James Joyce and Lu Xun----- Ulysses and Gu XiangAbstractJames Joyce and Lu Xun respectively represent the summit of western Irish literature and eastern Chinese literature in the 20th century. They have never met each other all their lives, and they have possessed different cultural background, ideological consciousness and spiritual belief. However, they have some common in thinking structure, and they all have the superior sensibility and discernment that common people are not able to match. Their works are similar at the aspects of themes, aesthetic sense and the origin of material. Through comparing the similarities of James Joyce’s Ulysses and Lu Xun’s Gu Xiang, we can know about these two writers from different point of views.Key words: James Joyce; Lu Xun; Ulysses; Gu Xiang詹姆斯·乔伊斯和鲁迅-----《尤利西斯》和《故乡》摘要詹姆斯·乔伊斯和鲁迅各自代表二十世纪西方爱尔兰文学和东方中国文学的顶峰。

虽然他们一生从未见过，他们拥有各自不同的文化背景，思想意识和精神信仰，但是他们在思维结构上却有共同之处，他们拥有这常人不能及的出众的感受力和洞察力，他们的作品在主题，素材来源和审美观等方面都有相似之处。

通过对詹姆斯·乔伊斯的尤利西斯和鲁迅的故乡的相似之处进行比较，我们可以从不同的角度更好的了解这两位作家。

关键词：詹姆斯·乔伊斯；鲁迅；《尤利西斯》；《故乡》ContentsAbstract (I)摘要 (II)Chapter 1 Introduction (1)Chapter 2Comparison of James Joyce and Lu Xun (2)2.1 The critical spirit of James Joyce and Lu Xun (2)2.2 The lonely sense of James Joyce and Lu Xun (2)2.3. The explorative spirit of James Joyce and Lu Xun (3)Chapter 3 Conclusion (4)References (5)Chapter 1 IntroductionJames Joyce is an Irish novelist and poet, considered as one of the most influential writers in the modernist pioneer of the early 20th century. His best known book is Ulysses. In his early twenties he emigrated permanently to continental Europe. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe does not extend beyond Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there.Ulysses chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day. Ulysses' stream-of-consciousness technique, careful structuring, and experimental prose—full of puns, parodies, and allusions, as well as its rich characterisations and broad humor, made the book a highly regarded novel in the Modernist pantheon. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Ulysses first on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.Lu Xun is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century and considered as the leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun's works exerted a very substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement. Lu Xun's works were translated into English at the beginning of the 1960s. The scholar Jeffrey Wasserstrom said that The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun could be considered as the most significant Penguin Classic ever published."Gu Xiang is a piece of Wandering, mainly describes the changes of Run Tu and Yang Ersao, which reflects the fact that people live a painful life under the oppression and exploitation of feudalism and imperialism. It also expresses the author’s strong displeasure of the reality and the hope of reforming the old society.Chapter 2 Comparison of James Joyce and Lu Xun2.1 The critical spirit of James Joyce and Lu XunJames Joyce and Lu Xun were both born at the beginning of the 1880s. They all encountered the declination of family and the turmoil of society during their growing processes. With falling into the dilemma of family’s poverty, and feeling the turbulence of the nation, they have cool and sharp discernment to humanity. In addition, the turmoil of transformation and the paralysis of social environment bring up their rebellious spirit against tradition and oppression. They all made the same decision to go aboard to escape the unacceptable social reality. James Joyce does not criticize the Dublin directly but uses Stephen’s eyes to explain in Ulysses, such as the slouchy citizens, bloody advertisements and spelling mistaken dirty novels. Gu Xiang does not describe the beautiful things in his hometown but write the great changes of Ru Tu and Yang Ersao after twenty years. For example, Ru Tu and “I” once talked about everything with each other and played games together in their childhood even their relationship was a master and a servant, but Ru Tu called him “master”dutifully after twenty years. Ru Tu changed from a frank and fatuous child to a laggard and dull servant.2.2 The lonely sense of James Joyce and Lu Xun“So much of the grime I may discover from people around the world except me; Everyone is already drunk but me” (Chu Ci, Qu Yuan). This word exactly reflects the lonely situation of the two writers at that age. James Joyce also felt the sense of loss and loneliness for the influences of the Industrial Revolution on western modern literature. He wrote a letter to his wife, saying, “My mind was resisting the religion and order of the whole society. I could only live in this society as an identity of a wanderer.” A t the same time, Lu Xun deeply knew the sharp opposition between the prerequisite and the uncivilized during the period of transformation. As we all know that the great talents are always lonely, and loneliness run through their whole life and bestow inspiration on them. In Lu Xun’s Gu Xiang, “I” pondered that “I” could not accept the present from Ru Tu but could notfree myself from my memory. “I have the feeling that there are invisible walls around me which separate me from the surroundings, so I feel very lonely and oppressed.” In Ulysses, Stephen loses his parents and belief, Molly loses her happiness, Bloom loses his young son and family. They are all orphans. Besides, the weather in the novel changes from sunny morning to cloudy noon to night, the series of description all embodies the isolation of James Joyce.2.3 The explorative spirit of James Joyce and Lu XunJames Joyce find out life’s meaning through the way of stream-of-consciousness. Ulysses chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day on Jun 16, 1904. Bloom is a Jewish and an advertising seller of a newspaper office, his life is boring and dull. Stephen is a future writer and a teacher, and he is conceited and little famous in his local. The description of boring life reveals the author’s peek about human psychology and exploration of life’s value. It is that people’s life is whether ordinary or not which underlay the meaning of plot and ending in his growing process. Ulysses has important aesthetic value that demonstrates the consciousness of self and life which modernist literature emphasize. “It is people have a hope whether or not that does not matter. Hope is just like the road on the earth, for actually the earth had no roads to begin with, but when men pass one way, a road is made”(Gu Xiang). Lu Xun compares the hope to the road, it mainly tells us that if someone has a hope but he never puts an effort to it, and then he does not have a hope at all; if someone has a hope and he practices and strives for it, and then he indeed has a hope. This kind of life enlightenment really shows the value and meaning of life. The process of growth is the process of walking. Lu Xun is the one who pushes the explanation of life’s value to the climax.Chapter 3ConclusionUlysses manifests the hesitation and depression of the citizens about the real life, and it also shows the declination and gloom of modern western literature. Gu Xiang reveals the spiritual chain of the feudal thoughts to uneducated public and the indifference of people. James Joyce and Lu Xun delineate their inner world to readers based on their own special understanding and experience about history, reality and life. These show that the influence of conflict of two cultures’transformation on people’s psychology, which is the septum of people’s mind. Though their novels do not record the real events of the history, they profoundly interpret the allegoric value to human fate and psychology. The effects of James Joyce and Lu Xun are extremely profound and lasting.References1.薛琴. （2010）. 乔伊斯和鲁迅——以《姐妹们》和《孔乙己》为例. 1994-2011中国学术期刊电子版杂志社.2. 黄健、严小蔚. （2005）. 转型时期的意义探寻----关于鲁迅和乔伊斯的跨文化比较.《鲁迅研究月刊》.3. 胡媛. （2003）. 现代人精神发展的不朽史诗---试论《尤利西斯》中布卢姆形象的精神特征. 《南京航天航空大学学报》.4. 王富仁. （2002）. 精神“故乡”的失落——鲁迅《故乡》赏析. 中国语言教学资源网.5．萧乾、文洁若. （2005）. 《尤利西斯》. 译林出版社.6．鲁迅. （1973）. 《彷徨》. 人民文学出版社.。