Evaluation of the literary worth and insurgent potential of Ulysses was not confined to Europe and the United States. News of the novel appeared in the papers of the former colonies, where it was debated by colonials and colonial subjects. Amongst a wide variety of such articles in our collection is the extended drama played out in the editorial column of the Egyptian Gazette in August and September 1928.

The issues raised here are consistent with those voiced in many other clippings from the papers of Shanghai and Ceylon, Bombay and Calcutta, the British West Indies, South Africa and Malaysia, to name a few. By focusing on Ulysses as a product of the disillusionment and violence of the First World War, the Egyptian controversy reveals an inchoate apprehension of Joyce’s novel as a political threat; as a challenge to cultural orthodoxies on a scale larger than formal literary innovations of style.

A. Thursday, August 16, 1928: As if via camel-caravan, news of Joyce’s Ulysses arrives in Cairo. On 16 August 1928, six and a half years after the publication of Ulysses, G. E. Rees, editor of the Egyptian Gazette penned an article of some 3000 words entitled "The Post War Novel: A Break-Away." In it, Rees declared that "Ulysses is the Bible of the post-war novelist." It did not evolve gradually: "[…] it was a mutation that emerged, fully armed and militant, from the womb of war." Rees continued his editorial on 23 August; over the next six weeks, he published a wealth of readers’ correspondence that addressed censorship, morals, pedagogical merit and the material and intellectual accessibility of the novel.

B. Thursday, August 25, 1928: "Correspondence." Rees suggests to his inquiring readers that the book, which was not yet banned in Egypt, is best ordered from W.H. Smith and Son, Paris.

C. Wednesday, August 29, 1928: "Ulysses." On Tuesday, 28 August 1928 (not shown), R. Bell replied to Rees’s article, concerned about "the effect of the volume in the hands of the rising generation slowly clambering from the quagmire in which the late war left us."

Here, Isobel MacDermott responds to Bell arguing that the novel’s realistic description of the poverty and struggles of life provides necessary education for young boys and girls. Furthermore, "as a woman," she finds the "Penelope" episode to be a "remarkably vivid account of a woman’s thoughts" as she drops off to sleep.

D. Friday, August 31, 1928: "Ulysses Further Correspondence: An Injustice to Ireland: Can beastliness be justified?" Joining the fray are J. T. Hardcastle, "Old Guard," S. Weston and "Oliver." Notice how Oliver responds in "Ulyssiambic" verse.

E. Saturday, September 1, 1928: "Correspondence: Last Words on Ulysses." Here, someone under the pseudonym, "The Churchman," introduces the rumor that a young Bonamy Dobree has ordered Ulysses for his missionary school curriculum.

F. Monday, September 10, 1928: "Correspondence. Ulysses Mystery: James Joyce and Egyptian Students." Rees and his editorial staff, after making numerous inquiries are ultimately unable to provide evidence in support of "The Churchman’s" charge.

G. Thursday, September 20, 1928: "Rotting Citadel of Pre-War Fiction." Rees writes once more in "passionate defense" of Ulysses "[…] and for everything modern when it has been accompanied by sincerity and beauty."

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