Before Daybreak: "after The Race" And The Origins Of Joyce's Art (florida James Joyce)
by Cóilín Owens /
2013 / English / PDF
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Joyce’s “After the Race” is a seemingly simple tale,
historically unloved by critics. Yet when magnified and
dismantled, the story yields astounding political, philosophic,
and moral intricacy.
Joyce’s “After the Race” is a seemingly simple tale,
historically unloved by critics. Yet when magnified and
dismantled, the story yields astounding political, philosophic,
and moral intricacy.
In
InBefore Daybreak
Before Daybreak, Cóilín Owens shows that “After the
Race” is much more than a story about Dublin at the time of the
1903 Gordon Bennett Cup Race: in reality, it is a microcosm of
some of the issues most central to Joycean scholarship.
, Cóilín Owens shows that “After the
Race” is much more than a story about Dublin at the time of the
1903 Gordon Bennett Cup Race: in reality, it is a microcosm of
some of the issues most central to Joycean scholarship.
These issues include large-scale historical concerns—in this
case, radical nationalism and the centennial of Robert Emmet’s
rebellion. Owens also explains the temporary and local issues
reflected in Joyce’s language, organization, and silences. He
traces Joyce’s narrative technique to classical, French, and
Irish traditions. Additionally, “After the Race” reflects
Joyce’s internal conflict between emotional allegiance to
Christian orthodoxy and contemporary intellectual skepticism.
These issues include large-scale historical concerns—in this
case, radical nationalism and the centennial of Robert Emmet’s
rebellion. Owens also explains the temporary and local issues
reflected in Joyce’s language, organization, and silences. He
traces Joyce’s narrative technique to classical, French, and
Irish traditions. Additionally, “After the Race” reflects
Joyce’s internal conflict between emotional allegiance to
Christian orthodoxy and contemporary intellectual skepticism.
If the dawning of Joyce’s singular power, range, subtlety, and
learning can be identified in a seemingly elementary text like
“After the Race,” this study implicitly contends that any
Dubliners story can be mined to reveal the intertextual
richness, linguistic subtlety, parodic brilliance, and cultural
poignancy of Joyce’s art. Owens’s meticulous work will
stimulate readers to explore Joyce’s stories with the same
scrutiny in order to comprehend and relish how Joyce writes.
If the dawning of Joyce’s singular power, range, subtlety, and
learning can be identified in a seemingly elementary text like
“After the Race,” this study implicitly contends that any
Dubliners story can be mined to reveal the intertextual
richness, linguistic subtlety, parodic brilliance, and cultural
poignancy of Joyce’s art. Owens’s meticulous work will
stimulate readers to explore Joyce’s stories with the same
scrutiny in order to comprehend and relish how Joyce writes.