Trinity as Archetype: Joyce, Stephen, and Bloom

Abstract

The paper interprets two of the major works of James Joyce in the light of the existing autobiographical and biographical information on Joyce the man and the artist by expounding the expressive theory of art that the work of an author is the expression of his life, a theory Joyce attributes to Shakespeare in his novel Ulysses. It is by now an acknowledged fact that Joyce’s oeuvre is rooted in his life and times, and parallels and analogies have widely been drawn to drive this message home. Premising that Joyce’s life and work make one, the paper explores and elucidates the archetypal leitmotif of the blessed Trinity—God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—that predominates Joyce’s works A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses.