Dialogic Interpretation Within Ulysses

Ulysses, painstakingly created by one of the most remarkable literary writers James Joyce in the 20^th century, was the least understood and the most misunderstood literary works in a very long time of the last century. It has now been generally acknowledged as the avant-garde works of stream-of-consciousness and one of the greatest literary works. It greatly wins the favor of varied schools of critics who strive to offer numerous interpretations of Ulysses from various theoretical perspectives.However, Bakhtin's dialogic theory has been scarcely utilized to Ulysses research and the dialogic trait of Ulysses lacks a systematic and comprehensive analysis. Through a detailed study of Bakhtin's dialogic theory, we have found that Ulysses is basically a dialogic novel, in which the equality of constituent and multiple voices is realized dialogically. It is through dialogues in Ulysses that readers get acquainted with the voices of characters, the innermost ideas of Bloom, Stephen and Molly as well as much information about their interaction with the other characters. Therefore, the present thesis attempts to approach and appreciate Ulysses from the dialogic perspective, focusing particularly on the dialogic interrelationships within Ulysses, including dialogue between characters and the author, dialogue between and among characters, and dialogue between characters and their inner selves.The introduction starts with brevity of the dialogic theory, and ponders on significance of applying the dialogic approach to Ulysses. Dialogue, in Bakhtin's view, signifies the struggling forces agreeing with, disagreeing with, confirming and supplementing each other. The multiple voices of which Ulysses is made up interact dialogically and the language of which they are composed of is dialogic. This being the case, dialogic criticism may be one of the best perspectives to interpret Ulysses.Chapter One focuses on dialogue between characters and the author of Ulysses. Joyce's position with regard to his characters is a thoroughly consistent dialogic position, which affirms the internal freedom, unfinalizability and indeterminacy of characters. Empowered relative independence, characters are not mute objects of the author's words but carriers of the fully valid words and voices. In Ulysses, Joyce is not talking about but with the character. Nevertheless, the characters' freedom exists within the limits of the author's artistic design.Chapter Two mainly discusses dialogue between and among characters of Ulysses. In Ulysses, most of the actions taking place in public places are conducted through conversations in audible voices. The only way to approach and understand a man is to address to him dialogically. Characters in Ulysses, either major or minor, are interacted in Dublin society thus inevitably influenced by their relationships with others. Such interaction, fully displayed through dialogues by which people express ideas and receive ideas, is the most important aspect of social activities.Chapter Three deals with dialogue between characters and their inner selves in Ulysses. Characters' consciousness in Ulysses serves as a device that ensures the realization of dialogic voices and the consequent interaction among characters beyond time and space. The dialogic trait of multiple voices in Ulysses within consciousness is manifested clearly enough in the dialogized interior monologue of Bloom, Stephen and Molly.The conclusion of the thesis highlights the profundity of the application of Bakhtin's dialogic theory and probes into the academic value and the consequent practical meaning of interpreting Ulysses from the perspective of dialogic theory. The dialogic interpretation of Ulysses enables readers to treat the author and characters equally from the dialogic standpoint, directly resulting in literary activity of openness, as openness is not only the difficulty, but also the feature of Ulysses.