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Weve been given a handout on Jane Austen a list of study questions to tackle.

. Dedalus: he constructed wings, but he also constructed a labyrinth Epiphany art as a means of escape He sees art as a means of escaping? But, the reference to the birds undermines the point it is trying to make. Why so many references to the birds? Stage four, why the girl is so birdy?

The chief characteristic of this stage is that Steven is a focalizer. What do we see here?

Steven sees art as a means of escape then. The book is not a manifesto write and escape Ireland Steven sees the girl so birdlike. It is not that Ireland has that many birds it is important not as a general metaphor of Ireland, but a characteristics of Stephens mind. He sees her as his epiphany he looks at her as a muse. This epiphany is also very erotic: and the question: is Stephen really epiphanic, or is this an erotic disturbance? This would be also a comic scene a teenager aroused by a girl, affected erotically, and reads this as being an artist; seeing it all wrong. Stephen is also very spiritual, and very erotic. A day of dappled seaborne clouds - he says this phrase to himself, fascinated with the sound and rhythm. The meaning is not as important. This is his artistic sensibility language in its own right. The clouds are westward bound, escaping,

disheartened, he raised his eyes towards the slowdrifting clouds, dappled and seaborne. so, the words become reality, reality becomes words. How are we supposed then to escape Ireland? - The art should be about anything but Ireland. The mentioned clouds are not connected with Ireland, - an art not connected with the reality, only then is this an art of escape. He has to create such disconnected art, then. A voice from beyond the world was calling He compares himself in (c) stage four To the wind, inspiration will let him leave Ireland. He discovered his true

call. The rose has no colour it is grey, unpolitical. Hes entering this power by being free and flying. But yet it is echo of Shelley and he is bound to fall ,because he does not have his own wings. He will burn, because he cannot construct his own wings. - Moreover: Shelley was political, he was not pure art. So, when on Shelleys wings, you are political as well. So it is escaping the history of Ireland into the history of England, and France. Joyces understanding of poetry: a poet is a craftsman, his trade is a craft. It is not about genius and talent, and inspiration, but hard work. To be a good poet, you have to be technically equipped.

Stephen is an artist because he feels so, he is inspired, but he lacks technique. Icarus represents inspiration, Dedalus: craftsmanship. Stephen, then, is not equipped to be a poet.

Borrowed things from other poets/writers stage two If we look at the stages of constructing wings, these are also the stages of individualization he draws himself away from the society. self exile, solitude this also belongs to the romantic poets. (d) stage five. fatherland I will not serve Milton, Satan. And Faustus... his sins too great to be forgiven by God pride So, Irish art and culture cannot be free from English influences. Joyce is writing the text, but it is so difficult for him to write without allusion to Ireland.

A matter of originality as well : intertextuality undermines this. Can we create a text that does not borrow? modernists were for tradition. Hither and thither - that is repeated first, in the description of Hell, then, birdlike girl that represents art. And Dublin: hither and thither, in description. And in many other parts, also when Stephen imagines a version of hell for himself. When a single phrase appears in three contexts, what conclusion can be drawn: art, and Dublin are hell. Art in Ireland is hell, and however hard he tries, he cannot separate the two: difficult to separate Art from Ireland, because the decision on the language, has historical and political meaning. Repetition connecting various themes together.

Negative capability zgoda na niejasnoci. = and it pairs up well with the question of impersonality of art. impersonality of the artist (Keats) , and depersonalization of Eliot. DEFINITIONS OF ART Stephen is short sighted which is a parody of Miltons blindness. Stephen creates himself, constructs his identity as priest of the eternal imagination Home Rule autonomy, self-government. Their own parliament, but shared international policy with GB. Joyce does not want the independence for Irish literature, but within an English tradition, an autonomous, yet integral, national literature. Not because he wants so little, but he recognises the degree of interdependence. You would lose more with independence than you would gain

Irish literature is important in relation to British, not in itself, postcolonially

IRISH WOMAN AND ART Mother and prostitute: The mother embraces, and kisses. The prostitute: through the motif of kissing, becomes interchangeable. soft lips Virgin Mary - saint mother. Here you have the mother and the prostitute combined in one.

Emma and the peasant woman (she offers sex to Davin, she is a whore) : interchangeable as well, Two images of Irish woman: either a saint, or a whore. Eileen and the birdlike girl: - Two images: either Ivory tower, inaccessible, cold. Or accessible, physical. But it is Stephens vision the birdlike girl is perceived in physical terms, while protestant Eileen out of reach. Stephen goes through extremes: after hearing the sermon, he becomes totally saint-spiritual. Before, he would have sex with prostitutes. In the end, he is thoroughly intellectual. All stages end with major changes: 1. St stage he wins, flies upward after winning the case of broken

glasses School is labyrinth, hell, his physical torment 2. Dublin: hell, labyrinth and he falls, to escape: having some time with a whore. 3. He wants to change his life, after doing every bad thing he can, he changes after hearing the description of everlasting torment of hell. Such sermon is immature, not directed to adults. The hell is also spiritual torment, though. Roman Catholic church it is actually more oppressive than England. Stephen, terrified after the sermon, goes to confess and changes into a saint. But he mortifies all his senses, so he suffers physically; and spiritually: he does not feel any joy. He does not achieve the level of perfectness that he wanted. A paradox: frightened by hell, he created a hell for himself. A sense of stasis, he got stuck. As he wants to escape his evil life (hell of his life), he creates hell for himself. 4. Ends with art 5. Ends with flying from Ireland. The repetition of the torment in every part you have spiritual and physical pain mentioned, which creates a pattern in Stephen. Stephen loses a bit of his individuality, becoming a text to become something. Prophesy, premonitions that he has. .. Clairvoyance - is it not written into the history of such countries as

Ireland/Poland? He sees Dante in a funeral, as a child. But Irish culture is based on superstition and supernatural. It carries a promise for the future. And it also connects with the idea of romantic poets, unique and

individual, as prophets. The fact that Stephen is prone to premonitions... he hears voices, a voice calling, Voices of his friends Church Country

He hears voices in the wind. he is constructed (or makes himself into) as poet in the fashion of English romantics. But when he hears these voices, he is erotically aroused! But no modernist believed you need to hear voices to write. Count of Monte Christo Mercedes she was his fiance, and married another man. representing dishonesty. Stephens muse: Emma, but he does not create a great poem. Why cant Ireland be a muse: she is a woman, a mother etc., and therefore she can betray you: a sow that eats her own farrow.

How can Ireland betray one: demanding fidelity from her artist, she betrays him. The prophesy he has is connected to the funeral. In a sense, Stephen cannot escape the politics or history; this is how he perceives it. But these nets and voices he hears are demands of Ireland, that he be faithful. because demanding fidelity, the poet loses freedom. The poet has to be free, and Ireland is labyrinth and hell, because she, for Stephen, binds him and entraps. Stephens focalization Stephen creates an image of Ireland which entraps and binds to the earth. The paradox of being an artist in Ireland (by Joyce) the fault is not in Ireland, but in the artist, who thinks that Ireland demands sth. so you do not have to be political.

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