A little Help With Joyce Please [Archive] - Literature Network Forums

PGraz20

03-25-2009, 09:36 PM

Hey everyone,
I was just wondering if anyone could help me a little bit with Joyce's work in dubliners, especially in Araby Eveline and the dead. It would be great if anyone could help me with illusions Joyce creates, Or literary/biblical references he makes. This would be a great help, i just started getting into his works through my English class and it is like nothing Ive ever read before i find it fascinating.

Thanks, P.J Graz

David R

07-08-2009, 04:41 PM

forget the allusions if you are just getting started, far too vast. just bathe in joyce's language.

Hi Guys,

I agree with Leo. Forget the allusions and references. Enjoy the sheer beauty of the language, the sophistication of the style. You are reading one of the greatest masters of the English language. These short stories are unparralled in their brilliance, they are a paragon of the form. What is so special about them? Well, in my opinion, it is that they are so realistic and instantly recognisable, and yet the language is so musical, so poetical. Also Joyce makes much use of symbolism, which is contrary to realism, and yet it works astonishingly well. This is all my opinion, of course, and completely biased. But if you read this book and "get" it you'll probably be reading it for the rest of your life and it will get better each time. The same is true of The Portrait and Ulysses but maybe not of Finnegans Wake, but you never know, you might become a devotee of that work aswell.

If you are still intent on finding out the allusions and references there is a penguin "Modern Classics" edition which is annotated by Terence Brown. You should be able to find it at Amazon.

Hope this was helpful, PJ. Enjoy!