New-York tribune., 1922-05-28
e Epressionism of James .Jovce
BY Ernest Boyd

The profoundly Irish genius of
James Joyce in possession Of a
.sSurely cosmopolitan reputation,
.h&nkind fats which has always
suken writer's isolated from the
,.s&ons Of which they are part
s.dIre.ented to the world Without
ssytrspective. To the Irish mind no
!,cs. appreciation Of Joyce is in
,.h By some slight consideration for
IL lets q Ireland's literary and in
,siual evolution. ard the effort now
s.,1 made to cut him of from the
,rf Of which he is a tributary is
..isrly futile. Fortunately, his work
u.J to refute most of the ingenious
.stp.ions for which 1t has furnished
,st..xt, notably the theory that it is
g tsnswerable challenge to the sep
al existence of Anglo-Irish litera-
ri Mons shows more unmistakably
aanprint CT the authors race and
sd.ions.
hose who have been weaned with
,;Aulty from the notion that the
.,In-scarum sportsmen and serio-
sic peasants OF the Lever school rep
-stt Ireland. only to adopt the more
.nt superstition of land filled with
,n.chauns, heroes out OF Gaelic
l.snd and Celtic twilight, naturally
Fl, James Joyce disconcerting. Ac-
ssinely. they either repudiate him
a.,eeth.r or attempt to explain him at
=. exp.nse OF all his Irish contem-
rnries
the argument appears TO be this:
! ~ Synge and James Stephens are
l.sa. Therefore, Joyce is European"
Whereas, the simple truth is that "A
porrsi. Of the Artist as a Young Man"
I. to the Irish novel what The Play
mY ot the Western World" Is to Irish
irsma-tle unique and significant
so.s, the masterpiece which lifts the
ssnre ou: Of the commonplace into the
national literature. Like most of his
fellow craftsmen In Ireland, Joyce
began Ii, work in fiction with the in
evitabs volume Of short stories.
"Dublfre7s" differed from the others,
TO. iat.chnique, but in quality, and,
above ;lh IN its affinity with the great
es. Of the French realists. from whom
lanes Joyce learned his craft as George
Moore did before him. 1t ia not mere
,oincid ence that the best novels Of
.ontemporary Irish life should como
rom the only two writer's who sub
alttsd to that French influence, until
hey mastered 1t, and created out Of it
one-hng Of their own. The genesis
I all that the author has since pub
shed is IN that superb collection Of
tories OF middle-class life In Dublin
0U3LIN is the fresco upon which
hmes Joyce has woven all the
naz'ng patterns designed by an imag-
at.an which Is at once romantic and
alistic, brilliant and petty, full of
'Ferful fantasy, yet preserving an al
,at incredible faculty of detailed ma
nal observation. He is governed by
horror and detestation OF the circum-
lnces which nodded the life Of his
enhen Dedalus, IN that city which he
$ carried away with him during the
1g years Of his expatriation, and
ose record he has consigned to the
ges OF "a Portrait Of the Artist
4 "Ulysses,".
Tie former ia a relentless chronicle
soul stifed by material and intel
Ct. al squalor, a Huysmansesque docu
sat whose pages are redolent of the
Il. or Dublin's shabby respectable
J. pages in which the very voice and
tw o. Dublin are perceptible. .Cul-
IL for Stephen Dedalus is represent
!sy the pedantries OF medieval meta
.7sics, religion by the dread of hell,
III by the unspeakable frowsiness of
!. city's underworld. Drifting be-
Ten such extremes the young artist
:tntegrates, IN process which be-
aea a remarkable piece Of personal
:: social analysis.
The book belongs to great tradition
Flaubert and the brothers Con
srt, when realism had not yet degen-
tied into mere reporting. That is
honorable lineage, and one to which
glo-lrish literature is proud to owe
first modern novel Of contemporary
sh manners whose place is in the
st rank OF fiction. The anxiety with
ich certain critics have denied the
ioent origins Of James Joyce's meth
IS equaled only by their refusal to
,ept the inescapable actuality Of his
-terisl. The latter conflicts with the
cory that Synge was local whereas
7ce is European. The former is baf-
lg to all whose literary horizon is
lnded by Paris, because already in
Portrait of the Artist" there Is a
y OF the transition to EXPIRES sionism,
en- IS fully developed in "Ulysses."
n "Clysses' the analysis Of Stephen
dalus in particular, and Of Dublin
general, is carried a step further,
" much further may be imagined