How did Ibsen's writing in "A Doll's House" influence the James Joyce character Molly Bloom?

Question

How did Ibsen's writing in "A Doll's House" influence the James Joyce character Molly Bloom? In particular, what other authoritative commentators, besides Richard Ellmann, provide illuminating insights into said influence and related themes?

Answer 1

James Joyce rediscovered Ulysses by re-creating the slaying of Penelope's suitors when Leopold Bloom reasserts himself in Molly Bloom's consciousness. Ibsen's "A Doll's House" is a play where, in the words of Brian Johnston, "the dialectical pressure and tension (is) so great beneath the placid seeming surface, and this no doubt accounts for the Greek swiftness and remorselessness of its retributive logic."

A good insight can be taken from Johnston's book, "The Ibsen Cycle: The Design of the Plays from Pillars of Society to When We Dead Awaken." The reference To James Joyce's Mary Bool can be found on Part II, Chapter 4, 'Archetypal Repetition in Ghosts.'