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Freud: Most of his major works were published after
Joyce wrote "Portrait" - what did Joyce know? |
I recently read the two articles on Stephen's sexuality posted to the Moodle page. I was mostly skeptical of the importance of the "homosexual panic" until I read the final section. Taken together, the claims of the two articles are far more convincing than they are apart. First, I don't think that Stephen is in any way "panicking" over his sexual orientation, because that would require a concious recognition of the question. Instead, he is disquieted by the possibility. It works mostly towards the sublimation of sexuality that he consistently seeks. Stephen first seeks sublimation through scrupulousness, in an attempt to avoid it entirely. After his artistic transformation with the epiphany when seeing the bird girl, he rejects the physical attraction that he might feel and instead tries to explain it as a purely aesthetic reaction. The "Young Misogynist" article develops this idea of 'logocentricism' and logocentric power modeled on his father replacing physical or carnal power or identity. Sexual experiences for Stephen must always be mediated through poetry or aesthetics, rather than stand alone as what could be construed as hedonism.
The "homosexual panic" article explains various experiences that blur the line between male socialization and homosexuality at school and university which help to create the homosexual panic. After reading both articles, I'm more confident in my skepticism that Stephen is afraid of directly confronting sexuality of any kind. This could be taken as a form of narcissicism in which he does not believe himself to be under the influence of solely carnal desires - that to do so is below him.
The most striking (and convincing) example was the repetition of "paring his fingernails" for Boyle and the ideal artist of God paring his fingernails in the background. This cements the connection of sexual questioning and artistry in Stephen's or Joyce's conception, but also supports the sublimation of sexuality through art that Stephen attempts.
The picture of Freud Mike posted recalled for me the quip I heard a few months ago that is attributed to Freud that “the Irish are impervious to psychoanalysis,” meaning, I suppose, that someone like Stephen Dedalus defies the rules of psychotherapy. Mike points out that Joyce writes before Freud has written many of his works on psychology. The articles posted on Moodle, however, show that a lot of Freudian theory was at least being discussed in Joyce’s intellectual circles as he wrote. I agree, though, that Stephen’s narcissism, his love for himself, and his immersion in a male-dominated environment probably do not make him suffer what the Valente article describes as “homosexual panic.” Stephen’s self-love does, however, doom any potential he has with his object of desire, Emma.
ReplyDeleteStephen does not make any sense sexually to me. The homosexual panic issue does not seem compelling to me at all. Throughout the novel, we have established that Stephen has become a very introspective and reflective person. Furthermore, he is also brutally honest with himself. He accepts the fact he sleeps with prostitutes without lying to himself about it or trying to rationalize it. He comes to terms with his struggles with his family and his religious growth without trying to rationalize anything as well. If you combine these two things, that Stephen is ultimately self-reflective and honest with himself, there is no way that he could possibly be homosexual or even truly struggle with his sexuality without having any sort of deep reflection on the issue?
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