The Epiphanic Mode of Education in Stephen Hero

Abstract

This research paper examines Joyce’s novel Stephen Hero in the light of Wordsworth’s theory of education as expounded in his epic The Prelude. Epiphany is the key term here that not only links Joyce’s Stephen Hero with Wordsworth’s The Prelude but also links Modernism with English Romanticism. Most scholars argue that the epiphany is an aesthetic doctrine but my argument in this research paper is based on the premise that the epiphany is not simply an aesthetic doctrine but also an aspect of a much larger concern with learning beyond and in spite of the institutions of education. The privileged mode of education in Stephen Hero is the epiphanic mode, which has, I argue, a striking resemblance with Wordsworth’s concept of ‘spots of time’.