Modernism, Tradition and Modernity in Irish Fiction: James Joyce

The present article rereads James Joyce’s modernism against the backdrop of the Irish transition from tradition to modernity, thus pinpointing some of the difficulties in the critical discourse of the first half of the 20th century to label Joyce’s fiction. Joyce’s modernism is an expression of the limits of representation of an Irish modernity caught between the fidelity to tradition and the need for innovation.