No More Learning

lwentieth century writing fC"ms to demorulralc. Joyce Will cer- tainly CONcioo. very eany in his o;arcer of the poteBti. o. Iities of the ItitmMQ&I arp<<t. . li. scd ttdmkal d. . . . . ice. Allhough he ism>- wh~re reported 10 hav~ ua<<llht <<:rm 'hilmoti. ' hiTll$tlf, there art unmlstakcahle . igns at least as early as 'Thc Dud' ofth. . deliber- ale. . . . , of verbal rno:>ti& for . ttruclural and tonal e/ftttJ. ,' while in A. i'orl1llil and UI. 1IJ1J, of rourx, they are employed with brilliant MlUranec and, tome will lay, perhapl 'I liltle facilely
,1'. ,. . . . . . mpJe,om,moo'lo't. . nina;. . . . . . . . the~',oto. ,D'390'-H, 's. . . 64, and ' I)iotap, J,. l";"', D,lit, '57.
,. ,
? Uittnl)tiv
and pretentiously at tim. . . Although, '" 1 havc . aid, the d~tail of joyce'. boob is almo,t always derived from recognisable ( xternal IOUrcts, he iI, in major technical matters, alwaY'lless
derivative than one at fi. . . t imagin. . . . He did not, at did many of his contemporaries, combine the activities (If aUlhor and critic and, though a great innovator, he was much less sophi. <ticaled in literary matt. en than such adulators at EugeneJolat liked 10 believe. He wat fully co! l! cious of his own grt;atness- hi. < wife, Nora, told Frank Budgen': 'Ah, there'. (lnly (In<: man he', got to getthebetterofnnw,andthat',thatShake,peare! '-buttlu: imprasion (lne gains fr(lm biographi. . , ktten and conw:nation with his associates is (If a man not wholly in touch with the main . ! ream of Engli. ,h literature, past or present, and not wholly aware of bi. , ( l w n <<:lation to it. Indeed, he paid little attention
10 any but a few great names in litcratur<: and w<lrked in an isolation that was not so much aJTOglnt and . . ,If-willed as unconscious and naive. ~ we learn with Klme surprise, he had not r<:ad Ca! T(lU until he was well into F;nMKatt1 Wake, and then only h<<au. . somebody had comrru::nted (In the oimilarity. ' It S","IDS likely that he had n<:vt:r <<:ad ""me of lilt: apparmtly obviou! literary and phil,osophical mode! . for hi. , wtltk,' and
circumspection i. therefore nI:C=ry in a""",,,ing to what extent joyce was comciou, of hi> predtceMOl"3' Ullt: ofleitmotiv. }'ortun_ atdy a little cu-. :unutantial evi<k:ncc is available. He was devoted to the "pcra and, alth<:>ugh he did n<:>1 like Wagner, he knew hi. , work and ,,? at r. . ,nvrnant with hi. , technique'; he w,,", at leal! t consciou. (If tlu: <xis"'n", of Tlwm,,", Mann, since he names D" Zau/lerbtrK in Fi1IIItK"tt1 Wdk. (608. 19); he had read some Prou. t and q=tes ""vcra! titles. ' 'fhis evid<:nce docs nm,
it;" true, am(lun! to very much, but it;" probably mffici<:m (" U]()w th:>. ! at le""'t j<>y<< did not think he had invented the
, Inform. atioo recdV<<! rcom F. . . . "k lI\odg<:n.
? U l l n . , p . '5~.
? :l. lr. h. nk 1lu<1. g<n 'db ,n< iliat whool ho knew him b<ot Joy<<'. au"",,_ cdg< of H<fcl, for ;"'t:mce, W\U q"ite ol;gIo. t.
? s. . ,fura1mpl<,Ellma,m,p. tl3. . nd S. 0;1I)O>"t. J""",J_',vV'"'' L < ? . J o n , ' 9 5 ' , p p . 039"~o.
? Ath",ton,p. '75.
