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Stephen Dedalus was wrong.
One must have at least one
friend with whom one
can connect, in order
to do the work
of the artist.
It is not exile but
community the artist
needs; with a dialogue one
is less likely to fall into error,
give up in
frustration,
be overcome by
the loneliness.
The artist not
connected to a
community sees
the world
differently. And
misses the
point.
For those of you not familiar with James Joyce, Stephen Dedalus is the name of the protagonist in Portrait of the Artist
as a Young Man.
Incidentally, for those of you who are studying James Joyce and particularly Portrait of the Artist, this poem is not
a literary review. It is not a comment on Joyce or the character of Stephen Dedalus, but rather on the mistaken idea, common
to modern western literary and artistic tradition, that artists (novelists, poets, what-have-you) have to isolate themselves
from the world and have no obligation to their communities. So if you have a problem with my use of Dedalus as a stand-in
for that, just read the poem without the first line.
You don't need to bother trying to correct me on my interpretation.
Personally I am long past caring about James Joyce OR Stephen Dedalus.
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