James Joyce's Dubliners: Background and Analysis of a Literary Masterpiece, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica James Joyce's Dubliners: Background and Analysis of a Literary Masterpiece e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Structure of Dubliners Dubliners (1914) contains fifteen portraits of life in the Irish capital. Joyce focuses on children and adults who skirt the middle class, such as housemaids, office clerks, music teachers, students, shop girls and out-of-luck businessmen. Joyce envisioned his collection as a looking glass with which the Irish could observe and study themselves. In most of the stories, Joyce uses a detached but highly perceptive narrative voice that displays these lives to the reader in precise detail. These stories sketch daily situations in which not much seems to happen—a young woman (Eveline) weighs her decision to flee (fuggire) Ireland with a sailor. Though these events may not appear profound, the characters’ intensely personal and often tragic revelations certainly are. The short stories can be divided in 4 groups. 4 sections that follow the human life childhood, adolescence (eveline), mature lifer, public life They are set in Dublin, which represents the suffocating Irish religion, provincialism and narrowmindedness. Joyce himself defined Dublin as the center of paralysis from which his characters and he himself tried to escape. He developed a love-hate relationship with his native city, that provided the central material of his work. naturalism current, great attention to details, like we are looking at a photo, meticulous attention. joyce use this technique in the first part of his life production, also Dubliners. Joyce’s life Joyce came from a big family. He was the eldest of ten children His father was a talented singer, one of the finest tenor voices in all of Ireland, who didn't provide a stable household. He liked to drink and his lack of attention to the family finances meant the Joyces never had much money. From an early age, James Joyce showed not only exceeding intelligence but also a gift for writing and a passion for literature. He taught himself Norwegian so he could read Henrik Ibsen's plays in the language they'd been written, and spent his free time devouring Dante and Aristotle. Because of his intelligence Joyce's family pushed him to get an education. Largely educated by Jesuits, Joyce attended the Irish schools of Clongowes Wood College and later Belvedere College before finally landing at University College Dublin, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus on modern languages. Joyce's relationship with his native country was a complex one and after graduating he left Ireland for a new life in Paris where he hoped to study medicine. He returned, however, not long after upon learning that his mother had become sick. She died in 1903. Joyce stayed in Ireland for a short time, long enough to meet Nora Barnacle, a hotel chambermaid who hailed from Galway and later became his wife. In late 1904 he and Barnacle moved first to what is now the Croatian city of Pula before settling in Trieste. There, Joyce taught English and learned Italian, one of 17 languages he could speak, a list that included Arabic, Sanskrit, and Greek. Other moves followed, as the Joyce and Barnacle (the two weren't formally married until some three decades after they met) made their home in cities like Rome and Paris. To keep his family above water (the couple went on to have two children, Georgio and Lucia) Joyce continued to find work as a teacher. All the while, though, Joyce continued to write and in 1914 he published his first book, Dubliners, a collection of 15 short stories. Two years later Joyce put out a second book, the novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. While not a huge commercial success, the book caught the attention of the American poet, Ezra Pound, who praised Joyce for his unconventional style and voice. The same year that the Dubliners came out, Joyce embarked on what would prove to be his landmark novel: Ulysses. The story recounts a single day in Dublin. The date: June 16, 1904, the same day that Joyce and Barnacle met. On the surface, the novel follows the story of three central characters, Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising canvasser, and his wife Molly Bloom, as well as the city life that unfolds around them. But Ulysses is also a modern retelling of Homer's Odyssey, with the three main characters serving as modern versions of Telemachus, Ulysses, and Penelope. It has a great example of interior monologue, use of modernism, by molly bloom. (she thinks lot of thing while lying on the bed with her husband she had lot of relationships before him and she is remembering on of them, when she was younger With its advanced use of interior monologue, the novel not only brought the reader deep into Bloom's sometimes lurid mind, but pioneered Joyce's use of stream of consciousnesses as a literary technique and set the course for a whole new kind of novel. But Ulysses is not an easy read, and upon its publication in Paris in 1922 by Sylvia Beach, an American expat who owned a bookstore in the city, the book drew both praise and sharp criticism. All of which only helped bolster the novel's sales. Not that it really needed the help. Long before Ulysses ever came out, debate raged over the content of the novel. Parts of the story had appeared in English and American publications and in the US and the UK the book was banned for several years after it was published in France. In the US, Ulysses's supposed obscenity prompted the Post Office to confiscate issues of the magazine that had published Joyce's work. Still, the book found its way into the hands of eager American and British readers, who managed to get hold of bootlegged copies of the novel. >American readers were free to read the book in 1934, when it was declared that Ulysses was not pornographic. >In 1936, British fans of Joyce were allowed to do the same. While he sometimes resented the attention Ulysses brought him, Joyce saw his days as a struggling writer come to an end with the book's publication. It hadn't been an easy road. During World War I, Joyce had moved his family to Zurich, where they subsisted on the generosity of English magazine editor, Harriet Weaver, and Barnacle's uncle. Eventually Joyce and his family settled into a new life in Paris, which is where they were living when Ulysses was published. Success, however, couldn't protect Joyce from health issues. His most problematic condition concerned his eyes. He suffered from a constant stream of ocular illnesses, went through a host of surgeries, and for a number of years was near blind. In 1939 Joyce published Finnegans Wake, his long awaited follow up novel, which, with its myriad of puns and new words, proved to be an even more difficult read than his previous work. Still, the book was an immediate success, earning "book of the week" honors in the US and the United Kingdom not long after debuting. A year after Finnegans' publication, Joyce and his family were on the move again, this time to southern France in advance of the coming Nazi invasion of Paris. Eventually the family ended back in Zurich. Sadly, Joyce never saw the conclusion of World War II, the writer died at the age of 59 on January 13, 1941 in Zurich. the double bind the impossible position that constitutes E’s situation on the one hand E. remembers the promise she had made to her dying mother “her promise to keep…she could end”. This solemn commitment places a heavy burden on E. asserting her responsibility to vote her life to holding together the pieces of her shattered family caring for her abusive father as well as for” the 2 young children…her charge” as if she warns her against following her heart and abandoning her family in order to pursue a life of romance and fulfillment. E’s mother in her terminal madness warns her that the end of pleasure is pain. She uses Gaelic words that express a sort of prophecy as if E’s mother is voicing the wisdom of ancient druids rather than the hard lessons of her own sad life. As E. remembers her mother’s words on the eve of her possible departure it is as if E.’s mother is returning from the grave to admonish her to keep her promise; at the same time however E. recognizes her mother’s madness and death as a result of the hard domestic toil had constituted her entire life “that life of commonplaces sacrifices..craziness”. E’s mother’s dementia provides E. herself with a glimpse into her own future if she stays, if she submits to her father’s bullying, if she she gives up on the dreams represented by Frank. She can grow up to share the same terrifying fate as her mother. As E. follows this line of thought it seems to motivate her to break with the life pattern represented by her mother “escape she must escape” but when she hesitates and then shuts down at the threshold of her new life her mother’s influence seems to reassert itself. Epiphany Joyce explains as “a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself” (Stephen Hero). In this short story Eveline hears a street organ, and when she remembers the street organ that played on the night before her mother’s death, Eveline resolves not to repeat her mother’s life of “commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness,” but she does exactly that, paralysed by her promise while “Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy”. The way we feel about E.’s choice (did she do the right thing or not, was she brave or coward, is her behaviour a sign of courage or paralysis) will depend on our reading of her character. Indeed, the conclusion of the story hinges on the ambiguity of E’s character. We can see why she can be attracted to both of her mutually exclusive options. The story is so expertly crafted that the very question whether E. should be considered a flat or round character is debatable, making Joyce’s short story a perfect starting point for analytical discussions. Symbolism: Dublin In most of the stories in Dubliners, a character has a desire, faces obstacles to it, then ultimately relents and suddenly stops all action. These moments of paralysis show the characters’ inability to change their lives and reverse the routines that hamper their wishes. Such immobility fixes the Dubliners in cycles of experience. Eveline freezes like an animal, fearing the possible new experience of life away from home. These moments evoke the theme of death in life as they show characters in a state of inaction, in a state suspended between life and death. Throughout the collection, this stifling state appears as part of daily life in Dublin, which all Dubliners ultimately acknowledge and accept. represent that its habitants are paralyzed by their routine, they are in a stage of inaction between life and death. The dubliners are death in life, a state of inaction ( also eveline), in a state suspended between life and death. eveline is freezed like an helpless animal ( paralyzed ) narrow minded city, also for Joyce who moved to europe, italy and france, a wider atmosphere. not only at artistic level but he left Dublin for the oppressions he felt and for being not married, scandalous in Dublin at that time. Symbolism: sea The sea represents the unknown, and Joyce uses it to illustrate Eveline’s fear of the unknown. At the end of the story, when Eveline is filled with anguish and rendered immobile by the difficulty of her decision, she feels “all the seas of the world tumble[d] about her heart.” The fact that her heart comes back into the story is significant since she reveals that she has a health issue of palpitations. This image implies that the very thought of leaving Dublin and entering the unknown “seas” is causing her emotional distress, and perhaps heart palpitations as well. She feels that Frank is “drawing her into” the seas and that eventually “he would drown her.” She is not ready for the unknown, and she feels like Frank is pressuring her. The sea also represents freedom, which is one and the same as the unknown to Eveline. She is afraid of both freedom and the unknown. The sea is seen as a way to escape burdens of her life and although she finds great promise and opportunity in the waters, she also finds it unnerving and then it holds a certain unknown faith that scares her. Joyce uses this device to explain the complexity of Evelyn’s opportunity to leave and what it could potentially hold for her. represent freedom and unknown The journey attracted her and frightened her. She is going to leave Dublin and enter the unknown seas causing her emotional distress so she feels Frank no more like a hero but he becomes like a killer that wants to bring her down the sea. she is not ready for the unknown, she feels like Frank is pressuring her. she is afraid of the unknown she is pulled by this new life Symbolism:dust it gives an idea of decay, paralysis and death (a house where nobody live so there is lot of it) women: their conditions in the beginning of the 20 century ( eveline and her mother, to look after their family, under control of their husband, you are not respected without a husband ) women have to be married to be respected cattolic values: idea of marriage ( when she is at the quay and ready to leave, she prays God to ask him what road does she have to follow ) temi centrali: music (anche il suono dei passi iniziali si riconduce), religion, paralisis, family Themes: Escapism and exotic As in many of the other stories in Dubliners, the protagonist of “Eveline” has a desire to escape from the drab, brown Dublin life. Eveline has an actual plan to escape to Argentina. She also has an opportunity to gain respect through marriage and also by distancing herself from the bad reputation her family seems to have, escaping the limitations of her current social status. Eveline fantasizes about her escape and seems to think it will solve all of her problems: her financial disputes with her father, the lack of respect her coworkers show her, and her general discontentment with Dublin life. However, when it comes time for Eveline to actually board the boat with Frank, she decides against her escape. This implies that perhaps the idea of an escape was satisfying in itself, but the actual act of escaping is too scary. Eveline liked having the opportunity for an escape, and it temporarily soothed her anxiety about the lack of respect she receives from her boss and her fear of being treated like her mother. It is possible that all she really desired was some kind of reassurance in the form of another potential path. Eveline takes interest in Frank not only because he is offering her an escape, but also because she finds him exotic. He tells her stories about faraway places and people and exposes her to music and culture that she has never before experienced. Frank takes her to see the play “The Bohemian Girl,” which although the music is written by an Irish composer, deals with “gypsies” in Austria and other Eastern European countries. For Eveline, anything outside of Dublin most likely seems exotic, since she seems to have lived on the same quiet street, surrounded by the same people, her whole life. Even the fact that Frank is a sailor is a bit exotic, at least to the extent that because of this Eveline’s father forbids her from seeing him. She is also thrilled to sit in an “unaccustomed” part of the theater, which suggests that Frank is of a higher status than Eveline and was able to buy more expensive seats. At one point Eveline reflects on the lack of respect she receives in Dublin and imagines that in Argentina, “a distant unknown country,” it will not “be like that.” Eveline reveals her ignorance with this somewhat contradictory thought. She is assuming it will not “be like that” but she also admits that she is going to make a new home in an unknown country, and does not seem to have any basis for the assertion that she will have more respect in Argentina. Similar to Joyce’s other protagonists in Dubliners, Eveline is searching for an escape. However, at the end of the story it becomes clear that Eveline was not as serious about finding a physical escape as she initially appeared. Additionally, she seems to realize that an escape does not necessarily promise a happy ending and she could easily end up with a violent husband, just like her mother did. Joyce seems to see all Dubliners as trapped by society. The opportunities for escape are scarce, so instead many of his characters choose to fantasize about the exotic and satisfy themselves with more of a mental escape. The end. Opposite theses: 1.E’s decision to stay in Dublin is rooted in her identity and history and therefore is the right decision for her. E’s decision is motivated by cowardice and insecurity. E’s decision is influenced by her religion, economic status, and her identity as a woman. 2. E’s character is round because her thoughts evolve through the story, E’s has many conflicting feelings over the course of the story, but her character is essentially flat and unchanging. This short story can support all these thesis and in some ways J. himself was divided on his own feelings about the Dublin of his childhood that although he left Dublin shortly before the publication of Dubliners and never returned, he spent the rest of his life writing about the