The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.
James JoyceRead
History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects a struggle against the burdens of the past and a desire for awakening to a better reality.
James Joyceβs quote captures a profound sense of disillusionment with history, portraying it as a 'nightmare' that one wishes to escape. This idea suggests that the collective experiences and traumas of the past can weigh heavily on the present, and there is a yearning for enlightenment, clarity, and a fresh start free from historical burdens.
Themes
HistoryNightmareAwakeningDisillusionmentPast
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on historical trauma, I used this quote to emphasize the need to confront the past.
More from James Joyce
All quotes βI think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
James JoyceRead
If he had smiled why would he have smiled? To reflect that each one who enters imagines himself to be the first to enter whereas he is always the last term of a preceding series even if the first term of a succeeding one, each imagining himself to be first, last, only and alone whereas he is neither first nor last nor only nor alone in a series originating in and repeated to infinity.
James JoyceRead
Gentle lady, do not sing Sad songs about the end of love; Lay aside sadness and sing How love that passes is enough. Sing about the long deep sleep Of lovers that are dead, and how In the grave all love shall sleep: Love is aweary now.
James JoyceRead
I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.
James JoyceRead
The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside.
James JoyceRead
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Written language must be considered as a particular psychic reality. The book is permanent; it is an object in your field of vision. It speaks to you with a monotonous authority which even its author would not have. You are fairly obliged to read what is written.
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