No More Learning

58
of the
? Cyclic Form
~xample of 'extreme verbal scrupu_
loum. . . ' and of'taking pre<:aUliom by the u'"' ofcenain proper word,';
the s<<tion end. . at'Stop',
Age iii (~Q! 'I 5-oj. ~-l-(3): Vico', 'vulgar spetth'- the 's1anguag<"
of Shcm--io both used and dio- euucd; tbe section end. with 'Ex.
Ex. Ex. E>:. '
Age iv (4~P 4-i~4'~O) : A riam. rai"", the question of why
Age i
Shaun revile> Shern. As this is one of the moot basic questions in the book, . . di. cn#ion of it mmt entail a rehearsal of the whole cycLe, 1:. . _ ginning with the thunderbolt.
TReND"" (424. 20) CYCLE 1Il
(42,P3-425. 03) : Shaun I>oldJ fonh from his 'Kingdom ofHu. ven'.
Age ii (425. 04- 426. 04): Begins with 'Still'; Shaun docend. from Heaven, is incamated-
'muttermdk of his blood donor beginning to wark'-and then . peak> . . . . a prophet (Mohammed with 'immenue! UQeS').
Ag. . iii (426. 05;27. 08): }kgins with a lr. . rui! ionofShaun from prophet to commOn man- 'pug;_ liler? . ? broke down. . . o,""r_ powered by hinuelfwith ~ of thc tearailver . . . ? Iob of the world
. . ? load. of fC"llng in him. . . fruhfallen calef; the ""ction end. as Shann vanishClo in death: 'vanes-
shed, ? . Ah, mean! '
Age iv (427. <>9-427. I4): R~? TS. q quiet interlude or nocturne,
leading into the SILENCE (427-'! "l-I6)
"
? Cyclic Fonn
"The ,ilent paute which open. Cycle IV il particularly inu. resting:
'And the tamp went out a. it couldn't glow on burning, yep the Imp wnt out fOr it couldn't ltay aUght'.
Shaun', 'belted lamp', which lights him through the obscuriti. . of the midnight dream, is nlingu;'hed '" he 'dies', (Th;' im_ portant symbolic lamp . . ,ems to o,',e somelhing to the lightJ ,aid to be used by spirits to guide them on their way hack to their old home. <. ') joyce amusingly illusttau. , the ntingui. hing of the ligbt in the '. ;Ieneing' of the wcrds 'lamp' and 'wen! ' (by the excUion of their vowels). The rhythm of the ,entence ;. based on Ihat of thc song 'Ca. cy jon. ,',' which h", already appeared in FimugallJ Wakt, towar-d the end of the television
cpL. ode (349. 35); it i, ';gnificant that th;. cadicr nceurrence of the song i, in the immediate vicinity of an amu. ing pa,. . ,. ge d. . . ribiog the momentary black-out of tho televilion oereen, whcnjoycc uoe, the ,arne device ofexci' ing the v<>web (349. ~6)? . The residual word 'Imp' h. . "- furthor and more profound ,ignilican? ? in thi, context, however, for 'LMP' i. the commonly accepted gynaecological abbreviation fur 'but menstrual period'. InU' the \ran,ition from the old age to the new i. ,hifted from the levd <>fwon:U and mechanico to that ofhuman- ity- a 'cycle' is over," birth;' to COme. 11. i. inLimate feminine touch is a filrcwarning of tI,,: I. . . . t sad occaJion OIl which Anna Livia will flow out to sea, prior 10 the rebirth of the g<>d.
After the Silence with which it hegan, Cycle IV brinS' II! . ! to a condtUion with a prayer, apparently said surtl. o, to Shaun the god-figure, who i. 10 be resurrected in Ihe next chapter. A
, S;,- Jonl<> h . . ",. , Tk GoUt. Boq~, abridg<<! ""n. , Lond"", '9>4, p. 374?
, S. . M. J. C. H",~" . . nd M. p. W<)rth;"lfi"", ~ "' 1M W. . . ks tf J - . . " J ' 7 ' " X < w Y O l k , '9~. p . ' ] 7 .
? for tom< <<n""'. . . . . . "" the we of. . ,. ,. ~ ;n F. . . . l"'" W. . . , '" bd<. w. I'_'~I,
60
? Cyclic Form
num~r of phra. <e> in thi, TU;"". oeTVe to tie together the begin_ ning and end of the chapteT: Shaun, passing from nin;ana to rebirth, ;" identified all the ' p"ctre we . . . . w in the Prelude-- 'Spickspookspokesman ofOUTapectur~uc rilcnooume,,'_and there is an allusion to the opening litany of beU. -'n. d,"e o'dock scholars'. A long ocTi. ,. of further correspondences be_ tween ! hi! beautiful P'Wag<: and Book IV gear the minor cycle of the cbapter even more closely 10 tbe greal cycle of F;. "'gans
1V4k(. Some of the,e correspondences are ",t out below: III. 1 >V
thou art paW-ng hene<: . loth to lea""
~oofi
allliclcdly fond Fuinn feelt we miM your smile
Sirdand calls you yougander, only onG<: more
they are becoming lothed to me . . . I'm loothing them Ihat', here and all I lothe . . "I am pa"ing out (627. [7- 34)
So oft (620. 15)
t";"'t we fed. Tben we rall
(627. 11)
T hey'll never see. Nor know.
Nor rru. . me (627. 35) Far call. (628.
13)
Onelwo moremeru more. Finn, again! (628. 05, [4)
moyles and moyl", ofit (&. 18. 03) let her rain for my time is come
(627. 12)
Moylendsea Ihe rain for
tances
fresh
remil_
On an earlier occ3J! ;on Anna Livia wao Sttn to w"at" 'tram_ tokens in her hair' (194-31), and Shaun abo, we now karn, ;" covere<l in 'tramplhickeu', It is apparent thaI Joye<: is estab- lishing a general cor. . . . pondence not only hctwttn llook IV and the end of Ili. 1 but more particulaTly between Shann hinudf and Anna, who represent the oppoud pTincipla of youth and age, male and female, extrovert and introveTt: 'when the natural morning of your nocturne blankmeTgcJ into the national
morning of golden ",nup'.
,.
? ? ? ? M AJOIl
VIOOSIA. 'I CVCU. l
C)cli' Fl)1'm
II: COUNTERPOINT (flb. :U)
mavaGley is careful to point out in fro U-rJd lbat DO one
I}'1lcm of cycln is ~
at the lime time and lbat ~ral C}'<'ICi ofdiff<:ring k ngth and character may be functioning contemporantoU$ly in divcr~nt c u[turtl. ' T he kind ot cyclic counterpoin t he,. . , impliw. ;,. b alic Inthe. tructu,. . ,ofFiJultt~1U W~kt. IthasalreadybttnnQlicw. that wilbin the thrtt Viconian Ages of Books I, II, and Ill,
rily held to embn(X all of mankind
J oyoe allows four IOur-dt. o. pler cydea to develop. ' A detail which doe! . notyelXCIIItohavebeennoticed,~,itlbeim.
plicit identification of thc:oe four cyclCI with the IOu. cl. . . Ka. 1 clemcnu:
(Birth) . . . . . . . . . .
Book II (Maniage) . . . ? . ? 3. II- Male and female;
Book!
BookIII(Death). . . . . . . . . of. JII- Malecycle;Shaun. . Earwicker'. . pirit ;
=
Together with the sandhi ofBook tV, the Lesser Cyclr. s d e. . rly mueupa fou? ? plus-onequasi? lndian pros"""whichJoyceh. . tountcrpoinlC<! against the thue. plur-<>ne Vi. . . ",ian or. hcl1'\(. By tqueczi"l four cycICi into three Joyoe is, to to 'p<. k, ""per- imptlli" l a tqua,. . , on a triangk and 10 constructing AristOtle's I)'lIlboi lOr the bOOy and I0Il1 unifocd in a singll: being. The implication IUIDI to be that in Fi_ptU W. . u"'" may fiD<l a complete and balanced cos""," in which spirit informs and
, IN U. . . ;Jn. vol. I, pp. 6. '9-4.
I W. Y. Tindall, J. -,J_, London, 1950, p. 7'; 1'. 1I. Hig i_
JOJd" R". . . . . . . ofF_,. . . Wolf. AnnArbor,'9~ (onmitn>l\lm), 6,
J_, p. 9".
J. 1. 1;: Male cycle; HCE; ""'"
? ? 1. 5-8: Female cycle; ALP; battln;fo?
? Cplic Form
cnban= the groa matter represented hy the t9ur dements; joyce could hardly have made a more ambitiuu. ,ymbolic claim
for his book. .
Throughout Fiutgas IVaU, in faa, it is very often ~
ble to group a len a <If 'ymbol. , pbrueo, or people into eit~r a thrtt-part Or a four_part cunfiguralion, depending on our poin! of view. Tho:re arc three childrcn, bul holde bu a double,
making a fourth; u. . , four evangelisu ClIch have a I>oou. c:, but one of tho:m i. o ;nvi. illle sinu it iI no morc than a point in . pace (367,27). Nobody ever appea. " 'to have the . ame time Qfbeard' (77. t2), which i. o to oay that . '''ry man', cydc iI h;, own. While . peaking <If the rciati(m. hip betwttn the Four . nd Ya. . . . . , in a
later chapter, joy<< points . . UI Wt in their cal(: 'the meet of thdr noght wu worth IWO ofhis morning' (473,H), Becaw. e of lhit ecrutanl mobility of forms and times tho: Karch for an abtolute is in everybody'. mind throughout the book and iI tho: . pecial concern of the ubiquilOUI Old MCl'I who arc involved in Irying to find a commOn denominalOr for their four differenl poinu of view; but the only abaolute they en, diKon. iI the abaolute uncertainly from "'hien they began, the "'holly relative nllure of all the cyclel. Blavaaky reminds <II thaI il waa lhe practice of the priesu of virtually aU the myllic cret<1a OVer which . ne enth""", 10 I'CIerve fur tIlemaelvei alone the facu conaming th. uuc and Jeerel cycle functionlllI wi! hiD, or p&DUd to, the morc obvious cycles ofwhich vulgar minda werc allowed 10 have l:nowledgc,' This Secret Cycle . 1. . . a)'1 differed from the olben in subtle details of great mystical significance. Returning to the magical num~ '4,2', she writa':
'[a previow comrnental. Or] junly believed that the cycLe of the IndiaD 'yllem, of 43~,OOO. " the true key tu tbe Secret Cycle, But bi. failure in trying to decipber it was made ap~rcnt, lOr . . ;t pertained 10 me mY'lery of tile creation, mit cycle walthe mo. t inviolable of all'.
j oyce embeds ! lOme highly disguised information about luch a Secret Cycle ill the very mathematil:aUy oriented tenm chapter
, 4il UoMUI, >"01. 1, pp. S2, '>93-4? ? 1>" U. . ;JN, . . . . . . . I, p. , ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ?