1、Critical Analysis on Modernist and Deconstructive Element in Ulysses1.Introdution Ulysses， receiving no less enthusiastic research by scholars than Shakespeares masterworks nowadays， was written with Homers Odysseus as the contextual parallel. James Joyce named the novel as Ulysses， the Roman name f
2、or Odysseus. And the 18 episodes are titled with the characters names in Odysseus to allude to the connection with the ancient legendary work. Ulysses can be regarded as the modern version of Odysseus. Whereas it is different in that Ulysses has condensed years of Odysseus fantastic decade-long expl
3、orations home from the war into normal peoples more psychological everyday adventures in a common day in Dublin beginning on the morning of Thursday 16th June 1904. Numerous inner monologues serve as a linkage to associate the external world of the speaker with the psychologically internal world. Co
4、nsequently， the same experience which happened in the past has a different new text when it reappears in the characters mind. Joyces technical innovations in the art of the novel include an extensive use of interior monologue； he used a complex network of symbolic parallels drawn from the mythology，
5、 history， and literature. Evidently it is a novel in lack of logic and coherence. But the seemingly insignificant illogical details construct James Joyces way of telling the truth which is hidden inside the details. Ulysses is a naturalistic work. James Joyce tries to represent the natural psycholog
6、ical state of characters using the stream of consciousness writing technique. Everyone is making a narrative by choosing and exaggerating the chosen details to make his version of narration complete. Perhaps in James Joyces perspective， compiling the details together with no coherence and completene
7、ss in narratives and no obvious attitude and logic is just the best way of exposing the truth. Everyone can make a personal interpretation from his fragmentary and broken bits of narrative. This distinguished Ulysses from other works. 2.Ulysses as a Modernist Work Unlike Robert Frost， William Carlos
8、 Williams and Ernest Hemingway， who believed that the creation of meaning and coherence was the task of the writer and performed in opposition to false and damaging external impositions of order， James Joyce was one of the modernists driven by the modernist belief stated as the following： The assura
9、nces once provided by religion， politics or society no longer sufficed. This belief intensified after World War I， when it seemed to many that history itself was coming to an end and that modern life was horrific， chaotic and ultimately futileEzra Pound in particular envisaged the possibility of a n
10、ew society to which artists would contribute meaningfully. Many modernists shared an ambitious， aspirational belief in the role and place of the artist in contemporary life， believing that art had replaced religion in providing coherence， guidance and insight into the human condition.（Stephen Matter
11、son， 2003： 143） Modernist period flourished around from 1890 to 1940 in which industry developed dramatically fast with technical innovations， such as telephone and cinema which changed the traditional forms and the very significance of communication. New things began to influence all walks of life.
12、 In literary field， new forms were needed， as was the reinvigoration of established forms. No wonder Pound exclaimed loudly that “Make it new”. It almost became one of the modernist mottoes. Thus many writers held a fresh sense of possible personal interpretations of ancient myth， and revalued the c
13、ontemporary meanings of myth. This was just like what James Joyce did in Ulysses. This was the typical motto of so-called high modernism from 1920-5. Responding to Pounds exhortation “Make it new”，the high modernists， such as James Joyce and Virginia Wolf being the most distinguished， made a revolut
14、ionary experimentation on language and coined a new writing techniquestream of consciousness. Modernist period saw literary experimentations on forms and techniques of language expression. There is no doubt that stream of consciousness is the most innovational writing technique that has ever been pr
15、oduced. Ulysses is typical of high modernism. James Joyce used Homers Odysseus， one of the most influential ancient myths， as the contextual parallel to Ulysses. Thus it was transformed into a modern and personal interpretation of Odysseus by James Joyce. 3.The Deconstruction of Privatization Decons
16、truction and poststructuralism are synonymous， to a larger extent. It takes the form of a deconstructive reading that presses the logic of New Critical theory to the point where it has to confront its own aberrant rhetorical drift （Christopher， 1989： 88）. Thus deconstruction is rather a way of readi
17、ng arguing for texts to be read as open texts in the sense of looking for readings of texts that offer contradictory and random associations “open” to various interpretations. A specific and detailed reading of Ulysses should prove valuable. Jonathan （1983： 156） writes： “Deconstruction is also， at t
18、he very least， a way of thinking a position， in its work of analysis， concerning the political and institutional structures that make possible and govern our practices， our competencies， our performances”. There is no longer the sense of a primal authority attaching to the literary work and requirin
19、g that criticism keep its respectful distance. And to read is to understand， to question， to know， to forget， to erase， to deface， to repeat. It is an endless process of uncovering the dead to give it a voice. And we listen to the story told by it. And in turn， we understand and make a critical anal
20、ysis. We are its product， and the source itself can be a source f value and has to be denounced accordingly. Ulysses itself is a deconstructive text with lots of distortions of speeches and deviations of the original incidences open to unlimitedly random associations. For example， when Bloom once in
21、tended to phone about a newspaper advertisement， the newspaper made him memorize his father. Although the associations are random， they point to significant associations in Blooms mind regarding paternity， inheritance， faith， career， and others. Besides， the fragmentary narrative of Ulysses at the s
22、ame time deconstructs other textual readings. Bernard （2002： 207） argues： Ulysses destroys the old assumptions of novel writing and reading， dissolving into fragments the solid methods of engagement. Plot， narrative distance， and character become established in new ways， Heath assertsThey explored t
23、he interior self and its impact on the exterior self and， in turn its impact on the environment and on society at large， including the reader or viewer. James Joyce used abundant interior monologues， which serve as intermedia between the external and internal worlds of the speaker. And the process o
24、f making an interior monologue of the same speaker creates a new text of the previous happenings every time it repeats in the mind. Not to mention the readers， they will have more critical perspectives of interpreting the narrative. The subjects in the self-reflective novel have changed to be object
25、s from which different readers see different selves. The novel is highly self-conscious and it denies the precedence of consciousness over unconsciousness. Thus the deconstructive theory challenges the authority and urges us to criticize the texts into private interpretations. In James Joyces modern
26、 industrial period of quick technological developments， new ways of communications were created， such as telephone and computers. The society became modernized and computerized. Texts including Shakespeares and other literary works were thus available to the public. The individuals began to be allow
27、ed to state their opinions more freely. The fixed and authoritative understandings were under radical challenge by more and more deconstructive interpretations. 4.Conclusion Ulysses written in stream of consciousness technique is a high modernist work featured by a more radical experimentation on la
28、nguage. The work carries many writing innovations. Many of them are the postmodernist features. When narrating with stream of consciousness technique， James Joyce was discontinuous with tone， point of view， register， and logical sequence. These are actually the obstacles for readers to make a sense
29、out of it. The language of Ulysses is highly self-reflective open for readers to interpret personally. Except in episode 7， James Joyce for the first time and the only time made the text have its voice and present a skeptical challenge to the authority of the event in newspaper. In a certain sense，
30、nothing seems to take significant precedence over anything else. James Joyce was intentionally playful with language which guaranteed a self-conscious narrative. Parodies can also be found in it. The writing innovations carried in Ulysses by James Joyce greatly deconstructed the standards of narrati
31、ve discourse by revealing the fragility and superficiality of language and other forms of representation. References： 1Art Berman.From the New Criticism to Deconstruction.Urbana and Chicago：University of Illinois Press，1988. 2Bernard McKenna.James Joyces Ulysses： A Reference Guide. London：Greenwood
32、Press，2002. 3Christopher Butler.Interpretation，Deconstruction，and Ideology. New York：Oxford University Press，1984. 4Christopher Norris.Deconstruction： Theory and Practice. London and New York：The Chaucer Press，1983. 5Christopher Norris.Deconstruction and the Interest of Theory. Norman and London：Uni
33、versity of Oklahoma Press，1989. 6Madan Sarup.An Introduction Guide to Post-structuralism and Postmodernism.Athens：University of Georgia Press，1989. 7Jonathan Culler.On Deconstruction：Theory and Criticism after Structuralism.London，Melbourne and Henley：Routledge and Kegan Paul，1983. 8Stephen Matterson.American Literature：An Essential Glossary. New York：Oxford University Press Inc，2003.
