In her short essay “Interpreting Poetry: The Literary Habitus,” Judith Stewart Shank reflects that “[a literary work of art] is understood through contemplation of its images and their interrelation—the way in which the individual images come together to form a single thing, a unity” (1). If Dr. Shank is right, one of the most profitable methods of analyzing any literary work of art is to examine the imagery being used in the work and, perhaps more importantly, to trace the individual uses of that imagery in an attempt to discern how they come to form an harmonious and organic symbolic system across the work as a whole. In James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, one could pick up on any number of images which appear and reappear throughout the novel, for example: birds and flying; gardens, roses, flowers; heat and cold; light and darkness…
We have a specific model of which we are to adhere to with this assignment. I’ll get to the meat of this assignment in a moment. But first, I wanted to throw in an aside, if I could, that I contemplated while we read our novel. You could call it my own personal journey through the pages of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
What does it mean to be Irish?
That’s a fair question, I think. I was born and raised in Texas being told of ancestors long ago traveling to the New World from Ireland to escape the Irish potato famine. With my maiden name as Dunn (I feel I might have been the only one of my classmates to notice the name of the butcher shop, Dunn’s of D’Olier Street, that Stephen’s father went to pick up the turkey for Christmas dinner ((Joyce 29))) and my mother’s surname is of Irish descent as well, I can remember, as a child, images of our family crests on the wall and tartan plaid blankets to honor our “clan”. On St. Patrick’s Day, I raise my pint of green beer and toast “Slainte” to the wonderment of my non-Irish companions. I giggle with pride over jokes like “Why did God invent whisky? ….So that the Irish wouldn’t rule the world.” With my blue eyes, auburn hair and pasty, almost transparent, skin, I paint a glossing fake Kelly green glaze over myself and claim to be Irish. However, upon reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I had several epiphanic realizations worthy of Joyce himself. One is I have no more understanding what it is to be Irish than the Texan sitting next to me. My concept of Ireland and being Irish stems from watching movies as a child such as Darby O’Gill and the Little People and Finian’s Rainbow (The latter is a 1968 musical directed by, of all people, Francis Ford Coppola. Crazy, right?). I thought all Irishmen spoke with the same accent as the leprechaun from the Lucky Charms commercial and I truly did believe, for the longest time, that there really were leprechauns. I have a Disney-esque view of what the Emerald Isle is supposed to represent and, boy, was I wrong!
As I researched for this assignment, what I discovered in Irish history during Joyce’s writing of this novel was not flowing fields of clovers and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I viewed videos and pictures from the Irish War of Independence that occurred between 1913 and 1923 of bombed out buildings reminiscent of similar photos I’ve seen of Berlin after the end of World War II. I labored over websites that were entitled “Women of the Easter Uprising of 1916” and viewed knickered-clad children playing in the streets with wooden guns behind sandbag barricades reenacting what they had witnessed. This was definitely no musical.
Also, during the reading of this novel, I developed a sort of kinship with the main character Stephen Dedalus. I saw a lot of me in him (and perhaps Joyce as well). A lot of the conscience journey that Stephen traveled; I have experienced myself as an amateur writer. Several, though not all, of his views about the world, life and religion correspond to my own. And dare I say it? I tend to reflect his narcissism from time to time as well (as my classmates might have realized in our Discussion Board posts). That’s a difficult pill to swallow. Do I consider myself an “artist” as the title suggests? I have never nor will I ever be comfortable being called an artist. Artists, in my mind’s eye, are stereotyped as tormented idealists that never can grasp the concept of reality or learn the adult responsibility of being able to move on from tragedy. They let it fester filling and consuming their lives and hearts with poisoned blood. Out of this inner turmoil, they release a beauty into the cold cruel world that it is lacking. With their small contribution, they feel it makes a better world to live in. However, for some artists, their work is not enough to sustain their own existence. The majority of elite master artists teetered between the brink of sanity and downright bat-ass crazy. Most had addictions that would help them escape from the reality that they loathed so much yet fueled their inner turmoil and their own self-loathing causing a paradox that no mere mortal or reasonably sane person could endure. So, please, never refer to me as an artist. Though I’ve seen flashes and echoes of what I’ve described in this paragraph within my own life, I’ve always been able to rationalize to myself the lunacy of it all and pull myself back to center. So, I must, after all, not be a “true artist”.
Now then, back to the assignment. Per our instructions we were to “Research four historical, political and/or cultural events pertinent to the period in which Joyce published his novel.”
Dublin
The first documented history of Dublin begins with the Viking raids in the 8th and 9th century. These led to the establishment of a settlement on the southside of the mouth of the Liffey, named Dubh Linn (Black Pool) after the lake where the Danes first moored their boats. (dublin.info). By the opening years of the 19th century, Dublin was home to over 150,000 people. Conditions for the poor who lived here were often appalling. It wasn’t until sewers were laid out throughout the city in the late 19th century that conditions improved for rich and poor alike. (word-guides.com) Today, Dublin is home to 1,273,069 people and accounts for 39% of the country’s population. (dubchamber.ie)
In Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dublin marks a turning point in Stephen Dedalus’ life. It is the beginning of the end for Stephen. All of the wonderment and beauty of the world for Stephen seems to slip away when the Dedalus family is required to move from their comfortable home in the country to Dublin where Joyce would describe, “His sensitive nature was still smarting under the lashes of an undivined and squalid way of life. His soul was still disquieted and cast down by the dull phenomenon of Dublin.” (Joyce 74) Stephen would take note of “scum yellow waters” and “dark slimy streets” as his resentment to his family’s circumstances grew. He definitely is not the spokesperson for the Dublin Tourism Board.
I find it interesting that, as Joyce describes Stephen’s disdain for Dublin, Dublin is the setting for most of Joyce’s major works. Joyce lived in Trieste, Italy for 10 years and in Paris for 20 years. Why, then, does his literary work revolve around Dublin given his apparent resentment towards the capital city? To put it simplistically, it is home. You don’t have to like something to love it. Joyce never loses his sense of nationality displaying, although obscurely, a sense of pride concerning his homeland.
The Artistry of the Portrait
In 1874, a group of artists called the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, etc. organized an exhibition in Paris that launched the movement called Impressionism. The term “impressionism” was first coined to describe works that appeared sketchy and unfinished. Impressionists rejected the highly finished surfaces of academic painting of the time to create a visual language of bright, rapidly applied color to capture light and atmosphere. Impressionist painters developed a way of applying pigment that has been called “broken color” or “broken brushstrokes.” The paint is applied in mosaic-like patches which creates a rough irregular surface texture. Impressionists broke with the notion of academic finish by which paintings appear to have a flat or smooth surface. In an Impressionist canvas, paint is applied in thick a raised stroke which is called impasto. Through using thick brushwork an artist can create a roughened uneven texture that often mimics the texture of the subjects as well as captures and reflects light. (florencegriswoldmuseum.org)
James Joyce uses the technique of “stream of consciousness” in writing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man almost as a painter would use his brush to dab pigments of paint onto a canvas. I find the title rather prophetic, as well, to the reader as what to expect within the pages. The start of the novel is jerky and unclear with no clear sharp outline as to the characters or the setting. Joyce doesn’t go into great detail describing the characters giving a “sketchy and unfinished” feel to the reader. He provides “broken brushstrokes” to the reader to visualize, impressionistically, the scenes he writes about. He provides one stroke at a time for the reader and before the reader can realize it, has painted a picture of the world through Steven Dedalus’ eyes.
The Lost Generation
The term “the lost generation” was coined by Gertrude Stein who is rumored to have heard her auto-mechanic while in France to have said that his young workers were, “une generation perdue”. This refered to the young workers’ poor auto-mechanic repair skills. Gertrude Stein would take this phrase and use it to describe the people of the 1920’s who rejected American post World War I values. The three best known writers among The Lost Generation are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. Others among the list are: Sherwood Anderson, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, Ford Maddox Ford, Zelda Fitzgerald and Ezra Pound. Ernest Hemingway, perhaps the leading literary figure of the decade, would take Stein’s phrase, and use it as an epigraph for his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. Because of this novel’s popularity, the term, “The Lost Generation” is the enduring term that has stayed associated with writers of the 1920’s. (montgomerycollege.edu).
Some characteristics of “the lost generation” artists are youthful idealism, they sought the meaning of life, they reject spirituality, they drank a lot, they rejected American materialism in search for a more “bohemian” lifestyle and they, mostly, lived in Paris. This sounds remarkably like our resident artist, James Joyce. The only difference is that Joyce, perhaps, inspired his contemporaries and he was Irish, not American.
It was these young Modernists that, through their work, brought the world kicking and screaming through the constraints of moralist values and the devastation and shock of WWI. They presented new ideas and values that appealed to younger generation that were questioning the traditions of their parents. The Lost Generation showed them that it was ok to question the norm. It reminds me a lot of social change that occurred during the 1960’s during and after the Vietnam Conflict when societal view, once again, changed course.
The War to End All Wars
In June of 1914 when an Austrian Archduke was assassinated, the world would change forever. It was called “The War to End All Wars” and “The Great War”. Never in history had there been such a mass of military movement that involved so many countries. By the time World War I ended in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more wounded.
However, with World War I raging, Ireland was fighting for its freedom as well. Three Irish divisions for a total of 210,000 men enlisted for the British army. They were the unionist 36th Ulster Division and two nationalists 10th Irish and 16th Irish Divisions. 35,000 Irishmen died in the conflict. I am curious as to why Joyce failed to mention such a significant world event within his novel or at least Stephen’s views on the subject.
After the Easter Rebellion of 1916 and 16 of the Nationalist leaders were executed, the attitudes of the Irish people seemed to change. In a more definitively nationalist Ireland, where many hearts had been thrilled by the valor of the men of 1916, there was no triumphant welcome home. It was as Tom Kettle, a former nationalist MP who was killed on the Somme serving with the 16th Division, had predicted. ‘These men’ (the 1916 leaders), he wrote, ‘will go down in history as heroes and martyrs; and I will go down – if I go down at all – as a bloody British officer.’ (bbc.co.uk)
Works cited:
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. eBook.
Dublin in the early 20th century was a city full of new ideas and major changes. Irish Nationalism and the Dublin Lockout helped transformed Dublin into the city it is today. The city of Dublin was divided into north side and south side by the bridge of the River Liffey. The north side of town was considered to be the working class, while the south side was considered to be the middle and upper class.The Dublin Lockout was viewed as the most significant industrial dispute in Irish history. Approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers went on strike for the right to unionise. Because of the lockout work was seen as valuable and hard to come by. Some children worked to help enhance the families’ income. We see a reflection of this in James Joyce’s novel Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Stephen Dedalus worked as a messenger boy (Joyce 53) and earned thirty and three pounds for an essay prizes which he gave to his mother to buy groceries for the family (Joyce 84-85).
Religion:
Changes in institutional religion had begun in the early twentieth century. Particularly the Roman Catholic Church was profoundly involved and influenced the views of people in social, cultural, and political fields. The clergy inclined the children through their schools. Priest played an important role in teaching Catholic social and moral values. The Church was united with the nationalist movement, helping to shape its religious and spiritual philosophy. This is relevant in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. Stephen witnesses the churches power at Christmas dinner and the argument between his father and Mr. Casey. Stephen also see it when he was wrongfully punished at school by Father Dolan. (Joyce, ch.1)
Inventions:
John Joly
There were a few inventions and discoveries in Ireland during this time. John Joly and Howard Grubb had a small impact on advancing technology. John Joly was an Irish geologist and physicist who studied and taught at Trinity College in Dublin. He estimated how old the earth actually was. In 1914, he developed a method for extracting radium and its use in cancer treatment. This method is still used today. Joly also invented the photmeter for measuring light intensity.