,63
? l . l! itmotiD
ltibMtiu, as he once thought he h>. d invented j ahberwocky. ' In any case, Joy~r. " debt to (arlier model! in this matter is probably no greater than his . upposed debt to F. . . douard Dujardin with regard to the stram of COn><;;11umWi, and that debt mu. t be very . mall indeed. For better <>r filI wone,
joy<;e worked <>ul almost all hi, malu. . . , stylistic habiu for hiJruClf and . uffered only the m m ! indirc<;! inlluencr. from other writers,
The word UifmIJtW itself is of comparatively . . . ,r,cnt origin, having been coiued by nans ",n Wolzogen for specific applka_ tion to the music of'"agner. ? In tlu: m>ci<:al world Waguer is,
of cou'""', the chief exponent of Ihe rru:thod, although il h. . . sometimes ~n ,ugge'ted that lu: hiIlW'lf derived Ihe idea in his tum from eadier literary modd. ,. D<:spite the faCI that it . pring> from a long list of ante<:e<ient<, lhe 1(ilmol;o proper, in tlu: ,"""ricted scme in whi(h I ule the word below, i. rare in literatu,"" before the prescnt century. In emhryonic fonn, how_ ever, as a corutantly repeated verbal formula aw>ciated Wilh
per",ms, pla= and thing>, the re<:um:nt mOlifis ofcourse to be found iu the formal lil(rat1l"" of virtually all weotem civili,a_ tions. Tlu: Homen( epithets and mrmulae, the rtfrairu aud hurderu in folk poetry and prayer are dire<:1 anc. ,. tors of the
{eilm. t;v, and Mann hinudf was fond of saying Ihat the tech_ nique can be tr-"e<:d al least as far back as Homer. The quaM. rituali. cic repetition of hy_phr""", in narrative goes back even funher, beyond the nrigin. of writing. A large class of follr_tal. . is WIISlIuctcd around a constandy recurring line of dialogue. Such ,tori. ,. 3. $ 'T"", Tit Tot' (,60. 02) 'Rumpel<liltskin' (:)70. 24) and all tl,cir many varianl. 'i a", the ultimate formal 5OU~ of joy<<:'. 'I'ranlrquean' (21-3) and 'Norwegian Captain' (3 ' 1-32) wilh their modulating 'riddle' motif.
The main r"'1uirement of a lIue lritmoti~;. that it should, 3. $ il. 'i name impli"', l({Id from poinl to point; il is, in fae! , an CDCIlrially dynamic device.
Reiteration alone;' not enough 10 wnvert a phrue into a kiilfl(Jti~. Even Gertrude Stcin, who,
, A,""",on, u. . . p""5: 'L<:w:" C. ","l: The Unf<=K<Jl. l'=uroor'. , 0 . Wal. . ,l, Do. W. . - . . . . . . . . k, L<-i~, ,~, p. '5i.
,6,
? LdtmQti~
with Ihe pcmible exceplion of P~guy, must be: the greatest devotee ofrcpeliliven",-,wdlem lilerature hal ever known, Can_ nolraiKpurere""licion10lhenotu. ofkit. . . . Ii? . Rcal~tW entaib a u'"" of otatemenl and "",\:itemen, in 'u~h a way as 10 impel the ",ader to male part to part; eaeh recurrence of ,u"h a motif derives in some nec. . ". . . ry way from all ill previ<>", appearancet and lead. On 10 fulure resurgence', poinling 10 cotTetpondenceo and relationships far beyond Ihoo< ,hal hold bttwt<:n Ihe individual motif and ilS immediale conlext. 'lbe full roUl"Oe of ,uch a motif, appearing and d;'app"aring, now in full view, now fainlly ,uggctIW, mn,1 bt coruid"w a. a whole; like Mr. Brown', 'expanding . ymbob' every . ucceosIul UUm<l/i. lake. on a life of ilS own and continually . nrichet holt. itselfand il;$ contexll as il bean a m"", ofa;. wcialion from one app"an>. Ilce 10 anolher. ' II will be appareol Ihal an Ql. linato a,ide like 'Hurry np pIe"", iI" time', in Mr. Eliol'. Tkt W02SI, fATUI,;" nolleil. . . . ti" in Ihe ""lUt: in which I am "'ing the Ie"n, ,iorA: il don nOllead Ibe reader from part 10 part, but-with however ricb an irony-function. inde""ndently at e~h Ual<:- men\. Similarly, Iar~-Kale rep:lilion of material from tlte main body of a work dotS nol conslilllle IrilmDtiv. The r<:peated burden of a ballad, for example, which maket a verbal rondo out of narrative, has nothing to do with WtMtU; beca. . . ", even iflhe burden i. varied, il leach nowbere bul mainlain> a 'tali~ relationsbip 1<> Ibe narrati"" Ihemts. Leitmotiv, 10 be eff<xlive, mml in facl grow funclionally from the evolving material, yel nol recur regularly in a wholly predictable way; it mml aro"", exp:ctations ofilS ",app"arance and yet give new insighl! when il doe. recur; it mun be a . baping influence, nOllhe fulfilment of predelermined funnal ""Il. llremenlS; il musl bave an active,
rath. . than a paosive, function. "[be n"",,""ary qualit;e, are much Ihe . arne a. Ih"'" . pecifioo hy Mr. Forster f<>r 'rhylhm":
'not 10 be tbere all Ihe time like a pattern, but by il1lovely wax_ ing and waning to fill u. wilh ,urprise and frtshn. . . and hope. '
, E. K. 110"(1"". ~ "' IN X. . . t. Toron'o, '950, Chapt. . ~.
? f. M. Font<<, A,,,,,,, . fIN N. . . . I, Loodoo, '949, pp. ,65
' ~3-{-
? UitmlJliv
R. . th~rLikeOOI~ofPavlov'l dogI. the",aderisgentlyoonditioned to apec:t a motifw! . = he iI . . . bjor;led 10 certain 'Jtimuli'. Th_
rtimuli m;iY ~
symbols, thematic; aI1ll1ions, or \1\(. preseDeC of other moti&. ? ~ proesdifl'cn &nmphyucalcoDdltioning. howen. , in thill
I
of narrative aituations, configuntiona of
both lIimulul and raporut: ruWI ~ constantly valied 10 that what began as . . rimpk one-to-one relationship may expand into something ridlly and often myatc:riously . ugg""tive. It i, jlUt this dynamic flexibility and ever-increaoing power of the k;r_iD \0 e\"Ok and to widen ill bound, thaI sav. . the tech- nique from dcgenenting into a dry. pro6tlea and mechanical memory1lame. Af~mustemphaticallyDOlcomplywilh <he ckfinition offered by Mr. Robert Humphrey':
'il may be: ddlned as a recurring image, symbol, word, or phrase which carrie. . . Italic association with a cmain idta or theme. '
The most highly developed motifl in Fi"""I'1U Wd. allolin the maximum possible flexibility of cuntent. Joyce c",,,tCl, or boliOWl from popular lor<:. formal bnill wilh an easily recog. nUable . hape or rhythm; into lhe! . < empty . helli he is able to pour almOlt any kind of c. ontcnt, jult ill a poetic otI. . . . a. form
m. ay be filled ,,'lth vinually any ,,-oro. . Iu I hn. . , pointed out, popubr sayings, cliches, provcrbt and the lik an; wonderfully . uiledtoJoyce'. purposesin1"~tmU lYoA:. ;anheMeddois evoI<e a well? known rhythm ;1\ Ihe reader'l oomcioUlnQII, aner which he isfree to . . . . , his. . . . ro-play to luperposeon that rhythm alma. 1 Iny dcoircd nuan"" ofaeRIe. The rise and fall, Ihe p. ain and joy of the cha. ractcn, can ~ widely and lubtly rdl<< ted in Ihe changing 1urD. "" and tone of luch moti&. Their flexibililY will have become appal'alt in the exampla which I have al?
ready had occasion to quote. TechnicallytheI~;'ahighlyoelf. . :. ontcio. . . <kvi<<. It
fun<;1ionl primarily at the outfa~ level, . . -ithin \h( verbal texture. a. arly it dna OOt commend itJclf to novdisu. who adopt a limple and . df? drac;ng . tylo, but it coma quite
I R. H~mpI<r<y, S"""" 'l/C_ _ II", 1M M. . tm. Now! , llefkdey . . . . . . r. . . ""lIdo, '958, pp. 9>-',
,66
? Ltitnwlio
naturally from the pen ofajoy<<. Thomas Mann, tb. moot . df- eon.