James Joyce Biography PDF

JAMES JOYCE James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882 from a very big family. He received his education at the Jesuit's school, before enrolling at the University College in Dublin, where he gained a degree in modern languages. Immediately after the degree he left Ireland but he soon had to go back...

JAMES JOYCE James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882 from a very big family. He received his education at the Jesuit's school, before enrolling at the University College in Dublin, where he gained a degree in modern languages. Immediately after the degree he left Ireland but he soon had to go back because of the illness of his mother. Joyce believed in the independence of Ireland from Britain but he was not really interested in such movements, he was even contrasting to the movement of the so-called Irish Revival / Uprising in which his contemporary W.B. Yeats took part. Although he shared the ideas of the politician Charles Parnell, a supporter of Irish independence, his interest was towards a broader European culture, he thought of himself as a European rather than as an Irishman. He started publishing his first stories in installments. The 16th June 1904 Joyce met the 20-year-old chambermaid Nora Barnacle, the love of his life, who soon became his wife and with whom he left Ireland forever (he never came back). This date, nowadays called Bloomsday, is really important because it is the only day on which the whole story of Ulysses, his most important literary work, takes place. The couple first moved to Pola, then to Trieste, where Joyce met and established a friendship with Italo Svevo, and where he published his first collection of poems, entitled Chamber Music (1907), and his two important works: Dubliners (1914), and A portrait of the artist as a young man (1916). Joyce refused the three elements which had made up his education: Ireland →his home country, which he leaves intending to never go back; family →he keeps contact only with his brother; religion →considered by him as the "poison of minds". He felt the need to leave everything he knew, as expressed in his autobiographical novel A portrait of the artist as a young man, where he talks about his decision to become an artist. He then moved with his family to Zurich, where he remained until the end of the First World war since Switzerland was a neutral country. After the conflict he moved to Paris, where his creativity genius had the opportunity to express itself thanks to the American editor Sylvia Beach, the only one who truly believed in him, who firstly donated anonymously to him, then allowed him to publish his masterpiece Ulysses in her firm Shakespeare & Company. Ulysses at first was published only in Paris because it was considered too scandalous, almost pornographical, leading to his censure in the USA (it was considered rubbish). His most experimental novel was Finnegan's Wake (1929), which was left unfinished, through which he perfected his narrative technique. At the beginning of the Second World War he left again for Zurich, but he died in 1941, so he never witnessed the end of the war. He had two children, Giorgio and Lucia, who was affected by schizophrenia, something that was really difficult to accept for the family even if Joyce approached the analysis of mental processes thanks to it. The daughter will spend her whole life in a clinic in Zurich, so she won't follow the family in the moves. The main features of Joyce's style are: use of different points of view and narrative techniques; free speech (direct and indirect) →thoughts are directly presented; interior monologue with different levels of narration; original language which varies based on the age and the social class of the characters; medias res →lack of introduction; city of Dublin as recurring setting; **JAMES JOYCE** *James Joyce* was born in Dublin in **1882** from a very big family. He received his education at the Jesuit's school, before enrolling at the University College in Dublin, where he gained a degree in modern languages. Immediately after the degree he left Ireland. Joyce believed in the independence of Ireland from Britain but he was not really interested in such movements, he was even contrasting to the movement of the so-called [Irish Revival / Uprising]. Although he shared the ideas of the politician *Charles Parnell*, a supporter of Irish independence, his interest was towards a broader European culture, he thought of himself as a European rather than as an Irishman. He started publishing his first stories in instalments. [On June 16^th^, **1904**] Joyce met the 20-year-old chambermaid *Nora Barnacle*, who soon became his wife and with whom he left Ireland forever (he never came back). This date, nowadays called *Bloomsday*, is really important because it is the only day on which the whole story of *[Ulysses]*, his most important literary work, takes place. The couple first moved to Pola, then to Trieste, where Joyce met and established a friendship with Italo Svevo, and where he published his first collection of poems, entitled *[Chamber Music]* (1907), and his two important works: *[Dubliners]* (1914), and *[A portrait of the artist as a young man]* (1916). Joyce refused the three elements which had made up his education: Ireland →his home country, which he leaves intending to never go back; family →he keeps contact only with his brother; religion →considered by him as the "poison of minds". He felt the need to leave everything he knew, as expressed in his autobiographical novel *[A portrait of the artist as a young man]*, where he talks about his decision to become an artist. He then moved with his family to Zurich, where he remained until the end of the First World war, since Switzerland was a neutral country. After the conflict he moved to Paris, where his creativity genius had the opportunity to express itself thanks to the American editor *Sylvia Beach*, the only one who truly believed in him, who allowed him to publish his masterpiece *[Ulysses]*. Ulysses at first was published only in Paris because it was considered too scandalous, almost pornographical, leading to his censure in the USA (it was considered rubbish). His most experimental novel was *[Finnegan's Wake]* (1929), which was left unfinished, through which he perfected his narrative technique. At the beginning of the Second World War he left again for Zurich, but he died in **1941**, so he never witnessed the end of the war. He had two children, *Giorgio and Lucia*, who was affected by schizophrenia, something that was really difficult to accept for the family even if Joyce approached the analysis of mental processes thanks to it. The daughter will spend her whole life in a clinic in Zurich. The main features of Joyce's style are: use of [different points of view] and narrative techniques; [free speech] (direct and indirect) →thoughts are directly presented; [interior monologue] with different levels of narration; original [language] which varies based on the age and the social class of the characters; [medias res] →lack of introduction; city of [Dublin] as recurring setting; *[epiphany]* →sudden revelation which occurs to a character as a consequence to having felt something through the use of senses, usually a trivial element; [subjectivity of time] →time is not objective, facts become confused and simultaneous, there's always a combination of past, present and future (also in the tenses); combination of [idealism and realism]. **His** **style** was influenced by the [French symbolists] and the American poet, naturalized English, *[Thomas Stearns Eliot]*, who represents his equivalent in poetry. ***[DUBLINERS]*** Joyce's literary work *[Dubliners]* was published in **1914**. It is composed of [**15** **short stories**], which are all divided [into four] groups representing the main [steps of human life]: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life. All of the stories share common **features**: [setting] →city of [Dublin]; [recurring themes of ***escape* and *paralysis***] →Joyce [criticized Dubliners and Irish people] in general, because they were [passive], they did nothing to react to the British rule and change their condition. He considered them to be [paralyzed], because they did not have the courage to make decisions and accept the changes which occurred in their life, [because of the bond with their society and religion]. The characters in the book are aware of their paralysis, however there is always a point in their life in which they would like to escape and break free from duties, responsibilities and bonds which tie them to society. The characters would like to [escape], since they can't bear their situation any longer, but at the moment they have the opportunity to do so they cannot and they won't. The impossibility to escape makes them paralyzed. technique of the **epiphany** →it will be employed also by Virginia Woolf with another name, a sudden revelation that occurs to a character as a consequence to having smelled / heard / touched / seen something, usually a common and [trivial element] [experienced by the] character with the use of [senses]. [combination between **realistic** elements **and symbolic elements**] →the paralysis can be physical but also moral, for example in the first story *[The Sisters]*, the character of the priest is affected by a physical paralysis. Realism is evident in the description of settings / furniture / clothes, while symbolism is present in some elements and colors. The color [yellow] is for example the color of paralysis. [language related to the age of the character but also to the social class] →Joyce wants to portray the development of the characters through their language. The language is adapted to the age and the social class of the characters: when the characters are children the language is very simple, when they come from upper classes, such as cultured men, they employ a more difficult and complicated language. [media res] →there's no introduction, the stories begin immediately. The interior monologue is not featured [in *Dubliners*], however we witness the use of the [free indirect speech]. The [interior monologue] starts to be employed [from] the [last chapter of] *[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]*. In the first three stories of *Dubliners*, Joyce adopts the [first person] narrator, while in the other twelve stories he adopts the [third person narrator], however the perspective is always internal, because the thoughts of the main characters are told without any introduction. **A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN** The autobiographical novel *[A Portrait of the artist as a young man]* was published in its second edition in 1916, while in its first publication it was entitled *[Dedalus]*.. The main character is *Steven Dedalus*, a young Irish writer standing for Joyce himself, who represents the typical [martyr to art] , sacrificing himself for Art's sake, because his name *Stephen* makes reference to Christianity, while his surname *Dedalus* comes from the Greek mythology (*Labyrinth of Daedalus*). It is a [bildungsroman], a novel of formation, because it tells the story of the artist from his childhood, through the adolescence, to the age of 20 years old, when he decides to leave the city of Dublin, which is the main and only setting of the novel (just like all Joyce's works). The language varies based on the age and the social extraction of the characters: in this case we can literally witness a development of the very simple language of the artist when he's a very small child, to the difficult and articulated language he uses when he becomes a university student. Joyce refuses Ireland, his family and religion when he decides to dedicate himself to literature, and being this novel autobiographical, the protagonist Stephen will do the same, he will abandon the three fundamental elements of his life and education. This work is already some sort of [experimentation], since it [begins with] the [third person narrator] and it [ends with the first person narrator], filtering every element through the consciousness of the protagonist. [The hero] develops throughout the novel through several [transformations]: from a shy kid to a bright student, while he's attending school; from innocent to corrupted, when he sleeps with a prostitute; from a sinner to a devout Catholic, when he hears a speech of the priest; from religious fanatic to a *"martyr to art".* **ULYSSES** [Ulysses] is Joyce's most important literary work, it was first published in Paris in 1922 thanks to the female editor *Sylvia Beach*, Joyce's only supporter, who had even decided to anonymously donate money to him, in order to allow the publication of the book. The novel takes place **on a single day**, [the 16th June 1904] (Thursday), which is the date of Joyce's first meeting with the 20-year-old chambermaid *Nora Barnacle*, the love of his life. This date takes the name of *Bloomsday*. *Leopold Bloom* is the protagonist of the novel, he's an ordinary man of Irish origins, who doesn't care about religion (atheist). **key concept**: Leopold embodies the common man, he represents everybody, and he can be identified with the protagonist of Homer's [Odyssey], Ulysses (as suggested by the title). His wife, *Molly Bloom*, symbolizes *Penelope,* even though she's actually the opposite because she's the embodiment of passion, adultery and carnality. The protagonist *Stephen Dedalus* of *[A portrait of the artist as a young man]* recurs in this novel while he's about to leave Ireland, (meeting point between the two novels). Leopold had two children: a dead son and a daughter he doesn't get along with, so Stephen becomes the son he doesn't have and he represents *Telemachus*, in the same way Stephen needs someone to identify as a father. The three main characters can be associated with the three main characters of the Odyssey. *Ulysses* can be divided into [three parts]: [Telemachiad] →Stephen; [Odyssey] →Leopold; [Nostos] →Molly - it can be divided into other three minor parts, the last one of which is the end of the novel, the famous *[Molly's monologue]*. The three main characters embody some aspects of human nature: 1\. *Stephen Dedalus* →represents [intellect] and he's the embodiment of every young man going towards maturity; 2*. Mrs Bloom* →embodies [carnality] and [fecundity], because she identifies herself with her sexual nature; 3\. *Leopold Bloom* →he represents [both intellect and carnality], he's the embodiment of everybody, he's [the ordinary man (antihero]). The atmosphere of the city of Dublin is very present in the novel and inseparable from his characters, the novel itself works like a detailed account of the ordinary life of ordinary people in Dublin, presenting the city of Dublin almost as a character. We [don't have] [a]n actual [plot] with events that can be considered important: the narration is very detailed but it deals with [the day of the three characters] Leopold, Molly and Stephen, who wake up, leave their homes, have various encounters and misadventures in the city of Dublin, and then go back to sleep eighteen hours later. The revolution of the novel consists of the [three techniques] employed: [**mythical** method] →it allows the parallel with the Odyssey and provides the book with a [symbolic meaning], expressing [the universal in the particular], because [Leopold] in his individuality [represents everybody], the ordinary man. The concept of mythical method recurs in poetry with *Thomas Stearns Eliot*. [**collage** technique] →through which he [depicts the functioning of the mind], it is [a patchwork of different techniques], such as the stream of consciousness technique, dramatic dialogue, the juxtaposition of events, questions and answers or questions with no answers, and a language which is really rich and varied. [**cinematic** technique] →featuring elements like [flashbacks, roundups and close-ups]. The [language is] full of *puns*, symbols, words from the Irish *slang*, it is [rich and varied] with the objective to [reflect the functioning of the character\'s mind], which is indeed confused. ***[Stream of Consciousness]*** -Joyce takes us into a mind and tried to show us what thinking actually sounds like (that we can find in one point in Ulysses, when Leopold thinks about his life while he was watching tram and cars in the street --- Bloom is thinking about the birth and death and the shortness of life and the idea of the religion BUT also about the ordinary rhythms of daily life) - Joyce, with his *stream of consciousness*, is suggesting that if we knew more about what others in ourselves we\'d have a clearer sense of what it means to be a human. - Joyce\'s writing [delves into the complexities of human thoughts] and feelings. He [aims to reveal the true nature of human thinking]. **FINNEGAN'S WAKE** -In \"*Finnegan\'s Wake,\"* Joyce created his own version of English, [mixing more than 40 languages]. (Sometimes the words on the page look entirely foreign, but if you sound them out, you can often find the sense). - Joyce went in for many [portmanteau words] (two or more words stuck together to create a new one). -The [plot] is about a man called Tim Finnegan who falls from a ladder, dies and comes back to life when someone spills whiskey on his face during the wake. - It's intended as a universal story about the fall of mankind + the character of Tim Finnegan is also meant to be simultaneously Adam, Noah, Richard the third, Napoleon and the Irish nationalists Charles Parnell. -There is indeed a plot in this book --- in attempting to be completely faithful to real life Joyce ended up writing [a book] that is [fascinating but], at the same time, [unreadable]. **JOYCE vs SVEVO** In 1904, James Joyce arrived in Trieste and started to teach English at the Berlitz school. Back in Trieste, Italo Svevo decided he needed some personal lessons in English, and the Berlitz school introduced him to a young Irishman, James Joyce. They became friends. Their connection was writing, but they were very different writers. They were, nevertheless, good for one another, and each one inspired a masterpiece in the other. Svevo not only affected the style of Ulysses, which Joyce was writing from 1914, but surely is hugely present in Leopold Bloom himself, a character of this masterpiece; and after years with Joyce, Svevo wrote "*La Coscienza di Zeno*". In their masterpieces, they [both used the interior monologue], [but in a different way] and it\'s a mistake to define Svevo as the "Italian Joyce": there are a lot of differences between them. We can define [Joyce\'s interior monologue as 'stream of consciousness'], which is a continuous flow of thoughts, feelings and perceptions that fill the mind of a person during his/her waking moments. These thoughts and feelings do not generally come to a person in a linear or logical way but are often the result of spontaneous free-associations. The mind jumps from one argument to another, from a past memory to a future event, from a positive to a negative thought. All thoughts and sensations are extremely personal and can only have any real significance for the individual because all our thoughts and perceptions are intrinsically connected to our own personal life stories. [The Interior monologue] used [by Svevo is a style or technique of writing] which aims to [present] to the reader [the inner speech of a character as it occurs]; but, as opposed to the stream of consciousness, the narrator will make a choice and focus only on some aspects of his life that are really important for the development of the story, while excluding others. A logical order is really important. The reader, therefore, is somehow guided. In conclusion we can say that [the connections between Joyce and Svevo are] not direct, but [generic]. Their masterpieces have in common the chronological collocation in a period where authors wanted to [explore the subjective dimension] and also to reject the traditional vision of the world with his restrictions. But, apart from this, they traduce this climate [in their own way].