Joyce e analisi dell’ “Ulysses” - Inglese, da “Amazing Minds 2”., Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Joyce e analisi dell’ “Ulysses” - Inglese, da “Amazing Minds 2”. e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! JAMES JOYCE James Joyce is one of the most important novelists of all time and one of the greatest representatives of Modernism. He was born in Dublin in 1882. He studied Italian, French and English at University and in 1904 he met the woman who’d become his wife. Two are his best-known literary works: Dubliners, a collection of short stories set in Ireland, and his masterpiece Ulysses. Joyce and Ireland: a complex relationship Joyce’s literary works reveal his complex relationship with Ireland, his mother country: even though he left Dublin at a pretty early age, all of his works are set in Ireland, which he both loved and hated. Joyce’s self-imposed exile gave him the chance to represent the country and its capital in an objective way. For Joyce, Ireland was a country dominated by inactivity and stillness, it was stuck, it couldn’t progress, but nonetheless it remained his main source of inspiration. His peculiar relationship with Ireland can be mostly seen in Dubliners. DUBLINERS Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories, written in 1900 and published in 1914, in the newspaper The Irish Homestead by Joyce, under the pseudonym of Stephen Dedalus. Dubliners are described as afflicted people oppressed by religion, politics, culture, economy All the stories are set in Dublin, which is the center of paralysis. Structure and style The stories present human situations. Obvious actions leading to a moral, social or spiritual revelation (ex. of revelation: in The dead, after Gabriel found out that Michael Fury really loved Gretta and that Gretta really loved Michael, the thought that him himself was Gretta’s true love vanished, because he realized that Gretta’s true love was and always will be Michael = Michael, who’s dead, is the liveliest of all, because he constantly lives in Gretta’s memories, while Gabriel is spiritually dead, he doesn’t matter = this is the revelation + Michael and Gabriel sono i nomi degli arcangeli, San Michele ha ucciso il demonio, tra i 3 arcangeli è il più importante, quello più vicino a Dio (michele = colui che è come Dio), per questo Joyce da questo nome a Michael, perche è piu forte di Gabriel, sopravvive nella mente di gretta + Fury = furia). The short stories are are arranged into 4 groups: -CHILDHOOD: The Sisters, Araby, An Encounter; -ADOLESCENCE: After the Race, The Boarding House, Eveline, Two Gallants; -MATURE LIFE: A Little Cloud, Clay, Counterparts, A Painful Case; -PUBLIC LIFE: Ivy Day in the Committee Room , A Mother, Grace; All of the characters have one characteristic in common, paralysis -> every single protagonist wants to escape but can't because they're paralyzed. Narrative techniques and themes -naturalistic, concise, detailed descriptions; -naturalism combined with symbolism -> a double meaning of details; -each story opens in medias res and is mostly told from the perspective of a character; -use of free-direct speech and free-direct thought + different linguistic registers-> language suits age, the social class and the role of the characters; -use of epiphany -> moment of spiritual revelation, manifestation of an interior reality. Catholic tradition for the revelation of Christ’s divinity to the Magi (i re magi si rivelano a gesù, per questo la chiama epifania). This technique is used to take the reader beyond the usual aspects of life. An insignificant episode becomes essential to the life of the character; -themes -> paralysis and escape; ->absence of a didactic and moral aim because of the impersonality of the artist ->the first novelist who used the impersonality technique was Flaubert in Madame Bovary. Epiphany Joyce’s aim is to take the reader beyond the usual aspects of life through epiphany: it is a special moment in which a trivial gesture, an external object, a banal situation or an episode lead the character to a sudden self-realization about themselves or about the reality surrounding them-> understanding the epiphany in each story is the key to the itself. Paralysis The main theme of the story is the theme of paralysis, which is both physical and moral-> physical paralysis is caused by external forces, while moral paralysis is linked to religion, politics and culture. The dubliners accept their condition because they either aren't aware of it or they don't have the courage to break the chains (ex eveline). They are weak, afraid, slaves of moral, religious, cultural and political life. The climax of the story is when the characters become aware of their own paralysis ->alternative to paralysis: escape which always leads to failure. ULYSSES Ulysses is James Joyce’s most important work. Ulysses is a complex novel set in Dublin on one single day, Thursday 16th June 1904 (the day when Leopold Bloom, the main character, had his first date with Nora, who then became his wife) + in the novel, the city of Dublin, its atmosphere, its places are all described in a detailed way + there’s also a detailed account of ordinary life on an ordinary day. The main theme of the novel is a moral one, according to which human life means suffering but also struggling to seek the good. The novel was first published in 1922, but only in France, because in England and America the book was censored because of its pornography (there are lots of scenes about sex and sexual encounters) → in 1933 it was published in the USA, in 1936 in England and in 1960 in Italy. At first it was published in a series, but when they reached the section of the novel which included sex scenes, their publication was stopped. The story had no plot, it was a continuous stream of consciousness, and its final word is yes, which has a positive meaning and it refers to hope. Characters -Leopold Bloom: he’s Odysseus. He’s a common man, he represents the whole of mankind. He’s a middle-aged, non practicing jew, who wanders through the streets of Dublin. He also suffers from the separation from his wife because they drifted apart after their baby’s death. During his wanderings he meets Stephen Dedalus; -Stephen Dedalus: he’s Telemachus. He embodies every young man seeking maturity, he’s an artist, he loves literature and wants to find the right people to share his opinions about culture to-> nonetheless, he’s unable to find these kinds of people, and that’s why he lives an isolated condition. After him and Leopold meet, there’s an instant connection between them: Stephen is in search of fatherhood because of his broken links with home, while Leopold is in search of the son he lost = Leopold becomes Stephen’s father figure, and Stephen becomes Leopold’s “adopted” son (his adoption is symbolic). Dedalus is Joyce’s alter ego, because he too is an isolated artist who can’t find the right places for him; -Molly Bloom: she’s Penelope, she stands for flesh, sensuality, fecundity. She’s planning an affair with her music director. The difference between Joyce’s Ulysses and Homer’s The Odyssey is that, in the odyssey, these characters are heroes, they have heroic aspects, while in Joyce's Ulysses they're just ordinary people, they’re modern heroes (ex. Penelope waited years for her husband’s return, remaining faithful VS molly bloom who is completely unfaithful, during this day of June she plans a sexual encounter with another man = important contrast between these two characters). Ulysses: the relation to Odyssey The Odyssey is a structural framework for Ulysses. Giambattista Vico defines three stages of the story, divine, heroic and human: -Divine: it’s the stage of gods and goddesses;