Scarica James Joyce: A Complex Relationship with Ireland - Dubliners and Ulysses e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! James Joyce James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882, his family was Catholic and belonged to the middle class. In 1898 Joyce started studying Italian, French and English at the University College in Dublin, he started writing reviews and articles. Nora Barnacle was his wife. in austria-hungary worked on two of his best-known literary works: Dubliners (1914) which is a collection of short stories written using a naturalistic Style, and a Portrait of the artist as a young man which is a sort of semi-autobiographical Bildunsgroman. in Italy he become friend of italo svevo who influenced Joyce's literature.when the first world War broke up he moved to Zurich where he wrote Ulysses (1922). Ulysses reproduces the structure of Homer's Odyssey. The book has 18 chapters. Joyce follows the actions of one single character, Leopold Bloom who wanders through the city of Dublin in one single day. Through the use of the stream-of-consciousness technique Joyce enters Bloom's mind and allows the reader to follow his fragmented thoughts, sensations and perceptions. In 1920 the author moved to Paris, after the Germans occupied France in 1940, Joyce and his family went back to Zurich where he died the next year. JOYCE AND IRELAND: A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP Joyce's literary works reveal his complex relationship with Ireland which he both loves and hates. Even if he left Ireland in 1904 his works are all set in Ireland. The fact that he left Ireland gave him the chance to represent Ireland with an objective distance. He portrayed Ireland with vivid realism and attention. Dubliners THE STRUCTURE OF THE COLLECTION Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories, the stories revolve around the lives of 15 typical inhabitants of the city of Dublin and represent an ideal portrait of the Irish capital at the beginning of 20th century. These Stories can be divided into 3 main groups. The first one tackles the theme of Childhood, and shows a sense of disillusionment and failure. The second group talks about adulthood and tackle the Men's impossibility to escape from suffering the passivity of Irish people and the paralysis of their will. The last group portrays the relationship betweenIrish individuals and collective institutions, such as politics, the musical word and the church. The Last Story is a a portrait of the Irish middle class which lives in a condition of mediocrity and and stubbornness. The main character, Gabriel Conroy is an individual who lives his life like a dead person. THE CITY OF DUBLIN The stories are set in Dublin. Dublin is a static and provincial town. This affects the lives of its inhabitants, who are represented as being imprisoned in a city that does not give them the chance to grow as human beings. PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS What unites the characters in the work is the common nature of failure they experience. This universal condition of inaction affects all the inhabitants of Dublin and is defined by Joyce’s as “paralysis”. It is not just a physical statement but it is a spiritual stagnation of the self, a universal lack of growth that affects the whole Irish nation. It means spiritual and physical death. A WAY TO ESCAPE: EPIPHANY Apparently there is not a way to escape from paralysis but Joyce shows one: epiphany. This word means revelation, it is the moment in which dubliners’ experience the sudden revelation of their condition of paralysis. Unfortunately this revelation doesn't let them escape from the statement of paralysis, it simply makes them more aware of how paralysed they are.
