Dublin as City of Paralysis VS Paris as City of Darkness in Modernist Literature

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Recommended: James Joyce’s works

The beginning of the 20th century was an era where tremendous changes took place. Industrial revolution brought about techonological advancement while Darwin’s Evolutionary Theories completely overthrew traditional scientific beliefs. Undergoing such an immense transition at the turn of the century, the focus of the modernist writings was shifted from realism to experimental techniques such as fragmentation and defamiliarization. Modernist writers were no longer interested in depicting the city using the Victorian way. In the following paragraphs, short stories from “Dubliners” written by James Joyce and an extract of the poem “La Cuve (The Vat)” by Charles Baudelaire will be discussed and analyzed to illustrate how Dublin and Paris are described as city of paralysis and city of darkness respectively.

James Joyce chose Dublin not only as the setting of his short stories, more importantly, he wanted to “show the paralysis of the psyche, society and politics of Ireland”. (Daniels, 2) In the “Selected Letters of James Joyce”, Joyce clearly suggested that “[his] intention was to write a moral history of [his] country and [he] chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to [him] the centre of paralysis. (Thwaites, 14). Colonized by Britain for 800 years, Dublin and its people were constantly under political and religious oppression. Other than “[speaking] to the world about the paralyzed and dependent situation of the Irish people under English oppression”, Joyce intended to “[invent] a unified Irish society that could resist” the force through his short stories in “Dubliners”. (Thwaites, 11, 1) Various aspects of Dubliners will be explored to investigate how Dublin is described as city of paralysis, including the depiction of...

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... the city and the future. Joyce and Baudelaire invite readers to witness the prominent changes take place in Dublin and Paris through their depiction of city of paralysis and city of darkness respectively. This is detailedly depicted in their short stories and poems so that contemporary readers can have a glimpse of the tough life led by citizens at that time.

Works Cited
Brannigan, J. (1998) Dubliners/James Joyce ; notes by John Brannigan. London: York Press.

Daniels, P.J. (2001) The Voice of the Oppressed in the language of the Oppressor – A Discussion of Selected Postcolonial Literature from Ireland, Africa and America. New York: Routledge.

Joyce, J. Dubliners.

Lloyd, R. (2002). Baudelaire’s world. New York: Cornell University Press.

Thwaites, T. (2001) Joycean Temporalities – Debts, Promises and Countersignatures. Florida: The University Press of Florida.

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