“ The past is consumed in the present and the present is living only because it brings forth the future. ”
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). copy citation
| Author | James Joyce |
|---|---|
| Source | A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |
| Topic | past future present |
| Date | 1916 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4217/4217-h/4217-h.htm |
Context
“All fair or auburn: no dark ones. They blush better. Houp-la!
April 6. Certainly she remembers the past. Lynch says all women do. Then she remembers the time of her childhood—and mine if I was ever a child. The past is consumed in the present and the present is living only because it brings forth the future. Statues of women, if Lynch be right, should always be fully draped, one hand of the woman feeling regretfully her own hinder parts.
April 6, later. Michael Robartes remembers forgotten beauty and, when his arms wrap her round, he presses in his arms the loveliness which has long faded from the world.” source
April 6. Certainly she remembers the past. Lynch says all women do. Then she remembers the time of her childhood—and mine if I was ever a child. The past is consumed in the present and the present is living only because it brings forth the future. Statues of women, if Lynch be right, should always be fully draped, one hand of the woman feeling regretfully her own hinder parts.
April 6, later. Michael Robartes remembers forgotten beauty and, when his arms wrap her round, he presses in his arms the loveliness which has long faded from the world.” source
Meaning and analysis
