The word "epiphany", literally meaning "to manifest", is originally a biblical term, referring to the feast commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the pagans. , often called the "Magi", generally celebrated on January 6, or Twelfth Night. On this day, there is a religious festival celebrating the coming of the “three kings of the East” to worship the baby Jesus. The word is, however, adapted by James Joyce to encompass his artistic vision, expressed first in the preface to "Dubliners", then defined in more detail in "Stephen Hero", his first autobiographical story, almost destroyed by him, and then published in fragment form after his death. In “Stephen Hero,” Stephen, preparing a book of epiphanies, tells us that “by epiphany he meant a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind he -even. He believed that it was up to the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, because they themselves are the most delicate and ephemeral moments.” An epiphany, in Joyce's sense, "shows" the full reality of what is seen and observed, but not in a logical and analytical form. Reality appears to the mind in a flash of inspiration, triggered by an ordinary conversation or incident. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayAll of Joyce's writings, including his early writings like "Chamber Music" or "Dubliners", are meant to consist of a series of epiphanies. What makes “A Portrait of the Artist” different from these is that before the publication of “A Portrait,” Joyce’s works consisted of mostly isolated epiphanies. "A Portrait" is the first work that incorporates a sequence of linked epiphanies into the form of a coherent narrative, although in this novel he nowhere refers to "the epiphany" by name. It only illustrates its use not only as a significant literary technique, but also as an important philosophical concept, which would later become not only the cornerstone of Joyce's mature works, but also of modernism in general. In Joyce's practice, the term actually has two meanings: first, the epiphany reveals the truth, the intrinsic essence of a person or something that is observed; and second, that it is a state of mind, of heightened spiritual ecstasy, which he calls "the memorable phase of the mind itself." The first emphasizes the object, the reality of which is revealed by an epiphany; the second places the emphasis on the observer, for whom the epiphany may be a state of heightened awareness. As such, knowledge becomes something subjective and intuitive, and no longer simply a rational process. In fact, as Joyce's brother Stanislaus recounts, epiphanies can also include dreams, since Joyce, taking inspiration from Freud, viewed dreams as a subconscious recasting of everyday reality. Both meanings can be illustrated in the different episodes of “A Portrait”. Regarding the first meaning, with the emphasis being on the object, a good example would be this incident in Chapter II, where Stephen's romantic image of cows grazing in a forest The setting receives a jolt when it is visit to Stradbrook. The striking details of the "dirty cow shed", with its "green puddles and piles of liquid manure and its smoking troughs"1, remind him of the distinction between his idealistic vision of cows (symbolizing his country Ireland) and environmental dirt. reality. An epiphany with its second meaning also occurs in thesecond chapter, when Mr. Dedalus, Stephen's father, reveals what is evidently seen by Stephen as some kind of betrayal on the part of the rector of Clongowes, Father Conmee. He had wonderful ideas of his own heroism when he complained to the rector about having been unjustly “pandied” by the prefect of studies, Father Dolan. This larger-than-life view of himself is brutally shattered when his father returns home and relates the incident of his meeting with the rector in Dublin, when the rector spoke of the child Stephen in the following terms: "I told them all about it at dinner and Father Dolan and I and we all laughed heartily together. he. Ha! Ha! Ha!"2. Epiphanies like these are not only used to bring about a sudden awareness of the truth in the hero, but also in the reader. Another epiphany is the ecstasy of the spirit that Stephen experiences after retirement, when his soul realizes that it can still be saved by repentance. An example of "a sudden flash of insight" occurs in the fourth chapter, when Stephen almost acquiesces to the offer. priesthood of the director, suddenly sees a quartet of young men dancing and singing on the road. The very color of their clothes, their melodious music, their dance steps and their simple pleasure are brought to Stephen's mind, in a flash of light. insight, their contrast with the colorlessness, coldness and absence of emotion of the priesthood, and make him realize in an instant that the priesthood will not be his vocation, even if he was attracted to this profession from his childhood Often these two meanings coincide in the same moment of intense ecstasy – as in the most beautiful epiphany of the novel in the conclusion of chapter IV – the photo of the young girl wading in the sea – “A girl stood before him at the. in the middle of the current, alone and still, looking out to sea. She looked like someone who had been transformed by magic into the image of a strange and beautiful seabird........ She was alone and still, looking at the sea; and when she felt his presence and the adoration of his eyes, her eyes turned to him in sweet suffering of her gaze, without shame or wantonness. »3. In an instant, the girl becomes for him the embodiment of the beauty of art, and in a flash of insight Stephen recognizes her artistic vocation. His “enchantment of the heart” is clearly expressed in his wild joy and ecstatic language. The two aspects of the epiphany come together to bring the fourth chapter to its rapturous climax. On the other hand, due to its subjective nature, an epiphany can also be unreliable, as we see in Chapter III, when, after retirement, Father Arnall's lectures manage to convince Stephen that his only correct path is to repent and return to the Church. In Chapter IV, this acceptance is rejected and he realizes his madness through an epiphany. Epiphany also has a deeper, more philosophical meaning – concern for time; and Stephen himself draws attention to this point in his diary towards the end of the novel: "The past is consumed in the present, and the present lives only because it generates the future"4. Clearly, Stephen's point is that each moment is the cumulative product of past decisions and actions and that it gives rise to the future by the same process. A good example of this is the revelation on the tram, when, while standing with Emma on the tram steps, he remembers his times spent on "the hotel grounds" with Eileen. This moment also anticipates the future, because not only will he remember it later, but also because it will unconsciously influence his later life, when Emma will become an archetype of feminine virtue and unattainable sexuality. This is embodied in the present.231.