Ulysses by James Joyce: A Modernist Novel Inspired by The Odyssey, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Ulysses by James Joyce: A Modernist Novel Inspired by The Odyssey e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! ULYSSES - JAMES JOYCE Ulysses was published in Paris in 1922. It was considered a scandal for his age because of its sexual frankness and it was censured in America and England until 1936. THE SETTING The novel is set in Dublin on June 16th, 1904 (the day of Joyce's first walk with his wife). The book covers the events of that single day and describes the stories of the main characters: Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and the artist Stephen Dedalus. THE STRUCTURE The novel has no traditional plot. It ismodeled on the Odyssey: the 24 hours of Bloom's day correspond to the 24 books of the classical epic. The Ulysses is divided into 3 books and 18 chapters. Each chapter revolves around a particular element, such as a color, an organ of the body, a sense, a symbol and so on. The first part talk about Stephen Dedalus: he can be considered Joyce's alter ego, he is a young man who left his owm country and dedicated his whole life to art. His name is symbolic: Stephen is a Christian name and refers to the first Christian martyr (= he is a martyr to art). His last name, Dedalus, is that of the legendary Greek craftsman who made the labyrinth and afterwards made wings to escape across the sea (=this indicates his need for escape from society). The second part is dominated by the figure of Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising agent, who wanders around Dublin as Ulysses wandered around the Mediterranean. The third part focuses on Molly Bloom, a sensuous woman, unfaithful to her husband. She represents the eternal female principles of sex and reproduction. PARALLEL WMTH THE ODYSSEY The novel is highly symbolic. First of all, Leopold Bloom represent Ulysses, while the young and lonely Stephen Dedalus plays the part of Telemachus, who like him is about to set off to find his father Ulysses. Moreover, its 18 chapters correspond in some way to the episodes in Homer's Odyssey. In fact, Bloom's wanderings around Dublin in the course of the day reminds us of Ulysses's adventures on his journey to Itacha. Examples of this are the two attractive barmaids in Dublin that remind us of the sirens, but also Bloom and Stephen's meeting, that can be seen as the reunion of Telemachus and his father. This meeting is important in the novel because it is the meeting of two different kinds of modern man: on one hand we have Bloom, an average man and husband; on the other hand we have Stephen, the cynical artist. Even though these two seems to have nothing in