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Writing in a letter to Grant Richards who was the publisher of Dubliners, Joyce clearly stated that the creation of Dubliners “was to write a chapter of the moral history of his country” (Pu Long 98) and he “always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world” (Pu Long 98). He tried to present it to the public from four aspects just as a man’s growing process: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life.
They are meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The collection as a whole displays an overall plan, beginning with stories of youth and progressing in age to culminate in The Dead.
2. Literature Review
Review the research on Dubliners by predecessors, most of the researchers focus on discussing either the themes and artistic features expressed in Dubliners or viewing Dubliners from the perspectives of history, feminism and colonialism criticism. But “the reviews that systematically and profoundly study Joyce’s aesthetics are rare” (Li Weiping 54).
In China, Joycean study began with a very short article to introduced Joyce written by Mao Dun in 1922. In the 1990s, Joycean studies have achieved great development, with more monographs and papers published .The paper studied Joyce from perspective of “comparison literature, poetics, aesthetics and philosophy and the monographies mainly focused on how Joyce’s life experience influenced his distinctive writing style, reading and criticism of his famous works, analysis of themes and characters, Joyce and modernism, Joyce and stream of consciousness and the current studies of Joyce at home and abroad” (Yang Jian 153). In general, the history of China’s Joycean studies, only about 20 years, is very short compared to the 90-year history of the Western Joycean criticism. Although great progress has been made, the results are far less than those of abroad.
Four important works of Joyce, Chinese researchers have paid much attention to Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. As for his early work Dubliners, studies mainly confined to the artistic features of these studies, creative techniques, symbolism and history of insight and comparative literature, which is not complete nor thorough enough. Although Joyce’s early works may not be as mature like that of his later works, that is what exactly reflects his literary experimentation and innovative spirit. This paper attempts to identify the aesthetic principles embodied in Dubliners from the aesthetic point of view.源'自:751`!论~文'网www.751com.cn
On Joyce’s aesthetic research, Lin Mengtao, Guo Jun and Li Weiping so far in China have announced five important article. Lin Mengtao mainly analyzed “the reasons why Joyce chose exile and his aesthetic concept of impersonalization” (Lin Mengtao 49). in his papers. Guo Jun discussed in detail “the three stages of beauty mentioned by Stephen in A Portrait” (Guo Jun 86) in her thesis. Li Weiping considered “that Joyce gained a good deal of enlightenment from Aristotle, Aquinas and Vico” (Li Weiping 54). In general, studies of Joyce’s aesthetics has not formed a system, and still lacks support of theory from his early aesthetics thought to the later period. What’s more, all the studies of Joyce’s aesthetics concern more on his later works than the earlier work, Dubliners.
This paper will focus on illustrating the aesthetic effect of Dubliners from three basic elements of beauty: “wholeness,” “harmony” and “radiance.” Then the author tries to trace back to both social and literature background to expound the formation of Joyce’s aesthetics.
3. Wholeness of Dubliners
“Wholeness,” “harmony” and “radiance” consist of beauty and form the aesthetic process. The three interrelated and inpisible elements coexist in a perfect continuum. This is the aesthetic principles of Aquinas, but also Joyce’s artistic pursuit. Only in accordance with this aesthetic principles can novelist make both the content and form of the novel in the static equilibrium and make the artistic beauty of their works to the highest realm. Joyce finished the creation of his novels from his “Dubliners” to his Finnegans Wake all in accordance with this aesthetic principles by constructing frameworks and arranging the content of fiction novels. This not only helps us to understand Joyce’s early aesthetic principles, but also help to appreciate the aesthetic effect of Joyce’s works.