“Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead

ABSTRACT: James Joyce’s The Dead is recognized as a stepping stone towards the author’s more experimental fiction, as the end of the story foregrounds its own linguistic construction. In this paper I argue that Joyce also manages to subvert the power relations associated with language by his use of...

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Autor principal: Fletcher, Martin John
Formato: Artigo
Idioma: Inglês
Publicado em: Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR) 2017
Acesso em linha: http://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rl/article/view/3056
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spelling peri-article-30562020-10-22T14:34:22Z “Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead Fletcher, Martin John ABSTRACT: James Joyce’s The Dead is recognized as a stepping stone towards the author’s more experimental fiction, as the end of the story foregrounds its own linguistic construction. In this paper I argue that Joyce also manages to subvert the power relations associated with language by his use of two particular leitmotifs: snow and music, which serve “oppositional” functions against the subjugating ideologies of everyday language and convention. Snow and music represent negations of or “flights” from language and its essentially controlling nature, its ability to shape and subjugate consciousness and identity. I argue that The Dead resists easy consumption and, as the story unravels and finally deconstructs itself – leaving the snow “falling faintly through the universe” – we, as readers, are left to contemplate the mysteries of identity, memory, romantic love and the seductive power of poetic language. Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR) 2017-07-11 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf http://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rl/article/view/3056 10.3895/rl.v19n27.3056 Revista de Letras; v. 19, n. 27 (2017) 2179-5282 0104-9992 10.3895/rl.v19n27 eng http://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rl/article/view/3056/5343 Direitos autorais 2018 CC Atribuição 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
institution Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná
collection PERI
language Inglês
format Artigo
author Fletcher, Martin John
spellingShingle Fletcher, Martin John
“Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead
author_sort Fletcher, Martin John
title “Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead
title_short “Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead
title_full “Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead
title_fullStr “Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead
title_full_unstemmed “Falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in James Joyce's the dead
title_sort “falling through the universe”: the transformative power of language in james joyce's the dead
description ABSTRACT: James Joyce’s The Dead is recognized as a stepping stone towards the author’s more experimental fiction, as the end of the story foregrounds its own linguistic construction. In this paper I argue that Joyce also manages to subvert the power relations associated with language by his use of two particular leitmotifs: snow and music, which serve “oppositional” functions against the subjugating ideologies of everyday language and convention. Snow and music represent negations of or “flights” from language and its essentially controlling nature, its ability to shape and subjugate consciousness and identity. I argue that The Dead resists easy consumption and, as the story unravels and finally deconstructs itself – leaving the snow “falling faintly through the universe” – we, as readers, are left to contemplate the mysteries of identity, memory, romantic love and the seductive power of poetic language.
publisher Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR)
publishDate 2017
url http://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rl/article/view/3056
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score 10,814766