Hein, Christian
The Double Life of Issy Earwicker

Victorian Values in the Mirror of 'Finnegans Wake'.

Analyzing episodes of Finnegans Wake and discussing the public discourse of late Victorian society, this study shows how Issy's secret life makes her the parodic double of the ideal and virtuous bourgeois woman living up to the moral law of the father(s) - in constant danger of losing her identity. Joyce's use of grotesque and carnivalesque motifs in his satire of bourgeois morality, furthermore, plays a vital role in the interpretation of Issy's character and function in the Wake. Eventually, the question of identity and free will and their significance for Joyce's text (and for the modern individual in general) are investigated. 181 Seiten, broschiert (Epistemata. Reihe Literaturwissenschaft; Band 761/Königshausen & Neumann 2012) leichte Lagerspuren