson: https://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/items/show/9326