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James Joyce (1882-1941). born in Dublin to an impoverished family educated by the Jesuits left Ireland for medical school in Paris at 21 returned to the continent in 1904 with Nora Barnacle spent most of his life on the continent (Paris, Italy, Switzerland) in dire poverty Biographical video.
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James Joyce (1882-1941) • born in Dublin to an impoverished family • educated by the Jesuits • left Ireland for medical school in Paris at 21 • returned to the continent in 1904 with Nora Barnacle • spent most of his life on the continent (Paris, Italy, Switzerland) in dire poverty • Biographical video
Important Works • Dubliners (1914) • Exiles (1914) • Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) • Ulysses (1922): considered by some the greatest novel ever written • Finnegan’s Wake (1939)
Dubliners (1907, pub. 1914) • Stories chronicle stages of life: • childhood • adolescence • maturity • society as a whole
Joyce wrote to his publisher: “My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to me the centre of paralysis.” • He later stated: “in composing my chapter of moral history in exactly the way I have composed it I have taken the first step towards the spiritual liberation of my country… I seriously believe that you will retard the course of civilisation in Ireland by preventing the Irish people from having one good look at themselves in my nicely polished looking-glass.”
Paralysis: • a living death, or a succession of deaths, emotional psychological, or spiritual • scenes of darkness, cold night, winter and blinding
Epiphany: • a spiritual an intellectual illumination of the nature of a thing • to the artistic insights and means by which such a revelation is achieved • a sudden revelation of spiritual or moral meaning, usually as to the essential being of a person or thing
Paralysis and epiphanies in the stories: • Araby • Evelyn • Counterparts • The Dead
Araby • opening • the narrator/protagonist • Mangan’s sister– associations • religious references • figures of authority • the English • illusion versus reality • ending? • meaning of title?
Evelyn • opening scene • the past • her father • her mother • images of light and darkness • ending?
Counterparts • the opening • Mr. Alleyne vs. “the man” • relationship between anger and thirst • effects of work on the individual • coins • the public houses • the English (woman, Weathers) • ending? • title?
The Dead • Miss Kate, Miss Julia, Mary Jane • Gabriel • scene with Lily • attitude towards other guests • Miss Ivors • the speech and the past • Freddy Malins • Gretta: what does she represent? • Gabriel vs. Michael Furey • Epiphanies -- mirror
Symbolism • Johnny, the horse • Final scene • the snow • the title?