Style and Themes of James Joyce
Besmer 1
Brian Besmer
Mr. Anselmo
English IV
11/13/00
Styles of James Joyce
I will be discussing the styles of James Joyce and how his life
experiences, his surroundings, and himself affected his writings this area.
James Joyce is an extremely versatile author. He has written books
that were entire collections of short stories such as Dubliners and long novels
such as Ulysses. Much of Joyce's life contributed to his writings and he has
been influence by many people and events. Joyce grew up in Ireland and
then moved to England where he began his writing. He wrote for England but
was Irish at heart and this will be shown in his writings. Many things influenced Joyce's writings, from other authors, to his life
experiences. Joyce used other books as a platform for his own books. A
major example of this is Joyce's book Ulysses, which he based almost
entirely off of Homer's Odyssey (Garvin 15). Joyce was fascinated with
Homer's Odyssey and based several of his books on it other then Ulysses.
Not even so much basing his books off of the Odyssey but also restating
many of the events shown and ideas expressed in his books. Joyce
researched the Odyssey thoroughly and analyzing everything done by Homer,
and used it to build Ulysses. Joyce saw the Odyssey as the solution to many
Besmer 2
of his problems in his life. The Odyssey was the foundation of Ulysses and a
lot of the views that were expressed in the Odyssey were expressed again in
Ulysses. Joyce wanted to show people of his time what was going on and
what should be done and he felt this was shown well in the Odyssey. The two
books were so alike that even most of the chapters in the Odyssey
correspond with the episodes in Ulysses in almost exact chronological order
(Ellmann 115). The only difference is that the Odyssey has twenty-four
chapters while Ulysses has eighteen episodes. Joyce makes up for the lack of
episodes by combining
Brian Besmer
Mr. Anselmo
English IV
11/13/00
Styles of James Joyce
I will be discussing the styles of James Joyce and how his life
experiences, his surroundings, and himself affected his writings this area.
James Joyce is an extremely versatile author. He has written books
that were entire collections of short stories such as Dubliners and long novels
such as Ulysses. Much of Joyce's life contributed to his writings and he has
been influence by many people and events. Joyce grew up in Ireland and
then moved to England where he began his writing. He wrote for England but
was Irish at heart and this will be shown in his writings. Many things influenced Joyce's writings, from other authors, to his life
experiences. Joyce used other books as a platform for his own books. A
major example of this is Joyce's book Ulysses, which he based almost
entirely off of Homer's Odyssey (Garvin 15). Joyce was fascinated with
Homer's Odyssey and based several of his books on it other then Ulysses.
Not even so much basing his books off of the Odyssey but also restating
many of the events shown and ideas expressed in his books. Joyce
researched the Odyssey thoroughly and analyzing everything done by Homer,
and used it to build Ulysses. Joyce saw the Odyssey as the solution to many
Besmer 2
of his problems in his life. The Odyssey was the foundation of Ulysses and a
lot of the views that were expressed in the Odyssey were expressed again in
Ulysses. Joyce wanted to show people of his time what was going on and
what should be done and he felt this was shown well in the Odyssey. The two
books were so alike that even most of the chapters in the Odyssey
correspond with the episodes in Ulysses in almost exact chronological order
(Ellmann 115). The only difference is that the Odyssey has twenty-four
chapters while Ulysses has eighteen episodes. Joyce makes up for the lack of
episodes by combining
Bibliography: Levin, Harry. James Joyce, Norfolk, Connecticut: New Direction Publishing Company, 1960. Press, 1978. Brunsdale, Mtiz. James Joyce A study of the Short Fiction, New York: Twayne Publishing, Macmilla Publishing Company, 1982. Benitudh, Berrard. James Joyce, New York, Fredrick Unger Publishing Company, 1985. Anderson, Chester. James Joyce and His World, New York: Viking Press, 1968. Rice, Jackson. James Joyce a Guide to Research, New York: Garland Publishing, 1982. Halper, Nathan. The Early James Joyce, New York: Columbia University Press, 1973. Kiely, Robert. Beyond Egotism: James Joyce, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1980