Howard Grubb
Howard Grubb also attended Trinity College where he trained to be a civil engineer. Grubb would soon drop out and join his father in producing an astronomical telescope. They also manufactured periscopes, range finders and gun sights. In 1900 Grubb invented the reflector or “reflex” sight; a non-magnifying optical sight. This type of sight has come to be used on all kinds of weapons from small firearms to fighter aircraft. During World War I Grubb was contracted in providing and perfecting a periscope design for Royal Navy submarines.
Sources:
Joyce, James. “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2007. Print.
“Poverty and Health.” Exhibition – The National Archives of Ireland, n.d. Web. 19 June 2013.
Music is something I feel connects us all in a way that even language cannot. I can recall at the beginning of Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man Stephen’s father was telling him a bed time story and he began to recite words that he had thrown together from the story to create his own song. Music in the 1900s became began to change drastically and new genres began such as The Jazz Age. It was believed that music according to some writers “provides a new dimension to Joyce’s works not immediately available to those readers who lack Joyce’s apparent knowledge of Irish folk music, music hall songs, nursery rhymes, sixteenth century madrigals, liturgical music, and opera. So careful an author as Joyce places little or no extraneous material in his text, and so the very volume of musical references dictates the significant contribution they make to his works. It is hoped that this book will delineate the method and meaning of that contribution.” (Bowen)
Many artists have drawn their own ideas of literary work from those of Joyce and feel that Music had a huge impact on his work. “His love of language was instrumental in his experimental writing that used mythology, literature, and history to create an innovative language using symbols and various narrative forms. Joyce’s creativity has been compared to that of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud.” (authenticireland)
War has also taken its toll on Joyce, causing him to relocate his family multiple. There is a moment in Portrait when Stephen goes home for Christmas and his father Mr. Dedalus talks with a mutual friend who confronts a priest directly, and in turn has criticized the involvement of the Catholic Church in Irish politics. Ultimately Dante disapproves, saying it isn’t right for anyone to criticize the Catholic Church.
“In 1915, because of uncertain conditions occasioned by the First World War, which he was resolute in his determination to ignore as much as he possibly could, Joyce moved his family to Zurich. The following year, 1916, brought the publication of the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” (WPS.Ablongman) War was not a very direct topic discussed in the Novel but there were intense moments explained when politics were discussed. Much has not changed from 1916 until now when it comes to heavy discussions of politics. In fact speaking of politics is something that is frowned upon when it comes to invoking conversations.
Education played an important part in Joyce’s life as well as Stephen. Stephen’s life at University was truly a life changing one. There were moments in Portrait when Stephen missed class and moments when he debated leaving the school. Joyce on the other hand had a great deal of success in education as a student and even became an educator. “The literary works of Irish writer James Joyce are perhaps the most studied, argued and admired of all modern classics. Educated by Jesuits at Clongowes Wood College, Belvedere College in Dublin, and University College, he majored in philosophy and literature. He exiled himself from Ireland in 1904 and moved to Trieste where he taught English at the Berlitz School from 1905 to 1915” (authenticireland).
It is known that Joyce grew up in a Catholic church and Stephen’s up bringing resembled some characteristics of that. In Portrait the Stephen has his own battle with religion and how it affects his relationships with the people around him. One passage that stood out to me was when Stephen was thinking about how in every language God’s name was still God. “But was there anything round the universe to show where it stopped before the nothing place began? It could not be a wall; but there could be a thin thin line there all round everything. It was very big to think about everything and everywhere. Only God could do that. He tried to think what a big thought that must be; but he could only think of God. It made him very tired to think that way. It made him feel his head very big.” (Joyce 15)
I can recall my own moments in early childhood having similar conversations with my friends about God. We were always attempting to interpret how God felt when we Sinned, or if since he in fact created the world there could be life outside of Earth or just as Stephen said the Universe. Towards the end of the book Stephen questions his beliefs, “I tried to love God, he said at length. It seems now I failed. It is very difficult. I tried to unite my will with the will of God instant by instant” (Joyce 301).
