PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN

Feel free to draw from these questions or develop your own. Have a great Spring Break, everyone, and I look forward to reading your responses to Portrait after the break!

• For your blog this week, you might want to do some background research on James Joyce, himself, and explore how his biography and experiences might relate to aspects of the novel. Some key terms you could look up for this week are “modernism” and “epiphany” and explain how they could help us better understand particular parts of the text. You could also do some historical investigation by looking up the Parnell scandal or some other historical reference in the text. You could also look up the myth of Icarus and explain how it might pertain to this novel.

• In “Violence and the Constitution of the Novel,” David Lloyd discusses the particular linguistic circumstances that created the conditions for the complex nature of the Irish novel. He states, “The bilingual nature of Irish culture hampered the development of a stably transforming medium for literary production” and how “the predominance of an oral culture in Ireland…produced alternative expectations of plot or narrative” (129). How do we see evidence of both of these conditions manifesting themselves in Joyce’s text? What particular attention is paid to the construction of language, itself? How does Joyce play with narrative and plot in this novel?

• In what ways is the city of Dublin a “character” in this novel?

• What role do women play in this novel?

• How would you characterize Stephen’s sexual development? What role does sexuality play in this novel?

• What is the role of religion in this novel? What should we make of the “fire and brimstone” section, Part III, of this novel?
  

• On pages 178-187, Stephen experiences an epiphany of sorts. Define the nature of that epiphany. What is Stephen’s realization? How does it come about?

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and "THE GAY ARTIST AS TRAGIC HERO IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY"

Below are some discussion questions to continue pushing our ideas about The Picture of Dorian Gray. Feel free to draw from these questions or develop your own. You can also continue on exploring some themes from last week or feel free to respond to another student's blog.

• Do some internet research on the following terms and explain their relationship to the novel: hamartia, homo-erotic, or queer theory. On page 30, Lord Henry’s uncle calls him a “dandy.” For this week you might want to do some background research on this term and explore how this figure and “dandy-culture” bears on some of the themes in the text.
  Some critics have called this novel a “gothic” story. What do you think makes this novel “gothic”? I would encourage you to do a little bit of internet research to better define that term and explain how it might relate to the novel.
  Henry M. Alley calls Basil “the principle hero” of The Picture of Dorian Gray. What do you think he means by that statement? Do you agree? Why or why not? Alley cites Jeffrey Nunokawa who states calls Basil "the hero of the coming-out story." What do you think Nunokawa means by this statement? Is The Picture of Dorian Gray a "coming-out story." What does Alley say to this claim? What do you think?
• At the end of Alley's essay, he quotes from Oscar Wilde's son who writes, "The worst aspects of Victorian hypocrisy have now disappeared, and today my father would not have been hounded to his death as he was fifty years ago. The self-righteousness of that age was really camouflage to disguise its own hypocrisy, and the poeple who were loudest in their condemnation of my father were often those whose own lives could least bear investigation, Nothing makes the transgressor so indignant as the transgressions, of a different kind, of his fellow-men; except, perhaps transgressions of the same kind" (8). What does he mean by this statement? Where do you see displays of hypocrisy in the novel? Where do you see Wilde satirizing or commenting on "the worst aspects of Victorian hypocrisy" in the novel?

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

Once again, don't feel as if you have to draw from these discussion questions. Feel free to develop your own or use your blog as a space to respond to or expand upon another student's ideas.

1) Do some independent internet research on Oscar Wilde, himself. You might want to look up some of his family history (his mom, especially, was a particularly interesting character), or do some research on the infamous 1895 trial where Wilde's character (and his literary works) were put on trial. How might we relate Wilde's personal life to some of the themes in the novel?

2) Do some independent internet research on Aestheticism. What role does this movement play in the novel? Pay particular attention to the Preface of the novel. Do you feel that Wilde follows or at times transgresses his own artistic code? How so? How are artists and the role of the artist characterized in the novel?

3) What is the role of Sybil Vane in the novel?

4) Take a good look at the image above. It's of a statue of Oscar Wilde that stands in a park just off the corner of Merrion Square in Ireland. If you look closely, you can see that one from angle Wilde is smiling and from the other it looks as if he's deeply troubled, even sad. How does this statue embody some of the major themes of the novel? What is the rule of duplicity and performance in the novel? How might this statue (along with the novel) reflect the plight of the Irish artist "playing" for a primarily British audience?

5) In your opinion, what is the picture of Dorian symbolic of? Explain your response.