For Burgess did have foreign languages--he had
translated
and published Belli and Cyrano--but he actually lacked the systematic training in them.
Sandulescu-Literary-Allusions-in-Finnegans-Wake
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Bucures?
ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 8
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true. . .
Dr Johnson
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 9
If I taught Burgess anything, that was paradigmatic reading. I discovered it by myself when I was nine, learning the French irregular verbs in the morning with my private French tutor--a Paris actress in distress--and the German declension in the evening with a famous German university professor, who was teaching indiscriminately Greek, Latin, French, English and, of course, German, and who had narrowly escaped being put to prison by the Communists. He was Max Richter, author of the famous juxtae. They both made me discover the elegance of symmetry in the language irregularities, and the beauty of it all
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 10
when you have constructed your mini-dictionary in the head! That was indeed the exquisiteness of foreign language learning, on a permanent life-long basis. . . (It is strange I never found any delight at all in the obligatory learning of Russian. . . and I still wonder why. . . ). Later in life, I attended a couple of Roman Jakobson seminars at Harvard, given in Russian, and I understood practically everything. Was it because they were given in pre-Revolution Russian? I wonder.
But Anthony Burgess, in spite of a Degree in Phonetics from Manchester University, had no inkling what Paradigmatic Reading was. . . He had abandoned linguistics so early in his professional life. . . The attitude is sure to apply to no end of
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 11
forefront literary critics, more particularly so across the pond. Why?
The answer lies in the relative scarcity there of foreign languages, and of general interest in them. The worst proof of it is being provided by the most famous Joycean scholar of them all--the very author of A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake! Here is what William York Tindall says in as many words:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I, for instance, with no language to speak of or with, find the going rough. But there are dictionaries in the library; at a considerable university, such as mine, there is bound to be someone around with Sanskrit; and having lived awhile, one gets to know a Gael or two with Gaelic, and a Jew or two with Hebrew and, maybe, a little Arabic. Making a nuisance of myself, I pumped Italian, Russian, Breton, Telugu, Estonian, Volapuk, and the like, from friends and sometimes acquaintances. But whatever the Breton and Telugu, words from such languages are rarely essential; for the Wake is "basically English" (116. 26) and Webster's dictionary, preferably the second edition, is our handiest guide. (1969 : 20)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 12
Burgess never fell into such intolerable linguistic obscurantism!
For Burgess did have foreign languages--he had translated and published Belli and Cyrano--but he actually lacked the systematic training in them. And after graduation, he never kept up with theoretical developments (he was totally out of depth with Chomsky lingo, for instance. )
To cut the discussion short, Paradigmatic Reading is objectively controlled by the following three major principles:
(1) The text under scrutiny--what is under one's own eyes--must necessarily be a paradigmatic text, i. e. a discontinuous one. A typical example is the Telephone Directory of any town or country, or a multilingual dictionary, preferably
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 13
with partly unknown languages. . .
(2) The scrutinizing of this text must be thoroughly and
wholly syntagmatic, i. e. item by item, and line by line, a` la lettre. That is, no skipping of anything, and paying equal attention to every single element, no matter how irrelevant they may seem to be.
(3) The overall impact must remain purely syntagmatic, i. e. be able to construct a proper overall meaning of it all at the end of the careful scanning process.
In a word, this is ultimately what Joyce meant when he was talking about "reading Skeat by the hour". . . Both author and character were one in that particular moment. . . They were
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 14
making sense of it all in a way average humanity does not.
How many of current Joyce scholars did read Skeat by the hour? How many have seen a Skeat at all ? And, who is Skeat
anyhow?
Anthony Burgess himself had admitted to me, in private of
course, that he had never paid proper attention to Skeat. . . for he was in the habit of picking languages synchronically, and as they were coming along by force of circumstance. The fact that he took an Italian wife contributed overwhelmingly to his understanding of Joyce, in a way which was quite inaccessible to the Americans. (Berone was perhaps one of the rare exceptions. . . )
But let us go back to the paradigms: if one picks up FW and
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 15
looks at e. g. "Falstaff" , here is what one finds:
? ? ? ? ? 007. 13:7
? ? ? ? ? fraudstuff
? ? ? Name of Person: Falstaff
? ? ? ? 1 Henry 4
(V. J. CHENG 1984 : 198ff)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Shakespeare
1 Henry 4
? ? ? ? ? 366. 30:10
? . Fall stuff. #
Name of Person: Falstaff
? 1 Henry 4
(V. J. CHENG 1984 : 198ff)
? ? Shakespeare
1 Henry 4
? ? ? ? 370. 13:7
? ? ? ) Fool step!
?
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 8
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true. . .
Dr Johnson
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 9
If I taught Burgess anything, that was paradigmatic reading. I discovered it by myself when I was nine, learning the French irregular verbs in the morning with my private French tutor--a Paris actress in distress--and the German declension in the evening with a famous German university professor, who was teaching indiscriminately Greek, Latin, French, English and, of course, German, and who had narrowly escaped being put to prison by the Communists. He was Max Richter, author of the famous juxtae. They both made me discover the elegance of symmetry in the language irregularities, and the beauty of it all
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 10
when you have constructed your mini-dictionary in the head! That was indeed the exquisiteness of foreign language learning, on a permanent life-long basis. . . (It is strange I never found any delight at all in the obligatory learning of Russian. . . and I still wonder why. . . ). Later in life, I attended a couple of Roman Jakobson seminars at Harvard, given in Russian, and I understood practically everything. Was it because they were given in pre-Revolution Russian? I wonder.
But Anthony Burgess, in spite of a Degree in Phonetics from Manchester University, had no inkling what Paradigmatic Reading was. . . He had abandoned linguistics so early in his professional life. . . The attitude is sure to apply to no end of
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 11
forefront literary critics, more particularly so across the pond. Why?
The answer lies in the relative scarcity there of foreign languages, and of general interest in them. The worst proof of it is being provided by the most famous Joycean scholar of them all--the very author of A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake! Here is what William York Tindall says in as many words:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? I, for instance, with no language to speak of or with, find the going rough. But there are dictionaries in the library; at a considerable university, such as mine, there is bound to be someone around with Sanskrit; and having lived awhile, one gets to know a Gael or two with Gaelic, and a Jew or two with Hebrew and, maybe, a little Arabic. Making a nuisance of myself, I pumped Italian, Russian, Breton, Telugu, Estonian, Volapuk, and the like, from friends and sometimes acquaintances. But whatever the Breton and Telugu, words from such languages are rarely essential; for the Wake is "basically English" (116. 26) and Webster's dictionary, preferably the second edition, is our handiest guide. (1969 : 20)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 12
Burgess never fell into such intolerable linguistic obscurantism!
For Burgess did have foreign languages--he had translated and published Belli and Cyrano--but he actually lacked the systematic training in them. And after graduation, he never kept up with theoretical developments (he was totally out of depth with Chomsky lingo, for instance. )
To cut the discussion short, Paradigmatic Reading is objectively controlled by the following three major principles:
(1) The text under scrutiny--what is under one's own eyes--must necessarily be a paradigmatic text, i. e. a discontinuous one. A typical example is the Telephone Directory of any town or country, or a multilingual dictionary, preferably
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 13
with partly unknown languages. . .
(2) The scrutinizing of this text must be thoroughly and
wholly syntagmatic, i. e. item by item, and line by line, a` la lettre. That is, no skipping of anything, and paying equal attention to every single element, no matter how irrelevant they may seem to be.
(3) The overall impact must remain purely syntagmatic, i. e. be able to construct a proper overall meaning of it all at the end of the careful scanning process.
In a word, this is ultimately what Joyce meant when he was talking about "reading Skeat by the hour". . . Both author and character were one in that particular moment. . . They were
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 14
making sense of it all in a way average humanity does not.
How many of current Joyce scholars did read Skeat by the hour? How many have seen a Skeat at all ? And, who is Skeat
anyhow?
Anthony Burgess himself had admitted to me, in private of
course, that he had never paid proper attention to Skeat. . . for he was in the habit of picking languages synchronically, and as they were coming along by force of circumstance. The fact that he took an Italian wife contributed overwhelmingly to his understanding of Joyce, in a way which was quite inaccessible to the Americans. (Berone was perhaps one of the rare exceptions. . . )
But let us go back to the paradigms: if one picks up FW and
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bucures? ti 2012
C. George Sandulescu, Editor.
Literary Allusions in Finnegans Wake 15
looks at e. g. "Falstaff" , here is what one finds:
? ? ? ? ? 007. 13:7
? ? ? ? ? fraudstuff
? ? ? Name of Person: Falstaff
? ? ? ? 1 Henry 4
(V. J. CHENG 1984 : 198ff)
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Shakespeare
1 Henry 4
? ? ? ? ? 366. 30:10
? . Fall stuff. #
Name of Person: Falstaff
? 1 Henry 4
(V. J. CHENG 1984 : 198ff)
? ? Shakespeare
1 Henry 4
? ? ? ? 370. 13:7
? ? ? ) Fool step!
?
