Aeolus episode of Ulysses question

amb · 02-17-2009, 07:07 AM

I read Ulysses a few months ago (before joining the forum, for certain) and had several questions, one of which concerns this paragraph (which falls beneath the "ITALIA, MAGISTRA ARTIUM" headline in the seventh episode, Aeolus):

"I have often thought since on looking back over that strange time that it was that small act, trivial in itself, that striking of the match, that determined the whole aftercourse of both our lives."

I don't understand this. it doesn't seem like a piece of anyone's consciousness; it is in the past tense; how could it be? But the novel is narrated in third person, so if it's not S.O.C., where did this first person narrator appear from? What it seems [most] like to me is Joyce mocking a popular contemporary novel or play or something; it's very dramatic, and it's not realistic at all to think that one act could determine the course of a life (unlike the novel itself: complete realism).

What does anyone think?

murdock · 06-05-2009, 01:24 PM

You're right in thinking that the style is dramatic albeit in a very artificial way. Consider where this chapter takes place and then you'll realise why the style is as such.

Remember the shared aims of both Joyce's writing and the genre he parodies. He's making a point about the shortcoming and pretensions of the latter whilst, the former, his style is something that strives to recreate the real and not force upon it things like the embellishment of dramatic style or force it into a conventional plot trajectory.

For in many ways Ulysses has no beginning or end, its a snapshot that acknowledges the existence of that which happened before and that which will happen after the events of 16 June 1904. Remember it borrows heavily from Homer's Odyssey, the epic form which always begins in medias res; in the middle of things.

IvanBlake · 07-27-2009, 08:43 PM

I think that it IS a piece of someone´s consciousness, namely Stephen´s.

And I´ve looked it up in my annotated student edition (Penguin) and found this (credit it to Declan Kiberd, who wrote introduction and notes

"I have often thought ... our lives": A mockery of portentous narrative and (perhaps) a parody of Henry James´s periods. Stephen´s mind appears to be mocking the speaker as he seeks for an 'effect', but, more literally, this may be the precise moment when Stephen chooses the artistic vocation.

02-17-2009, 07:07 AM	#1
amb Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 13	Aeolus episode of Ulysses question I read Ulysses a few months ago (before joining the forum, for certain) and had several questions, one of which concerns this paragraph (which falls beneath the "ITALIA, MAGISTRA ARTIUM" headline in the seventh episode, Aeolus): "I have often thought since on looking back over that strange time that it was that small act, trivial in itself, that striking of the match, that determined the whole aftercourse of both our lives." I don't understand this. it doesn't seem like a piece of anyone's consciousness; it is in the past tense; how could it be? But the novel is narrated in third person, so if it's not S.O.C., where did this first person narrator appear from? What it seems [most] like to me is Joyce mocking a popular contemporary novel or play or something; it's very dramatic, and it's not realistic at all to think that one act could determine the course of a life (unlike the novel itself: complete realism). What does anyone think?

06-05-2009, 01:24 PM	#2
murdock Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1	Aeolus You're right in thinking that the style is dramatic albeit in a very artificial way. Consider where this chapter takes place and then you'll realise why the style is as such. Remember the shared aims of both Joyce's writing and the genre he parodies. He's making a point about the shortcoming and pretensions of the latter whilst, the former, his style is something that strives to recreate the real and not force upon it things like the embellishment of dramatic style or force it into a conventional plot trajectory. For in many ways Ulysses has no beginning or end, its a snapshot that acknowledges the existence of that which happened before and that which will happen after the events of 16 June 1904. Remember it borrows heavily from Homer's Odyssey, the epic form which always begins in medias res; in the middle of things.

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07-27-2009, 08:43 PM	#3
IvanBlake Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2	I think that it IS a piece of someone´s consciousness, namely Stephen´s. And I´ve looked it up in my annotated student edition (Penguin) and found this (credit it to Declan Kiberd, who wrote introduction and notes "I have often thought ... our lives": A mockery of portentous narrative and (perhaps) a parody of Henry James´s periods. Stephen´s mind appears to be mocking the speaker as he seeks for an 'effect', but, more literally, this may be the precise moment when Stephen chooses the artistic vocation.