James Joyce: Life, works, The Dubliners, Ulysses, Appunti di Inglese

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JAMES JOYCE: Life: EARLY LIFE: - born in 1882 in Dublin (10 children) - graduated at University College in 1902 (Bachelor arts degree) - he thought himself as european more than irishman - he was opposed to Yeats: he though that he needed to offer a portrait of his life from an european point of view in order to create national conscience - went to Paris BUT his mother’s illness back to Dublin - he published his first short story: The Sisters and Evening Telegraph - 1904: married Nora Barnacle TRIESTE: - 1905: Trieste - he taught english and became friends with Svevo - two kids: Giorgio and Lucia - financial problems: obscene parts - first publication: “Dubliners” collection of short stories about Dublin praised by Ezra Pound - published “A portrait of the artist as a Young Man” = autobiographical ZURICH: - 1915 - he moved because Trieste was occupied by Austrians - financial problems donations he wrote Ulysses - susponded because of obscenity PARIS: - 1920 - Sylvia Beach agreed to publish Ulysses - it drew both praise and sharp criticism - it tells the experiences of Mr Leopold Bloom, his wife and the poet Dedalus in one day in Dublin, 1914 - Lucia’s mental illness got worse: she was sent to a hospital outside Paris - his father death and his blindness - wrote “Finnegans Wake”, published in 1939 immediate success ZURICH: - 1940 because of France occupation by Germans they moved to Zurich - he never saw the end of World War II - died at 59 in 1941 and was buried in Zurich Characteristics: DUBLIN: - he spent his life away BUT set all his works in Dublin - he wanted to give a portrait of life in Dublin: portraits of ordinary dubliners STYLE: - he believed in the impersonality of the artist (symbolists) - realistic portrait of life - led to the isolation of the writer from society - he used different techniques and points of view COSMOPOLITAN ATTITUDE - he wanted to live as a “citizen of the world” in Ireland - God (religion) - Father (the family) - Politics (the irish nationalist cause) A Portrait of the artist as a Young Man - published in 1916 - it is a novel of education: it shows the growth to maturity of a young guy through gradual emancipation from old established principles - autobiographical work - Stephen Dedalus is the protagonist (we will see him again in Ulysses as an alter ego) - name is symbolical: the master craftsman of the classical mythology and Stephen: one of the first christian martyrs Dubliners (1914) - collection of 15 shorts stories - 14 written by 1905 BUT not published because immoral - last story: summary of the others - they offer a real and evocative portrait of lives of ordinary people in Dublin 4 GROUPS: - childhood (The Sisters) - adolescence (Eveline) - maturity - public life (the dead) PARALYSIS: - the main theme of the collection - different types of Paralysis: physical, spiritual, religious, emotional - this paralysis is shown through the characters who are unable to react to their condition for 2 reasons they don’t recognize the state of paralysis they don’t have the courage to break the chains that bind them - Dublin = symbolic center of the paralysis of Ireland EPIPHANY: - it is not a theme BUT a concept - epiphany = a pick of intensity in the narration that coincides with “a sudden revelation of truth”, a moment in which a sudden spiritual awakening takes place - the character understands something about him/her or about what’s around him - the collection through its single epiphanies is supposed to be an epiphany for the reader The Sisters: TEXT: - a boy is telling the story: he tells us that somebody he knows died - Mr Cotter came by the house and gave the news of Father Flynn’s death - the guy and Flynn were friends BUT Cotter says that he thinks that Flynn is a bad influence for children, because he highly influences them - the uncle and Cotter do not have a positive opinion of Flynn - he dreams of the grey face of Flynn appearing to him (he died of paralysis) first epiphany - the morning after he goes in front of his house BUT he is not able to enter - he starts a flashback: he remembers when the priest Flynn used to teach him latin and asked him difficult questions - the boy goes with his aunt to the house of mourning and sees the dead in the coffin - they talk for a while with Eliza and Nannie (the sisters of father Flynn) - they tell about the ill of father Flynn: he broke a chalice and this led to madness SYMBOLS: - paralysis = it immediately appear on the page and reflects the whole situation of Ireland physical paralysis spiritual paralysis - epiphany: first one: in the dream of the boy ULYSSES: Introduction: PLOT: - thursday, june 16, 1904 in Dublin (day when Nora Barnacle