Framed around an investigation into the public sphere in Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this thesis explores how the public sphere is constructed and reflected upon by James Joyce in Ulysses. It recognises that in order to exist in a society that is increasingly influenced by print media, communication and commodity, the public sphere must be able to function beyond the limits of a set location or place. I therefore explore two versions of the public sphere. The first, as set down by Jurgen Habermas in his study 'The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere', began with the Enlightenment and relies on fixed locations such as reading rooms and coffee houses. In the second, I introduce a possible alternative to the Habermasian historical understanding of the public sphere. This argues that networks of communication form reading communities which are created through the movement of newspapers and other objects of print ephemera, and that are read out loud in groups or move through the narrative as pieces of paper paraphernalia. These communities-created through the communal experience of reading and discussing news-exist in Ulysses on a virtual level, often recognised solely by the reader, but they can also be identified in Joyce's wider context. Here I discuss Benedict Anderson's theory of imagined community and the rise of nationalism, with specific reference to Ireland. The changing shape of the public sphere is integral to understanding the relationship between print media and the individual. Its potential has yet to be fully recognised in the scholarship surrounding Irish Studies and James Joyce. It provides a framework through which to analyse the connection between the political climate, the rise of new communication methods, and the role of the individual in Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. By setting up such a discussion surrounding the public sphere, I am able to re-evaluate Joyce's use of print media in Ulysses, and explore the implications that this brings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:628449 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Mount, Camilla |
| Publisher | King's College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/print-media-and-the-construction-of-the-public-sphere-in-james-joyces-ulysses(879e889c-4290-4b06-a233-1a3f4e05e3bc).html |
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