Application of Rasa Theory in James Joyce's a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The synchronic and diachronic study of literature explicate that literature is essentially about life and emotions thus it has timeless appeal meaning thereby that there is something in a literary work that transcends time and space. Readers of different countries, culture, religions, ideologies, passions and prejudices do appreciate and relish literature of altogether a different place as it provides aesthetic enjoyment to them. A close conspicuous analysis of the available literature may expound the fact that the most fascinating area of intersection between Indian and Western literature is to be found in the realm of poetics and aesthetics. James joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manis an example of German philosophy of Bildungsroman which deals with the formation of an artist, it traces the journey of Being, Becoming and Unbecoming of an individual, wherein an individual passes through the socio pragmatic as well as aesthetico spiritual realm of realities. In the conduit of aforementioned realities, an individual passes through a number of emotions, sentiments and feelings which in turn shape the epistemic texture of the character. The problem that confronts a critic is to find out how in a work of art, an emotion is depicted, suggested and how it is finally communicated to the reader. In the realm of Indian aesthetics, the key to any analysis of aesthetic transformation is the theory of Rasa. The Rasa Theory essentially deals with various kinds of emotions and how they are depicted, inferred and transmitted through a work of art. Thus, the present paper shall take into account philosophical underpinnings of Rasa Theory in order to analyze the given novel. Keywords Indian aesthetics, Rasa theory, Bildungsroman. Madhurantika Sunil "Application of Rasa Theory in James Joyce's a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-3 | Issue-1 , December 2018, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd18998.pd