Paper #1 

English 334:  JOYCE 

Professor Conrad

You are welcome to choose one of the topics below.If you do not, you must clear your paper or project topic with me a week in advance of the paper deadline.Read the guidelines for papers on the Blackboard website before beginning.In general, remember to anchor your essay in close readings of the text, and be sure the significance of your interpretation is clear throughout.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: 

1.  What is the relationship between Stephen's experience of religion and his experience of beauty? 

2. What is the significance of the parallel between "Lady Boyle" and God both paring their fingernails?

3.Explore the relationship between the admonishments "apologise" and "admit".How do they shape Stephen? 

4.  Create a brief portrait of the artist.  Interpret this however you would like; it should, however, be somehow relevant to the Joyce text. 

Poetry:

1.  Compare one of Joyce's poems with one of Stephen Dedalus's.

2. Examine the significance of the metaphor of the shell in Joyce's poetry.

Dubliners:

1.  Explore the significance of the representation of the "East" in one or two stories.

2.  How might the phrase "let him learn to box his corner" tie to the larger themes present in "The Sisters"?

3. Why is it important that the narrator in "The Sisters" is referred to as a "Rosicrucian"?

4.Examine Joyce's use of the elipsis.How do elipses work in Joyce?What sort of reading practice do they encourage?

5. Compare the first edition of one of the Dubliners stories to the one published in the final collection.These are available at the Spencer Research Library.

Either text: 

"Joyce, as an author, is like a priest."   So spake learned critic Kathryn Conrad.  Examine this claim.