Abstract
E. L. Doctorow's novel-memoir World's Fair (1985), is influenced by James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1917). Both novels portray the normal life of their protagonists before they choose an artistic life. One of the similarities of the two novels is the frequent use of wet/dry imagery and its relation to water imagery. In each novel the images of wetness and water, are developed uniquely to prepare their protagonists for their moments of revelation and lead them towards an artistic life. This article seeks to prove that although World's Fair is influenced by the Portrait, in each of these novels wetness and water imagery serves a different purpose. While both Stephan and Edgar make a decision by the end of the novel, each one represents a different kind of artist from the other one. Thus, the different patterns with which the water imagery is represented throughout their plots, serve as a means to lead their protagonists to their separate personal revelations.
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