S, He denounces hil brother IU 'my
shemblable!
Hart-Clive-1962-Structure-and-Motif-in-Finnegans-Wake
.
(596, ' 5), they will always be able 10 try again.
T heir cycling il .
.
.
much literal and physical as metaphorical and $piritulll.
F.
arwicker pe<lah wearily around the four sides of the rho,nhoid Garden of &kn,' Anna revol'-eJ within the broken curv<: of the Liffey'l COUnt, the rainbow?
gir!
.
c i r c l e wit~nhins a b o u t S l t a u n {HO.
36 ~ S h < : m p i r o u e t t e s i n s i n i J .
trogyric spira\t (300.
26)- while in the next frame of rd"erence
both Shemand Shaun cirr:umnavigale the globe, fore""tnel"lof Mr. Bedell" one-I<:gg<:d wandell'r in 1M u? ? ? ". Lf. : ' the old oemctomyp! ace and jupoetbachgain' (11. . ,8). Their orbiu,like
, Sot """"'''''j~ A .
? ! in M:. J. C. Hods&r' ond M. P. Worlh"'c'Qn, ~ . . W Worts tf J_,JIfI". New y . . . . ~. '909.
o s. . Chap. . , Five.
? Spofi<llCydu: I-TkCircle
til". . , of Plato'. Same and Other,' are inclined to each other. ShaUll follow1 an cut-west trajectory,while Shem pro. . . . to Iravd north~ulh, passing through the antipode? ? Of all the spatial cycles in tb. book, thcK a,. . , the two which are most clearly ",! ;. abo [ished, and the twQ \0 which all the nthen may mMt readily be referred for illumination. Their importa""" Ii. ,. not only in their ronupondence 10 the "yel. ,. "fopiritua1 exile and return (atwaya a primary theme in J oyce), b ut aoo in a remarkably heavy load of further symbolic . ignifiean"" that J oyce makes ! hem cany.
Th. rductance of the critics 10 admit that in UIy<ses Joyce Wa. '! writing moTC than s"Jl"rcharged naturalimt long delayed an adequate undcntanding of his themes, and . """ now there ex;'''' no good treatment of the coomic level of events in the 'I thaca' chapter. The 'symbol' for the chapter is 'comets" and th=: heavenly bodi. . are ,imply Bloom and Stephen, Joyce bimsdfwrote of 'Ithaca'":
'I am wriling JtlwcQ in the fufm of a mathematical catc<:hilm, All even~ are resolved into their cosmic, pbylical, psychical etc. equivalent' , e. g. Bloomjumping down the area, drawing wator from the lap, the micturating in the garden, the <:<lne ofincewe, lighted candle and . tatue so that the reader will know everything and know it in the baldest and <:<lld. ,. 1 way, but Bloom and Stephen thereby become heavenly bodi. ,. , wanderers like the stars at which they gue. '
BI<>om and Stephen have in fact bttn 'put into Ofbit'; theif t. . ". jectori. ,. are spiral, like the spirals of motion to which I refem:d in the previous chapter<: Bloom spirau away from his home and hack to it, ending at the very untre of the whorl of etta,;on ill a black dot' ; Stephen'. orbit i. {be reverse--first
, s. . Chapter Fiv~.
? M. Mog~I""",(<:<I. ),AJ-<Jo7<<M""II4OI),. . . . . . J"';'" c. . . -boodal<,
m. , '959, facl,,! ! p. . jII. ? u. . . . . ,PI'- ,~g-60.
? & . a b o v e , p . 9~ ,
? ThO. dot . h(Kdd follow . he _ 'Wheo-. l' on p. 6g8 of th<: E~{;'h
ed,;. ;. "-,, h"t . . om;,1<<1 through 'YPOJ">-phical erro. -_ I, io . ,t""""import. ,,,,,,, . ;ne< it repreoenb the nu<roo:u<4bO G<>unterpatl of 'be chapter. rna"",," OOO<tuc I""d_IJ(-,> Iu" l;<<. ally been r<<luc<:<l '0 ? uny ""~ ofcuboo, 'Hen: is Rlooro', . . ,~Joy<<, in aru. W<T '0 0,. . q"",'""", 'Ul. imately he "' no more than p,;n',,-', ;nk 1m my P"g<O. _Th. . . . . finally,;" the FI",h ~ Word,
,
'"
? Spatial Cycles: I- The Circle
spiralling in toward 7 EccJc. St""et and then away from il. "Ibi, level of 'I thaca' Qp<n, up many opportunitie! for fu rther di<. cussion for which, however, I have nO 'paee here. The orbits of Shem and Shaun are more nearly cireular, bocalUe in FiMtgtml Wilke Ihere i< no centre on to which a tme spiral might
bt made to converge. I . halltry to . how how Ih"", tv. . . , spatial eycles illWltrate the broad prin6pks of the Shern. Shaun dichowrny.
