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2. The Struggle for Confession in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- University of Michigan Press
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2 THE STRUGGLE FOR CONFESSION IN A PORTRAIT OFTHE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN The major role of ordering forces in Dubliners is considerably reduced in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and disappears from Joyce’s writing from Exiles onward. Their impact, however, is still palpable in A Portrait’s depiction of the effect of Stephen’s parental home as the quasi-material ordering force of continuous decline from which Stephen attempts to ›ee by reading The Count of Monte Cristo, an attempt that is just as futile as that of the boy in “An Encounter” to escape his environment by reading. With the same aim and result, Stephen establishes a short-lived de facto counterorder reminiscent of his father’s squandering lifestyle (“a breakwater of order and elegance,” P 2.134–35) when he wins the school exhibition and essay prize. In addition, for a certain length of time the religious and political orders play a role for Stephen, to the extent to which he wishes to protect himself from their manipulative “voices” (P 2.838–58). Primarily, however, A Portrait integrates the struggle against orders into rhythms of plot and style1 so that the fundamental tension inherent in the struggle against the power over life comes to light. In the novel, the resulting dominance of the power over life is illustrated most vividly by Parnell’s fall: his “immoral” liaison with Kitty O’Shea provokes his loss of power, driven by the religious order but manifested on the political level. It is, however, a profane desire to discuss the sexual affair that turns it into a scandal and ultimately sets this course of events in motion. Corresponding to this priority, the Christmas dinner scene gears Parnell’s fall to the church’s transformation of his sex into discourse outside the sacramental domain.2 The same priority of confession dominates Joyce’s use of the Jesuit religious order and its members in A Portrait. Granted, the cash register metaphor from “Grace” resurfaces in the novel (P 4.36), and the Jesuits are 29 rooted in the context of the material order, as evidenced both by the importance of school fees (2.391ff.) and by the idea of gaining career advantages through Jesuit connections (2.407–10).3 Moreover, the authoritarian school order of Clongowes Wood College is put in place and enforced by Jesuits. However, religion plays its most prominent part at both the school and Belvedere College when the sex of the pupils is being monitored and discussed. As seen by Foucault, the Jesuits made their major historical contribution when they spearheaded the movement to intensify procedures for confession and penance during the Counter Reformation, thereby elevating the importance of sex in the confessional (HS I 19–21). A Portrait projects this de‹nitive Jesuit role into the present time of the text. For the analysis of A Portrait it is helpful to refer to various works within Joyce’s text in progress, including the pre-texts Stephen Hero and the essay “A Portrait of the Artist” as well as earlier epiphanies, some of which the author revives in the novel.4 The Practice of Confession Confession exerts an in›uence on the plot of A Portrait as great as that of the Eucharist, which has often been foregrounded by scholars with reference to “The Sisters.” The sacrament of penance is a decisive factor in shaping Stephen’s attitude toward the vocation of the priesthood. Here the text reveals both the tactical ‹nesses of the power over life and the mechanism of the production of sexuality, which culminates in Stephen’s retreat,5 leads to his temporary religious fanaticism, and continues in the con›ict with his mother. Finally, A Portrait also makes reference to the vital importance the will to knowledge holds for the relationships between Stephen and his friends and schoolmates. the ideology of confession In an early episode, the narrator of A Portrait describes Stephen’s interest in the farmers who attend church in Clongowes Wood and his memory of a story related by a fellow pupil about the village of Clane, where he had seen a farmer’s wife holding a child. This scene portends the parallel story, told later by Davin, of a “half undressed” farmer’s wife standing in a doorway , which reminds Stephen of Clane (P 5.217ff.). The eroticism of this nexus is con‹rmed by Stephen’s childlike thought that he would enjoy spending a...