Talk:Two Gallants (short story)

"James Joyce"

James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882 in a respectable suburban town in Dublin. He was the oldest surviving son of his parents, John and Mary (May) Joyce. His family was associated with radical politics movements including his grandparents' affiliation with Whiteboys and the Catholic Emancipation movement. In addition, Joyce's father was a supporter of the Irish Nationalist Party under Charles Stewart Parnell. Subsequently, James was able to attend Clongowes Wood School in Ireland, one of the most distinguished Catholic schools in the country. However, Joyce's education at Clongowes lasted only as long as Parnell's life. In 1891, the same year as Parnell's death, Joyce's father pulled him from Clongowes because he was unable to pay tuition.

Joyce briefly attended the Christian Brothers School which allowed him a scholarship education at Belvedere. The years spent at Belvedere are considered some of the most controversial and influential periods in Joyce's life as this was when he lost his religion and had his first sexual encounter at 14-years old when he was accosted by a prostitute. Many point to Joyce's first sexual experience as an answer to the way Joyce defined the rest of his sexual experiences: an "an ambiguous mixture of furtiveness, fascination and shame." The combination of education, his sexual awakening, and his growing skepticism with the physical needs of the body versus the Catholic sermonizing for social and moral repression. Where his doubts with Catholicism increased, he filled the void with art in the form of prose.

In 1902, Joyce left Ireland to study in Paris and only returned briefly because of his mother's terminal illness in 1903. Joyce met his wife and began writing Dubliners shortly thereafter. Due to the scandalous nature of "Two Gallants" and many of the other short stories contained in Dubliners, the book of short stories remained unpublished until 1914.

MccBraun (talk) 22:49, 16 February 2015 (UTC)McCauley BraunMccBraun (talk) 22:49, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Context

Two Gallants was written in early 1906. Joyce felt Two Gallants was one of the most important stories in the book. “I would rather sacrifice five of the others (which I could name) than this one. It is the story (after "Ivy Day in the Committee Room") which pleases me most,” Joyce wrote to publisher Grant Richards.

Guglielmo Ferrero influenced Joyce’s idea of gallantry through his portrayal of younger officers in the king’s army in Paris at the time. He wrote: ‘these officers, being short of money to pay for the dissolute lives they were leading, tried, nearly all of them, to become the lovers of rich middle-class ladies, getting money out of them for the honour they conferred on these ladies by condescending to make them their mistresses’. Joyce uses these ideals to structure contemporary Dublin in his short stories. Gallantry is less of a romantic notion and embodies bribery among other vices.

The Harp These fallen ideals in relation to Ireland are portrayed through the harpist in the story. The harp was the National instrument of Ireland. The music ignited so much patriotism that it threatened the English. Joyce uses its presence in the story to demonstrate the rise and fall of Irish pride. The harp is considered a feminine instrument. It is also criticized that Joyce used the harp in association with Ireland to represent the oppression of women. Ireland is considered a female counterpart to the masculine England. The oppression of women through prostitution and Corley taking money from the woman he pursues is comparable to England taking advantage of Ireland. Cwjone03 (talk) 17:33, 16 February 2015 (UTC)Claire Jones

References