James Joyce: Dubliners and Ulysses, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica James Joyce: Dubliners and Ulysses e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! JAMES JOVCE He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1882, from a lower middle class family. His father was always in debt so the family had alway economical problems and was also alcoholic so drinking was a general problem in his family. He went in a jesuit school, so he received a strict and catholic education, but actually he took a distance from the church and from catholicism. He was convinced that the reason why Ireland was ao backward was also because of this religious tradition. Anyway he was very influenced by his education. 1891 was a crucial year: Charles Stewart Pamell was the leader of the nationalist movement for the irish independence. Joyce’s family was very committed from the political point of view and Joyce”s father was a supporter of this movement and a great fan of Charles Parnell. At a certain point in his life Charles Parnell fell into a sort of scandal, because he betrayed his wife, and for this reason he was pointed at as a betrayer: this scandal compromised his life. Joyce thought that Charles Pamnell had betrayed the irish cause. For this reason one of the main things that we find in Joyce”s novels and short stories is that of betrayal:betrayal is an obsessive theme in this author’s work. He considered the irish cause a bit too provincial and he didn't think that the irish people were able to fight to change their destiny and to achieve their independence. For this reason he very soon decided to go into a voluntary exile from Ireland. He decided to go to Europe: first he settled in Paris, because he was studying medicine there, but he had to go back because his mother was dying. That was a shocking event in his life. Then he went back to Europe, after meeting his future wife, Nora Barnacle, and in 1904 he decided to go into exile. He went to Italy: he settled first in Pula and then in Trieste. Here he worked as a teacher for a long time and he met Italo Svevo, who was one of his students. When WWI broke out the whole family moved to Switzerland because it was neutral. He also had health problems and he ran away to Switzerland in order to avoid being recruited in the war. There he started writing his long third novel The Ulyssees. His first collection of short stories called Dubliners was published in 1914; the second one is called Portrait of the artist as a Young Man and is a book influenced by his Jesuit education (1916). At the end there is his last novel, which is Finnegans Wake (1939); he was becoming blind when he wrote it so he had to dictate it to a friend, a playwright called Samuel Beckett. He died in 1941. DUBYNER - Collection of 15 short stories that has a symmetrical asset, because it is divided into four groups: stories of childhood, stories of adolescence, stories of mature life and stories of public life. There's a last short story entitled “The dead”, that crosses all the others and gives a sort of accomplishment to all the others: it's more universal, while the others are more specific and are about specific characters. - The theme is that of paralysis (the incapability of acting and living in an active way), the immobility of a community (irish people) and of a country (Ireland). Joyce wants to give a portrait of these people living in Ireland, of people that don’t fight and don't try to change their destiny, that are blocked by paralysis that are not only physical, but also spiritual, emotional and moral. It is a judgement against his fellow citizens: he considers irish people idle, corrupted, without ambitions and not able to live to the full. He thinks that this paralysis is a disease of the soul. He talks about Ireland as the negletes youngest sister of Great Britain. - There aren't special plots: he tells ordinary events of daily life that acquire importance for the character himself or herself. - The first technique he uses is the epiphanic message: dor James Joyce Epiphany is a sort of interior revelation. In the story some insignificant facts produce this interior revelation that changes the perspective and the perception that the characters have of themselves. - Joyce adopts a particular and advanced narration characterized by the use of free direct or indirect speech. In this narration there aren’t verbs that introduce the speech, but the interiority of the character is immediately revealed: the narrator disappears and becomes the character himself. He also adoptes symbols for each short story. TRADUZIONE: “EVELINE” Lei sedeva alla finestra guardando la sera che invadeva la strada sottostante. La sua testa era appoggiata contro le tende della finestra e nelle sue narici c’era l’odore del tessuto. Era stanca. Poche persone passavano sulla strada. L’uomo che usci dall’ultima casa passò davanti a casa sua; lei sentii i suoi passi che schioccavano lungo il marciapiede di cemento e che poi scricchiolavano sul sentiero di carbone bruciato prima delle nuove case rosse. Un tempo c’era un campo là, nel quale loro erano soliti giocare ogni sera con i bambini di altre famiglie. C'era un uomo da Belfast che comprò il campo e ci costruì case sopra - non come le loro piccole case marroni, ma delle case di mattoncini coni tetti scintillanti. I bambini del luogo erano soliti giocare insieme in quel campo : i Devines, i Waters, i Dunns, il piccolo Keogh che era disabile, lei e i suoi fratelli e le pic nic su questa collina. Lei ricordava che suo padre si era messo in testa la cuffietta di sua madre per far ridere tutti i bambini. Il tempo ormai stava correndo veloce ma lei continua a stare li a sedere accanto alla finestra, appoggiando la testa contro la tenda contro la tenda della finestra respirando l’odore del tessuto della tenda polveroso. Sulla strada lei poteva sentire un armonica che suonava sulla strada. Lei conosceva l’armonia. Strano che dovesse sentirla proprio in questa sera per ricordarle la promessa che lei aveva fatto a sua madre, la promessa di tenere unita la famiglia il più a lungo possibile. Lei si ricordò di quella ultima notte della malattia di sua madre, si trovava di nuovo nella stanza buia e chiusa dall’altra parte dell’entrata e fuori lei sentiva questa melodia melanconica Italiana. Il suonatore di armonica era stato ordinato di andarsene che gli aveva dato sei penny. Lei ricordava suo padre ritornare impettito nella stanza della malata dicendo: “Accidenti a questi italiani che vengono qua!” Mentre lei rimuginava la visione penosa della vita di sua madre investi la totalità del suo essere - quella vita di ordinari sacrifici che si concludeva nella pazzia finale. Lei tremava mentre sentiva di nuovo la voce di sua madre che con costante e pazza insensata insistenza continuava a ripetere: “Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!” Lei si alzò in un impulso improvviso di terrore. Fuggire! Lei doveva fuggire! Frank l’avrebbe salvata. Le avrebbe dato la vita e forse l’amore anche. Perché lei voleva vivere. Perché doveva essere infelice? Aveva diritto alla felicità. Frank l'avrebbe presa tra le sue braccia, l’avrebbe rinchiusa tra le sue braccia. L’avrebbe salvata. [...] Lei se ne stava in piedi in mezzo alle folle di persone che si muovevano avanti e indietro alla stazione di North Wall. Lui le teneva la mano e lei sapeva che le stava parlando, che le stava dicendo qualcosa sul passaggio e che continuava a dirglielo di continuo. La stazione era piena di soldati con valigie marroni. Attraverso le ampie porte dei capannoni riuscì a cogliere una visione veloce dell’enorme massa nera della nave, che si trovava presso una banchina e che aveva gli oblò illuminati. Lei non rispose nulla. Sentiva le sue guance pallide e fredde e in turbine di angoscia che stava provando lei pregò Dio di guidarla e di mostrarle quale era il suo dovere. La nave fischiò questo lungo e triste fischio nel mezzo della nebbia. Se lei fosse andata domani si sarebbe ritrovata in mare con Franck procedendo su questa nave a vapore verso Buenos Aires. La loro attraversata era già stata prenotata. Avrebbe forse potuto ritirarsi ora dopo tutto quello che lui aveva fatto per lei? La sua angoscia risvegliò in lei un senso di nausea nel suo corpo e continuò a muovere le sue labbra in una silenziosa preghiera. Una campanella suonò dentro il suo cuore. Lei percepì che lui le stava avverando la mano. “Vieni!” Tutti i mari del mondo precipitarono nel suo cuore. Lui la stava trascinando dentro questi mari: lui l'avrebbe affogata. Lei afferrò con entrambe le mani la ringhiera di ferro. “Vieni!” No! No! No! E° impossibile. Le sue mani si afferravano ancora più forte alla ringhiera in una specie di frenesia. Nel messo di questi mari lei senti un grido di angoscia. “Eveline! Evy!” Lui si affrettò al di là della barriera e le urlò di seguirla. A lui fu urlato di andare avanti ma lui continuava a guardarla. Lei rivolse la sua faccia bianca verso di lui, passiva, come un animale immobile. I suoi occhi non gli diedero nessun segno di amore o di addio o di riconoscimento. COMMENT At the beginning of this short story Eveline is near the window, she is sitting next to the window and she is thinking, she is musing, she is watching out at the window and also she is watching the objects around her and she sees that all the objects in the room seemed to be covered by dust and even the house is covered by dust. When she looks out of the window she is reminded of her childhood. She sees something out of the window and she is reminded, through association of ideas, of something of her youth. She sees the streets outside and she sees the buildings over the streets, and she remembers that instead of the buildings once there was a field where she was used to playing with her friends on this field, she also remembers that her father used to chase them and so he was a hard man. There was a child, who was appointed as a guard to wam them of her fathers arrival. She goes back to the future with her thoughts. She is going to live for Argentina with her boyfriend Frank, but she is full of questions and doubts, she is not a confident person, she faces her future with a sense of indetermination, she feels insecure, she cannot make a clear decision. She knows that she would like to change her life but she still hesitates. She is against thinking about her present life: about her difficult relationship with her father who is quite violent and prepossessing and bullying towards her. He is a violent person who probably would have beaten her, if she hadn°t been a girl. We know that he is very greedy and stingy, he doesn't give her the money to do the shopping on Saturday, she has to insist on that and when he finally yields she has to rush to the market and do her shopping very quickly, come back, work in the house, do the cooking and do other things to take care of her father. She thinks about her present relationship with Frank and the moment when she met him, she remembers how she first met him, that she little by little fell in love with him, she began to be appreciated by his company and that he is a sailor, in between jobs now and he has come back to Ireland on holiday but he will come back soon to Argentona and he would like her to follow him. She thinks about her present life, that she has to work hard in the Stores, and that she has to work hard at home, but when she thinks about her present life she says that she didn't find this life totally undesirable and this is why she is in a conflict and she is blocked. She can't take a decision, a courageous decision. She is also afraid of exploring the world, she is afraid of the unknown and also she feels a strong sense of duty towards her father who is getting old. The turning point is the beginning of the epiphany. She hears a distant tune, a melody, an Italian air play by an organ. She is reminded of the first time when she heard this tune and that was at the night when her mother died. She remembers also that on that night she made a promise to her mother: her mother asked her to keep the family together as long as possible. She is reminded of this promise. She thinks that it’s strange that this melody should be played again on the night of her leaving for Argentina. She is afraid that the same destiny may happen to her. She stood up ina sudden impulse of terror. Joyce starts using conditional. She starts thinking about the future when she expresses her hope for the future, her dreams about the future, she needs to be protected, to be loved, to have a safe life. She says that she had the right to happiness. Frank would take her in his arms, fold her, he would save her, saved from this dume of an ordinary life of sacrifices. She goes to the harbor and the boat is waiting for them, it is ready to start, there are several people who are near to leaving for the new world and Frank is holding her hand, speaking to her but it was like she wasn't really hearing. She is blocked by her fear: Franks continued talking about this passage to the other side of the world, the station is full of people and she catches a bleams of the boat, but then she doesn’t answer, she becomes pale, wicked and cold, she prays to God for a sign, because she wants God to direct her, but then she hears a whistle of the ship that is leaving. Frank calls on her, but he is driven away by the crowd, she keeps behind, he is still crying upon her, he is shouting at her but she is blocked. It is a sort of physical parasisy. He grabs her hand but she sees the sea of the world but she feels like the whole world collapsing on her. She is afraid that he will down her, she grabs the railings and she doesn’t move. At the end she is thamn, she gives Frank no sign of recognition. The epiphany reveals something of her to herself but also the readers find out something: there is conflict going on in herself, she can't decide in front of this conflict and we understand that she is afraid of facing the mystery that is beyond her life, she is unsatisfied with her life but she is afraid of changing it. She is incapable of making a decision, she is unable to move because she is afraid. She is immobil, she doesn’t accept the offer, even if she loves Fanck, that is not enough to face this unknown destiny. The dust is the symbol of neglect, but it is also the symbol of her dissatisfaction, she is unsatisfied and she feels a sense of woredome, a boring life with a routine which is always the same. The fear of the violence, the struggle to get some money. Probably a life which is quite boring, full of boredom, it is a life that is not satisfactory but which is secure, which is safe, she doesn't find it totally undesirable because it is safe, boring but safe. The dust is a symbol of this boredom. Examples of free direct and indirect speech: — linea 19 — linea 29/30 — linea 32/33 — linea 105 Bloom: we understand that she is a free and immoral woman. She betrays her husband but she loves him too. Molly Bloom is a very human woman full of defects, so full of humanity. While she is thinking she is in bed and she is in between sleep and waking up. THE INTERIOR MONOLOGUE The interior monologue is a narrative technique used by the author to give graphical form to a psychological category, the stream of consciousness. It reports a casual association of thoughts as they come out of the character’s mind in a way which is free, not under the rational control of language. The emotions and the impressions are free without logical links: they belong to the subconscious, where the human mind works through associations. The interior monologue is made of short sentences with too much punctuation or a lack of punctuation; in this kind of narration there aren't logical linkers and sometimes verbs and subjects are missing. There are elisions and omissions and sometimes there are incomplete sentences. Exclamation and questions are typical; the basic grammar rules are subverted. Also there’s a lack of logical sequence of thoughts, because they skip from an idea to the next one and there doesn’t seem to be an apparent connection with the rest. The interior monologue can change according to: - the state of mind of the character. - the character’s immediate surrounding, the situation he is in. - the temperament, level of education past experiences, psychological characteristics and age of each different character. - the level of consciousness of the character in a particular moment, that determines the quality of an interior monologue. THE USE OF THE NARRATOR The narrator can be unobtrusive, a third person narrator that isn’t external or omniscient. Sometimes the narrator disappears into the characters mind: there's direct access to the mind. The language changes according to the different characters and points of view. TRADUZIONE: BREAKFAST IN BED Il signor Leopold Bloom mangiava con gusto gli organi interni degli animali e del pollame e gli piaceva una minestra densa di frattaglie e i gozzi piccanti degli uccelli, il cuore arrosto ripieno, fette di fegato impanate fritte e le uova fritte di merluzzo; più di tutto gli piaceva il rognone di montone grigliato, che dava al suo palato un fine retrogusto, quasi di urina aromatizzata. Aveva in mente il rognone mentre si muoveva silenziosamente intorno alla cucina, sistemando il cibo della sua colazione su di un vassoio ammaccato. C’era una luce e un’aria gelida, ma fuori casa una dolce aria estiva dappertutto. Lo faceva sentire un po’ affamato e la carbonella del caminetto stava diventando rossa. Un'altra fetta di pane e di burro, tre, quattro: a lei non piaceva che il suo piatto fosse troppo pieno. Si voltò, sollevò il bollitore dal piano della cucina e lo sistemò di fianco sul fuoco: se ne stava là, un po’ noioso e banale, con il suo beccuccio sporgente. Una tazza di tè presto. La bocca asciutta. Il gatto camminò un po’ rigido, strofinandosi attorno alla gamba di un tavolo con la coda alta. “Miao.” “Eccoti qual” disse il signor Bloom, distogliendosi dal fuoco. Il gatto miagolò in risposta e di nuovo si avvicinò impettito e si avvicinò impettito al tavolo, proprio come lei cammina impettita sulla mia scrivania. “Grattami la testa, brr” Mr Bloom guardò la gatta con curiosità, la flessuosa forma nera. E’ pulita da vedere: la lucidità del suo pelo splendente e quel bottone bianco sotto la parte finale della sua coda, e gli occhi lanciano dei bagliori verdi. Si curvò su di lei e le sue mani erano sulle sue ginocchia. Li chiamano stupidi, i gatti, ma loro capiscono quello che noi diciamo meglio di come noi capiamo loro. Lei capisce tutto quello che vuole: vendicativa pure, crudele, la sua natura. E° curioso come i topi non stridono mai. Mi chiedo come lei mi vede.: forse come l’altezza di una torre? No perchè in fondo, se volesse potrebbe fare un salto alto quanto me. Ha paura dei polli, non ho mai visto un gattino stupido come questo. Crudele è la sua natura. E’ curioso che i topi non stridono quando vengono catturati, sembra che gli piaccia. “Miao”, disse il gatto più forte. Lei batte gli occhi a causa della sua avidità senza avere vergogna, miagolando lamentosamente ed a lungo e mostrando a lui i suoi denti color latte. Lui guardò le fessure scure dei suoi occhi che si stringevano con avidità, fino a che erano come delle preziose pietre verdi. Lui andò verso la credenza, prese il bricco del latte che il lattaio gli aveva appena lasciato pieno e lo versò gorgogliante su di un piattino che posò lentamente sul pavimento. “Grr.” fece di nuovo e corse a leccare il latte. Lui guardò i baffi scintillanti dal colore metallico nella luce debole del mattino, mentre lei affondava tre volte il muso e leccava leggermente. Mi chiedo se è vero che se tu tagli i baffi loro poi non riescono più ad andare a caccia di topi. Perchè? I baffi splendono nell’oscurità, forse le punte o sono come delle antenne nel buio. Lui ascoltò la gatta mentre leccava il latte. Prosciutto e uova? No, le uova non sono buone in questo periodo di siccità, perché hanno bisogno di acqua pura e fresca. Giovedì non è un buon giorno anche per mangiare il rognone da Baileys di montone fritto con il burro, una spruzzatina di pepe. Meglio invece mangiare un rognone di maiale da Douglas. Mentre l’acqua nel bollitore sta bollendo, lei leccò più lentamente e poi continuò a leccare il latte dal piattino fino a renderlo tutto pulito. Ma perchè le loro lingue sono così ruvide: per leccare meglio. Sono tutti buchi porosi. Non c’è niente che possa mangiare? No. Sulle scale di legno scricchiolanti, andò fino al vestibolo e si fermò verso la porta della camera da letto. Le potrebbe piacere qualcosa di gustoso. A lei piace mangiare delle sottili fette di pane con il burro la mattina, ma una volta ogni tanto anche qualcos’altro. Lui parlava silenziosamente nel pianerottolo vuoto. “Vado dietro l’angolo, sarò di ritorno in un minuto.” e quando ebbe sentito la sua voce dire queste cose lui aggiunse anche “non vuoi nient'altro per colazione?” “mmno” Lei non voleva niente. Udi un profondo ma debole sospiro mentre lei si rigirava nel letto e degli anelli di ottone della testata del letto che cigolavano. Li devo sistemare. Sul pianerottolo della porta d’ingresso lui si tastò la tasca posteriore dei pantaloni per capire se si era portato dietro le chiavi di casa. “Non ci sono. Devo averle lasciate negli altri pantaloni: devo prenderle. Ho la patata. L’armadio cigola, ma non serve che io la disturbi.” Senti la moglie che si rigirava assonnata. Si tira dietro di lui la porta silenziosamente fino a che la porta non ricadde sulla soglia. C'è un infisso della porta che non chiude bene, è allentato e va stretto. Sembra chiuso. “Non starò via molto.” SUMMARY&COMMENT The episode is called “Calypso” or “The house” and refers to book V of the Odyssey where Odysseus is prisoner to the goddess Calypso on the island of Ogygia. It's 8am and Bloom is in the kitchen of his house, where his wife is still sleeping. At the beginning of this episode Leopold Bloom is having breakfast (eating the inner organs of beats and birds). He describes the type of food that he usually likes to eat in the morning. After that he prepares breakfast for his wife on a humpy tray (symbol of something that has collided in the Blooms” relationship). Suddenly arrives their cat meowing and walking around the table searching for some milk. When Leopold Bloom sees her he starts thinking about their nature. He wonders if she sees him like a tower. Then, Leopold Bloom gives her some milk and she runs to her bowl. Listening to the cat licking the milk his mind continues to travel and starts thinking again about what to eat for lunch. He thinks that eggs are not good in this period and that Thursday is not the perfect day to eat mutton kidney. When the cat has finished the milk he is enraptured again by thoughts about cats, this time by their rough tongue. After that he goes to his bedroom where Molly, his wife, is still sleeping and he says to her that he is going out and that he will retumn soon. After these words he hears the brass rings of the bed creaking as Molly tums in bed. At the end he goes to the doorstep and he controls if there are house keys in his pockets, unfortunately they are in another trouser but he doesn’t want to disturb his wife so he decided to go out without them. Key points: 1. The content is very simple — the first two paragraphs deal with the topic of food: we get to know about Bloom’s preferences about food (inner organs of beats and birds). We know that he is preparing breakfast for his wife on a humpy tray (symbol of something that has collided in the Blooms” relationship). He feels a bit chilly, peckish and he is thinking about what he is going to eat for lunch. 2. The narrator is present, but it is a third person. It is an unobtrusive narrator that identifies with the character.