A Painful Case

James Joyce
Marija Lili

Biography
James Joyce (1882- 1941) was an Irish

novelist and a poet.

Influential writer in the modernist
avant-garde of the early 20th century.
a Dubliner, brilliant student at the
Jesuit schools Clongowes and
Belvedere, later studied English,
French and Italian at the University
College Dublin

In 1904, he emigrated to continental

Europe with his wife Nora Barnacle.

They lived in Paris, Trieste ( Berlitz
Language School), Zurich.
Joyces fictional universe centres on
Dublin.
"For myself, I always write about Dublin,
because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I
can get to the heart of all the cities of the
world. In the particular is contained the
universal."

Major works
Dubliners (1914) : a collection of 15

short stories (childhood, adolescence,

maturit), a naturalistic description of
Irish middle class life, analysis of
stagnation and paralysis of Dublin
society in early 20th c.
The idea of epiphany, a moment
when a character experiences selfunderstanding or illumination.
Submitted 18 times to 15 publishers

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

the intellectual, religious and

philosophical awakening of young

Stephen Dedalus, a fictional alter ego
of Joyce.
Stephen questions and rebels against
the Catholic and Irish conventions and
leaves Ireland to go to Europe

Ulysses (1922) one of the most important

works of modernist literature.

"a demonstration and summation of the
entire movement
chronicles the peripatetic appointments
and encounters ofLeopold Bloom inDublin
in the course of an ordinary day, 16 June
1904.
The stream-of-conscience technique,
careful structuring, experimental prose.

A Painful Case
a short story from the collection Dubliners.
deals with isolation, loneliness, inner conflict.
the main character whose name is Mr. Duffy
is the outcast from lifes feast and isolates
himself from society and even from true love.
Dublin : the center of paralysis reflects Mr.
Duffys mental paralysis and inability to take
a decisive action.

Analysis
The title suggests an unfulfilled love

story
Similar to the Celtic legend of Tristan
and Iseult a tale of chivalry,
doomed love.

Chapelizod: Chapel dIsolde

Mr. Duffy: dark
Mrs. Sinico: sin

The living room reflects Mr. Duffys

character
- no pictures, decorations: he lives a
monotonous, dull, empty life
- enumeration of possessions: a lonely,
individualistic person
Mrs. Sinico: described from his point of
view, he values inner beauty more.

Their relationship gradually becomes

more serious (until the tension

reaches its maximum - physical
touch) and it parallels Mr. Duffys
inner conflict.
A clash of 2 strong impulses within
him:
- wish to be with his love
- inability to take action

her death : his epiphany ( his life

would be lonely, too, until he, too,
died, ceased to exist, became a
memory, if anyone remembered
him.)
Cyclic story: there is no way out of
this paralysis

Joyce and Naturalism

Naturalism a literary movement that

used detailed realism to suggest that

social conditions, heredity and
environment shaped human character.
to depict believable everyday reality as
opposed to Romanticism or Surrealism.
Influenced by Darwins theory of
evolution
focused on human vice and misery

Simplicity
Details to create a realistic setting

( geographic details, room, possessions,

articles...)
Readers are to come to conclusions on
their own
Free Indirect Style: 3rd person narrative
Stream-of-consciousness (Ulysses)

Thank you for your

attention!