Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

1977

Keywords

Joyce, James, Criticism and interpretation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

English, General Literature, and Rhetoric

First Advisor

Zack R. Bowen

Second Advisor

Robert Kroetsch

Third Advisor

John E. Vernon

Abstract

To remark that images of Dublin are ubiquitous throughout the works of James Joyce is, of course, to state the obvious. In Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses, the location of the action is carefully described, and the reader is presented with various views of Dublin that are remarkable in their detail and vividness. Each of Joyce's characters is carefully situated in his ambience. We know where he is walking and what he is seeing and hearing. Rarely does the action ever move beyond the boundaries of the Irish capital. It is an ineluctable presence that impinges upon the internal, mental world of the protagonists. Even the isolated, rarified sphere of Stephen's mind reacts to the din of the Dublin streets. Clearly, these three works are about Dublin and city life as well as studies of individuals and they offer a complex analysis of man's experience in the modern city. Thus, the works provide an opportunity to study the nature of urban existence and to examine Joyce's singular attitude about what is unique to life in the city.

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