Joyce's Missing Partner

Louis and Clark. Orville and Wilbur Wright. Great pioneers, and great partners. James Joyce too was a great pioneer but without a great partner. Joyce pioneered a new writing style called “stream-of-consciousness” which allows readers to experience life – really the novel- with the character.

This style is more than just first person narration. The first person narration allows readers to experience a story or work through the eyes of one character. Stream of consciousness is not only through the eyes of a character but in that characters whole head. Whereas with first person a reader shares experiences alongside the narrator, with stream of consciousness the reader shares experiences as the narrator.

Joyce’s work A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a prime example of stream of consciousness writing. Since the story is told through stream of consciousness writing with the perspective of Stephen Dedalus, the reader connects with Stephen through the different stages of his life, as a school boy, as a religious man, and college student. More personal than a third party omniscient narrator, the stream of consciousness writing lets the reader see Stephen’s frustrations, confusion, hopes, and all other emotions. This writing helped shape the Modernism movement and challenged conventional norms of writing.

A Portrait of the Artist is not the best example of stream of consciousness writing. It is close to the “best” yet still falls short. Despite the fact that the reader is intimately involved with Stephen Dedalus since the story is told through his perspective, Joyce falls short for the narrator still exists in the work. The narrator, though closely involved with Stephen, still remains separate. The prose throughout is not the best example, for there remains distance between the reader and character, excepting one moment at the end of the novel: the journal entries.

The journal entries are Stephen’s thoughts and his narration of his life. For the final few pages, the reader drops into his mind, immersed in Stephen. It is as if the first four parts of the book had two narrators, the character Stephen and the (standard) third party omniscient narrator. Or, perhaps, there was only the one third party omniscient narrator who sometimes dipped into Stephen’s head. Finally in the last pages there is true stream of consciousness, there is only the reader as the character. Whether this conscious decision by Joyce was to ease the reader into this new style or just appropriate for the plot is open to interpretation.

To experience stream of consciousness, to find Joyce’s partner in pioneering, one must read Virginia Woolf. Woolf too was a great pioneer of the stream of consciousness style in an extremely pure way. She writes the way people –her characters- think, flitting between observation and thought which allows for a true connection. Interestingly, she quickly shifts between the minds of characters while still maintaining her intimate stream of consciousness style. It is as if the reader occupies the body and brain of multiple characters, which in turn foster’s the reader’s desire to read the book. As a more invested participant in the story, it is more gripping and compelling.

Woolf makes a great partner to Joyce to understand stream of consciousness style. While Joyce seems to remain hung up on the narrator, Woolf is able to shed the attachment to the narrator. Though a great writer and pioneer of a new style, even Louis and Orville could not pioneer alone.