Daria Vikonska’s Conceptual Model of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Dialogism of Literary Studies

Abstract

The article analyzes the critical work “James Joyce. The mystery of his artistic face”(1934) by the West Ukrainian writer and literary critic of 1920–30-ies Daria Vikonska, whose ideas about an outstanding Anglo-Irish writer correspond to contemporary critical discourse. It is stated that in analyzing J. Joyce’s “Ulysses” the writer applies psychoanalytic, receptive and intermedial approaches and traces such actual problems of contemporary humanities as nation, state, religious values and cultural traditions. Dialogic nature of Literary Studies has been chosen as a theoretical focus of analysis. It is shown that the system of dialogical interconnections is not only an artistic object of Literary Studies, but also the essential characteristics of a critical word about literature. Karl Popper’s thesis that the development of scientific knowledge should not be regarded as “a progressive, cumulative” process, because it requires constant revision and restructuring of theories is taken into account. The knowledge of world literary process is emerging in the interchange and interplay of critical approaches. In this “dialogical” perspective, the development of Ukrainian Literary Studies, including Ukrainian reception of Western modernism and works by James Joyce, is examined. It is shown that dialogism and Western European context of D. Vikonska’s statements about J. Joyce make it possible to consider her work as a fundamental one in national Literary Studies.