Appunti e analisi opere James Joyce , Schemi e mappe concettuali di Italiano

Scarica Appunti e analisi opere James Joyce e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Italiano solo su Docsity! James Joyce Elisa Leveraro Author JAMES JOYCE (1882-1914) Historical Context Modernism Social Background ▪ Born in Dublin ▪ Family: after a brief of prosperity, fell into poverty Education ▪ Extraordinary academic abilities → Paris to study Medicine, but he soon change his mind developing his high distinctive aesthetic theories Relevant life events ▪ He married Nora Barnacle ▪ He worked as an English Teacher ▪ He left Dublin at the age of twenty-two and he settled for some time in Paris, then in Rome and Trieste, where he made friends with Italo Svevo. Outbreak the World War I he and his family fled to Zurich, in neutral Switzerland. Main Works ▪ A collection of Poetry: Chamber Music ▪ Semi-autobiographical first novel: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ▪ A Play: Exiles ▪ His Great masterpiece: Ulisses → Declared obscene and banned in Britain and America → Published in Paris. ▪ A collection of stories: Dubliners ▪ Experimental novel: Finnegans Wake →break down English Syntax and grammar (He invents his own poly-linguistic vocabulary) Features and Style ▪ The setting of most of his works → Ireland, especially Dublin. ▪ He rebelled against the Catholic Church. ▪ All the facts are 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 EVOLUTION OF HIS STYLE: Dubliners Realism | Disciplined prose | Different points of view | Free-direct speech A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Third-person narration | Minimal dialogue | Language and prose used to portray the protagonist’s state of mind | Free-direct speech Ulysses Interior monologue with two levels of narration |Extreme interior monologue Importance of Dublin ▪ The Dublin represented by Joyce is not fixed and static, it is «the revolutionary montage of “Dublins” 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. ▪ 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. ▪ In Ulysses, Dublin overwhelms the reader. "DUBLINERS" Genre This collection of stories is a suggestive portrait of the lives of ordinary people in Dublin. It was published in 1914 on the newspaper The Irish Homestead by Joyce with the pseudonym Stephen Dedalus. Setting All the stories are set in Dublin → “The city seemed to me the centre of paralysis”, Joyce stated. | Dubliners are described as afflicted people. Structure The stories are arranged in 4 grupes that correspond to 4 "phases" of life: ▪ Childhood The Sisters An Encounter Araby ▪ Adolescence After the Race The Boarding House Eveline Two Gallants ▪ Maturity A Little Cloud Clay Counterparts A Painful Case ▪ Public Life Ivy Day in the Committee Room A Mother Grace The dead James Joyce Elisa Leveraro Narrative technique ▪ 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. ▪ Use of free-direct speech and free-direct thought → direct presentation of the character’s thoughts ▪ Different linguistic registers → the language suits the age, the social class and the role of the characters. ▪ Use of epiphany → “the sudden spiritual manifestation” of an interior reality. ▪ Absence of a didactic and moral aim because of the impersonality of the artist. Main Themes ▪ In all the stories there is the significant themes: The feeling of paralysis. It is considered as a result of being tied (=vincolato) to antiquated and limited cultural and social traditions. So Free expression is inhibited by repressive moral codes. Joyce defined Dublin as “T he centre of paralysis ” ▪ “The Dead” can be considered the culmination of feelings of stagnation which characterises the spiritual life of the city and pervades the atmosphere of all 15 stories. Interpretation ▪ THE EPIPHANY Joyce’s aim → to take the reader beyond the usual aspects of life through epiphany [ = It is the special moment in which a trivial gesture, an external object or a banal situation or an episode lead the character to a sudden self-realisation about himself / herself or about the reality surrounding him / her.] Understanding the epiphany in each story is the key to the story itself ▪ PARALYSIS The paralysis is an enclosure that many characters experience but cant’ succeed. Physical paralysis → caused by external forces Moral paralysis → linked to religion, politics and culture The Dubliners accepet their condition because they lack the courage to escape or because they aren’t aware of it. They are spiritually weak and afraid people and are slaves of society in general. Joyce’s aim isn’t didactic and he appears to be detached, but the theme itself is moral → knowing oneself is morality itself. • The climax of the stories → the coming to awareness by the characters of their own paralysis • Alternative to paralysis = escape which always leads to failure. “THE DEAD” from “Dubliners” The plot The protagonists are Gabriel Conroy, an embodiment of Joyce himself, and Gretta, his wife. The story begins with an after-Christmas party. At the end of the party, Gretta suddenly had a sad Epiphany → the song The Lass of Aughrim, reminds Gretta of her first and perhaps only true love, Michael Furey, who died for her when he was seventeen years old. Hearing her desperate and passionate account Gabriel understands he is deader than Michael Furey in Gretta’s mind. He looks outside the window where the snow is falling and realised that he will be forgotten, buried by the snow that continues to fall. Narrative technique Indirect interior monologue → inner thoughts and feeling Interpretations Gretta's epiphany is the central “event” of the story which lead to Gabiriel's own epiphany in which he sees his wife as a woman he never really knew.