The Joycean Labyrinth: Repetition, Time, and Tradition in Ulysses (Oxford English Monographs)

The Joycean Labyrinth: Repetition, Time, and Tradition in Ulysses (Oxford English Monographs)

This book examines the relations between the textual organization of Ulysses and the notions of time, language and poetics implicit in the novel. Making use of recent developments in philosophy and literary theory, it argues that Ulysses is a complex transitional text involving various degrees of mediation between opposing impulses such as naturalism and schematism, unification and detotalization. Examining Joyce's use of repetition, the use of a differentiated and heterogeneous temporal experience, and Joyce's early aesthetic theories, this book clarifies the notion of tradition implied in Ulysses in relation to other strands of modernism and post modernism. 'Kumar's observations on Ulysses are at times clever and original ... The Joycean Labyrinth is an ambitious and unusual look at some of the complexities of reading Joyce.' John S. Rickard, Bucknell University, James Joyce Quarterly'elegantly organized book ... The discussion has the scope and limitations of an extended essay. Theoretical distinctions are nicely stated and illustrative material is kept within strict bounds. The result could be admired for its air of bracing stringency.' J.C.C. Mays, University of York, Review of English Studies, Vol. 44, May 1993`Kumar's study holds answers to the critical challenge of the synoptic text, which is indeed the challenge of reading Ulysses.' Archiv`this is a seriouys, always intelligent, and sometimes brilliant study. It stands alongside those few major works of criticism - Lawrence's, Rique;me's - that have the power to transform our readings of Ulysses.' James Joyce Broadsheet Udaya Kumar is at the University of Poona.