Scarica James Joyce: Life and Literary Themes e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! JAMES JOYCE LIFE James Joyce was born in Dublin 1882, educated at Jesuit schools and university college in Dublin. He came from a well-to-do family that become poor because of his alcoholic father that didn’t work. The catholic church turned against Charles Parnell (one of the leading supporters of Home Rule for Ireland,1846-91) because of his affair with a married woman; the themes of betrayal and the temporary nature of fame influenced Joyce deeply reflecting in his choice of anti-heroes as protagonists and in his rejection of the stiffling atmosphere in Dublin. He didn’t simphatize with the nationalist movement, he saw patriotism as a backward movement which paralised the development of a free spirit in Ireland. He became a religious sceptic but never hostile to the church. He self-imposed exile , left Ireland in 1904 (he gave private lessons in Trieste and worked in Rome in a bank) when he wrote The Dubliners (written between 1905-09, published in 1914). Collection of stories, easy to read, simple language but deep meaning, contrast and continuation of the time , past- present-future, cyclical circle of events that continues and time has his effects on characters (Bergson "la durée"). He had lost his commanding role in art: its task is neither to teach nor to convince but to make people aware of reality through their own subjective feelings. He adopted different point of views, different narrative techniques (from third person narrator to the stream of conciousness-interior monologue, where the lack of punctuation or sintax are meant to reproduce in writing the movement of thought). THE DEAD The Dubliners is one of the most famous works of Joyce and it consists in short stories in which Joyce described the lives of different people living in Dublin, trapped by life in their city. Joyce himself declared that Dublin represented paralysis that imposed to ordinary men and women to accept the limitations of the social context in which they live. The paralysis is both physical and moral. The longest and the last story of Dubliners is ''The Dead''. In this story, the woman changes her role like in the society in fact her conduct conditions the end of the story itself. In fact, ''The Dead'' is about Gretta and Gabriel who go to the annual party given by Gabriel's aunts but their house is out of Dublin and for this reason, the couple stay in a hotel for the night where they have a good evening full of music and good food. At the end of the night, they return in hotel but Gretta is distracted because during the party, she had singed a traditional song about an abandoned woman. This song, was singed by Michael Furey, a boy who died young because consumptive, he stood outside Gretta's house in the rain because he knew that Gretta went to a convent school in Dublin. She thinks that probably killed him and she told this story to Gabriel who thinks that Michael Furey is less died than him and he realizes that his love for Gretta is insignificant compared to Furey's. ANALYSIS So, in this story Gretta represents Joyce's wife and for this reason, she has the same importance of Norma in the reality. For the first time, the woman receives a central role in the licterature and in the society in fat, in this period, the women received their emancipation. Central themes are mortality and isolation. But "The Dead" is a story with much joy in it. The scene here is far from bleak; poverty has little place in this story, and many financially comfortable characters are celebrating in the midst of the holiday season. As is appropriate for this time of year, we see loving interaction between friends and family, and people of different generations. Mortality is a key part of the story, beginning with its title. The tale is set in winter, which is both holiday season and the season of death. The two old aunts in their old house become symbols for the onslaught of time; Aunt Kate can't even hear Gabriel's speech. Gabriel knows that one day, in the not-too-distant future, he will return to the house for his aunts' funerals. And of course, there is the dead boy Gretta remembers because of a song. Much has been made of the fact that Dubliners is framed by two stories dealing with death. The two stories, in fact, could easily switch their titles. But while "The Sisters" maintains one note and holds it well, "The Dead" is a far richer tale, mixing the joy of the occasion with somber reflection and several small but significant incidents, the importance of which is recognized gradually by the reader. Joyce's ability to write a party scene is at full strength in this tale. Most of the conversation in the story is small talk, or short moments of family drama (Aunt Kate and Julia worried about Freddy making a scene in his drunkenness, for example). There are also key moments of heartfelt emotion and connection between loved ones, such as Gabriel's moving speech, which brings his dear old aunties to tears. But the theme of isolation and miscommunication really comes out in full force after the party. Gabriel spends the journey home thinking of his wife and their many happy moments together. But he soon learns that she has been thinking of a love she had in her girlhood. Though married, they spent the ride home in completely different worlds. Gabriel's thoughts were only his own, and he and his wife could not have been farther apart. He had hoped for a tender night, but their evening ends with Gretta sleeping and Gabriel admitting that he has never felt so strongly for a woman that he would die for her, as Michael Furey did. ULYSSES
