James Joyce Transition Course

James Joyce: Transition from Desolation to Hope to Humor and the Modern Mind

   James Joyce: Transition from Desolation to Hope to Humor and the Modern Mind

Tuesdays, 1:45-3:15 PM

Preliminary Syllabus & Schedule:

• June 2 (Class 1): Dubliners – The Anatomy of Misery and Epiphany. Exploring the subtle psychological transitions, societal paralysis, and foundational themes in Joyce's early short stories.

• June 9 (Class 2): A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – Hope and Awakening. Examining Stephen Dedalus's development (with changes in narrative style as he ages), the crucial stylistic bridge that connects the grounded reality of Dubliners to the experimental leaps of Joyce’s later work.

• June 16 (Special Event): Bloomsday Celebration! (In lieu of regular class). 1:45-4:00 PM, followed by a party at 4:15 PM. An afternoon of interactive readings tracing Joyce's evolutionary arc. Tentative selections include the "After the Race" story and the poignant end of "The Dead" from Dubliners, the intense fire-and-brimstone sermon from Portrait, and massive humor passages from Ulysses, including the interplay of frenemies at the beginning of the book, the description of an old boozer as caveman/cyclops, a black mass, the dense and varied dreaming of the main character, the many aspects of water, and a particular woman’s point of view.

• June 23 (Class 3): Ulysses – The Merger of Multifaceted Humor and Literary Artistry. Using the "spider diagram" of humor theories and Arthur Koestler’s creative triptych as lenses to decode the linguistic play, parody, and sheer absurdity of Joyce's masterpiece. We will explore how the discombobulation of rigid thinking leads to profound artistic discovery as Joyce shows how something can be serious and humorous at the same time.