Modernism is a literary movement that shaped James Joyce’s writing extensively. In particular, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man reflects many of the ideals of modernist writing. The aspects of modernism within the novel influenced the development of the modernist movement and made Joyce a prominent modernist writer. In this semi-autobiographical novel, the modernist techniques connect the character of Stephen to Joyce; the artist himself. There are many examples of modernist techniques within Portrait of the Artist but the most prevalent are the “stream of consciousness” style, künstlerroman plot, individual v. universal themes, and unique language.
– Stream of Consciousness technique In Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce creates an uninhibited free-flowing style, reminiscent of Stephen’s unrestrained conscious thought. This technique is an essential aspect of modernism in the novel because it creates a psychic reality, not a true reality.
What did that mean, to kiss? You put your face up like that to say goodnight and then his mother put her face down. That was to kiss. His mother put her lips on his cheek; her lips were soft and they wetted his cheek; and they made a tiny little noise: kiss. Why did people do that with their two faces? (113)
In this passage, Stephen reflects on what a kiss is, freely expressing his own innocent curiosity. The style is similar to an interior monologue; mixing second and third person, questioning reality and creating a personal reality.
– Künstlerroman Autobiography Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is semi-autobiographical. Stephen Dedalus is Joyce’s mythical representation of himself. The story details the process of Stephen maturing and cultivating an artistic aesthetic.
I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use, silence, exile, and cunning. (3308)
The use of first person in the fifth chapter cements the connection between the writer Joyce and the narrator Stephen. Once Stephen becomes aware enough to adopt his artistic identity, he becomes united with the artist of the work, Joyce.
– Focus on the Individual Joyce’s use of modernist techniques extends to the themes he includes in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He focuses on universal themes like freedom, humanity, individualism and exile from society. These themes reflect the modern focus on the development of the individual apart from the general problems of society.
I do not fear to be alone or to be spurned for another or to leave whatever I have to leave. And I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too. (3315)
In this section, Stephen declares himself as an individual separate from everything, an artist who requires exile to create. As Stephen becomes an artist he sheds his connections to the reality of his youthful past.
– Modern Language Technique Joyce integrated his intellectualism to form a combination of mythology, history and literature to create innovative symbols and narrative techniques. Joyce uses symbols to reflect his themes. For example, Stephen is represented by a rose; the color reflects his conscious awareness.
White roses and red roses: those were beautiful colours to think of. And the cards for the first and second place and third place were beautiful colours too: pink and cream and lavender. Lavender and cream and pink roses were beautiful to think of. Perhaps a wild rose might be like those colours and he remembered the song about the wild rose blossoms on the little green place. But you could not have a green rose. But perhaps somewhere in the world you could. (80)
Joyce chooses the rose the symbolize Stephen on different levels, Stephen blooms into an artist, referencing his growth and maturity throughout the novel. Stephen discusses white and red roses, indicating the desire for a green rose. These colors seem to indicate purity, passion, and his love of Ireland.
Another symbol in the novel is flight and birds. This symbol reflects the theme of freedom, and the myth of Daedalus. For example, “His heart trembled in ecstasy of fear and his soul was in flight. His soul was soaring in an air beyond the world and the body he knew” (2247). Joyce uses flight to represent the freedom of his soul representing himself as a bird. In addition to flight, water is another symbol replete in the novel. For example, “Now at the name of the fabulous artificer, he seemed to hear the noise of dim waves and to see a winged form flying above the waves and slowly climbing the air. What did it mean” (2242)? Here Joyce combines the water symbol and flight to allude to the Daedalus myth.
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English 3353: Group Five 
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