Ep. 62 - Altman the Saltman (w/Vincent Altman O’Connor)

In our last episode, we discussed people from James Joyce’s life who influenced the creation of Leopold Bloom. However, we left one question unanswered - why were none of these men from Dublin? Didn’t Joyce know any Jewish people in Dublin? Vincent Altman O’Connor’s research into this very question and the biography of his ancestors Albert, Mendal, and Emmanuel Altman may very well be the answer to this riddle.

Topics discussed in this episode include Glasnevin’s many Joycean connections, salt merchants and politicians, the Invincibles, Irish Nationalism, the very many details from Altman family history that appear in Ulysses, a refutation of idea that Joyce didn’t know any Jewish people in Dublin, why Joyce may have had to conceal the identity of the “real” Leopold Bloom, why it is worth exploring real world parallels to the characters of Ulysses, Joyce as a political writer, the possibility that “Leopold Bloom” really did give Arthur Griffith the idea for Sinn Fein, Joycean misconceptions about Arthur Griffith, and coded psychotopographic allusions.

In our last episode, we discussed people from James Joyce's life who influenced the creation of Leopold Bloom. However, we left one question unanswered - why were none of these men from Dublin? Didn't Joyce know any Jewish people in Dublin?

Kelly Bryan interviews Vincent Altman O' Connor about Albert Altman and his relationship to Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses.Find our podcasts and blog...

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Emmanuel Altman

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Who Was the Real Leopold Bloom? 

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Further Reading:

1. Davison, N. (2019). “Ivy Day”: Dublin Municipal Politics and Joyce's Race-Society Colonial Irish Jew. Journal of Modern Literature, 42(4), 20-38. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jmodelite.42.4.03

2. 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

3. 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/

4. Surface and Symbol, Robert M Adams

5. The Real People of Joyce’s Ulysses, Vivian Igoe