James Joyce: Life, Works, and Themes, Appunti di Storia Inglese

Scarica James Joyce: Life, Works, and Themes e più Appunti in PDF di Storia Inglese solo su Docsity! 13.05.2021 JAMES JOYCE (1882-1941) yvvve L *% % * Life Dublin > educated in Jesuit schools (he studied French, Italian, German) -> he was interested in European languages (he graduated in modern languages) he admired Dante, D'Annunzio, Ibsen (Norwegian playwriter and theatre director -> one of the founder of modernism in theatre) a rebel among rebels contrast with Yeats and the other literary contemporaries who tried to rediscover the Irish Celtic identity he had two children, Giorgio and Lucia, with his long-time partner, Nora Barnacle, whom he eventually married he left Dublin at the age of 22 and he settled for some time in Paris, then in Rome and later in Trieste, where he made friends with Italo Svevo, and finally in Zurich The most important features of Joyce's works the setting of most of his works -> Ireland, especially Dublin (« Irish Revival » -> Ireland was fighting for independence -> it obtained it later -> according to Joyce, the nationalist culture made the intellectuals « a bit provincialist » -> it obliged people to feel the costraint of this type of culture; in Ireland the Catholic Church was really strong -> Catholic moral) -> JOYCE CONSIDERS HIMSELE AS A_COSMOPOLITAN he rebelled against the Catholic Church -> he saw that people were unable to move and to change their lives -> they had moral, nationalist tights (ex. Eveline in « Dubliners ») all the facts in his narratives -> explored from different points of view simultaneously greater importance given to the inner world of the characters time -> perceived as subjective his task -> to render life objectively Isolation and detachment of the artist from society The evolution of Joyce's style « Dubliners » (1914): realism, disciplined prose, different points of view, free-direct speech « A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man » (1916): third-person narration, minimal dialogue, language and prose used to portray the protagonist’s state of mind, free- direct speech (“A” = article used because in the novel there are many points of view) % * > > > > > > > yvvvvs « Ulysses » (1922): interior monologue with two levels of narration, extreme interior monologue 19.05.2021 Dublin the Dublin represented by Joyce is not fixed and static, it is « the revolutionary montage of “Dublins” (-> various types of Dublin according to the different points of view) through a range of historical juxtapositions and varied styles » the 15 stories of the Dubliners, though set in the same city, are not united by their geography: each story has a singular location Joyce succeeds in representing the whole mental emotions and biological reality he fuses this reality together with the natural world around him the evocation of his town in “A Portrait” is deeply influenced by Joyce's prolonged temporal and spatial distance -> Dublin is filtered through Stephen’s mind Stephen Dedalus stands for Joyce himself or the artist in general he is the first martir (-> Joyce is the martir for art) « Dedalus » refers to Joyce that must escape from the social and political labyrinth In “Ulysses”, Dublin overwhelms the reader « Dubliners » (1914) Joyce's first masterpiece published in 1914 in the newspaper “The Irish Homestead” by Joyce with the pseudonym Stephen Dedalus Dubliners are described as afflicted people all the stories are set in Dublin -> “The city seemed to me the centre of paralysis” Joyce stated Structure and style Joyce proceeds from individual to general life Childhood: The Sisters, An Encounter, Araby Adolescence: After the Race, The Boarding House, Eveline, Two Gallants Mature life: A Little Cloud, Clay, Counterparts, A Painful Case Public life: Ivy Day in the Committee Room, A Mother, Grace, The Dead DUBLINI Paralysis / Escape: he talks about these aspects in the whole book (colleg. Tema LIBERTÀ) > escape is the only way to get out of the paralysis Narrative technique and themes naturalistic, concise, detailed descriptions naturalism combined with symbolism -> double meaning of details each story opens in medias res and is mostly told from the perspective of a character - Gabriel’s journey to the west -> better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither with age 27.05.2021 The story o the whole novel takes place on a single day, Thursday, June 16, 1904 during the course of this day, we follow the thoughts of 3 main characters who wake up, have various encounters in Dublin, and go to sleep 18 hours later the central character is Leopold Bloom, a middle-aged common man -> he leaves his home at 8 o’clock and comes back at 2 p.m -> during these hours he's out, he goes in many streets and he attends a funeral -> he has many misadventures and delights O then, he meets Stephen Dedalus (the alienated protagonist of “A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man”) -> he becomes, momentarily, his adopted son the protagonist saves Stephen, taking him home PARALYSIS prevents them from achieving a relation the third character is Molly, who is Leopold’s wife -> a singer who is planning an afternoon of adultery with her music director -> she is unfaithful ‘> it is the top of Joyce creativity The mythical method e Joyce isn't the only one who has used the mythical method ® Ulysses was a new form of prose based on “the mythical method”, resulting from the progress made by psychology, ethnology and anthropology ® Joyce makes a parallel with the Odyssey and provides the book with a symbolic meaning; Homer's myth was used to give a dimension of heroism to the action of a common man whose struggle is living his everyday life ® Joyce usesit only asa structural framework for his work >» Leopold > Ulysses >» Stephen > Telemachus > Molly > Penelope o o o # o > the struggle of the modern man in a world which is senseless > JOYCE: Ulysses tells us the Odyssey of the modern man who fights to find his way in everyday life in the modern world, to survive in this world (they are both 2 heroes) -> Leopold -> daily odyssey (heroic value) -> he becomes the “epic hero” » HEMINGWAY: his hero is existentialist -> despite the fact that he knows that the only truth in life is death, he fights for some ideas to the point of sacrifice -> the “code hero” The structure = 3 parts and 18 episodes = the chapters represent the 3 main characters and the 3 parts of the Odyssey; they are: > Telemachiad: 1-3 > Odyssey: 4-15 > Nostos: 16-18 The setting - he describes a normal day in Dublin common life - he places his characters in houses he knows well - he represents the atmosphere and the feelings of Dublin ordinary life - very precise description - Dublin itself becomes the fourth character The representation of human nature «* the characters represent the main aspects of human nature "> Stephen embodies every young man in search of maturity (he is the mind); we can find the stream of consciousness used to associate things by ressemblance ‘> Molly represents the flesh (> carne) since she identifies herself with her sensual nature *> Leopold represents everything and everybody; in his stream of consciousness things are linked by cause and effect or by being near in space and time > the theme of the novel is MORAL >» human life means suffering, falling but also struggling to rise and sick the good 28.05.2021 «* Joyce called his work a novel declaring he wanted to write a modern epic in prose «* Ulysses is a new form of Realism « it's a famous novel for its complex structure, the characters that are difficult to understand but brilliant -> the most important feature is its revolutionary prose «* Joyce uses lots of techniques: the stream of consciousness, the cinematic technique (flashbacks, close up, questions/answers, dramatic dialogue) «* he has brought to perfection the interior monologue «* he uses the 2 levels of narration: one external to the characters mind and the other internal to the characters + mind level of narration (“Molly's monologue”) « language rich of images, contrasts, paradoxes, symbols, variety of slangs, nicknames, expressions taken from the advertisement, foreign words, allusions to other texts, literary quotations -> the aim is to reproduce ordinary life in Dublin from the point of view of the mind