made her love clear to Joyce) - Stephen Dedalus, which we already met in “The portrait of the artist as a Young Man” (at the end f the portrait he left Dublin for Europe and in Ulysses he has just come back) - Leopold Bloom: half-jewish advertising canvasser for a Dublin newspaper (Ulysses) - Molly Bloom: about to have an affair - they wake up at 8 and go to bed 18 hours later - Stepehen is depressed for his mother’s death: he is looking for a father figure - Leopold goes to a funeral, work, avoids to go home where his wife is having the affair - Leopold meets Stephen Dedalus, who becomes his adopted son: his daughter lives far away he is looking for a son STRUCTURE: - each chapter written in a different style: play, romance, imitates music, or reproducing the evolution of english prose - last chapter: Molly’s steam of consciousness, without punctuation - a lot of allusions from medieval philosophy to symbolism of tattoos - sexual references and dirty jokes: considered obscene SETTING: - it gives a portrait of Dublin in 1904: he wrote the entire novel outside Ireland - he describes houses and pubs that he knows - Dublin becomes itself a character ODISSEY: - 18 episodes - each chapter named after a character of the Odyssey - Ulysses travels 10 years among the sea and comes home to his wife VS Leopold who wonders one day around Dublin and comes home to an unfaithful wife - Ulysses = Leopold, Telemachus = Stephen, Penelope = Molly - chapter 1-3: Telemachiad adventures of Stephen - chapter 4-15: Odyssey - chapter 16-18: Nostos meeting between Ulysses, Penelope and Telemachus - last chapter: longest steam of consciousness (of Molly Bloom) - the first 3 episodes of Telemachiad take place at the same time of the first three episodes of Odyssey: same hours lived by Stephen and Leopold THEMES: - representation of human nature: Stephen: intellect Mrs Bloom: flesh Mr Bloom: links intellect and flesh everyman, he is the common man - exile and constant research: Leopold is the common man destined to exile Stephen: voluntary exile Mr Bloom: involuntary exile - Family, Fatherland, Faith STYLE: - language is rich in puns, mages, contrasts, paradoxes, justapositions, symbols exc complex - amazing variety of vocabulary and register - each character speaks as they would speak in real life - frequent use of foreign words, literary quotations, allusions to other texts - interior monologue brought to perfection - use of different techniques: according to the context he adopts different narrative forms MYTHICAL METHOD: - the adventures of Ulysses are used as parallel to the events of the life of common men and women it stresses the lack of heroism, ideals, love and trust in the modern world Telemachus: - Buch Mulligan (cugino di Stephen) si fa la barba e deride Stephen Dedalus per il suo nome - Stephen è infastidito dall’uomo che Buch ha invitato a stare nella torre: Haines - Buch gli chiede che cosa abbia contro di lui, e Stephen ricorda del giorno in cui venne a casa sua per la morte di sua madre e disse che sua madre era “morta come una bestia” - Allora Buch gli ricorda che è stato lui a non volersi inginocchiare e pregare per la madre quando lei in punto di morte glielo chiese - Stephen ricorda la camera del letto di morte della madre e il giorno in cui fu sottoposta all’estrema unzione, guardando la baia di Dublino - Buck, Stephen e Haines fanno colazione insieme, Haines sta scrivendo un libro - Arriva una signora a portargli il latte (Buck è al verde, non ha soldi) - Deridono la lingua inglese, dicendo che in Irlanda non la parlano - Hains vuole scrivere un libro con le citazioni di Stephen e gli chiede della sua teoria di Amleto - Stephen spiega a Heins che affittano la torre dal segretario della guerra - Stephen inizia a saltellare cantando “la ballata del giulivo Gesù” - Stephen e Haines parlano, e Stephen dice di avere due padroni: lo stato imperiale britannico e la Chiesa Cattolica Romana - Heines cerca di dire che l’Inghilterra ha trattato male l’Irlanda - Buck, Haines e Stephen parlano di un loro amico soldato, Seymour che è tornato in città ANALYSIS: - The term “servitore” is used a lot when they talk about Ireland in its relationship with England - It can be divided in 3 sequences: 1st: act of shaving, just Stephen and Buck (from beginning to p. 15) 2nd: dedicated to the breakfast, Heins, Buck and Stephen and also the old lady who sells milk 3rd: dedicated to the bath (da p. 25 alla fine) - the beginning of the novel is dedicated to shaving which is a normal act of common life described as a sacred ritual (use of some latin words) the whole Ulysses is like this: structured as an epic poem but in reality it is just a trivial story - Buck is presented as the fool and he associated to the Irish who is openly criticizing the british but who is at the