Editing James Joyce (section)

==Religious views==
[[File: San-nicolo-trieste-2020.jpg |thumb|The interior of the [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]] Church of San Nicolò in [[Trieste]], where Joyce occasionally attended services{{sfn|McCourt|2000|p =[https://archive.org/details/yearsofbloomjame0000mcco/page/50 50]}}|alt=Picture showing the iconostasis of the Church of San Nicolò flanked by candles.]]
Joyce had a complex relationship with religion.{{sfn|Van Mierlo|2017|p =[{{Google books|id=n_vUDQAAQBAJ|pg=PA3|plainurl=yes}} 3]}}  Firsthand statements by him{{efn|In 1904 Joyce declared to Nora, who he had just recently met: "My mind rejects the whole present social order and Christianity—home, the recognised virtues, classes of life and religious doctrines{{nbsp}}... Six years ago I left the Catholic church, hating it most fervently. I found it impossible for me to remain in it on account of the impulses of my nature. I made secret war upon it when I was a student and declined to accept the positions it offered me. By doing this I made myself a beggar, but I retained my pride. Now I make open war upon it by what I write and say and do."{{sfn|Joyce|1966a|pp = [https://archive.org/details/lettersofjamesjo0000joyc/page/48 48–49]|ps=: Letter to Nora Barnacle, 29 August 1904 }} }} and Stanislaus{{efn|Stanislaus wrote: "It has become a fashion with some of my brother's critics{{nbsp}}... to represent him as a man pining for the ancient Church he had abandoned, and at a loss for moral support without the religion in which he was bred. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am convinced that there was never any crisis of belief. The vigor of life within him drove him out of the church".{{sfn|Joyce|1958|p= [https://archive.org/details/mybrotherskeeper00joyc/page/130 130]}} }} attest that he did not consider himself a Catholic, though his work is deeply influenced by Catholicism.{{sfn|Eco|1982|p=[https://archive.org/details/aestheticsofchao0000ecou/page/2 2]}} In particular, his intellectual foundations were grounded in his early Jesuitical education.{{sfnm|Ellmann|1982|1p= [https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce0000ellm_n2o5/page/27 27]|Gorman|1939|2p= [https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce00gorm/page/26 26]|Hederman|1982|3p= [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30059526?seq=1 20]|Mahon|2004|4p= [https://www.jstor.org/stable/44313324?seq=1 349]|Sullivan|1958|5pp= [https://archive.org/details/joyceamongjesuit00sull/page/7 7–8]}}{{efn| Colum states: "I have never known anyone with a mind so fundamentally Catholic in structure as Joyce's own, or one on whom the Church, its ceremonies, symbols, and theological declarations had made such an impress".{{sfn|Colum|1947|p= [https://archive.org/details/LifeAndTheDream/page/n393 381]}} }} Even after he left Ireland, he sometimes went to church. When living in Trieste, he woke up early to attend Catholic Mass on Holy Thursday and Good Friday{{sfnm|Francini Bruni|1922|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/portraitsofartis0000unse_p0n8/page/35 35–36]|Joyce|1958|2p= [https://archive.org/details/mybrotherskeeper00joyc/page/105 105]}}{{efn|Joyce told Stanislaus "The Mass on Good Friday seems to me a very great drama."{{sfn|Joyce|1958|p= [https://archive.org/details/mybrotherskeeper00joyc/page/104 104]}} }} or occasionally attended Eastern Orthodox services, stating that he liked the ceremonies better.{{sfn|Joyce Schaurek|1963|p =[{{Google books|id=s9-uCwAAQBAJ|pg=PA64|plainurl=yes}} 64]}}

Joyce lapsed from the Church early in life,{{sfnm|Ellmann|1982|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce0000ellm_n2o5/page/65 65–66]|Lernout|2010|2p =[{{Google books|id=EwMdCgAAQBAJ|pg=PA6|plainurl=yes}} 6]}} and Nora refused to allow a Catholic service when he died.{{efn| When a Catholic priest offered to perform a religious service for Joyce's burial, Nora declined, saying, "I couldn't do that to him."{{sfn|Ellmann|1982|p= [https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce0000ellm_n2o5/page/742 742]|ps=: citing a 1953 interview with Giorgio Joyce.}}}} His works frequently critique, ridicule, and blaspheme Catholicism,{{sfnm|Benstock|1961|1p=417, 437|Cunningham|2007|2pp=[{{Google books|id=bKG12u11z2AC|pg=PA509|plainurl=yes}} 509],
[{{Google books|id=bKG12u11z2AC|pg=PA512|plainurl=yes}} 512n]|Lang|1993|3p=[https://archive.org/details/ulyssesirishgod0000lang/page/15 15]}} and he appropriates Catholic rituals and concepts for his own artistic purposes.{{sfnm|Ellmann|1982b|1loc=§7|1ps=: "His most adroit manoeuvre is taking over its [The Catholic Church's] vocabulary for his own secular purposes." |Hibbert|2011|2p=198|2ps=|Lang|1993|3p=[https://archive.org/details/ulyssesirishgod0000lang/page/15 15]|3ps=}} As such, some critics have argued that Joyce firmly rejected the Catholic faith.{{sfnm|Benstock|1961|1p=417|Ellmann|1982b|2loc=§3|2ps=: "Joyce wrote to Nora. 'Now I make open war upon it [The Catholic Church] by what I write and say and do.' His actions accorded with this policy."|Lernout|2010|3p =[{{Google books|id=EwMdCgAAQBAJ|pg=PA6|plainurl=yes}} 6]}} However, Catholic critics have argued that Joyce never fully abandoned his faith,{{sfnm|Noon|1957|1pp= [https://archive.org/details/joyceaquinas0000noon/page/14 14–15]|Strong|1949|2pp= [https://archive.org/details/sacredriverappro0000stro/page/11 11–12]}} wrestling with it in his writings and becoming increasingly reconciled with it.{{sfnm|Boyle|1978|1pp= [https://archive.org/details/jamesjoycespauli0000boyl/page/n13 x–xi]| Strong|1949|2pp =[https://archive.org/details/sacredriverappro0000stro/page/158 158–161]}} They regard ''Ulysses'' and ''Finnegans Wake'' as expressions of a Catholic sensibility,{{sfn|Segall|1993|p=[https://archive.org/details/joyceinamericacu00sega/page/140 140]}} insisting that the critical views of religion expressed by the characters in his novels do not represent those of Joyce the author.{{sfn|Segall|1993|p=[https://archive.org/details/joyceinamericacu00sega/page/160 160]}} 

Other critics have suggested that Joyce's apparent apostasy was less a denial of faith than a transmutation,{{sfnm|Ellmann|1982|1pp=[https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce0000ellm_n2o5/page/65 65–66]|Jung|1952|2p= [https://archive.org/details/spiritinmanartli0015jung/page/120 120]|ps=:cf., an earlier translation of Jung's statement ({{harvnb|Jung|1949|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=iCl1yAEACAAJ&q=pious%20Catholic 10]}}, also quoted in {{harvnb|Noon|1957|p= [https://archive.org/details/joyceaquinas0000noon/page/14 15]}}) }} a criticism of the Church's adverse impact on spiritual life, politics, and personal development.{{sfnm|Hibbert|2011|1pp=198–199|Morse|1959|3pp= [https://archive.org/details/sympatheticalien0000mors/page/3 3], [https://archive.org/details/sympatheticalien0000mors/page/16 16]}} His attitude toward Catholicism has been described as an enigma in which there are two Joyces: a modern one who resisted the power of Catholicism and another who maintained his allegiance to its traditions.{{sfnm|Gibson|2006|1p= [https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce00gibs/page/41 41]|Hughs|1992|2pp=[https://archive.org/details/jamesjoyce00gibs/page/40 40–41]}} He has been compared to the medieval {{lang|la|[[episcopi vagantes]]}} (wandering bishops), who left their discipline but not their cultural heritage of thought.{{sfn|Eco|1982|p=[https://archive.org/details/aestheticsofchao0000ecou/page/4 4]}}

Joyce's responses to questions about his faith were often ambiguous. For example, during an interview after the completion of ''Ulysses'', Joyce was asked, "When did you leave the Catholic Church?" He answered, "That's for the Church to say."{{sfn|Davison|1998|p= [{{Google books|id=s_eXYzdEmxcC|pg=PA78|plainurl=yes}} 78]}}