No More Learning

I~L<a>a--
M
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~ "The ~ <I Si<ll<>ban>',;" A W. . u D? <<', <d. . ". OiY< Hart . . d F<i,. S<nn (Sydney Uol,"""", PI:-<st . gM), ,. - ,.
The Decline of m 15
? ~arwiJ:'. Wh~n m mcctl the King he carri~ a de~ice employed forthisp~,aninvertedplanrpol. ""aItick. HyntemOon, an earwiucr il himself an earwig, and then, any inJect. Why lhould""rwi"qualify particularly for adD! illion into the 1Th:om. pia? Th~ir. . -t. trikinBfe. cuui. aplirofforcepi('07. 11). Mal? colm Burr" lA Y'thar urwiS' 'irupire drtad in ! lit mind' of the lu~ntiliouo,and il ilI. his i"'tturnenl ? ? th, end of too. linuous body and their habi, of bol,;"g imo dad: holn and crtvices that
hat lt d to the w;. ;t",prlOId <>orion llIlol they a", apt to elller th~ human CIf wirh fatal fe. ulu. From tlli' belief arose Our familillr
nam. c,which~nfintinAna. . . . Sa~onuIOIrcwicp,theo. erond half ofwhich ;, an old verb . . ,hich . . ,,,,ivct in Ill<: words wiale,
. . . . . "Ie, wriUle, m""nil\i quid: mov<mrnr. '
Fit' f' e<juendy mentions m? , ean and in the norebool. . . uch
lIeM. alizatiOf>l; as the: followina occur:
VI. B? S? ln: m his KOOd exr
mdeafI. Taub VI. II. '5? IH: m car A Imell 111
,,~'" t::louch -IliBhl
But the approprialion oi ocru. tI 10 'iKJa htn: ill only partly allowed in FW for, u we . halll<<, a critical differc-no< bctwccn t:: and " ill the Jood huri. . , and bad eycsisht of the (onner, and
the rever:w: a"ributes of the latter. Th. . . . , two Iysrems of correia? tion m ay function ind. -pcndcntly : Ir il oftm as:w:rted thai m il <kaf, and this link. with hi, ' P. cch impediment. VI. 8. 36. )06 states 'm is earweak'. ~ In . . rwig hu entered Ilia audilory m""tul: O$9. l2 mcnoono 'whal lhey 100II oul of hil car'. But when " i,
Ielli. . , C rhal he is mad, he besins 'Come here, Herr Siudios. . . , 'ill l,eU yo\I a . . . . ij; in your n,' (' \11. . . - 13). II is rrcqumtly imputed 11111 m is MIld 100.
So much fortht ;nMr e. . . . Far man: ,ignificut is th( ov(rgr<1W1l pil\JUl nf King Mi""s. All the ! >C,. aru. who lransmil lhe slander ,boul m seem to be in the positiOll oi the barbe, who law undor Mid. . ' cu,lIIn. In addition 10 Ovid', vcnion we haw: Irish and Welsh kg. . . do of, kinS ""me<! Marl< or Eoclll;. ;t who had ~', eal"l. Fn)m these . au,"", may ckrive 1M attribution of rhe Plttt indignity 10 King Marl< in SCrouJ'1 Tri",," , which ,. . ,inforttl the connectionwithm We find PcnK O'Reilly{French,t-ot_ti/k,
VI. B. 1S? I'3:
? ? ? The Ikdine of m '7 'earwig') at 482. 03-5 together with Midas' g<>ld and his vile
dioease ;
- Breeze ",,[tly. Aures are ouren. Hau'~ hi' naun?
- Me da. has or orieb. Piercey, piercey, piercey, piercey! -W hiteeyelusdous and muddyhorsebroth! Pig Pursyriley!
m is nf (:(IuUe not known
?
obliged to recogni>. e almoSl embodi. . part of the . . ""nce of
Ihe mask, e. iI. 'Haroun Childeric traitsofm. . . . . . . contagiou,:someonewhohasencounteredI di. _
tin~t m will himself bee{l"'" more like m.
Al the ~ginning of 1. 3 the actors from 1. 2 are retrospectively
assessed ; many now ",hibit p<. linled m t. . . . its. In thi. Chapter di_ matic facto", an:: prominent and . ystematically detmont<: ; oon- sequently 'that sword of ce. . . . . . inty which would indentifide the body never fall" (051. OS-<i). The narrator. are aware that their cloud of witncuC$ has changed and can no longer ~ tru$t<d '0 rCp<. lrt . e<:u. . . . tdy On m. This aff"'l$ tht:ir . . yle, which is of",n clum. y and pror. . . . ~ted from overq. . . . lificli. tion. SOli~itous or the
reader's concurrenCC they offer br-acketed comments and inter- jection, and ask many rhetorical questions. An aon""phe", of aftermath pervad. . 1. 3, which approximates in some plac. . to an edilN ttan><;;ripli<)n. For example the sentence 055. 30-056.
19 oould ~ Clarified hy ~ginning at 'all' (055. ]]) and ignoring the subordinate dause 'whereby . . . b;l,wl'. Note the editors' ;"""'tion of the missing 'aby. . ' at 056. "".
