All posts by James McAdams

The Failed Revolts of Stephen Dedalus: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Nietzschean Self-Overcoming

by James McAdams, Lehigh University

In Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce portrays Stephen Dedalus as an ambitious, rebellious, and cultural critic hostile to his native Ireland’s naïve convictions in religion, language and family.  In these ways, Stephen, at least superficially, endorses and aims to follow Nietzsche’s model of der Ubermensch, or philosopher of the future, who will escape nihilism by creating his own identity and his own meaning through art.  During the time Portrait was composed, Nietzsche was incredibly popular among the youthful artists of Dublin, and Joyce, as has been demonstrated in many passages in The Dubliners, was foremost among them in his admiration of Nietzsche.  Continue reading The Failed Revolts of Stephen Dedalus: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Nietzschean Self-Overcoming

“Now is the Time for Me to Win”: Social Dysfunction and “The New Sincerity” in the Works of George Saunders

by James McAdams, Lehigh University

Over the past two decades, the central conceit at the heart of George Saunders’ work has remained the same: to re-introduce values of compassion and sincerity to American literature.  Often he does this by placing resentful antiheroes in bizarre narrative positions where they must learn to appreciate the singularity of all humans. This impulse associates Saunders with “The New Sincerity,” a loose assemblage of writers who have turned their backs on postmodern irony and cynicism. In this essay, I analyze one short story, “Winky,” to demonstrate Saunders’ rhetorical strategies and their connection to The New Sincerity.

Download James McAdams’ article ““Now is the Time for Me to Win”: Social Dysfunction and “The New Sincerity” in the Works of George Saunders” as a PDF file (823 KB)

Continue reading “Now is the Time for Me to Win”: Social Dysfunction and “The New Sincerity” in the Works of George Saunders