II: SHAUN'S CYCLE
Although it is Shem who writes the Letter and . eu Ihe whole literary world in a whirl, it i< Shaun who mu,t ddiv~r it; the la. b are shared. Shaun is the means of communication, a social catal)"t who plaY' the intermediary helwc<:n the two
world. of writer and reader withou t being involved in eitlu:r Or understanding the ,ignificance of his own menial hnt very necessary task. I. ike the T sar in Sup/Im Htr(J, Shaun iI a 'bt,olled Christ' (SH 1'2), a holy idiot and scapeg<>at? Mediator in? capahleofgraspinge"en the truth about himself. M a 'dd ivcrcr of ",ftmissives' it is his job to voyage 'round Ihe world in forty maik' (231. 14). His travels take him along one amI oft1u: eroS. of the cardinal points of the compass, . ymboli. y:d by tho Chri,. tian CroM and the Church which is built in iLiimage. TIle n:pre? sentative of a worn-out Age, Shaun move! westward to tho bottom end of this cross where, a . un. god oinking bolow the horizon, he will . . . . join the mute earth from which he . prang. Shaun'. movement from east to west, from tbe head "f t1u: (IOU t<> it! foot, is "f C<>UIX a spatial representation of hil JI\OV<Oment away from Cbrist, for though he is God'. repre. entative in the guise of the Parish Priest ofJIook III, he is, like }'ather }lynn in 'The S;'tc,. ,', a priest of the broken chalia, wdl on the way tm>,'ard that paral)"i. of the soul which iI 'imply a spirieual variant of Osvall's '",funing of the brain'. Shaun', decline is symbolised by hi> insensate prostration as 'Yawn' in III.
S, He denounces hil brother IU 'my shemblable! My fr"ttrl' (489. 28)
but in fact it i, he him>elfwho dans U~ Millmu1l. l aua/aail/. IIWIU! r: in 111. 3 he. pews it fonh again in lCareely rtt<lgnisabl<: form, to
".
? Spatial Cycles: I - T h Circle
the dismay of the inqui,itorialspiritualist. . Shaun travels bact<-
ward. and '" faces the cast- looking IOward. the c><pe<:ted resurrection and observing the fornu of Ch. . utianity ~""n in burial. Rut as he p""'" out tbrough Galway and Ira""l, on to Ro. tcm and Philadelphia aCfOlSS the 'enid mad [cary' sea, he reappeal"! ! , miraculomly reoomtituted . . . the New Hero, the youthful, turbaned Earwickr who cntel'! Dublin Bay from the
(~9). Shaun', 'pirit ~ the Styx-
east, from 'Aria Major'
date-lin e in hi, journey around the globe and, having collected the an_import"-nt L<:tler from Boston, Mass. _ y m bol o f the Holy Ghmt-hc turno up again, 'After rounding his W1lrld of ancient day1' (6~3. 36), rencw~d in vigour by its life-giving power, thinly disguised and prepared In begin again b4 fertil4- ing trip up the Liffey, lravdling in a direction opposite to that ofthe female principle "" . . . 10 keep the cycles rolling. The very first page of Fi1lMgdfU W4. kt tdls "" thai the Hero arrives from
North America uio. Europe-that is, from the ea't- while in her ",liloqlly Anna drea"", ofhow she and Earwickr will sit on Howth looking out toward the rising ,un ofthe next generation to 'Walch would the letter you're wanting be coming may be' (623. 29). tn Book III Shaun, now no longer the vigorom invader in biI phallic sharp-prowed ship, but a rapidly leaking barrel, appears to be floating eaatward dOWll. river toward the mouth, but hU progreso, like that ofbil namCllake Scan climbing the wall in Roocicault'. ANal! I/a POI''''"' an optical iIIwion. H. raceo the cast but in fact tra",,1s westward, upstream, to both youth (the UpP<f ri""f) and death (the setting lun) at the . arne
tim<:: '. . . most easterly (but all goes welt! )' (85. 15). One. : more, apparent progr= in one direction generates a reaction in the other, and once again the charnet,," must luffer the hearttm. aking cane. :liation of all their effort which is the most tragic thing inJoycc'. great tragi. comedy. '
Shaun will eventually reach the New World but, likeJoye. :'. own SQn Giorgio (who made two triP" there), he will always be disappointed and return. Keverthcl. . . , in Ipite of cowtant
'A,,=,on,p. ,6,.
