Wednesday 21 October 2009

James Joyce's ulysses

Upon reading this text I wondered how it would be linked to a certain theme on our course, but the concept of putting a Ulysses and modernism together is a perfect combination as they complement each other so well. This text's content also displays some of the many modernist themes discussed in the lecture such as physcology.

The style of writing is a perfect example of modernism because at the time it broke the old conventions and transversed into a new style, as it was a new form of writing it didn't conform to usual textual formats such as chapters, and didn't necessarily have a fast pace plot. The content itself can also be considered very modernist as its concern was reflecting everyday life rather than concocting a grand series of events, and some of these events that are described would be considered highly inappropriate to be placed in a work of fiction, therefore its content is modern because it fearlessly and openly discusses taboo issues and breaks the boundaries whilst creating something new at the same time.
Furthermore the lewd references also connect perfectly to Freud, who was mentioned in the lecture as a modernist pioneer, as a lot of his theories connect to sex e.g. the Oedipus complex, penis envy and would have been seen as taboo, it can be inferred that this book connects so well because its lewd content is a perfect example of what Freud was preaching for instance I agree with the point made by Jean Kimball in the article 'James Joyce and the Otto Rank: The Incest Motif in Ulysses' which states that there are incest motifs throughout the book, this clearly connects to the Oedipus complex.

If you would like to read other Ulysses's to compare with James Joyce's Ulysses I recommend reading Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway'.

1 comment:

Chris Horrie said...

very good perceptive notes