Joycean Constellations: "Eveline" and the Critique of Naturalist Totality

Abstract

At first glance, Joyce's "Eveline" seems to share a great deal with naturalist works such as Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets . A careful comparison of the two texts, however, reveals Joyce's emphasis on ambiguity whereas Crane presents determinism, thus crafting an aesthetic form that preserves the agency of its working-class subjects. Through "Eveline," we can see Joyce developing his own work out of a critique of naturalism's totalizing form, a realization that helps further our understanding of Joyce's developing aesthetic practices.