, Q". lhe coun'erp<>in' of W",. oo Ea. , in T. bloo I! . oo II! . p. '9.
)(5
? Spatial C)'cus: I - T h Circu
dilillwionment tbe Unit<:d Slates is the only Promised Land that Finlltgllli' Wake can "ffer and it even com. . to ,ymbol;'e a second_grade Heaven. In ;13 function a. the Promised Land
the U. S. will never be rcaeIted by Earwick~. . . . Moeeo, hut only by the next generation, Shaun; a. lkaven it can never be ,. . ,ached by Sbaun in the flesb, but only in tbe . pirit, afler h;' dcath and rtl5urrt'. <'. tion as the wandering ghost of Book Ill. In the United Stat. . he will make bis pilgrimage to the Dublin of the New W"rld, capilal of Lau,. . ,n, County in hi, eponymoU! stat<: of Georgia (3. 08) and, 'that which is above being,. . tbat which i, below', he will find the,. . ,,, glorified form ofh;' Father presiding ovcr a glorified Mullingar Pub and ,it On his rigbt hand: ',in righlhand son' (2119. IO), At f3I. ! I Shaun is described to the rhythm of 'Old Fol'" at Home', implying that he is equally at holm in both world. . In Joy~e'. vernon, however, the Son of Man can find nO m5t; having ,. . ,ached the haven of the N~w World be must d=end 10 ,"lfer again", Ihe liturgical year rdentlCS! ly begiru once mOre.
III: SHEM'S CYCLE
While Shaun'. can-west journey ;. q"a,i_honzontal, Shem'. displ. acelmnl is in Ihe vertical north-so"th dirtttion. 1Shem is the tbinker, the art;'t who plum! 's the deptill and I. ,. . ,. bis >oul in the pmct:S$. A Mover, he i, yet not an Unmoved Mover: as thert: ;. no . tationary absolute in Joyce'. world any more Ihan in Ein. tein's, tbe godlike Artist of the idealistic Stephen finds hiTJU<:lfobcying LaW! ofMotion like anybody . I. e, moving with equal and (in a sense) opJX>Oite vdocily 10 that which he im- parrs to h;' c. . . ,ation. Th;' is ofeou. . . . no more Ihan a deflated meehan;'lic model of the romantic notion thaI the artilt mUll damn hinuelf in order to impd hi< work into tbe . . . ,gion of glory. At. Stephen ,aY', alluding to his aJX>Owy and artistic miuion: '1 am not afraid to make a mi. <take, even a great
' & ' t;gur< HI, following: uu. d"gram may be ~ witlt thnt< ,,. . ,. t'0iil,,,,,. . . <~ ofPlato'. T_. . <! . t,furaornpk,f. ~I. Corn- ford, PIaU" o. m. . iol', ,. . ,. . don, t9~7, p. 73 and fro'Hi>pi<c<. s. . 0/,. Chopt. . ,fi~, I,below.
,,6
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Spatial Cycw: I-Till Circle
"""tHe, . . lifdong mistake, and perhaps . . . Iollg as eternity lOll' (AP 281), A Miltonic Satan, though Iall attraeti"", Shem finds hit P~mooium in the hoi and bdlish antipodes of Australia
- 'down under', lU il is popularly called. '
r. . x,. . , II!
'Ill< map oflheoouls' ~f! '<lle in <d. icf'
Shcm', and Shaun'. cyd es interxcl in the finl place in Dublin, whe~ a conflict belw~n Ihe two always takes plaIX, just", alnn and Salan find commOIl ground on earth, midway
b. twe<:n Heaven and Hell. ntis pallem is roughly . . . ,f1eeted in
, :\IU,,,,,', So\O. n . bo cirtuonnavi<<a'.
both Shemand Shaun cirr:umnavigale the globe, fore""tnel"lof Mr. Bedell" one-I<:gg<:d wandell'r in 1M u? ? ? ". Lf. : ' the old oemctomyp! ace and jupoetbachgain' (11. . ,8). Their orbiu,like
, Sot """"'''''j~ A .
? ! in M:. J. C. Hods&r' ond M. P. Worlh"'c'Qn, ~ . . W Worts tf J_,JIfI". New y . . . . ~. '909.
o s. . Chap. . , Five.
? Spofi<llCydu: I-TkCircle
til". . , of Plato'. Same and Other,' are inclined to each other. ShaUll follow1 an cut-west trajectory,while Shem pro. . . . to Iravd north~ulh, passing through the antipode? ? Of all the spatial cycles in tb. book, thcK a,. . , the two which are most clearly ",! ;. abo [ished, and the twQ \0 which all the nthen may mMt readily be referred for illumination. Their importa""" Ii. ,. not only in their ronupondence 10 the "yel. ,. "fopiritua1 exile and return (atwaya a primary theme in J oyce), b ut aoo in a remarkably heavy load of further symbolic . ignifiean"" that J oyce makes ! hem cany.
Th. rductance of the critics 10 admit that in UIy<ses Joyce Wa. '! writing moTC than s"Jl"rcharged naturalimt long delayed an adequate undcntanding of his themes, and . """ now there ex;'''' no good treatment of the coomic level of events in the 'I thaca' chapter. The 'symbol' for the chapter is 'comets" and th=: heavenly bodi. . are ,imply Bloom and Stephen, Joyce bimsdfwrote of 'Ithaca'":
'I am wriling JtlwcQ in the fufm of a mathematical catc<:hilm, All even~ are resolved into their cosmic, pbylical, psychical etc. equivalent' , e. g. Bloomjumping down the area, drawing wator from the lap, the micturating in the garden, the <:<lne ofincewe, lighted candle and . tatue so that the reader will know everything and know it in the baldest and <:<lld. ,. 1 way, but Bloom and Stephen thereby become heavenly bodi. ,. , wanderers like the stars at which they gue. '
BI<>om and Stephen have in fact bttn 'put into Ofbit'; theif t. . ". jectori. ,. are spiral, like the spirals of motion to which I refem:d in the previous chapter<: Bloom spirau away from his home and hack to it, ending at the very untre of the whorl of etta,;on ill a black dot' ; Stephen'. orbit i. {be reverse--first
, s. . Chapter Fiv~.
? M. Mog~I""",(<:<I. ),AJ-<Jo7<<M""II4OI),. . . . . . J"';'" c. . . -boodal<,
m. , '959, facl,,! ! p. . jII. ? u. . . . . ,PI'- ,~g-60.
? & . a b o v e , p . 9~ ,
? ThO. dot . h(Kdd follow . he _ 'Wheo-. l' on p. 6g8 of th<: E~{;'h
ed,;. ;. "-,, h"t . . om;,1<<1 through 'YPOJ">-phical erro. -_ I, io . ,t""""import. ,,,,,,, . ;ne< it repreoenb the nu<roo:u<4bO G<>unterpatl of 'be chapter. rna"",," OOO<tuc I""d_IJ(-,> Iu" l;<<. ally been r<<luc<:<l '0 ? uny ""~ ofcuboo, 'Hen: is Rlooro', . . ,~Joy<<, in aru. W<T '0 0,. . q"",'""", 'Ul. imately he "' no more than p,;n',,-', ;nk 1m my P"g<O. _Th. . . . . finally,;" the FI",h ~ Word,
,
'"
? Spatial Cycles: I- The Circle
spiralling in toward 7 EccJc. St""et and then away from il. "Ibi, level of 'I thaca' Qp<n, up many opportunitie! for fu rther di<. cussion for which, however, I have nO 'paee here. The orbits of Shem and Shaun are more nearly cireular, bocalUe in FiMtgtml Wilke Ihere i< no centre on to which a tme spiral might
bt made to converge. I . halltry to . how how Ih"", tv. . . , spatial eycles illWltrate the broad prin6pks of the Shern. Shaun dichowrny.
