The Search for Meaning in Contemporary Life: A Study of a Central Theme in the Works of James Joyce and T. S. Eliot

Abstract

In this paper I shall discuss the search for meaning in contemporary life, a central theme that appears in the works of both T. S. Eliot and James Joyce. I shall begin my discussion by suggesting how the just-born individual's impressions of the life around him first fall into and out of a meaningful pattern. I will then consider an adult world in which life has apparently no order or meaning and suggest several possible reactions of the individual to this world. I will proceed to discuss the search for meaning and conclude with a "final synthesis" in which the fragments of life come together into some kind of meaningful pattern for the seeker. The substance and the illustrations of this discussion will be taken from a generous selection of the works of T. S. Eliot and James Joyce. My development of this theme will, I hope, make possible a fuller appreciation of the works of Eliot and Joyce. Granted: a discussion of ideas or theme has no more value in explaining the living work of an artist than bones can have for explaining the meaning of life. Nevertheless, an understanding of theme is, I think, the first step in the direction of the total experience in literature. [From Introduction]