A Study Of The Narrative Styles In Ulysses

Based on a large corpus of criticism by generations of Joycean scholars, Joyce's own artistic theory and literary stylistics, this thesis offers a stylistics-oriented examination of how Joyce actualizes his artistic theory and philosophical concept in three representative episodes from Ulysses:"Telemachus","Calypso"and"Eumaeus". This study centers on two major concerns of literary stylistics: a) exploring the relationship between style (form) and content; b) explaining the relation between style and literary or aesthetic function. It is primarily concerned with the styles of the technique of"narrative"and their progression in these three episodes, with the aim to discover their aesthetic value and structural function in representing theme and character. Joyce in these three episodes uses"narrative"as the basic writing technique and subdivides it into three characteristic stages: young, mature and old. These three stages of narrative are in respective accordance with the division of art in A Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man, wherein Joyce through Stephen categorizes art into three principal forms: the lyrical, the epic and the dramatic. The narrative styles of the three episodes actualize this theory and serve as fine illustrations of it. Entelechy, a philosophical concept of Aristotle, means the condition in which a potentiality has become an actuality. Joyce creatively applies this concept to the narrative process. It is the inherent energy and working mechanism in the stylistic progression.