, 1:, A and -4 are fluid composil<"1, involv_ inK an
unconfined
blur of hislOric:aJ, mythical and fictitious eharac- l~f$, .
McHugh-Roland-1976-The-Sigla-of-Finnegans-Wake
B.
lt.
,}' : VI.
D.
ll.
lo~:
__
'J-. ). ,,". ,. . jliN M. . . . <<? u~ . . . . . i. ,. PTe. '960~ d'o. XIV.
', AWN IX. ? , '1>-3', tX. l, )6-,: tX. ! , lOll. ('97'. )
. . . . ? {". . . N n , ~
,
Inolio. . Uni?
? 8 The Sigla of FimregafU Wah.
The siglum J. is UI alternative to 'f' but the laner reappears on VI. B. ll. 1l3 and is nO{ oeen elsewhere in the notebool<. It occurs, however, at a slightly later date, amongst a list of 'igla in VI. B. 6. 74:
mATISI:A
which may be comp,ared with Joyc<:'. l""er <of Z4 Much 1924 to Harriet Shaw Weav. . . . :?
In making notes I used ,ign' for ! he chief chan=rs. Irmayamuseyou10,<c,bern$0 I. hallwritethem""the bad:: <of ,hi,.
m
A I: A S P T J.
)( []
(? orwicker, H C E by moving lener round) Anrul Livia
Shem-Cain
Shaun
Snake
S. P:t'rid: Tristan
Isolde
Mamaluio
This stands for the 'ide bu, I do not wish to say it f'" until the bool< has wrinen more of judf.
All the nmebooks "",,ccpt lhe . . rliest (V I. B. 1, Vl. B. 10, VI. B. I I, VI. B. 2S) use the siglurn m in place of ! he lene. . . HCE. )( and 1:1
do not app"lr in VI. B. 6 but the former may be seen in lwo . boTt 'igla lisl$ in the subsequent VI. B. I :
VI. B. I. 7: mAI: A T J. )(
V I . II . T . I 2 6 : m A J : A T J . S P M ) (
M, standing for K ing Mark, was soon diKOntinued hy J<>yc<:, who inoorpQrated ,hi. per~o""li[y into m. It is not to be confused with 401, the Fnur Man . . . . , which is the VI. B. 6 forerunn. r of x.
Let m. nexl quote from Joyc<:'. I. ". . . . of IS July 192. 6 to Miss Weaver:'
What have you l. arned in the hill. about m, A, I:, A, T, . . L -II- 0 <> etc. ?
Th;, includes seve",1 new . igla. The di1tincti<>n Qf . . L from -I i. unUSWlI. Both. igM appear to mean h sy (loolde) and ! he most
'/. . "",1,113?
? re:UOl1Jlb~ uplarultion is that . . . . and ~ stand fOT the \WQ com? ponen,. of her mind and J. for her unified self. BUI J. rarely occurs after t9~6: almost all , ub1tqumt hsy merence. are headed . . . . . Betwe<:n '924 and ' 9z6 oolh . igla are found but wilbont evidenl distinction of impOl"l. Quite early in thil period VI. B. z6. tQI carries . . . . alone:
o"and. for tho IWenly-ninefold <:rrUl! U. tion of . . . . . It appea. . . aoo in VI. B. 8. 244 (early 1926) in another Ii,,:
m,. oL, C A~~
TIOI)( 0 C
The innovation here i? . c, lhe brother ofCand A. In . ome ca. . . Joyce also u,es thi, . iglum to mean 'c and A', and consequently there are mtri. . to which eilller interpretation could apply. Joyce . e<:m. to have eventually incorponled the pernonalily of T riuan into . c, 10 T fades oul aflCC this Siage, being omitted frrun the mid_ 1926 list of VI. B. IS. 2? :
m
?
I~ ? ~ r
A final condition i. seen in the ' 932- 3 list of VI. B. ;\4. 191: m?
l~'Ab A' A< ~
-o
C
T he lettered indica refet to the four chapttrs of book II I.
The Buffalo Notebooks 9
? 10 The Sig! a of Fi=qans W"k. Personalily Condensation
Pel'Sonag'" such as m, .
, 1:, A and -4 are fluid composil<"1, involv_ inK an unconfined blur of hislOric:aJ, mythical and fictitious eharac- l~f$, . , wdl a,nonhuman clemens. Joyce'. technique of per- sonality <:<mde",ation is uhimately inseparable from his lingu;Slic eMden,;. . :"i"n, C<>incidences oforthOgr;tphy and pronuncil"ion are enforced with indifference to the ostensible logic of their PUt. That which i. not coincidence i. pared away, and the greater the . imilari. y oftwopenons' name. , the mote u",fully thei r pel'S<Klali- ties <:<mjugate.
Before the onset of the effect I called psychic . . turat;on, the reader'. mind dic(,,,. . . its own limits of credulity lowards ili< range of different meanings (hal Joyce inI<",ded any won! <)< unit to encompa"'. Clearly, no lWO people will draw (he line at precisely the same point, and even the . . me I'<"on on different occasions will pl~. it differ=tly. ' To be . trict, it i. les, ? lint lhan. ron. ofapathy dividing $timulu. from vacuwn. Wi,h reiteraled ""Iual experience, 'he limi" fi. . . t contract, then widen. I, is how~veT possible to ign= the a. . . the! ic commitment and th<<:>reticllly to unile any unit with any glo? ? , as Clive Han has shown:
Toke any p. . . . ge at candorn and you can <iemonSlrale that it is abou" say, the twenty-four golden umbrellas of
tbeKingofThailand. TIlemc:thodis,ofCOt. orse,applicable to any work of literature. Mr Dalton has $uggesred to me that 'he opening scene of Haml" can be . hown to be en- tirely concer~ with . . x""l inten:ouri! e. "The principle th~refoTC S<<n'UIto be a lunatiC Ont, and yet I believe lhal in the case of FW it ha$' certain validity , Any,hing in FW i. indeed aboUI. nything el$C'-hw oldy in th. fall <>/an i,,? }in;" 'eg"" of plam. of mtanil! ,\'. The all-irnporlllnt que. - ! ion, in my view, i$ how to get the. . plan. , of m~~ning into the right order, and into 'he right perspective. '
But in much of FW [he reader is unable to usign priority 10 any major gJo. s. ThCT(: uists here a par:alld with the gr:adient of rnlity in the 'Cir~' epUnde of Uly"e,. Some of the 'Circe' speeches constitute dil"? Cl transcriplt of . "'erio. events. OthcT$
are embellished by Bloom', pa. -. . noia, otbers arc pieces of interior monologue comparable with tho"" in other episodQ" whilst othert
, 0 . . un, P r o b l m > . . . F d t z S<nn. ' " -r. . , - a t < oC O v < r . f ' t O d . . . . , A W N I . ' ( ' ~
,4
. d. by 0;. . , Hart""" Fdt. Sentt (S)'dne)' Uru. . . . . . . p". . " '96$), i---9.
'1b< EIep. . . . . , in ,I>< ! kklyo ~ oC F; '''? '''' W<IV. in A W . DWm,
? ore dilations of len c"IUciou. phenomena. With the latter, a few s<<<>nd. ' experience may Q(XuPY IruIny pog'" of pSy<heddic fan- . ,. . ia and a . ingle . peech may include inforrruotion known only to Bloom and information known only to Stephen, in an illuS\r. ltive
I1lther than a reprodue,ive sen. e. Joyce neither separates nor iden- tifies these gmel1l, thereby implying the arbi'rary rutture of their bound? . Obviouslyccrtl. inpartsoflhe Ctmtinuurn. cannot be defini_ tively alloned to anyone level. In FWwe find far more levels and far mOr<: llltC<'rtl. inty.
Omsider for ("ltlImple 02S. 0S' 'her lex'. sa! ig'. T he Ltx: Sllli. a, the rrankish ~lie Law, is pertinenl in the ':<""0<1 (widowhood) because of its pronouneem<n1$ on male and fe""'le rights of de_ scent. The syntactic echo, however, is 'her leg'. sdig' (German: 'happy"). 11:uot i. to say, . he i. not sufficiently grave, as would
b e c o m e . r e c e n t w i d o w . W e m a y ala<> f i n d t h e D u t c h z a l i g , ' " " , a n _ ing delicious, or hl",. . d, but the word ""'"' dearly fitting the reservation of the carlier pan of the . emenee i. Irish salach, 'dirty'. " Devil. hayfork'. w10llll with her only her leg'. dirty.
A ta certain point . . . . tur~tion occurs ~ the mind (ail. to ",(:;lin and Ttconcile a luperfluity of levels. In many cases their meaningS grt. te (e. g. 'bl",=! ' and 'dirty'), adding to the difficulty. A fre- quent panern i. an initial ludicrou. in'Ulge, lat. " found to be justi- fied by the supporting rt. ,ionale. Take on ("ltlIrnple from 1. 6. 1,
which is "",rked m in the British Mu. . um manuscript? . " AI 13'. 09"""11 'his Tiar. l ~ . oon", was held unfiIlable till one Liam Foil{dIed him in Westmun. tcr. ' John Garvin" explains thaI this refers 'to the . tone, Lia Foil, on which Irish tingo we", crowned atTart. ,whichwaol. . . " forasimilarceremonyatScon~inScOIland and kept there until brought away by the Engl,sh and in. . rttd in the coronation chair in W . ,tmin. ,er Abbey. ' If w<: cLusify the other plan. . of meaning in this phl'll"" W<= may say that one iden- tifies m wi'" Parnell, 'uncrowned King of Ireland', who. . fol-
lowe" fa,ltd him in W",nninsler. Another, via 'Tart. of the Kinga', makes him the last High King, Roderick o'Omnor. A third ",lateslOHumph",y Chimpden Earwickec, who in I. ~ rnttts King William (Irish I.
__
'J-. ). ,,". ,. . jliN M. . . . <<? u~ . . . . . i. ,. PTe. '960~ d'o. XIV.
', AWN IX. ? , '1>-3', tX. l, )6-,: tX. ! , lOll. ('97'. )
. . . . ? {". . . N n , ~
,
Inolio. . Uni?
? 8 The Sigla of FimregafU Wah.
The siglum J. is UI alternative to 'f' but the laner reappears on VI. B. ll. 1l3 and is nO{ oeen elsewhere in the notebool<. It occurs, however, at a slightly later date, amongst a list of 'igla in VI. B. 6. 74:
mATISI:A
which may be comp,ared with Joyc<:'. l""er <of Z4 Much 1924 to Harriet Shaw Weav. . . . :?
In making notes I used ,ign' for ! he chief chan=rs. Irmayamuseyou10,<c,bern$0 I. hallwritethem""the bad:: <of ,hi,.
m
A I: A S P T J.
)( []
(? orwicker, H C E by moving lener round) Anrul Livia
Shem-Cain
Shaun
Snake
S. P:t'rid: Tristan
Isolde
Mamaluio
This stands for the 'ide bu, I do not wish to say it f'" until the bool< has wrinen more of judf.
All the nmebooks "",,ccpt lhe . . rliest (V I. B. 1, Vl. B. 10, VI. B. I I, VI. B. 2S) use the siglurn m in place of ! he lene. . . HCE. )( and 1:1
do not app"lr in VI. B. 6 but the former may be seen in lwo . boTt 'igla lisl$ in the subsequent VI. B. I :
VI. B. I. 7: mAI: A T J. )(
V I . II . T . I 2 6 : m A J : A T J . S P M ) (
M, standing for K ing Mark, was soon diKOntinued hy J<>yc<:, who inoorpQrated ,hi. per~o""li[y into m. It is not to be confused with 401, the Fnur Man . . . . , which is the VI. B. 6 forerunn. r of x.
