It is advisable to have good annotated editions of the primary texts. All the following editions have good introductions and notes.
Hardy, Thomas Jude the Obscure. Edited by Patricia Ingham. (Oxford: World’s Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008) [ISBN 9780199537020]. Contains explanatory notes.
Hardy, Thomas Jude the Obscure (New York: Norton, 1999)
[ISBN 9780393972788]. Contains criticism and notes.
Joyce, James A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Edited by John Paul Riquelme. (New York: Norton, 2007) [ISBN 9780393926798]. Contains criticism and notes.
Joyce, James A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Edited by Jeri Johnson. (Oxford: Worlds Classics, Oxford University Press, 2008)
[ISBN 9780199536443]. Contains explanatory notes.
Boumelha, Penny (ed.) Jude the Obscure: A Casebook. (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000) [ISBN 9780312227012].
Elvy, Margaret Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure: A Critical Study. (Maidstone: Crescent Moon Publishing, 2008) [ISBN 9781861711212].
Gifford, Don Joyce Annotated: Notes for Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982)
[ISBN 9780520046108].
Ingham, Patricia Thomas Hardy (Authors in Context). (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) [ISBN 9780199555383].
Kramer, Dale (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Hardy. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) [ISBN 9780521566926].
Riquelme, John Paul ‘Stephen Hero, Dubliners, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Styles of realism and fantasy’ in Attridge, Derek (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) [ISBN 9780521545532].
Seed, David James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (Hemel Hampstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf [Critical Studies of Key Texts series], 1992) [ISBN 9780312086008].
Wollaeger, Mark A. (ed.) James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A Casebook. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003)
[ISBN 9780195150766].
University of St Andrews site containing general information about Thomas Hardy’s life and works: http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/ttha/
University of St Andrews site containing information all about Thomas Hardy’s Wessex: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~bp10/wessex/index.shtml
Hypertext version of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from Imperial College London site: www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rac101/concord/texts/paym/
Online article about A Portrait from The Modernism Lab at Yale University: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man
Encyclopedia Brittanica entry which mentions A Portrait in relation to the bildungsroman and Künstlerroman genres: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/471360/A-Portrait-of-the-Artist-as-a-Young-Man
James Joyce Centre site: www.jamesjoyce.ie/
Comprehensive James Joyce site with biographical information, works and criticism: www.themodernword.com/joyce/joyce_works.html
This chapter has two purposes: to define the Bildungsroman and give you some guidelines for its study, and to provide a critical commentary on Jude the Obscure and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, two outstanding examples of the genre. The analysis of the texts will also show how the Bildungsroman has evolved from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.
The term comes from the German and it literally means ‘formation novel’; the Bildungsroman (Bildungsromane in the plural) gives an account of the development of a hero or heroine from childhood or early youth to maturity. Famous examples of the genre are Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werther, Flaubert’s L’Education sentimentale and Dickens’s David Copperfield and Great Expectations. The latter is on the syllabus of this subject: after you have read this chapter, look at Great Expectations and consider it as an example of a Bildungsroman. The Bildungsroman is concerned with its protagonist’s coming-of-age and deals with different stages of their development. The protagonist is often thoughtful and questioning of both the world and him or herself, and the book deals with his or her attempts to answer these questions. When the Bildungsroman is concerned with the formation of an artist, it can also be called Künstlerroman. Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (hereafter abbreviated as A Portrait) falls into this category, as it deals with the protagonist Stephen’s artistic coming-of-age.
Try to think of Jude the Obscure and A Portrait now in the terms outlined above: in what sense are these two novels Bildungsromane? The rest of this chapter will help you to answer this question more fully.
The way in which the protagonists are introduced in these novels is significant, both in terms of the fictional location and the language used. At the very beginning of Jude the Obscure the reader first encounters 11-year-old Jude lamenting the departure of his schoolmaster Mr Phillotson, who is leaving the village. Jude’s tears are referred to at several points, which sets the melancholic tone which is to pervade Jude’s life at every stage the reader encounters him. In comparison, the tone at the beginning of A Portrait is significantly more playful, in which the infant Stephen is introduced in appropriately infantile language: ‘Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down a long the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo…’. It is not immediately clear to the reader who is speaking; whether this is the narrator beginning the story in a particular style, or whether a character is speaking to an infant. This ambiguity is repeated a numerous points throughout the novel as Stephen grows up, and as his character develops, the style develops alongside him.
Activity
Think about the narrative tone and style of Jude the Obscure. How does it differ from A Portrait?
It appears that the tone in Jude the Obscure remains quite similar throughout; it is that of a seemingly detached narrator, telling Jude’s story from a third-person perspective. In A Portrait, however, the language shifts and develops according to Stephen’s character development; it mirrors the language he uses at each stage of his development from infancy, through childhood and adolescence to early adulthood. The narrative voice also shifts without warning or announcement in A Portrait so that we are presented with different narrative perspectives, which shift and blend into one another quite rapidly. Speech marks are omitted in dialogue, which forces the reader to pay close attention in order to detect who is speaking, and also makes the narrative seem more like a composite of voices rather than rigidly separated lines. Despite these differences, however, the tone of Jude the Obscure is emotive throughout the book, whereas A Portrait employs irony when depicting Stephen’s thoughts and feelings. In terms of the Bildungroman, a more traditional nineteenth-century perspective of the protagonist would be a sympathetic one, whereas a ‘modern’ one would problematise this by adding layers of irony.
Activity
How much are these distinctions upheld in these two novels? How much are they challenged?
The distance between the narrator’s perspective and the protagonist’s is very different if we compare the two novels: in Jude the Obscure, the narrator maintains a seemingly objective distance from which to tell the story. An extreme example of this distance comes at the beginning of the last chapter, in which the narrator addresses the reader directly with instruction on how to read the last chapter: ‘The last pages to which the chronicler of these lives would ask the reader’s attention are concerned with the scene in and out of Jude’s bedroom when leafy summer came round again’. There are no such examples of this direct address to the reader in A Portrait.
Activity
Why does Hardy choose to add this detail of metanarrative? What effect does it have on the reader?
The reader in effect gets further away from the perspective of Jude himself. Jude dies in this chapter, which leaves the end of the story to be told by the narrator and the story to brought to an end by the thoughts and words of Arabella. The difference between the end of Jude the Obscure and A Portrait in terms of narrative distancing is that we get closer to the thoughts and words of Stephen whereas we get further away from the thoughts and words of Jude. Towards the end of A Portrait the narrative becomes composed of extracts from Stephen’s notebook, which brings the reader so close to his own perspective that any exterior narration is unnecessary.
Activity
Which character do you feel most sympathetic towards? Does this change as the narratives progesses? Does this correspond in any way with the contrasting narrative distances?
There is a vast difference between the familial support offered to Jude and that which is provided for Stephen. Jude’s parents are dead and his aunt brings him up rather reluctantly. Among other things, this difference is reflected in the levels of education to which they are entitled. Both characters display a great desire for learning, although the young Jude cannot go to school in the daytime and can only attend the village night school. Despite this fact, he is so upset that Mr Phillotson the village schoolteacher is leaving that he is crying. The fact that Jude displays more enthusiasm and conscientiousness than some of the more privileged students who are granted a proper university education is referred to at several points in the book. Stephen, on the other hand, is well provided for and is able to attend school, although he appears extremely sensitive and much affected by his intense physical and mental experiences there.
Activity
How much happiness or satisfaction do Stephen and Jude get from their educational endeavours? What do both characters hope to achieve from their education, and do they achieve it?
Jude teaches himself Latin and Greek in order to go to university in Christminster, but it soon becomes apparent that the acquisition of these ancient languages is not sufficient in its own right to grant him entry into a college. There are financial issues which hold him back, and he is discouraged from applying by the dean of Christminster college.
Activity
Look at the scene in which Jude is drunk in a pub in Christminster, and is challenged to recite some Latin verses in exchange for whisky.
He knows the Latin and can recite it correctly, whereas the undergraduates also in the pub do not know themselves whether the words are correct or not. Jude is aware of this, and voices his bitter anger and frustration.
Activity
Compare this with the scene in which Stephen uses the word ‘tundish’ when talking to his dean of studies.
When Stephen uses this word to describe the funnel for pouring gas into a lamp, the dean, a ‘poor Englishman in Ireland’, does not know the word. Stephen feels he is being laughed at because of this word, and becomes defensive and offended. We learn from a diary entry later on that he looks up the word, only to find that it is ‘English and good old blunt English too’. Both characters are defensive and defiant when challenged; they wish to be proved right despite the fact that it matters little to anyone else.
Activity
These linguistic insecurities display Jude and Stephen’s insecurities, but are they insecure for the same reasons?
Both Jude and Stephen suffer from feelings of isolation, and both characters do things which set them apart from their peers as being unconventional. Jude is an idealistic and impractical dreamer; as a child when sowing seeds in the fields he is so struck by feelings of solidarity with the hungry birds that he does not carry out his task of scaring them off, and allows them to eat the seeds. He is beaten by the farmer for this action, and loses his job. Both characters spend a lot of time acting and reflecting alone. Jude does not appear to have any close relationships with others apart from his romantic relationships with Arabella and Sue; friendship is something he lacks. Even his relationships with Arabella and Sue demonstrate his inability to fit into one ‘category’ of human society. Arabella is selfish, pragmatic and sensual; she is a working-class woman of the village unconcerned by matters beyond financial survival and life enjoyment. Sue is extremely sensitive, neurotic and spiritual; she cannot bring herself to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, and tortures herself over her feelings for Jude. While being closer to the characteristics of Sue, Jude cannot manage to exist happily with either woman while struggling helplessly under the power of both.
Stephen seems at times to be disdainful of almost everyone and everything; he shrinks from human warmth and prefers his own internal speculations to any dealings with other human beings. His friend Cranly asks him towards the end of the book if he has ever felt love for another person, and he cannot name any person that he has felt a deep love for: he cannot even say truthfully that he loves his mother. Jude also seems to prefer his own company to any comradeship, but does not display the same sense of haughtiness as Stephen. Jude’s love for Sue is also so deep that he will do anything for her, and travels across the country when he is seriously ill in order to see her.
Stephen is also a sensitive character who appears to feel things more deeply than the other boys around him, and due to feelings of being different does not make friends easily. He does garner some acquaintances and friendships at university, and much of the latter part of the book is taken up with the intense philosophical and religious debates they engage in. Stephen’s interactions with others are, however, almost always serious debates rather than friendly camaraderie. There are a few moments when Stephen is struck by the warmth of a simple gesture of friendship, for example his friend Davin affectionately calling him ‘Stevie’. However, these moments are soon subsumed by Stephen’s more lofty and abstract thoughts. Stephen positions himself above his peers, making internal judgements and pronouncements and isolating himself in the process. Both characters share a general unease in their surroundings wherever they go, and aspire to transport themselves into alternative environments.
Activity
To what extent is Jude’s and/or Stephen’s isolation self-made?
Both characters leave their original locations out of choice, but does their deliberate self-exile make them happier? Jude longs to go to Christminster so that he can attend university; to him, the city symbolises everything he aspires to but cannot achieve because of his social class. He begins life in the village in Wessex, goes to Christminster and then returns to the village to die there. These two locations coincide with the two women in his life, local girl Arabella Donn and his cousin Sue Bridehead. He marries Arabella in the village, then when he moves to Chistminster he meets and falls in love with Sue, and once things go wrong with Sue and he is back in the village Arabella convinces him to come back to her. This movement is almost cyclical for Jude; he ends up where he started, and his spirit is crushed by the significance of this because he feels he has failed in his endeavour to better himself.
Activity
Where do you think Jude seems to be the happiest? Which woman does he seem the happiest with?
Activity
Compare and contrast the significance of religion for Jude in Jude the Obscure and for Stephen in A Portrait.
Religion plays an important part in the development of both Jude and Stephen. For Jude, his Christian faith is what he clings to and is tied up with his aspirations to better himself. For Stephen, the Catholic education he is born into represents an institution he begins to want to rebel against. Both Jude and Stephen consider the clergy, but Stephen turns away from this idea because he does not want to deny himself sensory or aesthetic pleasures. The middle part of A Portrait is taken up with Stephen’s religious awakening and subsequent dismissal. Stephen has what he thinks is a religious epiphany, in which he faces up to his sins, confesses them and then becomes supremely holy in all of his thoughts and actions. Again, the language reflects this development in his character; as he experiences what he identifies as a calling into priesthood, the narrative is punctuated by excerpts from the Latin mass and the narrative itself sounds like part of a sermon. ‘He knelt there sinless and timid; and he would hold upon his tongue the host and God would enter his purified body’. Like Jude, Stephen does not seem to be able to do things in moderation; once he has decided to deny himself any sensual pleasures, he goes too far and subjects his body to every single small deprivation or abstention he can think of. Ultimately, though, he realises that his approach is not wholly religious or pure; pride rather than piety motivates him, and eventually he turns away from the church towards more artistic and sensual matters. He considers priesthood only to reject it, knowing that he was not moved enough by his Jesuit teacher’s suggestion that he might enter priesthood. Instead, Stephen decides that artistic and philosophical speculation is where his strength lies.
