“The dead just won’t stay dead”
— James Joyce
It is from a novella by James Joyce, written in 1906-1907, that I want to reflect first on the meaning of Deadness and Aliveness. The primary points of view that I want to explore come from Psychoanalytic and Existential Perspectives.
While there was no historical moment when Sigmund Freud, James Joyce, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jean-Paul Sartre shared or exchanged ideas directly, they were influential contemporaries who inspired each other. Their ideas have continued to influence thinkers and writers throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.
Merleau-Ponty and Jean Paul Sartre shared intellectual roots that started at the Ecole Normale Superiore in Paris, and subsequently, in 1945, their conversations evolved as they wrote articles for “Les Temps Modernes.” They were well aware of the work written by James Joyce and by the psychoanalysts, including Freud.
Philosophical ideas were debated among all of these thinkers. In 1953, Sartre, in his book “Being and Nothingness,” proposed “absolute freedom for human consciousness.” Sartre rejected the idea of the “unconscious”, arguing that it didn’t allow for human freedom.
James Joyce and Sigmund Freud had an indirect and largely antagonistic relationship. Joyce had read Freud’s work; however, he denigrated his ideas, especially the concept of the “unconscious,“ and competed with him with the concept of “stream of consciousness” in an effort to explore his fantasy life and repressed desires. James Joyce used “the stream of consciousness” to reveal his characters’ inner thoughts and feelings, mirroring a psychoanalytic session.
Merleau-Ponty, in his book “Phenomenology of Perception,” responded by saying that freedom is “situated” and is intimately tied to our embodied existence. Joyce’s stream of consciousness shares a preoccupation with the “lived experience” of the conscious embodied mind. Psychoanalysis, when seen through structuralism, determines that subjectivity can be explored simultaneously with the embodied mind.
The resonance of Joyce’s story emerges from the difficult themes it describes in the intriguing narrative filled with many symbolic elements that invite the readers to contemplate and experience.
Gabriel Conroy, the protagonist in “The Dead,” embodies the writer’s own struggles with self-consciousness, identity, and the influence of one’s own history. The story is an exploration of love, loss, mortality, and the use of stream of consciousness.
Gabriel Conroy is a man who loves literature and is a teacher. He comes to the party with his wife, Gretta, and is expected to deliver a speech of gratitude to the other guests, as well as share memories of past events in their lives.
In Joyce’s story “The Dead,” family and friends are celebrating the “Epiphany dinner.“ From the start, we find ourselves wondering what kind of transformation we are to experience as readers/guests to this party. The concept of “epiphany” is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. It promises a moment of clarity that will change the way we see ourselves and the way we see the world. Like in psychoanalysis, when we experience an insight, we might call it an epiphany that will allow us to have a profound understanding of ourselves and a deeper connection to our lives and others.
When the party is over, the couple leaves to return to their hotel. Gretta, Gabriel’s wife, finds herself thinking about an old boyfriend, Michael Furey, who apparently had died by suicide when he was 17 years old due to unrequited love. Gretta is sad; she is still mourning him. The story highlights the powerful influence of the past in the present; it speaks of an unresolved trauma.
When the party is over, Gabriel feels lustful and desires closeness with Gretta, but finds himself feeling rejected by her. She finally shares with him her memories of Michael. It is at this moment that Gabriel experiences it as an epiphany or an insight that elicits a new stream of consciousness and many questions.
Gabriel’s “epiphany” comes precisely as an awareness of his repressed feelings of rejection by Greta, his wife, that emerge following the confession of her unresolved mourning. It confronts Gabriel with the realization that perhaps he is not as close to his wife as he thought, nor is he as close to himself as he believed, on a deeper level. This realization prompts him to question his aliveness and deadness in his relationships. Gabriel is about to enter a dynamic, perhaps painful process of self-knowledge that is deeply experienced emotionally and physically; it orients him to how he needs to change to experience liveliness.
The novella resonates with the reader with reflections: Who is he? (Who am I?) Is he capable of deep love? (Am I capable of deep love?) How close is he to Gretta in reality? (How close am I to my partner in reality?). Has he been lying to himself? (Am I lying to myself?). How self-aware is he in his life and his heritage? This is a moment of “emotion as a lived experience” in the body and mind, and it becomes part of our history as supported by Merleau-Ponty.
It is winter now. Will Gabriel experience the spring? Can Gabriel follow his passion and experience his liveliness?
Freud’s psychoanalytical ideas revolutionized the way we understand the mind. He emphasized the role of the unconscious, childhood experiences, defense mechanisms, and the impact of libido on behavior. Freud strongly influenced Joyce with the ideas of the id with primal urges, the ego as a reality mediator, and the superego giving it a moral compass. Joyce uses in his narrative a sense of the stream of consciousness as a tool, and he uses symbolism to explore the inner lives of his characters. Jean Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher, speaks of the idea that individuals are “condemned to be free” and are fully responsible for giving meaning and values to their lives. This concept exaggerates Gabriel’s sense of the epiphany in Joyce’s novella. Gabriel experiences existential anguish.
Merleau-Ponty speaks of being in the body as an intertwined way or chiasma of being in the world with oneself and with others. This concept allows Gabriel to question in what way he is close to himself and others, which shapes his sense of reality. The interconnection of these ideas continues to influence our understanding of literature, psychology, and philosophy in the 21st Century.
The moral compass of the story encourages us to live with genuine passion and sincerity to feel fully alive for ourselves and for others.
In summary, James Joyce, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean Paul Sartre, and Sigmund Freud contributed significantly to our understanding of the human condition. Joyce explored the psychological depths of his characters through the innovative literary technique, while Freud provided a framework for understanding the unconscious forces shaping human behavior. Sartre emphasized freedom and responsibility within an inherently meaningless world, while Merleau-Ponty focused on the body’s fundamental role in shaping our experience and perception.
Bibliography
Joyce, J. (1914). The dead. In Joyce, J (30 edition). Dubliners (p. 175-226). Penguin Classics.
Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (1962/1960). The ego and the id.. Norton.
Sartre, J.-P. (1956). Being and nothingness: An essay on phenomenological ontology (H. E. Barnes, Trans.). Philosophical Library.
Lacan, J. (1949). The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I. In B. Fink (Trans.), Écrits: The First Complete Edition in English. W.W. Norton & Company.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 1908-1961. (1974). Phenomenology of perception. London : New York :Routledge & K. Paul; Humanities Press.
O’Connor, N. (2021). Nora. Harper Perennial.
