The Quest of Two Heroes in James Joyce’s Araby and in the Holy Grail

Resumo

By the Middle French mediaeval narrative technique of entrelacement, James Joyce has interlaced his short story Araby with the mediaeval lay Quest of the Holy Grail, a subtle interweaving of two converging and diverging actions or planes of reality which exposes Joyce’s unnamed hero ‘galloping’ abreast to li mieudres chevaliers del monde, to the best of knights in the world, Lancelot of the Lake as they set out upon the knightly and troubadour ideals of Quest, heroic gallantry and courtly love. The author of this essay concludes, briefly, by examining the psychological complex of ‘pluralism’ as defined by Aristotle and ‘figuralism’ as defined by Saint Augustin whose existential assets of our heroes disclose the tragic issue of their Quests.