The Stage of Imagination: Visual Devices in the "Circe" Episode of James Joyce's Ulysses
Abstract
James Joyce's experimentation with the narrative form in his 1920 novel Ulysses culminates in the ingenious design of the "Circe" episode. Critics describe the chapter as Joyce's attempt to represent the human subconscious through narrative, after having found traditional forms of narrative inadequate for accurate depictions of time and undercurrents of thought and memory. Employing Deleuze's discussion of the captured time image as a moment of possibility and consideration, I argue that the new realm of the subconscious is designed and expressed in a theatric style that the reader encounters in script form and is forced to consider and rebuild in imagination from Joyce's synesthetic blueprints. Building from previous research on musical and operatic allusion' in Ulysses, I explore the simultaneous allusions to contemporary stage conventions in the post-Christmas pantomimes and Wagner's music dramas, including particular references to Wagner's stage directions and the actual machines required for their execution. Ultimately, the voice represented in the stage directions conflates the collective, emotive experience of an audience and the singular, intellectual experience of a reader, perhaps indicating frustration with the print medium and gesturing towards the technologic possibilities of photography and cinema. This paper investigates the implications of and influences extant in the script form and its produced drama, as well as the ultimate emphasis on a sensual, particularly visual, experience made powerful by the suggestion of its potentiality and simultaneous impossibility.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA406547
Entities
People
- Elizabeth B. Benn
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology