Scarica Riassunto in inglese James Joyce e Ulysses e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! James Joyce – Ulysses The work which established James Joyce as one of the most original and innovative writers of the 20th century is Ulysses, and it remains a milestone in modern literature. All the action takes place on one single day, June 16 1904, in the lives of three characters: Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom and Molly Bloom. The title Ulysses refers to Homer’s Odyssey, and there are many parallels between the two works. The eighteen episodes in Ulysses correspond to the adventures that make up the Odyssey. In Joyce’s Ulysses Stephen Dedalus represents Telemachus, Leopold Bloom Ulysses and Molly Bloom Penelope. The story, like Dubliners, take place in Dublin and relates events which take place in various places such as a newspaper office, a pub and a funeral. The real novelty lies in the author’s attempt to take the interior monologue technique or the stream of consciousness to extremes by recording every single thought of the characters as they occur, in a realistic thought pattern linked by free association. It is a prose style characterized by the absence of any conventional use of dialogue and description and the complete absence of punctuation. This technique, which is used by Joyce in various parts of the novel (he only uses it completely in Finnegans Wake), enables the reader to witness the characters’ inner life: their thoughts, emotions and memories. The novel has no real plot. The reader follows the characters in their day as they eat, speak and go about their business and there is no distinction made between important and unimportant moments in the characters’ day. Every action becomes relevant and representative. The novel was published first in instalments in the Little Review in New York and later as a complete work in Paris in 1922, but it was censored for obscenity in America and in England where it was not published until the mid-1930s. Molly’s soliloquy. One of the most famous passages in the novel is Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in the final part of the book (18th episode), in which we follow the stream of consciousness of Molly Bloom as she lies in bed. This passage is written in eight huge unpunctuated paragraphs. Following the Odyssey, the novel concentrates on Leopold/Ulysses who, after his journey through Dublin, returns home to his wife; but differently from the Odyssey, Ulysses ends with Molly’s soliloquy, the voice of a woman and not a man. In Joyce’s work there is a dominant female figure and some critics have interpreted Molly’s role as Joyce’s attempt to highlight the role of women in society. In fact, while in Homer Penelope has a totally submissive role, Molly expresses thoughts, needs and desires that are typical of the new female figure. The figure of Molly contrasts with the two male characters of the novel, in particular with Stephen Dedalus. While Stephen is presented as an intellectual who tends to reject emotional experiences, Molly represents the importance of physical experiences for human beings.
