James Joyce's 'Finnegans Wake' and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British
Cover of the book James Joyce's 'Finnegans Wake' and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque by Eva Forster, GRIN Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Eva Forster ISBN: 9783640532902
Publisher: GRIN Publishing Publication: February 10, 2010
Imprint: GRIN Publishing Language: English
Author: Eva Forster
ISBN: 9783640532902
Publisher: GRIN Publishing
Publication: February 10, 2010
Imprint: GRIN Publishing
Language: English

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Stuttgart (Literaturwissenschaft), course: Hauptseminar: Modernism, language: English, abstract: James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is one of the notoriously most difficult literary works of modernism, 'supplying scholars, critics and theorists simultaneously with what is both a Pandora's box and a cornucopia of stimulants'. Lacking any kind of traditional concepts of structure, it has an inconsistency and a vagueness that make it hard to pin down a coherent plot or get a definite notion about the characters, who undergo frequent transformations. Of course this 'jungle of woods' (112.4), or 'jumble of words' puts a great strain on the reader who is generally used to a consecutive kind of reading process. Therefore it is not amazing that the early reception of the 'Wake' has been rather hostile, rejecting it at worst as an 'artistic failure'. Derek Attridge sees the major reason for this negative attitude towards the 'Wake' in 'the work's intensive use of the portmanteau word', which destroys the notion of a trustworthy language system, and that of a reliable authorial intention. Yet, the 'carnival of linguistic vivisection' and the numerous transformations are precisely the features of the 'Wake' which grant it its 'humor of the incongruous and the grotesque'. Apparently, Finnegans Wake is not only highly indebted to a sixteenth-century metaphysician and an eighteenth-century philosopher (Giordano Bruno's notion of coinciding opposites and transformation as well as Giambattista Vico's cyclical concept of history are important aspects of Finnegans Wake), but also to a mode of writing which has a centuries-old tradition - the grotesque. A grotesque style of writing was taken up by many modernist authors, such as Franz Kafka, Elias Canetti, or Djuna Barnes, to name only a few. Joyce had already used grotesque features in Ulysses, in which, next to the continuous depiction of the gross physicality of the human body, especially the Circe chapter contains a wide range of grotesques. The aim of this paper is to track down elements of the grotesque in Finnegans Wake. In doing so, the question of grotesque language and the literary representation of the body in the 'Wake' will be of particular interest.Since the term 'grotesque' forms the basis of the paper, the following chapter will give a short overview of this aesthetic mode, focusing on aspects which are important with regard to Finnegans Wake.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Stuttgart (Literaturwissenschaft), course: Hauptseminar: Modernism, language: English, abstract: James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is one of the notoriously most difficult literary works of modernism, 'supplying scholars, critics and theorists simultaneously with what is both a Pandora's box and a cornucopia of stimulants'. Lacking any kind of traditional concepts of structure, it has an inconsistency and a vagueness that make it hard to pin down a coherent plot or get a definite notion about the characters, who undergo frequent transformations. Of course this 'jungle of woods' (112.4), or 'jumble of words' puts a great strain on the reader who is generally used to a consecutive kind of reading process. Therefore it is not amazing that the early reception of the 'Wake' has been rather hostile, rejecting it at worst as an 'artistic failure'. Derek Attridge sees the major reason for this negative attitude towards the 'Wake' in 'the work's intensive use of the portmanteau word', which destroys the notion of a trustworthy language system, and that of a reliable authorial intention. Yet, the 'carnival of linguistic vivisection' and the numerous transformations are precisely the features of the 'Wake' which grant it its 'humor of the incongruous and the grotesque'. Apparently, Finnegans Wake is not only highly indebted to a sixteenth-century metaphysician and an eighteenth-century philosopher (Giordano Bruno's notion of coinciding opposites and transformation as well as Giambattista Vico's cyclical concept of history are important aspects of Finnegans Wake), but also to a mode of writing which has a centuries-old tradition - the grotesque. A grotesque style of writing was taken up by many modernist authors, such as Franz Kafka, Elias Canetti, or Djuna Barnes, to name only a few. Joyce had already used grotesque features in Ulysses, in which, next to the continuous depiction of the gross physicality of the human body, especially the Circe chapter contains a wide range of grotesques. The aim of this paper is to track down elements of the grotesque in Finnegans Wake. In doing so, the question of grotesque language and the literary representation of the body in the 'Wake' will be of particular interest.Since the term 'grotesque' forms the basis of the paper, the following chapter will give a short overview of this aesthetic mode, focusing on aspects which are important with regard to Finnegans Wake.

More books from GRIN Publishing

Cover of the book In a mere of 20 years the Spaniards were forced out from the Latin American continent ant the different colonies gained their independence. How could this happen? by Eva Forster
Cover of the book The role of monstrous bodies in Tod Browning's FREAKS by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Modal structures of political commitment by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Dyslexia's Puzzle by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Social Critique through Comedy - Frances Burney's 'Evelina' and Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Myth, Technology, and the (Post)Human Subject in William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Gender as Category of Analysis in Conflict and Peace Mediation by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Languages, thoughts and realities? by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Virtual Organisations - The Creation of Value Networks by Eva Forster
Cover of the book American Jews in World War I - German Propaganda Courting the American Jewry by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Role and Function of Stock Markets by Eva Forster
Cover of the book How and why have the EU's external policies changed toward developing countries ? by Eva Forster
Cover of the book An Investigation into the Role of the World Bank in relation to the Privatisation of Public Services with respect to the Washington and Post-Washington Consensus by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Analysis of William Wordsworth's 'Upon Westminster Bridge' by Eva Forster
Cover of the book Critically analyse the decision of the European Court of First Instance in Airtours plc v EC Commission by Eva Forster
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy