Artistic Similarity In "New" Short Fiction

James Joyce's Dubliners and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio are two masterpieces in the history of modern short fiction. Written only ten years apart, the two books depict the lives of ordinary men and women who inhabit in Irish capital and a small Mid-western town in the United States respectively.Ever since their publication in 1920s, much critical ink has been spilled on Dubliners and Winesburg, Ohio respectively. However, not many articles have made comparative study of the two books. This thesis is intended to study the correspondence between Dubliners and Winesburg, Ohio in terms of structure, theme and writing technique. It is divided into three chapters apart from the introduction and conclusion.The introductory part opens by identifying and the differences between conventional story-telling and the"new"short fiction as illustrated in Dubliners and Winesburg, Ohio. It notes the motivating role played by the hometowns of the two authors in the creation of the two books as well as love-hate relationship between the two authors and their respective hometowns. The introduction also covers the historical background against which the two books were composed. It ends with a brief critical review of the two books from the perspective of comparative study.Chapter I explores parallel in structures through two sections. The first section concentrates on the external structure of the two books, pointing out the self-sufficient and interrelated nature of stories in the two books. It also identifies nuances behind the similarity in structures by differentiating collection of stories and cycle of tales, noting that three factors that Dubliners lacks render Winesburg, Ohio more like cycle of tales as opposed to merely collection of stories in the case of Dubliners. The second section explores the internal designs---age pattern in Dubliners and personal development in Winesburg, Ohio--- behind similar external architectures.Chapter II focuses on thematic likeness between the two books: the inability of the protagonists to mature or to change the circumstances of their life epitomized by Joyce's word"paralysis"and by Anderson's word"grotesque."Also the chapter is divided into two sections. Section One approaches paralysis and grotesqueness from physical and psychological angles. Section Two pinpoints three common causes in both the two books for the erosion of the characters'ability to make positive changes, including spiritual isolation, religious bondage, and sexual repression. To illustrate the common causes, two stories from each book are analyzed for each cause. Altogether, Section Two close-reads a score of stories with six from each of the books.Chapter III centers on the resemblance in writing techniques employed by Joyce and Anderson in their respective books with Section One concerning"epiphany"and significant"moments"and Section Two concerning the application of symbolism. With examples whenever necessary, Section Two compares symbolic structures, symbolic backdrops, symbolic eyes, symbolic names, and symbolic objects in the two books.The thesis finally concludes that a comparative study of the two books helps to disclose the artistic similarity of"new"short fiction emerging at the turn of the 19th Century and its far-reaching impact on modernistic short fiction or even novels.