~thcr
extraordinary
'Sullivan affair" make!
Hart-Clive-1962-Structure-and-Motif-in-Finnegans-Wake
U.
ually a number of such ref"""lial grids are presem simultaneoudy.
Joyce'.
nor",al
m. ,hod;' in fact to operate On three main plan'" al once: in lhe fureground ;. the manifest OOntent of the episode in que>tion, oorresponding to the manifest content ofa dream; in the middle- ground i. a m"",,, of highly symbolic, but often pu""ling, material, """ttered about like Ihe "age-propenies ofa dramalk
producer with an obo"";onal neufOS;', and COITesponding 10 Ihe dream-symbol . which are f~uently incompreheO$ible umil they are referred to the 'latent content' ; in Ihe background are Ihe motif-controlled grid. or frame, of referenee against which the symhoh can function. . . . . . . . :ilen in widely divtrg"nl way? . The grids provide key. to Ihe true latent contenl <>f the episode. 'Shem [h~ Penman' (1. 7) may b. taken as a convenient example of [hi; structural procedure. The surface contenl i. a d=ription of the habit& and appeaxance of Ihe 'bad boy' of Ihe OOok-writer, alchemut, nutcalt, black in ,kin and in mind, hated by hi, righte~""' brother and by the world. In the middle_ ground i. a trent(:ndnu. array of symbolic flotsam and jeuam, at ernl apparently quit. <: diverse, though almost all of a ra. her sinister nature. In Ihe backgronnd are at lea't two main frames of reference by nt(:am of which all the foregoing can b. ralion_ alised: the fi"'t i. Ihe well known . . ,ries of allusiom to J oyce'. own life which makes Shern a close pe1"><lnal analogue ofJ oyce himself and al,. , reveals a hidden autobiogcaphical significance in many ofthe symboh, while thc second (which until now does not seem 10 have been noticed) i. a full . . ,t of a1lusiom to Ihe fourteen stations of the en,. . ; thc latter gives point to the pro- fu. ion of Golgolhic imagery and retrieve, it fmm it& at first apparently aimie" decorative function, while at the lam<: time
'7'
? Leitmotiv
theChrist"Dry helpstodevelopbothShe",andJoyceasfOTTlU of the murdered and resurrected god.
Thom"" Mano had bttn able to achieve imprmve vathoo and ,u&got the machinatioIlll offatc with exlraordinary vivid- Oe$> hy . uddenly rrintroducing a motif which had originated long before in hi" narrative; 'imilarly, by atahlishiog the appar- ent inevitability of a motif', resurgence, he could creale an atmosphere charg<'d with foreboding. Pa'l and fulure could be controlled al a ru. ran"" with great power. Joy""'. best
motili share ouch potentialities with IhQ<C of Mann, bul the very unive. . . alilYofFiMfJgaIU Wak males the full deployment of their evocative and patheti. ; power. ; a difficult mMler. In the worbofMann and Proust, ,. . to some ""tent io tho><: ofWagner,
though the futnre lies wmehow under the <<mltol of the kil_ "",/;", what thi. rdlect! and ""prCW;s above all i. the mysterio,," and . pirilual significance of the va. t; in FiIlM! (alIS W. okt, 00 the otllcr band, where "",I, present, and future tClld to hc<:omc undifferentialed, the reC"rrt;n<;e of tbe moti", creates Ihe effect of a cosmic simultaneity and immediacy of expericnce--the Eternal Kow which I Ita,,, diKtiMed above. While Joyce
undoubledly gaimthcrcby" hreadtb ofcont",,1and an illusion of unive. . . a! ily, his ltillMlirs, caught up in a whirl of reincarna_ tion, lack ",mething of the inexorable finality thaI they have in, . ay, Sitdritd. The hat of Mann'. and Wagner'. motir. often SCITe to drive the plot mtward wilh a Slrong pulse and, con_ versely, Ihey thenuclve. (i)rl$lantiy gain io driving power from repeated imm"",ion in the main stream ofa strongly developing narrative. As ""amples of Ihi. kind of thing one might quote the
