Epiphany

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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The Christian festival (January 6th) commemorating the presentation of Christ to the Magi (the three wise men who followed the star to Bethlehem). Hence, a moment of spiritual revelation. An aesthetic of the epiphany is developed by James Joyce's hero Stephen Dedalus in

A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

where he argues from Aquinas that an epiphany is a revelation of the particular

quidditas

or 'whatness' of an experience or thing.

74 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Epiphany". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=347, accessed 19 March 2024.]

347 Epiphany 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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