An Analysis Of Artistic Techniques In Dubliners

James Joyce is one of the greatest and the most influential Irish novelist during the20th century. He is also one of the representative writers of the modernist literarycreation, who enjoys a high international reputation. He has made great achievements inthe innovation and experimentation of novel writing skills.Dubliners is Joyce’s first collection of short stories, which is not only recognizedas the most famous novel, but also Joyce’s exploration into modern fiction art. InDubliners, there are15stories with Ireland as the background, describing the lives ofmiddle and lower classes in Dublin in the early20th century. It reveals that the Irishsocial life is filled with apathetic and lifeless paralyzed spirit under the oppression of theBritish Empire and religion. In this paralysis city there are numbness and decadentfragments all the time, so we can see that the collection of short stories is a mirror toreflect the state of Dublin life.In this works, Joyce’s writing is very beautiful and thoughtful. From the theoreticalview of literary creation, James Joyce employs many artistic techniques in these shortstories, which make the articles more fascinating. Joyce portrays Dubliners as a livingperson, and gives accounts in accordance with the three stages of life: childhood, youthand adult. Each story in Dubliners is separate but closely related with each other. Thus,depicting the social life of Irish in the state of paralysis in various artistic techniques fromdifferent perspectives and dimensions makes the theme organically united together. Thispaper will mainly choose to make a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the threeaspects: epiphany, symbolism and repeated narratives to have a more profoundinterpretation of the theme of Dubliners.The paper is divided into three parts: An introduction, the main body, and aconclusion.The introduction briefly describes the life and works of Joyce, the relevantcomments and his achievements, the background of the Dubliners as well as the researchachievement at home and abroad and the significance of this paper.The main body is divided into three chapters.The first chapter expounds the application of the technique epiphany in Dubliners.Originally，the epiphany is a religious terminology which means the sudden spirit of sentiment. Joyce is the first person to apply the concept of epiphany to literature. Thetheory of epiphany in Dubliners has been fully embodied. Suddenly, after suffering thetorture, the Irish people are finally cheerful at some point, realize the social reality clearlyand understand their situation. According to the three stages of childhood, youth andadult, this paper delicately chooses The sisters, Eveline and Counterparts to analyze theartistic practices of epiphany.The second chapter focuses on the application of symbolism in Dubliners. In manyworks of Joyce, one of the most significant artistic characteristics is his flexibleemployment of symbols. The stories in Dubliners are simple but contain profoundsymbolic meanings, exposing the paralyzed spirit of Irish society in the20th century. Theuse of the distinctive symbolism represents a new and unique literary technique of JamesJoyce. According to the three stages of life, the three articles Araby, A little cloud and Thedead are selected to make an analysis of symbolism employed to reveal the theme.The third chapter delves deeply into the employment of the artistic technique ofrepetition which describes a group of Irish people pursuing their dreams but ultimatelydisillusioned. Repetitive writing style plays a pivotal role in promoting the developmentof plots. The paper conducts a systematic analysis of the different types of repetition inDubliners: repetition of sentences, repetition of words and phrases, and repetition ofimages. The language repetition can build up atmosphere and will undoubtedly enhancethe novel’s artistic charm. By contrast, the repetition of images plays a great role indeepening themes.The conclusion makes a summary of this paper. The use and analysis of the threeartistic techniques in Dubliners give a deeper penetration into the theme “paralysis” ofthe collection, and an insight into Joyce’s unique thinking and skills. The paper aims tohave a better understanding of the original intention of Joyce’s creation. Joyce’s greatestgoal is to purify the soul of the Irish fellowmen, and to wake up their numb and dullmental state as soon as possible. In the modern society, the people are still suffering fromthe similar frustration or mental crisis as Dubliners. Therefore, Dubliners deserves ourattention and study.