same time acting like them - Heins on the other hand is an english man who acts as an irish would: he speaks gaelic with the woman who brings milk, and the lady who is irish, thinks he is speaking french: critic to irish who after all don’t even know their culture (in these years the celtic revival movement was founded by Yeats) - Buck and Stephen talk about Stephen’s mother death: Stephen refused to pray at her bed as she had asked because he doesn’t believe in this request, which he sees at formal, and he is hunt by the presence of his dead mother and by the fact that he refused to pray - theme of paralysis (pag. 7) - Ireland is under the control of two powers: catholic church and the British empire (Stephen says: I have two masters: one english and one Italian) - Buch Mulligan seems to be more negative than Heins: Buch defends Ireland BUT wants to be an englishman, while Heins who is english is more sympathetic and interested in Ireland than Buch - As they go to the sea, they discuss Hamlet: family links is a fundamental theme - Family, Ireland and Religion are themes which are always present - Yeats is evoked because he mentions “The Irish Literary Revival” Calypso: - Leopold Bloom sta facendo colazione: descrizione colazione - C’è una gatta che miagola: considerazioni sul gatto - La moglie sta ancora dormendo quindi non la sveglia e le chiede se vuole qualcosa da fuori - Esce di casa dopo aver preso il cappotto e controllato le chiavi - Cammina per la città immaginando di essere in una città d’oriente - Si ferma dal macellaio, dove c’è una fanciulla molto graziosa in fila - Quando torna a casa vede che c’è una lettera per lui e una per Molly dal possibile amante: quando gliela dà lei la mette sotto il cuscino - Lui scende a fare la colazione per Molly - Le porta la colazione a letto, parlano del funerale e lei gli chiede il significato di “metempsicosi” in un libro che sta leggendo, e lui le spiega la trasmigrazione delle anime - Si accorge di aver lasciato il rognone sul fuoco e si precipita giù - Rilegge la lettera di Milly mentre fa colazione: la ringrazia del regalo di compleanno e nomina un fidanzato (lui ha una figlia Milly e un figlio Rudy che è morto poco dopo la nascita) - Pensa di andare a trovare la figlia - Prende il giornale e va in giardino - Si mette sul water a leggere il giornale - Pensa che potrebbe anche lui scrivere storielle per i giornali - Controlla l’ora del funerale ANALYSIS: - Leopold Bloom is having breakfast: Telemachus and Calypso take place at the same time - Stephen represents the intellect: he talks about important themes at breakfast, while Leopold talks and thinks about trivial and basic subjects - He is isolated in his family, in his country and in his religion: he is a jew and supposed not to eat certain parts of animals, and he breaks all of the jewish rules - Molly is a circular character: introduced by the first word she pronounces: “Mn” that stands for “no”, while the last word of the book is “Yes” - She is seen first in bed and at the end she is in bed as well - Bloom is presented as a father: he receives the letter of the daughter, and he is an absent father because the daughter lives far away, and the son died soon after his birth (anti-hero) - Molly is opposed to Penelope: unfaithful - Shifts between outer world and inner world: he sees a cat and thinks about cats - Irish tradition: potato = symbol of both Ireland and Jewish culture = symbol recalling the main themes - Molly is unfaithful but also absolutely indipendent: she is called Mrs Marion Bloom: sign of indipendence WHILE Mrs Dalloway is the symbol of her lack of indipendence from the husband - Leopold is a failure as a husband too: he is aware that his wife is unfaithful BUT he does not do anything - It is all twisted: Ulysses wonders for ten years while Penelope is waiting for him at home, while here Leopold wonders for one day in order to stay away from the wife who is with her lover - There are many references to his works: in the final part he talks about Gretta (Gretta of Penelope: (pag. 185) - the chapter concludes with “yes” while it started with “no” STYLE: - past and present constantly mixed - the words follow one another without any punctuation: direct interior monologue it shows the flow of thoughts at the pre-speech level: he wants to reproduce the flow of the thoughts in our mind before we organize them in a speech - punctuation is used when you want to be understood BUT if the words are just in your mind there is no punctuation - episode made of 8 endless sentences in which she mixes past, present and future CONTENT: - it is the first time in which Molly has the chance to make the reader listen her own voice: the first two parts are focused on the male figures, and Molly is presented from Bloom’s or Stephen’s perspective