On the New Stars in Ulysses

Abstract:

The Ghost in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet appears from the direction of a bright new star, which James Joyce in Ulysses identifies as the New Star of 1572, a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia. In the book, Stephen Dedalus asserts that this celestial outburst occurs about the time of Shakespeare’s birth, but Shakespeare was born eight years earlier. This essay studies this New Star and the three other stellar outbursts for which Ulysses supplies information. It posits that Joyce creates the eight-year discrepancy intentionally and that, suitably parsed, the discrepancy does not exist. Also, it suggests that the assumed coincidence of the apparition of T Coronae Borealis nova on the birthdate of Leopold Bloom matches the seemingly erroneous coincidence of dates of the New Star of 1572 and the birth of Shakespeare, and that the text suggests that Joyce proclaims Shakespeare more intelligent than Bloom. The conclusions reached in this essay are in agreement with Bloom’s relationship to Shakespeare. We suggest that Joyce deliberately picks the star named delta of Cassiopeia over two more suitable choices for locating the direction of the New Star.