|
| Headline | OT: Native speaker help |
|
Page:
[1] |
| Author | Comment |
miriam
Oct-17-2004, 10:09 GMT
IP:
Germany
 | Hey all and sorry for the off-topic, but I need some native speaker´s help :-)
I´ll have my first English exam next week about two short stories by James Joyce ("Eveline" and "A Painful Case") and in order to understand them better, I need to know what "Epiphany" means. I know it´s a celebration day on January 6 but there must be another meaning, I´m sure, which probably stands in connection with "paralysis", another term which is important for those stories...Can anyone help? Thanks!
Oh by the way, to bring this on-topic again, isn´t Paul a fan of James Joyce? ;-) |
| | |
Matthew
Oct-17-2004, 10:55 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
 | Hi Miriam, an epiphany is like a spiritual revolution. For instance if you suddenly felt a great force or a prescence God you could call that an epiphany.
I´ve heard it used in a none spiritual sense as well. For instance if someone is having a hard time and one day something happens to turn their life around they could call it an epiphany, the break-through or turning point in their troubles.
On the whole thought it is spiritual. for instance "I was walking along the beach and for the first time in my life I felt a greater prescence around me, it was an epiphany for me."
It can be used to explain a realisation of the truth as well. For instance "I had been stuck in a relationship for 2 years and it wasnt really working but I didnt want to leave - then I met this other person who treated me so well that I realised I had to leave my relationship, meeting the other person and realising was an epiphany." |
| | |
miriam
Oct-18-2004, 09:47 GMT
IP:
Germany
| Thanks Matthew, this helps a lot
8-) |
| | |
Julie
Oct-18-2004, 10:17 GMT
IP:
United Kingdom
| I´m amazed that you are doing James Joyce. I haven´t read any of his short stories but I did once make an attempt on Ulysses...really difficult even for a native English speaker. |
| | |
miriam
Oct-18-2004, 18:02 GMT
IP:
Germany
| Some of the stories in "Dubliners" are really good and not very difficult to read. The topics are very appealing to me, too (Paralysis, the inability to change your situation, surpression by authorities...). Never tried to read Ulysses or even Finnegans Wake, either ;-) |
| | |
|
Page:
[1]
|