James Joyce Group

Prompts: The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
pagination from 1968 Viking Critical Library edition
edited by Chester G. Anderson

"[H]e was different from others. He did not want to play. He wanted to meet in the real world
the unsubstantial image which his soul so constantly beheld. He did not know
where to seek it or how: but a premonition which led him on
told him that this image would, without any
overt act of his, encounter him" (65).

Guidelines

Responses to Path 2 prompts should deliver a structured, narrow argument in only 400-500 words, one you publish on Blackboard by 11:59 p.m. on Friday. Arguments should evince creativity and organization, support their claims with detailed evidence ( incl. page citations), and show signs of careful revision. Remember too that whether I happen to agree or not with your thesis matters little, as long as it is sufficiently supported and logically, persuasively rendered.

Some of the strongest essays will incorporate ideas from path 2 essays written by your peers and/or pertinent path 1 discussions and topics, though neither is required.

Week Five: chps 1-2

• option one: for Stephen Dedalus, childhood is a time of questioning the basics (rules of behavior, political allegiances, religion, etc.). Consider the verities of Catholic faith and tradition, as perceived by Stephen. What circumstances lead him to question some of the fundamentals of the religion he has been taught, and how profound is his questioning? Does he significantly change his perspective by the end of chapter one, or does he come full circle back to where he began?
• option two: Stephen's journey forward as a kind of apprentice wordsmith accelerates throughout this week's readings. Form an arguable claim about the direction or value of some of his most salient experiences with language.
• option three: Stephen's mind often moves in a seemingly haphazard way that makes it difficult to follow his thoughts. Flashbacks occur without warning, we often don't know of whom he is thinking till the end of a given reflection, etc. Does this narratological strategy of Joyce's enrich or confuse the story? Explain.
• option four: does Stephen's developing perspective on life and art draw him closer to other people, or push him away from them?

Week Six: chps 3-4

• option one: in the midst of his obvious moral and behavioral struggles, Stephen's thoughts betray a decidedly delimiting, polarizing view of women as either virtuous or unvirtuous. Does his religious faith counter or support such a dichotomy?
• option two: commit the intentional fallacy for a moment, and reflect on Joyce's possible purpose in detailing so exhaustively the theological messages Stephen hears at the retreat.
• option three: does the artistic epiphany Stephen experiences in this week's reading echo in any substantial ways the religious epiphany related in the previous chapter, or is this new transformation fundamentally different?
• option four: many readers take Joyce's wonderfully melodramatic description of Stephen's new vision of himself as earnest and unequivocally serious. Does Joyce provide any subtle signs in chapter four that Stephen's experience is less than ideal?
• option five: does the moment of ecstasy on the beach at the end of chapter four suggest a significant shift in the way Stephen looks at and processes the opposite sex?
  

Week Seven: chp 5

• option one: does James Joyce's text hold up Stephen as an ideal, does it deconstruct him and suggest he is a proud fool, or does it provide a more mixed or nuanced portrayal of this young artist? Look closely for evidence on either side of this issue as you read the final chapter.
• option two: look for moments where Joyce uses free indirect discourse--moments where the narrator seems to get inside Stephen's head and describe things from Stephen's own perspective--and discuss to what end Joyce uses this narrative strategy.
• option three: does the Stephen of chapter five demonstrate an expert writer's facility with language, or does he struggle to put his thoughts into words?
• option four: what is Stephen's attitude towards Irishness in this chapter--towards the inhabitants, culture, politics, and/or religion of his nation?
• option five: the critic Weldon Thornton has argued that Stephen evinces a modernist, Cartesian split between mind and body--between the world of thoughts and that perceived by his senses. Does the evidence provided by chapter five support this claim?
• option six: which dominates Stephen's psyche, self-confidence or anxiety?
• option seven: describe Stephen's attitude towards either Christianity or women, in so far as it resolves itself into a coherent position in this final chapter.
• option eight: do you find Stephen's ideas about aesthetics/"esthetics," art, and or beauty convincing (205-15)? Respond to one particular aspect of his long, opinionated discussion of these topics--do not try to deal with the entire thing (doing so will drive you crazy)--and argue for or against that theory's validity. Support your claims by referencing some artistic medium with which you are personally familiar (music, film, literature, etc.). Be very specific.

"St. Patrick's Close" (1887)
Walter Osborne

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu