A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose

This essay situates James Joyce within the competing discourses of Catholic theology, evolutionary biology, and Nietzsche’s philosophy, with emphasis on their attitudes towards the body and the animal-human boundary. Joyce’s use of “instinct” in his early works (Dubliners, Stephen Hero, and A Portra...

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Main Author:	John S. Rickard
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	MDPI AG 2017-08-01
Series:	Humanities
Subjects:	James Joyce instinct animals body evolution cognition
Online Access:	https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/6/3/56

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spelling	doaj-c9f4b14ff18c497f865f8292950083662020-11-24T20:42:45ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872017-08-01635610.3390/h6030056h6030056A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early ProseJohn S. Rickard0Department of English, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USAThis essay situates James Joyce within the competing discourses of Catholic theology, evolutionary biology, and Nietzsche’s philosophy, with emphasis on their attitudes towards the body and the animal-human boundary. Joyce’s use of “instinct” in his early works (Dubliners, Stephen Hero, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) helps us understand his movement from a view of animals and the human body as frightening or paralyzing to a more open acceptance of the body and its impulses. This transition from portraying the body as an impediment in Dubliners to a source of knowledge or cognition in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man helps us better understand Joyce’s early prose and his embrace of both animal and human bodies in his later works.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/6/3/56James Joyceinstinctanimalsbodyevolutioncognition
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	John S. Rickard
spellingShingle	John S. Rickard A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose Humanities James Joyce instinct animals body evolution cognition
author_facet	John S. Rickard
author_sort	John S. Rickard
title	A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose
title_short	A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose
title_full	A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose
title_fullStr	A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose
title_full_unstemmed	A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose
title_sort	portrait of the animal as a young artist: animality, instinct, and cognition in joyce’s early prose
publisher	MDPI AG
series	Humanities
issn	2076-0787
publishDate	2017-08-01
description	This essay situates James Joyce within the competing discourses of Catholic theology, evolutionary biology, and Nietzsche’s philosophy, with emphasis on their attitudes towards the body and the animal-human boundary. Joyce’s use of “instinct” in his early works (Dubliners, Stephen Hero, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) helps us understand his movement from a view of animals and the human body as frightening or paralyzing to a more open acceptance of the body and its impulses. This transition from portraying the body as an impediment in Dubliners to a source of knowledge or cognition in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man helps us better understand Joyce’s early prose and his embrace of both animal and human bodies in his later works.
topic	James Joyce instinct animals body evolution cognition
url	https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/6/3/56
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A Portrait of the Animal as a Young Artist: Animality, Instinct, and Cognition in Joyce’s Early Prose

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