An Exordium to a Promise

Abstract

ABSTRACT. James Joyce's fine shades of philosophy have been neglected in recent times, especially when it comes to fill either epistemological or ontological lacuna in taxonomy as to whereabouts of his canon. Epistemology and ontology are a couple of the core areas of philosophy. Since mirroring cognitive and post-cognitive questions in postmodern literature may invite a rereading of potential authors, a historiography of "theory of knowledge" and ontological nuances is reviewed in this paper not to represent literary examples, but to mind a hiatus in descriptive poetics. The idea is that Ulysses and Finnegans Wake gesture differently in their philosophical 'dominance'. Analyzing the philosophical borders of the realm, it is sought to consult with literary critics beside canonical authors who dissected their mind in epistemology just to propound an initial disquisition about a novelist who never wanted his works to be prescribed by simple bounds due to their literary nature. This paper may be useful to those who pursue any link between literature and philosophy, specifically those who are willing to know more about postmodernist philosophical concerns of literature. PROLOGUE"Theology doubtless has its place; and I suppose Joyceology has its place…" (Huddleston, Back to Montparnasse) Literature is rooted in philosophy. The philosophical background of a literary masterpiece never fails to enrapture readers young and old. Since sieving one into other is the most fruitless direction one might take to serve each drastically, backing up a historiography of the overlapping nuances seems to be a helpful trend toward both sciences. Epistemological and ontological standpoints between high modernism and postmodernism creates a gap between Ulysses and Finnegans Wake with the consequence of leaving the latter realistically unreadable and the former devoid of a claim to be perceived idealistically. Lack of a close look in this respect, until present time, expects a body of research, done specifically to conclude whether studying the development of knowledge versus a speculative universal definitions of being responds an acceptable clarification of the aforementioned gap or not.The purpose of this paper is an introduction to count Ulysses as a modernist fiction and Finnegans Wake as a postmodernist one whereas Brian McHale's hypothetical opinion for the epistemologicality of the former and the ontologicality of the latter as their concern of understanding suggests to follow a philosophical approach towards both modernism and postmodernism. Push epistemological questions far enough and they "tip over" into ontological questions. By the same token, push ontological questions far enough and they tip over into epistemological questions-the sequence is not linear and unidirectional, but bidirectional and reversible (McHale Postmodernist 11). There are two distinct types of research questions concerning this study. The first set of questions are wholly epistemological ones, such as: "how can I interpret this world of which I am a pa...