This essay attempts to examine how Joyce materializes the stream of life. We use the notions of parallax and peristalsis, forming the process of life. Although the two notions appertain to different categories, such as perspective and movement, they can combine to represent the physical principle that difference leads to movement. In a Bloomesque idea of life, the difference between perspectives causes perceptions to change into another phase, which forms movement. Stream follows. Bloom goes through the Joycean Lebenswelt of religion, family, and politics. He reveals that ambivalent perspectives exist with regard to priests, wives, and politicians. In his mental process, they lead to a disappearance or an absence of God, woman, and Messianic leader respectively, leaving a space for another appearance. It signifies the peristaltic movement of perspectives. While such a movement continues, life flows with consecutive disappearances and appearances of beings. Such a stream of life corresponds to history. Based upon afore-mentioned idea of history, some critics say Joyce proclaims disorder and presents nihilism in irrational order. But the stream of life, however gloomy it appears, proves a Bloomesque idea of mature life with toleration of disorder and nihilism. Since the toleration allows differences between perspectives, its resulting movement ensures the continuation of history. |