In I. t-2 m i, involved in tangible human activities, building, drinking, walking and visiting theatre? . But a. we pl"Ol:ttd hi. ltC_ c. . . . ibi! i'y I. . . . . ,no and he bcc<lmes more static and g<>dlikc. He -=no u leep, being perhaps engrossed by mrobl activity beyond our compr<:ben. ion. EncapSulated by a mounting profusion of
wall. and mysteries, and treated with similarly mounting awe and ",verence, he i. finally lost to sight in 1. + This follow$ a seri. . . of encounters in whicb variou. antagooi. ", chlI. llenge him, "Sta- b~. hi"i an . . . <;:alation of phy. ical violence.
i
? . 8 The Sigla or Fitmqam Wake
The unifyi"3 ,heme of I. } wao bad w. . a. her; thaI of 1. 4 is exile. It ,Ulru wi. h an Egyptian Ii"" in the Dublin ~oo and end, wi. h the captiv. JCW1 in Bahylon_ The IA narTaton are less didae<ic than thMc of Ll_The "ylc is intermediate between . he leading argument ofthe manuocripl editors and 'he neutral iflar-gdy nega- live conjectures ofthe ocientific paleogrnph. . . of ! . ~. In Ihe open_ i"3 paRes they oontinw: to claboTate direCtly On 'heir Quarry,
De. pi'e the Viconian alignment of lbefour book. Ihis i. the part " f FWmoS! ostensibly connected wi,h burial. m may b e . Pharaoh, for he i. nnbalmed (078. 06), or he may . imply be immobile like William III', Statue " n College Green (07P~). Probably more relevant is the allu";"n to the f. . . -tilizinR monolith on the grave (076. }4-~) in ooonection with the vegecotion deities di. cus. . d by Sir lames Frucr. The King of the Wood is prob,ably implici, in the priesl of 080_21i-8, and the references to metempoychosi. emphuize the elhereal qU<llity m ha. n<lW alUlined.
The City
Acoompanyina the dispari,ion of m is his fTagmentation inlO IW<l oomprutena, I: and A, who are IIOIDClimes represented a. his SOlU. They have in facl appeared aU through boo! < I, usually it! an in- . . parable duad, but at Ihe . rial which begins on 08~ they begin to displace m in our . "en<ioo. If "'. pass from Ihi. point to lhe correspondi'41 tri. l in boo! < III "'"" CIIn find a ,imilar point al which m re-emerges ;';'0 promincru:c. I wish to examine the region
be'",e. . " thi' and the do. . of book I II, in compari",n with L1- -4. TIt<: Te><Iet must remember the lateral inve. . . . ion of booIu I and
III, and develop Ihe habit ,,? looking aero. . the in<<",ening band_ se<ope f"r the reflection on the opposed . ununits.
Book III in ,he Viconian ocheme is modern and democratic. . ITr . entnnce durina the Age of People oo"espond. to the ",e of weak bunaucn. ti~ monarchies which Vioo regarded . . an ulUue<<uful attempt to withstand the di. . . ,Iution of society. As modernity cheapens ritual, 1T1'. ,hlla<ion in the ,pirit W1)rld prior to his reappearance is a degraded one. Instead of Frazer'. e~giou. oom-spirit we hear a genteel pre. cncc tritely an- nouncing itself in a . piritualist seance: 'Here w. . are again! ' (~lM6--7)_
Joyce i. probably 'hinking mthe Dublin Theooophists in writ_ ing ,hi,. A. 'Scylla and Charybdis' intimates, Ihe narrowness of their imagination repelled him. BUI his foremost source is Heuer Trave" Smith', P. ycJt. '< M. uag. . i""" 0<<021" Wild. , which con-
? tIlina ~ul(>malic and ouija bo. . rd ""ript. produced in 1923 by M n T r. ve. . . . Smith and 'Mr V'. W iIM, ofttIt a majOT demen! in IT\, il here d escriW as 'w communicator' . . . di, r:inct ["'m 'the con- trol', another . pirit, who facilitated the tTanami. . ion. Wilde ooccches hi. medium, 'Pity Oscar Wilde-<>ne who in the world was. king of life . . . de. r lady . . . Oscar is 'peaking again . . . 1 am infinitely amused by the renutrks you aU make . . . ! king dead i. the most boring Oltpericnce in Hfe. '''
Compare the speech of 'CArnmuniClltOT' in 535. 20>-35. AUed for his views on UIY"tJ, Wilde exclaim, 'Shame upon Joyce, th>. me on hi. work, ,hame on hi, lying lI<Iull'" At H + J2-4 we find ? Shame upon Private M 1Shal! >e"! l nIT hi. fu! ",mene"! Shamu. "" hil atkin. cum? , Julul lying . uulen for an outea" ma. tiff littered in blo"d curti. h T' Thi, aho recalb a . pecclt made in '53" by Sir
William Skeffingron, then Lord Deputy"fDublin, whocalled hi, enemies 'outcoll mastives, linered in C\! rri,h blnod'. "
1would di. pute the connection, with Mn Traven Smith'. work postulated by Mr A,herton,K bUI it is perhaps significant lhat a . ing! ep~f<<)mitisparodiedaltheopposednodeofFW,i. e. the 1.