Activity
Compare these religious and artistic ‘epiphanies’ with Jude’s musings. Does he gain a similar understanding of the importance of the senses?
Both Jude and Sue display elements of superstition. Sue dreads divine authority and retribution, and her neurotic nature eventually turns against her. Both Jude and Sue are worried about what they have been told regarding their family’s tendency to end in tragedy, and through the death of their children it is as if this superstition is proved right. Jude’s aunt warns him to stay away from Sue when he first goes to Christminster; not only is there a superstition about their side of the family coming to a tragic end, but Mrs Fawley also dislikes the fact that Sue lives in a ‘seed-bed of idolatry’ and may even be a ‘Papist’.
Activity
How is the Catholic Church represented in both novels?
Both Jude and Stephen develop a keen sense of self-symbolism, although Jude draws his from religion by calling himself a ‘poor Christ’ while Stephen’s is mythological; he ponders the implications of his surname and aligns himself with Daedalus, the ‘fabulous artificer’ from Greek mythology. The mythological figure of Daedalus brings a sense of artistic or writerly ‘craft’ very different from the occupation or ‘craft’ of stonemasonry which Jude sees as a necessary drudgery to fund his attempts at self-education. As an aside, the narrator comments that Jude’s particular trade would have been viewed as a more artistic or specialised craft in London – another sign that he is not quite in the right place and time to achieve all he wants.
Both Jude and Stephen problematise the political status quo in the trajectory of their stories, although the focus is somewhat different. Stephen Dedalus describes Ireland in A Portrait as ‘the old sow that eats her farrow’. Stephen’s relationship with his country is a complex one. He has a difficult time when he is questioned about his nationalism; his friend Davin says ‘In your heart you are an Irishman but your pride is too powerful’. Eventually he turns away from his home, his church and his fatherland, and his voice at the very end of the book seems to be defiant and jubilant, addressing again his mythological namesake: ‘Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead’.
Activity
In terms of the Bildungsroman, how important a role do you think his country plays in shaping Stephen’s identity? What other factors are at play?
The main difference between Jude and Stephen in terms of their social class is that Stephen is from a background that allows him an education, whereas Jude does not have this and has to work to support himself is his endeavours. He is ostracised by everyone for his attempts to become an intellectual; he is not accepted by the social class he is trying to escape from or by the class he is trying to join. Jude idolises Christminster and the world of knowledge that it represents to him, but he does not find out the particularities of how to actually apply to study at the university. Right at the end of his life Jude hears that ‘there are schemes afoot for making the University less exclusive’, which would help others in the same situation as him in the future. Rather than allow this fact to comfort him, however, he laments over how it is ‘too late, too late for me! Ah – and for how many worthier ones before me!’
Activity
How much does the reader sympathise with Jude’s lack of success in entering the university?
In comparison, despite the fact that the young Stephen is well provided for, in going to university he relinquishes financial support from his family. The end of the novel sees him struggling to support himself: in his own words, he is ‘ill clad, ill fed, louse eaten’. The fact remains, however, that due to his background he gets the education he craves for and subsequently is freed from the constraints of his upbringing and given the intellectual tools required to think philosophically for himself. Jude is not given this opportunity.
Jude says of himself and Sue: ‘Our ideas were fifty years too soon to be of any good to us’. While both Jude and Stephen seem to think that they are more advanced in their thinking than other people of their time, this is expressed in very different ways. The two characters have varying levels of success when they attempt to put their progressive thinking into action. Ultimately, Stephen is more successful than Jude in breaking away from convention, because he is given more support from early on in his life. Jude’s social and financial standing leads to the book’s tragic conclusion; his son, who has inherited the same deep-thinking sensitivity as Jude, has murdered his younger siblings and killed himself, leaving a note which says ‘Done because we are too menny’. The boy, who represents the combination of Jude and Sue’s neuroses and is named Little Father Time because of the prematurely old and wise look in his eyes, is so acutely aware of how he sees his position in society as a superfluous and unwanted human being that he ends his life and those of his siblings.
Activity
Do you think the reader is meant to pity Jude? Do you think his life decisions are presented as the wrong ones? What is the effect of ending the book on so sad a note?
By the end of this chapter and having read both the novels and the associated recommended critical reading, you should be able to: