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I was searching more blogs about James Joyce and to my surprise my blog appeared. I wanted to find other blogs that had been discussing "The Sisters" apart from what I had already read. It was a surprising, happy moment when my blog was the very first one on the page. Just had to share that moment of excitment!

"The Sisters" By James Joyce: Evolution of Secondary Sources

As a side note, if anyone has a better title I am all ears.

“The Sisters”

“There was no hope for me this time: it was my third stroke. Night after night I knew I was not long for this world. I kept waiting for the boy to come but he never did. I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t; I couldn’t.

My mind was; almost as clear as it had been before the incident. I believed it was God’s way of saying he forgave me; I wanted it to be. What I had done warranted no forgiveness. When Father O’Rourke left is when I felt the peace, the clarity in mind. It was when I knew I was not long for this world. I hoped heaven would receive me.”

Wait . . .stop . . . this is not James Joyce’s story! The short story “The Sisters” from the collection Dubliners is actually told from the point of view of an unnamed boy. This boy had been friends with a priest, Father Flynn who had just passed away. The boy had been waiting for his death but after the death the boy was didn’t know how to deal with death. He knew he was supposed to pay his respects but was afraid. The story is unique because Joyce does not give us all the information and leaves it to the audience to make conclusions.

So where does this other story come from? It is not written by James Joyce but by me. It is what we call fan fiction. There is a website dedicated to stories such as these, fanfiction.net. It is a site that people can recreate their own story based on another tale.

Researching in the digital age has changed rapidly over the last few years. The reason? It is because there are so many resources and information that we can look at by just using the Internet.

There are so many mediums to consume literature with and so many ways you can find and procure information about the literature you have read. It is not difficult to get online and type a question into the search engine. Within seconds your answer will appear and you will no longer be confused about the issue. Literary criticism is changing because of the digital age.

During my research of James Joyce and his book Dubliners I was no longer restricted just to the library. I had many forms to gather my information from. I would read blogs, go on forums, join discussions, and read fan fiction. These may not seem like official scholarly sources and these sources teachers usually don’t accept when writing a formal research paper.

Yet, these sources I was able to find out the same information, if not more, about James Joyce and Dubliners as if I had used official scholarly sources. The evolution of secondary sources is changing just as our modes of interpretation and ways of reading the text is changing. Secondary sources are changing from the formal to informal, from inactive to interactive, and from unsocial to social.

Maybe in formal writing secondary sources have remained relatively the same but informal secondary sources have sprung up everywhere today. People are writing blogs or joining forums to discuss the books that they have been reading. They are not scholars but some of them make the same points that scholarly papers do.

In my research I was able to contact several people about their readings of James Joyce. I felt like this was very useful in my research. One blog I came across was from a woman who actually lives in Ireland. It was interesting to see that her perspective on Dubliners changed as she spent more time in Ireland. She noted, just as James Joyce did, that people in Ireland do experience a sort of paralysis or at least a loyalty to their country and a reluctance to leave it.

These informal secondary sources raise the question of whether or not they are legitimate. Knowledge is not limited to what is inside our head any longer or what is on paper. It is so easy to find the information that we need. These sources are legitimate even if they don't have the stamp of scholarly attributes because they contribute. They contribute in an analytical, and social ways. We are part of a big collaborative world and most information is within easy reach.

Just as I did informal research I was able to find information I needed from the approved scholarly sources. In an article by James Sullivan, he writes about a friend of James Joyce, Padraic Colum, who assisted the author in publishing Dubliners.

James Joyce wrote about things he knew. His characters were often based on people he knew and he didn't hide that fact. That was one of the reasons why it was so hard to publish Dubliners and some of his other works. Another reason that he had a hard time getting his work published was because of the content. His stories were often a little inappropriate and made some people feel uncomfortable. James Joyce was creating something that had influenced his life, his time in Dublin. He was reproducing what he saw which is something we all do in an attempt at understanding.

Rob Tocalino remarks about James Joyce and his writing habits. James Joyce did not look kindly on the Dublin people. He wrote about situations and Dublin in a more negative light. Joyce believed that the people in Dublin were in a sort of paralysis, unable to really progress until they moved away from Dublin. The characters in his stories often wish to escape but few can really escape.

These sources helped me understand James Joyce and his stories just as blogs and forums did. I enjoyed my reading more when I was reading blogs than when I was reading articles. The article seems dead. The person who published it, I could try to contact, but it might seem pointless. However, on blogs and forums contact is encouraged.

We research and write to understand. When we read we try to interpret and understand the words on the page (or that we have listened to). In order to understand we research, whether it is informal or formal. After we have done research we then try to create or write. By following this process our thoughts are able to mature and grow.

Just as I created the fan fiction about “The Sisters” to understand the story, we all participate in creation. I tried to put myself in the priest’s shoes. Tried to imagine what it would feel like to be dying. After reading some blogs and forums I realized that perhaps the priest was dying because of a disease he had contracted. My version of the story may not be what James Joyce had intended but it allowed me to connect to the characters in a way that I had not before.

Secondary sources whether they are informal or formal help us in our reading process. The secondary sources are evolving and moving away from the scholarly. The information that is shared on these sites are not taking away from knowledge but helping it to grow because of the many minds that are now able to share and exchange information.

When writing a research paper about James Joyce blogs may be helpful to refer to just as a fan fiction story. These informal sources are interpretations of the text just like an article.

Works Cited

Sullivan, James P. "Padraic Colum's "James Joyce as a Young Man."" James Joyce Quarterly. Volume 45.3 (2008): 339-347. May 2008.

Tocalino, Rob. "James Joyce." Bookmarks 2011/05 2007: 14. Print.

Em, “Dubliners, by James Joyce.” C’est la Vie. January 9, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011. http://emeire.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/dubliners-by-james-joyce/#comment-1128.

The Change in Secondary Sources and Reading

I have heard it said that literary research is a way to put your thoughts down on paper to help them mature and grow. Well that is what my attempt right now it going to be so I apologize if my thoughts seemed scattered.

As I was thinking about the research I have been doing for James Joyce over the semester I realized a very important fact. Most of that research that I have done did not include very many ‘scholarly sources’. Until last week I don’t think I had gone to the BYU library’s website to look up anything. I was doing informal searches online.

My results I feel were just as good as if I were to look up more official sources. I came across several blogs and other websites that had put up their opinions and interpretations of James Joyce’s Dubliners.(The Chinese Jar, The Reading Life, Mr. Center's Wall)

Literary Criticism is changing because of the digital age. There are so many mediums to consume literature with and so many ways you can find and procure information about the literature you have read. It is not difficult to get online and type a question into the search engine. Within seconds your answer will appear and you will no longer be confused about the issue.

As I was searching for more information about what it meant to be Irish and more about James Joyce’s life I did not have a difficult time finding that information. There were sites dedicated to James Joyce (Ask About Ireland, Ask.com Classic Literature, The James Joyce Society, James Joyce Center. However, if I were to write a formal paper about James Joyce my teachers would not think a blog or some website was official enough to quote. I would then have to change my search and find what I was looking for in a more scholarly location, which always proved more difficult.

Maybe in formal writing secondary sources have remained relatively the same but secondary sources have sprung up everywhere today. People are writing blogs or joining forums to discuss the books that they have been reading. They are not scholars but some of them make the same points that a scholarly paper does. Secondary sources are changing from the formal to informal, from inactive to interactive, and from unsocial to social.

In my research I was able to contact several people about their readings of James Joyce. I felt like this was very useful in my research. One blog I came across was from a woman who actually lived in Ireland. It was interesting to see that her perspective on Dubliners changed as she spent more time in Ireland. She noted, just as James Joyce did, that people in Ireland do experience a sort of paralysis or at least a loyalty to their country and a reluctance to leave it. (C'est la Vie)

As we research our reading also changes. There are so many things that we can look at using the Internet. I found a video that incorporated two stories from Dubliners as well as someone’s creative story based on “Araby” (Link to Video, Link to story). After reading the story and watching the video I had a different perspective of the stories involved.

“Araby” is about a boy who is infatuated with his friend’s sister. He has elevated her in his head and thinks being in love is this great thing. He is so head-over-hills that he offers to go to the bazaar, Araby, for her to get a gift. To him this market possess a “magical name” as if he is on a quest to some magical place for the one he loves. His illusion his shattered when he arrives and he realizes as the story closes that he is “a creature driven and derided by vanity.” The story drops off there and we are left to wonder about the boy and what happened to him afterwards. Did he go back to his crush? Did he grow out of his boyhood fantasies?

The story that I came across a story about “Araby” answer some of those questions that I had. Jude Mai had written this story for an English class as an attempt to continue on the story. She had then published her story on a fan fiction website. Fanfiction.net or Fictionpress.net are two places that people can recreate or create their own story. These sites have enabled my reading of certain stories to alter and change. It gives the audience a fresh perspective on characters that they are familiar with and a chance to see how other people view and interpret the characters.

In Jude Mai's story our young hero was just returning from Araby. As he was leaving the train station he spots the girl that he was infatuated with in the arms of another man. Jude Mai writes of the boys heart being crushed. But then at the end of her story the boy declares that it no longer matters because he is in love with someone else. I think it is an interesting take on the story of "Araby." The boy continues to go through these fleeting feels for these girls as if going to the bazaar had elicited no change in him.

The evolution of secondary sources are changing our interpretations and reading of the text. Just as other forms or creation and recreation of those texts. Like Jude Mai's story has given me more to think about in the character of the boy, other sites have also answered questions and raised more questions. Knowledge is not limited to what is inside our head any longer. It is so easy to find the information that we need. The real question is are these sources legitimate? I believe that they are. They don't have the stamp of scholarly attributes but they still contribute. We are part of a big collaborative world and most information is within easy reach.

Dubliners

Dubliners by James Joyce

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There were stories that I enjoyed and stories that I did not get at all. James Joyce is an interesting and talented author. I love his work. As I tried to read Dubliners I tried to place myself in an Irishman's shoes. It was hard. I didn't really know the culture nor did I understand the time period. As I did some research I discovered more about James Joyce and in doing that I discovered more about the characters. Each story has layers of meaning. They can be applied to a variety of people.



I am not sure if I have a favorite in Dubliners but I have a few that continue to fascinate me and cause me to question its meaning. I really enjoyed "The Sisters", "Araby", and "Eveline". These stories were the ones that I wanted to know more about. At the end I was left with unanswered questions that caused me to go and look for the answers. If you are willing to take the time to understand James Joyce, you will learn a lot!



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Rainbow's End

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Although the ending left me hanging I think overall it was a pretty decent book. Sometimes I had a hard time picturing exactly what was going on so I was confused at some moments. However, I think that the ideas that are shared in Rainbows End are very important. I think we are facing some of the same issues today that Robert Gu is facing. We are all waking up from this almost coma into a world of change. We have so many different forms of consumption for literature that sometimes we forget what it means to read an 'actual book'. But then we also have to question what is reading? Does reading online count? Or does listening count? I think, perhaps, we will always have books but they may not be as readily available as they are today. Bookstores might disappear and we will be left with a virtual world much like Robert Gu's. We will need to adapt to the change or become obsolete.



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The Public Domain

The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not necessarily the book that I would pick up to read for fun but it contained lots of useful and at times interesting information. I think that James Boyle does a great job in engaging the reader. I found the best way to read his book was not to read it from front to back but to just jump right in the center and bounce around from there. It might have been that I was reading it in an online version so my attention span was not the longest.



He made some very good points on the public domain and where we should draw the lines on intellectual property and when we should allow people to have creative freedom. I really enjoyed the spots when he discussed how we often build upon the past. Music artists, or stories, or really any other form of creative work almost always has built upon an idea from the past. We are borrowing all the time. It is just interesting to think how much to too much borrowing and when can we keep sharing that information?





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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am not sure if I understood everything about the story. It was interesting to read and think about what it really means to be human. In the case of having a pet, does it really matter if the pet is real? Sometimes I feel that humans are less 'human' than androids could be. I think the question of what it means to be human is something that we constantly explore. As individuals we are striving to explore our own personality and identity. That is part of human nature. The fact that androids want to run away from their life seems to suggest that they possess human qualities as well but whether that means they are human or not is still left undecided. Philip K. Dick's world is not one that has easy answers. It is a very thought provoking book and for the most part I enjoyed it.



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