Louis K. Greiff
Alfred University, USA
Aesthetic Dialogues in Lawrence and Joyce
To consider a relationship between the aesthetics of Portrait and Sons and Lovers seems compelling since both novels portray their artists as young men, parallel in their turbulent growth, yet so very different in mind and heart. A more powerful relationship, however, juxtaposes Portrait not with Sons and Lovers but with Women in Love. Ursula's explosive response to Loerke's Lady Godiva appears also to embody Lawrence's rejection of Joycean aesthetics, at least as they find expression early on in Portrait. Lawrence's dismissal, through Ursula, of static art and the disinterested artist is noteworthy since he may have made it without ever having read Joyce's first novel. My presentation considers conflicting aesthetic discourse in Lawrence and Joyce, with primary focus on Women in Love and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I'll examine the choreography of such discourse as well as its content. Lawrence and Joyce possess opposing attitudes on art and express these attitudes as their characters dance in radically different styles and with radically different movements. Perhaps watching the dance will prove even more interesting than listening to the argument.