Aesthetic Revolutionaries : Picasso and Joyce

Picasso’s Cubist works and Joyce’s Ulysses transcend tradition, merge time and space, and radicalize form. By accomplishing these feats, the two men become seminal embodiments of Modernism. This thesis examines the conceptual and formal qualities shared by Cubism and Ulysses. With particular attention given to changing concepts of space and time, similarities between the works are related to four characteristics generally attributed to Modernism: deviance from tradition, an emphasis on form, fragmentation, and appropriation of popular culture. The monumental effects of these works on society are examined in the conclusion. The legacy of these aesthetic revolutionaries is unavoidable and continues to infuse Western society in the twenty-first century