On The Aesthetic Modernity In Ulysses Through The Analysis Of The Mythological Archetype Of Father And Son

James Joyce(1882-1941)is one of the most creative novelists in the 20th century and is also one of the representatives of the western modernistic literature.What's more,Joyce is regarded as an exiled writer.And during his exile in Europe,he kept an eye on Ireland.Therefore,most of his literary works are all closely related to Ireland.As we all know,Joyce is famous for using the technique of stream of consciousness,but he is also hailed as the poet of mythic archetypes.Joyce's mind and literary procedure are always mythological.There have long been a great many of studies on Joyce and his works in academia.However,this thesis will analyze Ulysses based on the aesthetic modernity from the perspective of the mythological archetype of father and son.The aesthetic modernity is a criticism of traditional modern values in essence,and it is the resistance to the modernity in literature and the modern society.In fact,it advocates a kind of irrationality.In Ulysses,Joyce presents a realistic picture of the modern wasteland in which modem men are portrayed as vulgar and trivial creatures with splitting personalities,disillusioned ideals,sordid minds,and broken families,who search in vain for harmonious human relationships and spiritual sustenance in a decaying world.In Ulysses,the existence of modern people is explored deeply by Joyce,which shows Joyce's reflection on modernity and as well as his unique modem aesthetic values.Ulysses is Joyce's modern novel based on the mythological archetype and structure of Homer's epic with an intention to depict a very non-heroic day in an equally non-heroic world,and an Odysseus figure who was very much an ordinary citizen,hardly more than the typical man in the street.In Ulysses,Joyce,through the modern reinterpretation and reconstruction of the mythological archetype of father and son,to a certain extent,shows the profound cultural connotation and significance by analyzing the spiritual relationship of father and son represented by Bloom and Stephen.Therefore,this thesis firstly shows the beauty and ugliness in Ulysses applying the theory of aesthetic modernity.Besides,the author,through the modem quest,the modern appreciation of ugliness and the modern spiritual salvation demonstrated by the mythological archetype of father and son,to a certain extent,realizes that Bloom and Stephen's modern quest,one is for a spiritual home,and the other is for a spiritual father,both are resistance to the alienated society.And the image of Bloom is Joyce's particular intention that the Irishmen in paralyzed modem Ireland no longer need a perfect hero like Odysseus and God in a theological sense.What they really need is an ordinary man like Bloom who will be a redeemer with modern spirit,which reflects Joyce's anxiety about the social situation in Ireland and meditation on the future development of the human world.