Abstract  James Joyce is the central figure of western modernism literature. His Dubliners was created in its infancy of modern Western literature, when people widely accepted traditional novel so could not well understand the profound aesthetic meaning embodied in Dubliners. However, with the development of literary criticism of Joyce, the artistic and aesthetic values of Dubliners was gradually recognized by many critics. This paper aims at analyzing the aesthetic thoughts embodied in Dubliners, discussing the embodiment of the two aspects of aesthetic elements “wholeness” and “harmony” both in the framework and the theme. Then the author attempts to explore the highest stage of “radiance” which is defined by Joyce as “epiphany”, and summarize the formation and development of Joyce’s aesthetic thoughts.54465

Keywords: Dubliners ; aesthetics; wholeness; harmony; radiance

摘 要 詹姆斯·乔伊斯是西方现代主义文学的核心人物。《都柏林人》创作于西方现代主义文学的萌芽期，当时的人们颇受传统小说的影响,多数人还不能理解这部作品里面所包含深刻的美学意义。随着乔伊斯批评的不断发展,众多评论家将目光投向了都柏林人中蕴含的创作艺术和美学思想。本文旨在分析《都柏林人》中所体现的其美学思想,重点探讨了“完整”和“和谐”这两个美学要素在《都柏林人》的框架结构和主题意蕴方面的集中体现，随后分析了审美的最高阶段“光彩”，揭示了乔伊斯所指的“顿悟”，最后梳理出乔伊斯的美学思想的形成与发展。

毕业论文关键词：《都柏林人》；美学思想；完整；和谐；光彩

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Wholeness of Dubliners 3

3.1 Wholeness of setting 3

3.2 Wholeness of structure 4

4. Harmony of Dubliners 5

4.1 Harmony of style 5

4.2 Multiple layers of themes 6

5. Radiance of Dubliners 7

5.1 Aesthetics of epiphany 8

5.2 Epiphany of Dubliners 9

6. James Joyce’s Aesthetic Theory 9

6.1 The background 10

6.2 Joyce’s beauty 12

7. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882-1941) is an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-grade of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer’s Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, perhaps most prominently the stream of consciousness technique he perfected. Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). 

Joyce’s first short story collection Dubliners was created during 1904 to 1907. The publication of Dubliners faced various ups and downs. It was almost throttled because it was allegedly blasphemous and discredited some Irish politicians and clergy. Nevertheless, with the development of the modern literature and the continuous improvement of the level of literary criticism, the artistic quality and aesthetic value of Dubliners owned more and more critics’ affirmation and support .