James Longenbach: James Joyce, On Odyssey of Style (January 2012)

“All of writing is stylistic extravagance,” asserts poet James Longenbach, “no matter how simple it may initially appear.” In his introduction to Joyce’s novel, Longenbach identifies Joyce’s shift from direct realism to “linguistic extravagance” over the course of eighteen episodes.   Through close readings of key passages, Longenbach explores the novel’s stylistic nature, asking: What makes us who we are, the DNA passed on to us or the language that encases us? Does character determine style, as “the earlier episodes suggest,” or “does style determine character as the later ones suggest?”