James Joyce (Dubliners, Ulysses), Appunti di Inglese

Scarica James Joyce (Dubliners, Ulysses) e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! James Joyce Joyce is probably one of the most radical innovators of the modern novel. He moved from the symbolic and realistic style of his first prose work, the collection of short stories Dubliners, to the revolutionary style, labelled modernist, of his later novels, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, which left a strong mark on much of his ensuing literature. Dubliners Published in 1914 in London, it is a collection of 15 stories in which he portrays the lives of different people living in Dublin. Joyce uses an external narrator, but the stories are told from the point of view of the main character. All the events take place in Dublin, which is not simply a setting. The spirit of the city acts as a link between all the characters and the unity of experiences is underlined by the fact that a character from one story may happen to mention a character from another story, so creating an inter-connecting web in the narrative. The 15 stories which make up Dubliners follow the 4 phases of human life from childhood to adolescence, maturity and public life. The protagonists come from all walks of life: maids, music teachers, clerks, students. Joyce focuses on specific moments in their lives that, at first, seem to belong to the ordinary, everyday activities, but they become special to the characters as they correspond to important moments of self-awareness. Themes in Dubliners The stories focus on two recurrent themes: paralysis and epiphany. Paralysis can be described as a condition which is characteristic to modern man: it is the feeling of frustration deriving from an unfulfilling job, the unhappiness and loneliness caused by an unsuccessful marriage or lack of friendship; a life which many do not like but which few are able to change. In most of the stories the protagonists have some desire they would like to fulfil, they attempt to do so but are forced to give up because of their circumstances – family, culture, religion, something within them which makes it impossible to react. The second theme, epiphany, describes a sudden revelation in the everyday life of the characters, of an emblematic truth or reality; it results in the characters having a more profound understanding of themselves and the situation in which they live even if, in the end, they passively continue with their lives as before. The Dead is the last and longest story and usually considered one of the finest short stories of the 20th century, where Joyce displays acute psychological insight and ability to render human emotions and relationships. The title “The Dead” can be interpreted in 2 ways. It can refer to the people present at the party who come to symbolize Irish people in general; they are incapable of reacting against the passive and oppressive atmosphere of the world in which they live, it is as though they are spiritually dead. The title can also refer to Michael Furey, Gretta’s tragic love and how those who are dead can still have a great influence and effect on the living. In this story, just as in the other stories which make up the collection Dubliners, the reader can identify a specific moment of “epiphany”, the moment in which something life-changing is revealed to the main character. This happens to Gretta at the party and to Gabriel at the end of the story when he dwells (si sofferma) on the true nature of the relationship between him and his wife. Through her revelation about Mihael Furey he now reconsiders their love and also his own life in a different way. The final image of the falling snow can be seen as both a symbol of death. The plot: Gabriel Conroy, the protagonist of this story, and his wife GRETTA are guests at a party organized by his two old, spinster aunts for the feast of the Epiphany. In the first pages of the story Joyce portrays the society of the time with its class divisions and religious convictions, once again in the grip (nella morsa) of a suffocating atmosphere which dominates every story. After the party Gabriel and his beautiful wife Gretta go to their hotel. He talks to her but she seems distracted and suddenly starts crying. He asks her why she is so sad and she answers that it is because of a song she heard at the party, which caused her “epiphany”. This song reminded her of a former love, a boy she knew many years ago. His name was Michael Furey and “he died for her”. Gabriel asks her what she means by this and she tells him the story of Furey’s love for her. At the end of the story Gabriel looks out of the window and, while watching he falling snow, he too has an epiphany when he realizes how his love for Gretta has been shallow and insignificant compared to Michael Furey’s. Ulysses The novel was published first in instalments in New York in 1918 and later as a complete work in Paris in 1922, but it was censored for obscenity in America and England where it was not published until the