Andrej Belyj’s Petersburg, James Joyce’s Ulysses and the Symbolist Movement

This book is an analysis of Joyce’s and Belyj’s appropriation and adaptation of symbolist poetic devices in the novels Ulysses and Petersburg. Of central importance is Joyce’s use of epiphany and Belyj’s use of the aesthetic symbol. They are units of meaning that create countless associations by expanding to ever widening areas of significance and then returning upon themselves. To achieve a structure based on epiphany and symbol, Joyce and Belyj make use of devices such as the creation of correspondences through metaphorical analogy, interior monologue and stream of consciousness, synesthesia, musical effects and refrain, leit- motif, linguistic and technical virtuosity, and an allusive construction.