THE REBELLION AGAINST THE CHURCH Joyce was well-trained by the Jesuits, the Catholic priests who formed

his mind, but he challenged Catholicism. His hostility toward the Church was the revolt of the artist-heretic against the official doctrine or the struggle between an aesthete-heretic and a provincial Church, which had taken possession of Irish minds. But the conflict was between a son and his parents linked to the quest for his artistic potentialities.

A POOR EYE-SIGHT He was almost blind. This physical problem was compensated by his sense of ear , and the sound of words was very important to him. In order to appreciate Joyce more and to enjoy the particular sound devices used by him, his works should be read aloud.

A SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF TIME He was a Modernist writer. His themes are re-worked in such a way as to become gradually less relevant than the narrative itself. The facts become confused, they are explored from different points of view simultaneously and they arent presented through the voice of an omniscient narrator. Joyces stories and novels open in Medias res, with the analysis of a particular moment, and that portrait of the character is based on introspection rather than on description. Time is not perceived as objective, but subjective, leading to psychological change . The accurate description of Dublin isnt derived from external reality, but from the characters minds floating .

THE IMPERSONALITY OF THE ARTIST Joyce, influenced by the French authors Flaubert and Baudelaire, believed in the impersonality of the artist. The artists task was to render life objectively in order to give back to the readers a true image of it. This led to the isolation of the artist from society. As his works didnt have to express the authors point of view, Joyce used different points of view and narrative techniques appropriate to the several characters portrayed. His style, technique and language developed from the realism and the prose of Dubliners, through an exploration of the characters impressions and points of view, through the use of the free direct speech, the epiphany and the interior monologue.