Postcolonial consciousness in James Joyces A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man There has been much critical work on Joyce

on various aspects of his writing. It can be noticed that most of the responses on Joyce earlier focussed on him as an apolitical writer and as being important primarily in terms of the aesthetic dimension. In recent times however there seems to have been much interest in Joyce in terms of a more radical political and even as a powerful postcolonial voice. The critic Christine van Boheemen-saaf in an impressive analysis of Joyces works calls his writing the mimesis of loss and uses a term coined by some other critics in another context art of trauma. I would like to argue here that to dismiss Joyce as apolitical is hugely dissatisfying and inadequate. Joyces novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man focuses heavily on the issues of language, identity and even nationalism and postcoloniality although he does not seem to endorse the nationalistic point of view. However Joyces understanding of the issue of Irish nationalism, although certainly pessimistic is at the same time quite complex and radical. One of the most important ways in which the text deals with identity is through religion. The novel charts a very what would seem a sustained and deliberate and detailed critique of religion. In this context it might be useful to turn our attention to the Christmas scene when Mr Casey and Mr Dedalus(Stephens father) quarrel with Dante. This quarrel is about King Parnell who was betrayed by the church by being branded an adulterer. This scene apparently has a deep impact on the Young Stephen and he continues to have pessimistic views about the nationalist revival of Irish language and culture till the very end. The force of nationalism from which seemed to have arisen so much hope had been dashed and the institution of religion had been responsible for it provoking Mr Dedalus to say to Dante, No God for Ireland! We have had too much of God in Ireland. Away with God. Mr Dedalus even calls the Irish a priestridden Godforsaken race and yet he sends Stephen to Jesuit schools. The nationalistic struggle seems to have been traumatic. Indeed much of the ire and irony of the novel from now on focus more on the institution of religion than on nationalism although Joyce or Stephen in the novel might seem to be more easily dismissive about nationalism. He gradually becomes more and more irreverent and nihilistic. This seems to be about the cultural struggle that Joyce seems to be trying to formulate and put into practice. Religion, family as well as nationalism are all seen as fetters by Stephen and yet the text of the novel at several instances grapples with the themes of cultural struggle even if through the English language. In a remarkable essay titled Joyce, Derrida, Lacan and the trauma of history the critic Christine van Boheemen-saaf has talked of the radical postcolonial stance adopted by Joyce in the novel. Boheemen-Saaf says In the case of an Irish writer growing up with English as his first language, the aspiring artist is forced to allude allegorically, and in the sermo patris of the oppressors language, to what can never be voiced with immediacy: the loss of a natural relationship to language, the lack of interiority of discourse and coherent selfhood. The critic goes on to say that the importance of Joyce in the twentieth century is not limited

to the realm the aesthetic can only be demonstrated by going outside it. Now lets us take a look at the postcolonial elements depicted in the novel. The scene in which Stephen is asked by some of his friends to sign a testimonial which is inspired by the ideas of socialism which he does not sign, is one of the most important. When MacCann calls Stephen a reactionary for being not signing it Stephen says that he should not expect him to be impressed when you flourish your wooden sword. It is not that Stephen is completely indifferent about their views but seems to think them naive. That is why later while trying to appease MacCann soon, he says, politely that My signature is of no account..You are right to go your way. Leave me to go mine. The use of such words as socialism, universal peace and universal brotherhood seem naive and falsely optimistic about it because the pitiable state of Ireland does not seem to warrant it. According to Boheemen-saaf, caught in the web of history, Joyces characters as well as their author keep repeating the symptomatic expression of their condition to tell us, by indirect means, not about their deliverance but about the repressed historical condition which occasioned their imprisonment. In this sense Joyce does not simplify his own dilemma into a escapism or naive optimism of the kind Stephen thinks is displayed by some of his friends especially that of Davin whom he seems to like but thinks innocent. He further says that Joyces oeuvre does not communicate meaning directly but may generate meaning in receptive minds. In the sense that Lyotard discusses modernism and postmodernism vis-a-vis realism in his essay Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism? he is not like the realist writer who in the name of realism or identifiable themes which is easy for an audience to identify with. Joyces texts including this one does not lend itself to interpretation so easily. He points out that according to recent discussion on the issue one Robert Welch has said that Ireland and Irish culture is still divided even today in terms of contemporary responses to its colonial history and that it was for centuries displaced by English culture. The result of this situation has been that two main and conflicting views arises out of this situation. One view sees the growth of an activist kind of political struggle and privileging of the Irish language over the very dominant culture of English as the most important and even the only way of undoing the harm done by British rule and to regain cultural pride. The other almost opposite view is a rather escapist one which advocates a pragmatic acceptance of the English language instead of Irish. In short, the contrary reaction is to forget the past and wish to build a new successful future for Ireland which in cultural terms can be done through writing in English. Van boheemen-saaf says that most critics have placed him in the second category. But we can see from Joyces writings that he repeats history again and again. This happens in the portrait too. The theme of postcolonialism or Irish history and nationalism returns again towards the end. When his nationalist friend Davin tries to talk to him on this issue Stephen appears rather dismissive and Davin says that, I cant understand you. One time I hear you talk against English literature. Now you talk against the Irish informers.. . Stephen is himself

shown to be feeling a pain of the postcolonial kind when he says about why he wont write in Irish or learn the language that his ancestors threw off their language and took another..They allowed a handful of foreigners to subject them it is clearly also this pain and hopelessness that make him go away from home into exile. Van Boheemen-saaf also says that most modernist critics place Joyce as an internationally oriented modernist genius. He makes a radical point that the fact that Joyce was modern and metropolitan seems to have been strategic and does not reflect only his aesthetic point of view. Therefore although he wrote in English he did so at a moment when the English language, although the language of the oppressor, was certainly the language in which his claustrophobic testimony would be most likely to be heard worldwide. The domination through language is a common fact of so many developing countries although the condition of regional or native languages might not be as bad as it was in the time of Joyce in Ireland. It might be mentioned that one of the most powerful books to be written on postcolonialism, Franz Fanons book, The Wretched of the Earth was also written in French - a not so natural language for him to write in. Ultimately many would agree that Joyce might have achieved more for the cause of Irish nationalism in his indirect way through writing in English in a radical way.