deeply moving cOITC$pondences of ,he fint and Ia,( part! ! of Tome K,iip Or the early foreshadowing. of the 'GOlterdam- merung' m",ic in Vas Ring. This rource of fotward-driving . ymbol;c energy i. largely denied to Joyce', motif. ! >. cau," of the weary T"(lund of cydC$, which, h""""er in~""', are comic rnther than tragic Or pathetic; althoogh lhingo can never improve in tho world of FinIMgQJU Wak, they equally cannot gT"(lw any wOrse. Promt, of CO""", had already used corrc'pondenC<'-I 10 annihilate time; J oyce, with hi" re_entrant time ' phere,
'73
? Leitmotiv
imf'"""d Ort this: be utains time and yet holds it wbolly within
IUs ~p, 10 mallaging 00 ha'~ the best of both worIda. T i_
is, was and will be, but Ihef'e " only a cutain amoont of iI, which . . . e limply use 0Y<:r and OVf:r apin. Eac:h As<: apes the
pn:<<dil\& one 10 1ru. 1 the cycling motifs, wbkh in Mann'. hamb upruent a connan! creuive imitation, bocome inltead in Fin"'I~/U IVa. 1:< symbolo of an am"";ng but oppreuivc
repetitiv. . . . "'" :
'Mere man'. mime: God has je. t. The old o. del" changeth and lasu likt the flllt. ' (~. 09)
IfJoyce'. motifi au lao dramatic tru. n thooc of Mann and Wagner, they an:: "'""0 mon:: highly chNgcd with oignif'Uot ront. . . . t. A n::pruenrntivc eumple of tile kind ofsymbolic COn?
densation made pouible by a Joya:an lm-tiD is the closing phr&$<: from Anna Livia Plurabelle: 'Baide Ihe rivering waten of, hitherandthithering water! of. Nightl' (216. 04). ' Thac wurds, in thenudve. suggestive enough perhap', but not very remarkable, form an epitome of the whole chapler and bear the . pirit of Anna with tbem wbenever they appear. Not Ortly arc: rippling . . . . . ter and darkness~, but aOO the tree and the toone and the tw o washerwonw:n of the immediate context. Hither and thither, a pair of oppDlite. , lejHIX,n Sbem and Shaun. Since the ph. . . . . . , illbc tail_d of a tale told of Anna L i v i a a n d t b e r o n c l u s i o n o f t h e m a j o r c y c l e o f B o o k I , i t 1 1' 01' &) ' 1 impli"', wh. " it reeu. . . . the end ofone (female) cycle and the beginning of the next (male) cycle, The wording provides a delr connexion with the whole GUlt Cycle ofFitontgaJU Wah, linee 'rivering' echoa the 'riverrun' witb which the book opens, Earlier we had met Anna in a highlighted paw. ge 'by the waten of Babylon' ('03. " ) and hence tlUs Riblico1 all. . . . . . . , " now faintly heard at a burden . . . nderlying 'I\c:$idc the ri\-ering waten', The motif thereb-e draWl inlO thaoe contexts into whic:h il intrudes, overtone. of captivity, eKik, and whorc:dom. But iu. ymbolic <;OIIlent U ltill not exhaUited, since in FiNwltuU Wu. the City-Dublin---i. wually the male, H CE. The intro- duction of Ihe female city of Babylon then:fou rc:lates the
, s. . App<ndu. A.
,,.
? uitmotiv
'change-of_oex' theme'--already pr=nt in the conver'linn of the wa$h~men into the ! KIllS, $hem and Shaun- to ! he parent figures Anna and HCE_A. . wu Bloom in nightmarish nighttown, HCE the city il; trammogrified into an unwilling whore and mITe", many indignities in that role. ' That Joyce i$ consciomly using thi$ potentiality of hil; moLir may k demon? . trated from another of ia occ",renca--that at 3. 15. 1. '>-20. Here the motif is amalgamated with another from IIl. >! ,' and is used to conclude the male word_battle of Butt and T aff, which forms a parallel to the dialogue or the two women in lJl.
In this latter context Joyc~ makes the change of ! oeX- from " male i><lc. k to a femlik cycle-quite explicit:
'Nightclothc. ed, amoned, the conqucrod? ? way. After ! heir
battlc thy fair bosom. ' (3. '>. '>? 19)
For a writer who delights in indirection, one of thc mo:! t
fruitful potentialitie, of the IeilnwtiD i. its capacity to bring off effects by remote control. J oyce Wa$ temptramontaily inclined to like the idea of ",,(ion at a distan"" by m)'1l<:riOUI o. mtrol. He Wa$ fond of manipulaLing people and events fr<lm Ix:hind
the scon. . , ,. . the all.
~thcr extraordinary 'Sullivan affair" make! ! dear. The diotant 'Godlike Artin' "'a$ nne ofJoyce'. early ideals which he never quite outgr<:w. Ther<: a,. . . , . everal varieties of remote control exhibited in F;nJIIIgont Walt, lOme ofwhich, luch al the 'anastomosis' idea, J hav~ alrudy touched On. MOI! t important of all is the way in which nne part of the
universe of FinJIIIgant Wah can Ix: modified and controlled, ,topped and . tarted, by the introduction ofmntifo from another pari at lOme ~uilabk point. These are the 'String. in the earth and air' that Jny"" take. mch pleuurc in pulling. ' T he ludden appcaran<;c nfmoLif. from the ~nd of 1. 8 in th~ children', bed- ro<>m ":en~ (51~) will serve a, an aamplc. At . '>7~. 07 there
begin. a ",rics of queuion. and exclamations:
, s. . J. M. Mon<, TM Syorrp. iNb. """", N=< yon. , 19r! o Chaf"'" III.
, ? I"h. r< """" t o 1. 0< """",! <Werl<>? \es In '~;tl><raMthitl,,:ring ; d. ' tho """'Iuerods . . . . . . y' ,n the ,taten><:nl a( m "9.
? Su bckow. p. [76.
? Ellrnann. W . 63> If.
, ~ M",,-, <<I. W. Y. 1ind>. U. N=< York.
'9~. p. 109.
'75
? uitmcliv
'_ Wait! '
'-WhatI'
'- Her door! '
'-O pe? '
'- Sec! '
'-W hat? '
, C. ,. "fuL'
' - W h<:>? '
Taken iu illOlation, th. . . , wortk might nM oeem to echo any_
thing doe in Fill/ugan; lVake, but a quite un. ru. takeahle con_ den! oatian of 'he concluding paragraph of 1. 8 in 57~. I6--'7
pain! ) ta a carrespondence of the dialogue and the half_ ohocored questians and ""PO""" at 2'5. ~9 ff. 1be eotablish.
nu:nt of this r. orreopondcnce inducts the readeT to auribu te to th. . . , qu~. tion' and exclamations (S72. a7- '4) both a p. a<< and a rhythm in harmony with the strongly ,ugg""tcd mndd. The whole passage is brought to a quiet full cl"", in 572. '7. These change. . of tempo and tOne are not inherent in the writing at this point in "" far:t. 'i it relates to the immediate ront""t of the chapter; they arc imposed on it by the controlling ki/moliv-
r,(lmple" in 1. 8 from which the passage draM only a , [nall hand_ ful of verbal ech~. The"" eehoes. , though they amount to no more ,han three or rour w<lTds, arc neverthd",s adequate to direct the whole . . :ene, Th~ 'oalting' of a p""""ge in th" way with snatcheo from other e""texU ;. of W u. . . . not new in Fi. ntlll1lS
lVake, but there i. perhaps ""me originality in joya', caurage_ oudy allowing the whole rhythmic unity and tone of a ""<luenee
to be dependent on ! lleh a IInall amount ofintrodu""d matter. Apa" from the very marked emphasi. on tt. . verbal le""l of the matir. , the method> I have bttn dtseribing are nat e. ",elusively j aycean in ~haraC1er and, indeed, many writc,," have achieved comparable results witb organioed ",e af . ymbol and image. Having eh"",n the verbal motif a. hi. unit, how- ever, joy. ,. did find application! fur it wruch made a dofinite wnlribution (:() the art of prose. joy<< shared Thoma. Mann', preoccupatian with the problem of h<:>w to make Ihe . poken word functian like music. In an attempt to approximate to the
,"
? uilmoliv
them~tic . tructure of musical forJll. '! Mano had e~perimented with large verbal block. built up from rich matricc. of motif>, io which the . . ,rpentine alternations ofsymbol. and theme would
produce something like hannony and counterpoint. By going beyond COOlventionallangu;o,ge in the 'Si",ns' episode of Ulysses joyce achieved something which approximated even better to the desiud effect, but always in thae experiments joyce failed to transform the NIUM""",f" into a true N,~. . . n"". ukr. The cw. e. t approach to verbal counterpoint in Ulyss. s il the kind
of syncopation by truru:a. tion excmpliJied in:
'Fint Lid, De, Cow, Ker, Doll, a fifth: Lidwell, Si DedallB, Bob Cowley, K<;truln and Big Ben Dollard. ' (U ~76)
The . arne device io to be fuund in FiMlglltlS Wah, though m o " , . killfully handled. The following line from 2~2. 06, for exampk,
re. . d. at fint like a ,ene. ofdactyt. : 'goodfor""illforUS illulall:IU?
The preceding words, however, 'a chorale in canon', indicate that we ,,'" to read it '" a . . ,rico oftele,eoping stretti, thus:
VOICE I: good for u. all
VOICI:: ~: . . . . . . . . . . good for", all
V01CE3: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . goodfur usafl VOICE 4: . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
m. ,hod;' in fact to operate On three main plan'" al once: in lhe fureground ;. the manifest OOntent of the episode in que>tion, oorresponding to the manifest content ofa dream; in the middle- ground i. a m"",,, of highly symbolic, but often pu""ling, material, """ttered about like Ihe "age-propenies ofa dramalk
producer with an obo"";onal neufOS;', and COITesponding 10 Ihe dream-symbol . which are f~uently incompreheO$ible umil they are referred to the 'latent content' ; in Ihe background are Ihe motif-controlled grid. or frame, of referenee against which the symhoh can function. . . . . . . . :ilen in widely divtrg"nl way? . The grids provide key. to Ihe true latent contenl <>f the episode. 'Shem [h~ Penman' (1. 7) may b. taken as a convenient example of [hi; structural procedure. The surface contenl i. a d=ription of the habit& and appeaxance of Ihe 'bad boy' of Ihe OOok-writer, alchemut, nutcalt, black in ,kin and in mind, hated by hi, righte~""' brother and by the world. In the middle_ ground i. a trent(:ndnu. array of symbolic flotsam and jeuam, at ernl apparently quit. <: diverse, though almost all of a ra. her sinister nature. In Ihe backgronnd are at lea't two main frames of reference by nt(:am of which all the foregoing can b. ralion_ alised: the fi"'t i. Ihe well known . . ,ries of allusiom to J oyce'. own life which makes Shern a close pe1"><lnal analogue ofJ oyce himself and al,. , reveals a hidden autobiogcaphical significance in many ofthe symboh, while thc second (which until now does not seem 10 have been noticed) i. a full . . ,t of a1lusiom to Ihe fourteen stations of the en,. . ; thc latter gives point to the pro- fu. ion of Golgolhic imagery and retrieve, it fmm it& at first apparently aimie" decorative function, while at the lam<: time
'7'
? Leitmotiv
theChrist"Dry helpstodevelopbothShe",andJoyceasfOTTlU of the murdered and resurrected god.
Thom"" Mano had bttn able to achieve imprmve vathoo and ,u&got the machinatioIlll offatc with exlraordinary vivid- Oe$> hy . uddenly rrintroducing a motif which had originated long before in hi" narrative; 'imilarly, by atahlishiog the appar- ent inevitability of a motif', resurgence, he could creale an atmosphere charg<'d with foreboding. Pa'l and fulure could be controlled al a ru. ran"" with great power. Joy""'. best
motili share ouch potentialities with IhQ<C of Mann, bul the very unive. . . alilYofFiMfJgaIU Wak males the full deployment of their evocative and patheti. ; power. ; a difficult mMler. In the worbofMann and Proust, ,. . to some ""tent io tho><: ofWagner,
though the futnre lies wmehow under the <<mltol of the kil_ "",/;", what thi. rdlect! and ""prCW;s above all i. the mysterio,," and . pirilual significance of the va. t; in FiIlM! (alIS W. okt, 00 the otllcr band, where "",I, present, and future tClld to hc<:omc undifferentialed, the reC"rrt;n<;e of tbe moti", creates Ihe effect of a cosmic simultaneity and immediacy of expericnce--the Eternal Kow which I Ita,,, diKtiMed above. While Joyce
undoubledly gaimthcrcby" hreadtb ofcont",,1and an illusion of unive. . . a! ily, his ltillMlirs, caught up in a whirl of reincarna_ tion, lack ",mething of the inexorable finality thaI they have in, . ay, Sitdritd. The hat of Mann'. and Wagner'. motir. often SCITe to drive the plot mtward wilh a Slrong pulse and, con_ versely, Ihey thenuclve. (i)rl$lantiy gain io driving power from repeated imm"",ion in the main stream ofa strongly developing narrative. As ""amples of Ihi. kind of thing one might quote the
deeply moving cOITC$pondences of ,he fint and Ia,( part! ! of Tome K,iip Or the early foreshadowing. of the 'GOlterdam- merung' m",ic in Vas Ring. This rource of fotward-driving . ymbol;c energy i. largely denied to Joyce', motif. ! >. cau," of the weary T"(lund of cydC$, which, h""""er in~""', are comic rnther than tragic Or pathetic; althoogh lhingo can never improve in tho world of FinIMgQJU Wak, they equally cannot gT"(lw any wOrse. Promt, of CO""", had already used corrc'pondenC<'-I 10 annihilate time; J oyce, with hi" re_entrant time ' phere,
'73
? Leitmotiv
imf'"""d Ort this: be utains time and yet holds it wbolly within
IUs ~p, 10 mallaging 00 ha'~ the best of both worIda. T i_
is, was and will be, but Ihef'e " only a cutain amoont of iI, which . . . e limply use 0Y<:r and OVf:r apin. Eac:h As<: apes the
pn:<<dil\& one 10 1ru. 1 the cycling motifs, wbkh in Mann'. hamb upruent a connan! creuive imitation, bocome inltead in Fin"'I~/U IVa. 1:< symbolo of an am"";ng but oppreuivc
repetitiv. . . . "'" :
'Mere man'. mime: God has je. t. The old o. del" changeth and lasu likt the flllt. ' (~. 09)
IfJoyce'. motifi au lao dramatic tru. n thooc of Mann and Wagner, they an:: "'""0 mon:: highly chNgcd with oignif'Uot ront. . . . t. A n::pruenrntivc eumple of tile kind ofsymbolic COn?
densation made pouible by a Joya:an lm-tiD is the closing phr&$<: from Anna Livia Plurabelle: 'Baide Ihe rivering waten of, hitherandthithering water! of. Nightl' (216. 04). ' Thac wurds, in thenudve. suggestive enough perhap', but not very remarkable, form an epitome of the whole chapler and bear the . pirit of Anna with tbem wbenever they appear. Not Ortly arc: rippling . . . . . ter and darkness~, but aOO the tree and the toone and the tw o washerwonw:n of the immediate context. Hither and thither, a pair of oppDlite. , lejHIX,n Sbem and Shaun. Since the ph. . . . . . , illbc tail_d of a tale told of Anna L i v i a a n d t b e r o n c l u s i o n o f t h e m a j o r c y c l e o f B o o k I , i t 1 1' 01' &) ' 1 impli"', wh. " it reeu. . . . the end ofone (female) cycle and the beginning of the next (male) cycle, The wording provides a delr connexion with the whole GUlt Cycle ofFitontgaJU Wah, linee 'rivering' echoa the 'riverrun' witb which the book opens, Earlier we had met Anna in a highlighted paw. ge 'by the waten of Babylon' ('03. " ) and hence tlUs Riblico1 all. . . . . . . , " now faintly heard at a burden . . . nderlying 'I\c:$idc the ri\-ering waten', The motif thereb-e draWl inlO thaoe contexts into whic:h il intrudes, overtone. of captivity, eKik, and whorc:dom. But iu. ymbolic <;OIIlent U ltill not exhaUited, since in FiNwltuU Wu. the City-Dublin---i. wually the male, H CE. The intro- duction of Ihe female city of Babylon then:fou rc:lates the
, s. . App<ndu. A.
,,.
? uitmotiv
'change-of_oex' theme'--already pr=nt in the conver'linn of the wa$h~men into the ! KIllS, $hem and Shaun- to ! he parent figures Anna and HCE_A. . wu Bloom in nightmarish nighttown, HCE the city il; trammogrified into an unwilling whore and mITe", many indignities in that role. ' That Joyce i$ consciomly using thi$ potentiality of hil; moLir may k demon? . trated from another of ia occ",renca--that at 3. 15. 1. '>-20. Here the motif is amalgamated with another from IIl. >! ,' and is used to conclude the male word_battle of Butt and T aff, which forms a parallel to the dialogue or the two women in lJl.
In this latter context Joyc~ makes the change of ! oeX- from " male i><lc. k to a femlik cycle-quite explicit:
'Nightclothc. ed, amoned, the conqucrod? ? way. After ! heir
battlc thy fair bosom. ' (3. '>. '>? 19)
For a writer who delights in indirection, one of thc mo:! t
fruitful potentialitie, of the IeilnwtiD i. its capacity to bring off effects by remote control. J oyce Wa$ temptramontaily inclined to like the idea of ",,(ion at a distan"" by m)'1l<:riOUI o. mtrol. He Wa$ fond of manipulaLing people and events fr<lm Ix:hind
the scon. . , ,. . the all.
~thcr extraordinary 'Sullivan affair" make! ! dear. The diotant 'Godlike Artin' "'a$ nne ofJoyce'. early ideals which he never quite outgr<:w. Ther<: a,. . . , . everal varieties of remote control exhibited in F;nJIIIgont Walt, lOme ofwhich, luch al the 'anastomosis' idea, J hav~ alrudy touched On. MOI! t important of all is the way in which nne part of the
universe of FinJIIIgant Wah can Ix: modified and controlled, ,topped and . tarted, by the introduction ofmntifo from another pari at lOme ~uilabk point. These are the 'String. in the earth and air' that Jny"" take. mch pleuurc in pulling. ' T he ludden appcaran<;c nfmoLif. from the ~nd of 1. 8 in th~ children', bed- ro<>m ":en~ (51~) will serve a, an aamplc. At . '>7~. 07 there
begin. a ",rics of queuion. and exclamations:
, s. . J. M. Mon<, TM Syorrp. iNb. """", N=< yon. , 19r! o Chaf"'" III.
, ? I"h. r< """" t o 1. 0< """",! <Werl<>? \es In '~;tl><raMthitl,,:ring ; d. ' tho """'Iuerods . . . . . . y' ,n the ,taten><:nl a( m "9.
? Su bckow. p. [76.
? Ellrnann. W . 63> If.
, ~ M",,-, <<I. W. Y. 1ind>. U. N=< York.
'9~. p. 109.
'75
? uitmcliv
'_ Wait! '
'-WhatI'
'- Her door! '
'-O pe? '
'- Sec! '
'-W hat? '
, C. ,. "fuL'
' - W h<:>? '
Taken iu illOlation, th. . . , wortk might nM oeem to echo any_
thing doe in Fill/ugan; lVake, but a quite un. ru. takeahle con_ den! oatian of 'he concluding paragraph of 1. 8 in 57~. I6--'7
pain! ) ta a carrespondence of the dialogue and the half_ ohocored questians and ""PO""" at 2'5. ~9 ff. 1be eotablish.
nu:nt of this r. orreopondcnce inducts the readeT to auribu te to th. . . , qu~. tion' and exclamations (S72. a7- '4) both a p. a<< and a rhythm in harmony with the strongly ,ugg""tcd mndd. The whole passage is brought to a quiet full cl"", in 572. '7. These change. . of tempo and tOne are not inherent in the writing at this point in "" far:t. 'i it relates to the immediate ront""t of the chapter; they arc imposed on it by the controlling ki/moliv-
r,(lmple" in 1. 8 from which the passage draM only a , [nall hand_ ful of verbal ech~. The"" eehoes. , though they amount to no more ,han three or rour w<lTds, arc neverthd",s adequate to direct the whole . . :ene, Th~ 'oalting' of a p""""ge in th" way with snatcheo from other e""texU ;. of W u. . . . not new in Fi. ntlll1lS
lVake, but there i. perhaps ""me originality in joya', caurage_ oudy allowing the whole rhythmic unity and tone of a ""<luenee
to be dependent on ! lleh a IInall amount ofintrodu""d matter. Apa" from the very marked emphasi. on tt. . verbal le""l of the matir. , the method> I have bttn dtseribing are nat e. ",elusively j aycean in ~haraC1er and, indeed, many writc,," have achieved comparable results witb organioed ",e af . ymbol and image. Having eh"",n the verbal motif a. hi. unit, how- ever, joy. ,. did find application! fur it wruch made a dofinite wnlribution (:() the art of prose. joy<< shared Thoma. Mann', preoccupatian with the problem of h<:>w to make Ihe . poken word functian like music. In an attempt to approximate to the
,"
? uilmoliv
them~tic . tructure of musical forJll. '! Mano had e~perimented with large verbal block. built up from rich matricc. of motif>, io which the . . ,rpentine alternations ofsymbol. and theme would
produce something like hannony and counterpoint. By going beyond COOlventionallangu;o,ge in the 'Si",ns' episode of Ulysses joyce achieved something which approximated even better to the desiud effect, but always in thae experiments joyce failed to transform the NIUM""",f" into a true N,~. . . n"". ukr. The cw. e. t approach to verbal counterpoint in Ulyss. s il the kind
of syncopation by truru:a. tion excmpliJied in:
'Fint Lid, De, Cow, Ker, Doll, a fifth: Lidwell, Si DedallB, Bob Cowley, K<;truln and Big Ben Dollard. ' (U ~76)
The . arne device io to be fuund in FiMlglltlS Wah, though m o " , . killfully handled. The following line from 2~2. 06, for exampk,
re. . d. at fint like a ,ene. ofdactyt. : 'goodfor""illforUS illulall:IU?
The preceding words, however, 'a chorale in canon', indicate that we ,,'" to read it '" a . . ,rico oftele,eoping stretti, thus:
VOICE I: good for u. all
VOICI:: ~: . . . . . . . . . . good for", all
V01CE3: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . goodfur usafl VOICE 4: . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