Let m. nexl quote from Joyc<:'. I. ". . . . of IS July 192. 6 to Miss Weaver:'
What have you l. arned in the hill. about m, A, I:, A, T, . . L -II- 0 <> etc. ?
Th;, includes seve",1 new . igla. The di1tincti<>n Qf . . L from -I i. unUSWlI. Both. igM appear to mean h sy (loolde) and ! he most
'/. . "",1,113?
? re:UOl1Jlb~ uplarultion is that . . . . and ~ stand fOT the \WQ com? ponen,. of her mind and J. for her unified self. BUI J. rarely occurs after t9~6: almost all , ub1tqumt hsy merence. are headed . . . . . Betwe<:n '924 and ' 9z6 oolh . igla are found but wilbont evidenl distinction of impOl"l. Quite early in thil period VI. B. z6. tQI carries . . . . alone:
o"and. for tho IWenly-ninefold <:rrUl! U. tion of . . . . . It appea. . . aoo in VI. B. 8. 244 (early 1926) in another Ii,,:
m,. oL, C A~~
TIOI)( 0 C
The innovation here i? . c, lhe brother ofCand A. In . ome ca. . . Joyce also u,es thi, . iglum to mean 'c and A', and consequently there are mtri. . to which eilller interpretation could apply. Joyce . e<:m. to have eventually incorponled the pernonalily of T riuan into . c, 10 T fades oul aflCC this Siage, being omitted frrun the mid_ 1926 list of VI. B. IS. 2? :
m
?
I~ ? ~ r
A final condition i. seen in the ' 932- 3 list of VI. B. ;\4. 191: m?
l~'Ab A' A< ~
-o
C
T he lettered indica refet to the four chapttrs of book II I.
The Buffalo Notebooks 9
? 10 The Sig! a of Fi=qans W"k. Personalily Condensation
Pel'Sonag'" such as m, .
, 1:, A and -4 are fluid composil<"1, involv_ inK an unconfined blur of hislOric:aJ, mythical and fictitious eharac- l~f$, . , wdl a,nonhuman clemens. Joyce'. technique of per- sonality <:<mde",ation is uhimately inseparable from his lingu;Slic eMden,;. . :"i"n, C<>incidences oforthOgr;tphy and pronuncil"ion are enforced with indifference to the ostensible logic of their PUt. That which i. not coincidence i. pared away, and the greater the . imilari. y oftwopenons' name. , the mote u",fully thei r pel'S<Klali- ties <:<mjugate.
Before the onset of the effect I called psychic . . turat;on, the reader'. mind dic(,,,. . . its own limits of credulity lowards ili< range of different meanings (hal Joyce inI<",ded any won! <)< unit to encompa"'. Clearly, no lWO people will draw (he line at precisely the same point, and even the . . me I'<"on on different occasions will pl~. it differ=tly. ' To be . trict, it i. les, ? lint lhan. ron. ofapathy dividing $timulu. from vacuwn. Wi,h reiteraled ""Iual experience, 'he limi" fi. . . t contract, then widen. I, is how~veT possible to ign= the a. . . the! ic commitment and th<<:>reticllly to unile any unit with any glo? ? , as Clive Han has shown:
Toke any p. . . . ge at candorn and you can <iemonSlrale that it is abou" say, the twenty-four golden umbrellas of
tbeKingofThailand. TIlemc:thodis,ofCOt. orse,applicable to any work of literature. Mr Dalton has $uggesred to me that 'he opening scene of Haml" can be . hown to be en- tirely concer~ with . . x""l inten:ouri! e. "The principle th~refoTC S<<n'UIto be a lunatiC Ont, and yet I believe lhal in the case of FW it ha$' certain validity , Any,hing in FW i. indeed aboUI. nything el$C'-hw oldy in th. fall <>/an i,,? }in;" 'eg"" of plam. of mtanil! ,\'. The all-irnporlllnt que. - ! ion, in my view, i$ how to get the. . plan. , of m~~ning into the right order, and into 'he right perspective. '
But in much of FW [he reader is unable to usign priority 10 any major gJo. s. ThCT(: uists here a par:alld with the gr:adient of rnlity in the 'Cir~' epUnde of Uly"e,. Some of the 'Circe' speeches constitute dil"? Cl transcriplt of . "'erio. events. OthcT$
are embellished by Bloom', pa. -. . noia, otbers arc pieces of interior monologue comparable with tho"" in other episodQ" whilst othert
, 0 . . un, P r o b l m > . . . F d t z S<nn. ' " -r. . , - a t < oC O v < r . f ' t O d . . . . , A W N I . ' ( ' ~
,4
. d. by 0;. . , Hart""" Fdt. Sentt (S)'dne)' Uru. . . . . . . p". . " '96$), i---9.
'1b< EIep. . . . . , in ,I>< ! kklyo ~ oC F; '''? '''' W<IV. in A W . DWm,
? ore dilations of len c"IUciou. phenomena. With the latter, a few s<<<>nd. ' experience may Q(XuPY IruIny pog'" of pSy<heddic fan- . ,. . ia and a . ingle . peech may include inforrruotion known only to Bloom and information known only to Stephen, in an illuS\r. ltive
I1lther than a reprodue,ive sen. e. Joyce neither separates nor iden- tifies these gmel1l, thereby implying the arbi'rary rutture of their bound? . Obviouslyccrtl. inpartsoflhe Ctmtinuurn. cannot be defini_ tively alloned to anyone level. In FWwe find far more levels and far mOr<: llltC<'rtl. inty.
Omsider for ("ltlImple 02S. 0S' 'her lex'. sa! ig'. T he Ltx: Sllli. a, the rrankish ~lie Law, is pertinenl in the ':<""0<1 (widowhood) because of its pronouneem<n1$ on male and fe""'le rights of de_ scent. The syntactic echo, however, is 'her leg'. sdig' (German: 'happy"). 11:uot i. to say, . he i. not sufficiently grave, as would
b e c o m e . r e c e n t w i d o w . W e m a y ala<> f i n d t h e D u t c h z a l i g , ' " " , a n _ ing delicious, or hl",. . d, but the word ""'"' dearly fitting the reservation of the carlier pan of the . emenee i. Irish salach, 'dirty'. " Devil. hayfork'. w10llll with her only her leg'. dirty.
A ta certain point . . . . tur~tion occurs ~ the mind (ail. to ",(:;lin and Ttconcile a luperfluity of levels. In many cases their meaningS grt. te (e. g. 'bl",=! ' and 'dirty'), adding to the difficulty. A fre- quent panern i. an initial ludicrou. in'Ulge, lat. " found to be justi- fied by the supporting rt. ,ionale. Take on ("ltlIrnple from 1. 6. 1,
which is "",rked m in the British Mu. . um manuscript? . " AI 13'. 09"""11 'his Tiar. l ~ . oon", was held unfiIlable till one Liam Foil{dIed him in Westmun. tcr. ' John Garvin" explains thaI this refers 'to the . tone, Lia Foil, on which Irish tingo we", crowned atTart. ,whichwaol. . . " forasimilarceremonyatScon~inScOIland and kept there until brought away by the Engl,sh and in. . rttd in the coronation chair in W . ,tmin. ,er Abbey. ' If w<: cLusify the other plan. . of meaning in this phl'll"" W<= may say that one iden- tifies m wi'" Parnell, 'uncrowned King of Ireland', who. . fol-
lowe" fa,ltd him in W",nninsler. Another, via 'Tart. of the Kinga', makes him the last High King, Roderick o'Omnor. A third ",lateslOHumph",y Chimpden Earwickec, who in I. ~ rnttts King William (Irish I.
