The war is in words and the wood is the world : an ecocritical reading of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake

Abstract

"The war is in worlds and the wood is the world': An Ecocritical Reading of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake'' is the first work to attempt a comprehensive ecocritical reading of any of James Joyce's texts. This thesis approaches Finnegans Wake from a genetic perspective, using Joyce's notebooks, drafts and revisions, in addition to the final text of the Wake, to demonstrate Joyce's consistent interest in environmental themes, to explore the way in which these themes appear in the composition process, and to provide a more nuanced reading of Joyce's engagement with nature. Through this careful and detailed exegesis of Finnegans Wake's avant-texte, an irrefutable vision of Joyce's engagement with nature appears, laying the groundwork for future forays into Joyce and ecocriticism.