II: SHAUN'S CYCLE
Although it is Shem who writes the Letter and . eu Ihe whole literary world in a whirl, it i< Shaun who mu,t ddiv~r it; the la. b are shared. Shaun is the means of communication, a social catal)"t who plaY' the intermediary helwc<:n the two
world. of writer and reader withou t being involved in eitlu:r Or understanding the ,ignificance of his own menial hnt very necessary task. I. ike the T sar in Sup/Im Htr(J, Shaun iI a 'bt,olled Christ' (SH 1'2), a holy idiot and scapeg<>at? Mediator in? capahleofgraspinge"en the truth about himself. M a 'dd ivcrcr of ",ftmissives' it is his job to voyage 'round Ihe world in forty maik' (231. 14). His travels take him along one amI oft1u: eroS. of the cardinal points of the compass, . ymboli. y:d by tho Chri,. tian CroM and the Church which is built in iLiimage. TIle n:pre? sentative of a worn-out Age, Shaun move! westward to tho bottom end of this cross where, a . un. god oinking bolow the horizon, he will . . . . join the mute earth from which he . prang. Shaun'. movement from east to west, from tbe head "f t1u: (IOU t<> it! foot, is "f C<>UIX a spatial representation of hil JI\OV<Oment away from Cbrist, for though he is God'. repre. entative in the guise of the Parish Priest ofJIook III, he is, like }'ather }lynn in 'The S;'tc,. ,', a priest of the broken chalia, wdl on the way tm>,'ard that paral)"i. of the soul which iI 'imply a spirieual variant of Osvall's '",funing of the brain'. Shaun', decline is symbolised by hi> insensate prostration as 'Yawn' in III.
S, He denounces hil brother IU 'my shemblable! My fr"ttrl' (489. 28)
but in fact it i, he him>elfwho dans U~ Millmu1l. l aua/aail/. IIWIU! r: in 111. 3 he. pews it fonh again in lCareely rtt<lgnisabl<: form, to
".
? Spatial Cycles: I - T h Circle
the dismay of the inqui,itorialspiritualist. . Shaun travels bact<-
ward. and '" faces the cast- looking IOward. the c><pe<:ted resurrection and observing the fornu of Ch. . utianity ~""n in burial. Rut as he p""'" out tbrough Galway and Ira""l, on to Ro. tcm and Philadelphia aCfOlSS the 'enid mad [cary' sea, he reappeal"! ! , miraculomly reoomtituted . . . the New Hero, the youthful, turbaned Earwickr who cntel'! Dublin Bay from the
(~9). Shaun', 'pirit ~ the Styx-
east, from 'Aria Major'
date-lin e in hi, journey around the globe and, having collected the an_import"-nt L<:tler from Boston, Mass. _ y m bol o f the Holy Ghmt-hc turno up again, 'After rounding his W1lrld of ancient day1' (6~3. 36), rencw~d in vigour by its life-giving power, thinly disguised and prepared In begin again b4 fertil4- ing trip up the Liffey, lravdling in a direction opposite to that ofthe female principle "" . . . 10 keep the cycles rolling. The very first page of Fi1lMgdfU W4. kt tdls "" thai the Hero arrives from
North America uio. Europe-that is, from the ea't- while in her ",liloqlly Anna drea"", ofhow she and Earwickr will sit on Howth looking out toward the rising ,un ofthe next generation to 'Walch would the letter you're wanting be coming may be' (623. 29). tn Book III Shaun, now no longer the vigorom invader in biI phallic sharp-prowed ship, but a rapidly leaking barrel, appears to be floating eaatward dOWll. river toward the mouth, but hU progreso, like that ofbil namCllake Scan climbing the wall in Roocicault'. ANal! I/a POI''''"' an optical iIIwion. H. raceo the cast but in fact tra",,1s westward, upstream, to both youth (the UpP<f ri""f) and death (the setting lun) at the . arne
tim<:: '. . . most easterly (but all goes welt! )' (85. 15). One. : more, apparent progr= in one direction generates a reaction in the other, and once again the charnet,," must luffer the hearttm. aking cane. :liation of all their effort which is the most tragic thing inJoycc'. great tragi. comedy. '
Shaun will eventually reach the New World but, likeJoye. :'. own SQn Giorgio (who made two triP" there), he will always be disappointed and return. Keverthcl. . . , in Ipite of cowtant
'A,,=,on,p. ,6,.
, Q". lhe coun'erp<>in' of W",. oo Ea. , in T. bloo I! . oo II! . p. '9.
)(5
? Spatial C)'cus: I - T h Circu
dilillwionment tbe Unit<:d Slates is the only Promised Land that Finlltgllli' Wake can "ffer and it even com. . to ,ymbol;'e a second_grade Heaven. In ;13 function a. the Promised Land
the U. S. will never be rcaeIted by Earwick~. . . . Moeeo, hut only by the next generation, Shaun; a. lkaven it can never be ,. . ,ached by Sbaun in the flesb, but only in tbe . pirit, afler h;' dcath and rtl5urrt'. <'. tion as the wandering ghost of Book Ill. In the United Stat. . he will make bis pilgrimage to the Dublin of the New W"rld, capilal of Lau,. . ,n, County in hi, eponymoU! stat<: of Georgia (3. 08) and, 'that which is above being,. . tbat which i, below', he will find the,. . ,,, glorified form ofh;' Father presiding ovcr a glorified Mullingar Pub and ,it On his rigbt hand: ',in righlhand son' (2119. IO), At f3I. ! I Shaun is described to the rhythm of 'Old Fol'" at Home', implying that he is equally at holm in both world. . In Joy~e'. vernon, however, the Son of Man can find nO m5t; having ,. . ,ached the haven of the N~w World be must d=end 10 ,"lfer again", Ihe liturgical year rdentlCS! ly begiru once mOre.
III: SHEM'S CYCLE
While Shaun'. can-west journey ;. q"a,i_honzontal, Shem'. displ. acelmnl is in Ihe vertical north-so"th dirtttion. 1Shem is the tbinker, the art;'t who plum! 's the deptill and I. ,. . ,. bis >oul in the pmct:S$. A Mover, he i, yet not an Unmoved Mover: as thert: ;. no . tationary absolute in Joyce'. world any more Ihan in Ein. tein's, tbe godlike Artist of the idealistic Stephen finds hiTJU<:lfobcying LaW! ofMotion like anybody . I. e, moving with equal and (in a sense) opJX>Oite vdocily 10 that which he im- parrs to h;' c. . . ,ation. Th;' is ofeou. . . . no more Ihan a deflated meehan;'lic model of the romantic notion thaI the artilt mUll damn hinuelf in order to impd hi< work into tbe . . . ,gion of glory. At. Stephen ,aY', alluding to his aJX>Owy and artistic miuion: '1 am not afraid to make a mi. <take, even a great
' & ' t;gur< HI, following: uu. d"gram may be ~ witlt thnt< ,,. . ,. t'0iil,,,,,. . . <~ ofPlato'. T_. . <! . t,furaornpk,f. ~I. Corn- ford, PIaU" o. m. . iol', ,. . ,. . don, t9~7, p. 73 and fro'Hi>pi<c<. s. . 0/,. Chopt. . ,fi~, I,below.
,,6
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Spatial Cycw: I-Till Circle
"""tHe, . . lifdong mistake, and perhaps . . . Iollg as eternity lOll' (AP 281), A Miltonic Satan, though Iall attraeti"", Shem finds hit P~mooium in the hoi and bdlish antipodes of Australia
- 'down under', lU il is popularly called. '
r. . x,. . , II!
'Ill< map oflheoouls' ~f! '<lle in <d. icf'
Shcm', and Shaun'. cyd es interxcl in the finl place in Dublin, whe~ a conflict belw~n Ihe two always takes plaIX, just", alnn and Salan find commOIl ground on earth, midway
b. twe<:n Heaven and Hell. ntis pallem is roughly . . . ,f1eeted in
, :\IU,,,,,', So\O. n . bo cirtuonnavi<<a'.
