In his study of negative existence and how it affects James Joyce's principal characters, Gian Balsamo joins the ongoing debate about the Irish writer's relationship to Dante and considers the centrality of messianism to that relationship. Finding in Dante a negative poetics that becomes a model for Joyce, Balsamo suggests that the inception and cessation of life - two occurrences that conventionally are deemed impossible to experience personally and directly - typically frame the existential experiences of Joyce's main ...
Read More
In his study of negative existence and how it affects James Joyce's principal characters, Gian Balsamo joins the ongoing debate about the Irish writer's relationship to Dante and considers the centrality of messianism to that relationship. Finding in Dante a negative poetics that becomes a model for Joyce, Balsamo suggests that the inception and cessation of life - two occurrences that conventionally are deemed impossible to experience personally and directly - typically frame the existential experiences of Joyce's main characters. Balsamo perceives Stephen, Leopold, and Shem as messianic figures because they rebel against this convention, clustering their lives around the very events of inception and burial. Balsamo traces the engagement of each of the three characters in a negative existence immune from the rules and limitations of ordinary experience. Each struggles to express rather than exorcise the fecundity of his own mortality; each reinvents his biography as involving the pivotal transaction of one death - be it a mother's, a son's, or even that of his own body - in return for catharsis. Drawing on the writings of Giambattista Vico, Saint Augustine, Emile Durkheim, and Noam Chomsky, Balsamo challenges the current debate by identifying the messianic thread that ties together the biographies of Joyce's three characters. Faced with the fissure between history and poetic vocation, Stephen embraces the sacrificial poetry of silence. Faced with the domestic squalor provoked by the loss of his son, Leopold renews at every meal the cathartic exchange of food and semen. Faced with a destiny of death and decomposition, Shem reenacts the tradition of the medieval cycle drama, stretching his own body like a parchment on a cross and then rubricating it like a sacred manuscript.
Read Less
Add this copy of Joyce's Messianism: Dante, Negative Existence, and the to cart. $4.00, very good condition, Sold by Half Price Books Inc rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by University of South Carolina Pre.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Joyce's Messianism: Dante, Negative Existence, and the to cart. $4.73, like new condition, Sold by Redux Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wyoming, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by University of South Carolina Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Like New. Like new hardcover with DJ. Dust jacket shows very minor shelf wear, otherwise an unblemished copy.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Ships same or next business day!
Add this copy of Joyce's Messianism: Dante, Negative Existence and the to cart. $17.50, like new condition, Sold by R & M Gerber Books rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lake Peekskill, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by University of South Carolina Press.
Add this copy of Joyce's Messianism: Dante, Negative Existence, and the to cart. $17.95, new condition, Sold by Poverty Hill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Mt. Prospect, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by University of South Carolina Press.
Add this copy of Joyce's Messianism: Dante, Negative Existence, and the to cart. $30.07, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by University of South Carolina P.
Add this copy of Joyce's Messianism: Dante, Negative Existence, and the to cart. $61.74, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by University of South Carolina P.
