The Dionysian Revival

The 20^th century has witnessed many learned and recondite writers turn their modern eyes to ancient Greek myth legacy. Myth archetypes are frequently used in their literary creation to reflect modern men and society. James Joyce is a typical representative in using myths in writing with a Homeric parallel of Odyssey into his chaotic Ulysses.However, Joyce goes further than merely using mythic structures in his writings. He aims to exploit modern society's disorder and futility and to exalt human values through the revival of a unique god in Western cultures—Dionysus, whose carnival spirit serves as a salvation. Unfortunately, the ancient Dionysian carnivalesque spirit has been repressed since Socrates'insistence on rationalily in the Western culture. However, its revival in Ulysses successfully compensates for the cultural imbalance and serves as Joyce's cannon on the Irish's physical and spiritual enemy: culture hegemony, Catholicism and spiritual suppression.Mainly by using myth-archetypal criticism, cultural-historical criticism and Mikhail Bakhtin's carnivalesque theories, the thesis elaborates on the Dionysian revival with direct and indicative manifestations in Ulysses. The first part introduces the birth of Dionysus as a canivalesque god and the collective suppression of Dionysian spirit since Socrates. The second part indicates the Dionysian revival in the modern Irish context: the primitive Dionysian rituals, his carnival ecstasy, his sensual abandon and his pursuit of eternity all revive in Ulysses in the forms of bar cultures, the Irish folk humor, the characters'grotesque bodies and carnivalesque chronotope. The third part reveals the Dionysian revival in Joyce's narration with the assistance of Bahktin's carnivalesque theory and Dionysus'antagonism to Apollonian hegemony is translated into the modern version of liberating strength to spiritual freedom and the courage to confront any horror. The forth part reveals Joyce's purpose of reviving the Dionysian spirit on his readers through his manipulation of music and language techniques. During almost a century of the Ulysses'criticism, perspectives as historical research, bibliography, close readings and culture criticism have been adopted. This thesis attempts to approach Ulysses from a new one—a Dionysian perspective, in an effort to understand and even to de-code Ulysses.