in
Finntgmts
Woh ofthe cocI
Hart-Clive-1962-Structure-and-Motif-in-Finnegans-Wake
CasonC", baa made his ulual lIlewlc use of endadjwtables'
(2:;6. i1) -which is one of the l"avonrite putimes of l"at-beI\iod Sh:>un to "'bom the 'climb duanbdlCl' (2:J6. 08) pander at every tUTn. (Tho: dumb-bell- the mathtmatical sign ror infinity,
C:O---;I, of coune, an eapeciaIly luitable symbol for J oyce'. im_ mortal but empty-headed and. vulgar fIowcr-girh. )"IN: IelIQO_ ing or history's stew is just one more . aped of the 'Eating the God' theme whlch J oytt lOOk over from Fruer, and. , afkr aU, SAysJoy<<, 00 matter how often tlu: Holl may go a P' Dg'C>S through the guts of a oommunicant, the true God rem"'''' whole, inviolate. However (\almetive and degenoerale Shaun's
. "
? Troo Major Motift
gourmandiling may seem, nothing is really destroyed in the I'itIiXW; the Ia_ of~rvation alwa)'l bold, 10 ! hal 'whatnot wiU~ ilnor'. History, liU the hleido. cope ofFiaNgau W. . u, limply rearnnga a "umberof'endadjU$. . . b1. ,. ',and the: wring OUt of the God among the congrq;ation, though il . ymbolista the continuity of Iik, is no rna", than a juggling wilh the dis- tribution of Ihe l>JIIe panicle. of lIdng. Through past eons (236. 30) and past epoch. (236. 31) the flower-dance. . . have continued to 'UM"" thejooul tIu HI,iil. . which are nO longer "'{uatcd, as On page '17, with the lively and 'flUin' (S08) cup of tea, oot with the: suuggltlll of the ogeing Anna to ",main ~. BookIIistheBookoftheChildun;Annab. ubttl! rcpIa<<d, and "'" watch the pitif. . . . spectacle of the al",ady mummified woman playing iIlt the 1lI01~rhood of which . . . . i. no Longer capahle (236. 31 ). The cu p of tta that wat once her lII0I1 important fertility-. ymbol ",appean in this parody, hut onlyinlWOciati(1nwiththedeaf,purblind,ando~old man ora past age, who hat heeD luppLantedjust '" his wife hat: 'the bcdeafdom of po'. taeorm, tbe olxo:city of pa'. teapucs'. Funhenno"" . . Joyne lut;OI ba. clt-alang for the cup ('teapUCI') "'" may fairly assume WI il is upsidedown and hence, like Omar'. glasa, empty. The word 'teapucs' may aka oontain the ''P'''''' """ ory 10 combat pa'. approaching bli"d",,",; there seemll 10 be at 1(lIIt one ph)"io;ai dd'ecl that F. arwicku shartlll with hil myopic ""condhtot lI0II, Shem.
In the preceding p=agraph Anna Uvia'. buW dqo~ ('billy . . . tOo') is idenliftetl with Ihe Miual . . . . d at the oommunion, hUI when an office from it io . ung--'and . ing a . ru. allOO'- this iI dilCOVCl'fll, rather IUl]>I'isingly, to be no more than the btel! veniun ofQuil>eI. Joyu could hardly ha,. . , nw:\e greater claim. for his motif. :
The fourth parody is by f,. . . the mOlt diffoeult of Ih~ leI, and at the lame tirDe on~ of the lII0I1 signi6canL The supreme importat>Ce ofQuiodl""ntence in Pi_,IUS W. ut i. o emphuivd. by tlte . . . . 10 whichJ oyu pull thil vtnion- namdy 10 conclude tlte central 'Butt and Taff' convenation III the two . peak in unioon for the fint and only time. The passage is 110 den. . , with
'97
? Tl/iQ Mo}oT Motifs
meaning that it will be as well to quoe. the final polilhed t. xt in full:
'When old the wormd W a ) a gadden and Anthea first unfolled her limbi! wand. rloo, W a ) the way the wood wagged where
opter and aptcr we~ samnraited twirnhs. They had their mutthering ivies and their murdhcring idies and their mouldher_ ing iries in that musht grove but there'll be bright pHnny_ flowe. . . in Calomella'. cool bowers when the magpyre'. habbk towers scorching and $<;r~hing from the ravenindow. If th~ lobed the . . " of hit head and me. . ates the ,eep of hi, traublen he'. dancing figgiel to the spittk sid. and ,hoving out, the soord. And hell be buying buys and go gulling gcll< with hit flo""im and j<:ssim of carm, silk and honey while myandtbJl' playing Janeifor lneifug and what', duff as a bettIe for usses makes coy O>$yn eorollane,' moue, ""e<:tcr to Wee. So till but_ again budly shoots thon rising germinal let bodky chow the fau of hi> an! l"r and badley bide tbe toil of h" tubb. '
T bi, i. the only <><:<:"-,ion on wbich Quinet', single "'nteru:e has ~n broken down by J oyce into more than one---<> fact which must be accounted em by lbe pecnliar circum'tan. ,. . of the parody'. genesi,. The flowers have bo::cn transported away from time and . pace and made to bloo. . . ,m in tbe Garden of Eden, the site at which 10 many ofJ oyce'. moLif! a~ allowed to play thenudves out. It will be ,een that I'lilly and Columella are once again pre<<:nt in pcrron and that Anna Livia bersclfmakes a ,hird with her girls, in the gui><: of Aphrodite Antheia. In thil pa. ,agc, howev<:1", J cyec h", gone far beyond Quinet, on to who. . little 'entenee be ha. piled allusion after allusion to virtually every major theme in Finntgmu Wok" including the Fall, ritual murder, hlindn. . . , Wagnerian Magie-Fire, tbe dance, Irish nationalitm, homooexuality, . imony, and mic-
turition.
On page 615, where the Wt of the parodi. . imme<iiatoly
p~ced. . the fulle$t and most important ve. . . ion of the l. etter, the a,sociation of the two motifs i, given its final and simplest exp. . . . . ion. Since Book IV is the A! I" of Vico'? . u. r~, in which dawn bo::gin. to di,pttoC many mi,t. , J oyce reverts to a rather
. "
? T1m) Major Motifs
d~r a. dhuenee to tbe rhythnu and content of the original 8<:ntence. Pliny and Columella ""appear alm~t undisguised, and the thue flower> flourish again in the fornu which Quinet gave them. Even here, howcveT, thero are n"meToul complm- Ii. . . Colu. mella douhlco with Columkille, thus making another link in the long chain of correspondent. . that Joy"e is always at pai"" to establish hetween I""land and Rome. ' The tbree fiowen from Gaul, Illyria, and Numancia, now mow by their name. that they in fact owe allegianr,e to more than one nation,
the hyacinth from Gaul ('an_loo-ghoulish') ;. aLro Italian (,Giacinta'); the Jllyrian periwinkle ha. French ancestry (,PeITeoche'); the Spanish dai,y among the Tui", of~umancia i, halfEnglhlt ('~larga"'I'). In the lalt analysis they all belong to Irdand: 'our muUer nation'. '
The mool inte. . . . ting chang<: in thi> final parody is the in_ clwion for the fi. . . . t time of a clear . ymbol of male immortality. 'Finni". the old One' also endu. . . . Ihrough Ihe 'hophauaro. ' of hi,tory. Though the manif""tations of Ihe masculine principle 8<:en' morc transient than th". . , of Ihe feminine, the underlying ",. enee of Finn the Giant i. no 1= rul or indcotruelible 'han that of Anna Livia wilh her twenly_nine tributarie? . finn will wak~ again al 'Oxkalooralooraloomenoo'. (Thi' is one of lhe
la:! l appearn. nc. .
in Finntgmts Woh ofthe cocI
a trinity with thc thundervoice (Father) and the Word 'whiskey' (holy 'pirit), and ,hares with lhem the privilege of awakening the fallen hero to new life.
)
"lbe tea_Lahle with cup, . aucer, and {ea. pot i, now r=1 '" lhe morning breakfa<! t-table al which eggs are to he eaten: 'the",'ll he igg' for brelt:kers come 10 mournhim' (12. (4). At I~ast one version of Ih~ Leller is writlen on Ihe mells of th"",
egg_ 'there'? . cribing5 scrawled on eggs' (6'5. 1O)-and ,. . they afe broken open to bt eaten W~ at last understand how it ill
that the 'punctuation' of the Leller is mpplied by the furk of the Professof at the Breakfast T able (104), although the att~mpl t<> cal boi1~d eggs with" forlt: 8<:e"" to brand the Prof=nr ,. .
1 Cf. , for <o<ampl<, "n. . , . . . &>Ud MI<\ the pobbel quouc', ,,,,,,,,;00,,' (iH-S~)?
'99
? Two Major Motifs
one of the abocllt-min<kd . . . . . riety. . . . . . alway&, Joyce aimo for a duality of fUIICtion in his Iymbol;'m, 10 that the 'pipiIlg bot' momitlg tu - pot is made to ~ abo q MolIy-J. . ephine'l onnge-~ nigbl_uten&ik, the 'Sophy_Key_Po' of 9-34. '
Ibving 10 firmly otabli$h<<i the . . . . ,aalion of the Lertu with tbe cggs on which it i$ wril! (1I, with lhe ~nerative power of tea, and with the cycle of ingoing and outgoing water, Joyce
then hllehu Ihe <<>mplele text (615- 19).
II : THE LETTER
TItougb neither 10 poetic: q Ihe Anna Livia moti& (al! i-16) nor 10 satisfactorily controlled q me Quine! sentence. the wonderfully rich and txpteLiive motif-oomplex which makel up the Let""r musl rank fint among lhe many '''''panding rymboll' in FinlUlg<w W. w. Significantly, it begins with the W<. )I"(1 'Rcw=rend' (6I5. I~)- pronounced in popular Irish
spe<<t. almost exactly like 'riverrun'-and goes on to treat every theme in FiMtglUlJ W&t4, to lhot il '''''Yquickly comeo 10
aand lOr Ille book ilxlf. Detailed COIIQpondenca proliferate in all directions;l& me Letter if; developed in every coneci. . . . . ble contut: it isa " enda ietkr which me lewd Shaun introduces into lhe hcnnaphmditic pill_boloI ('a henn, a piliMbox', 66. ~6); 'Every leIter is a bard ? . . ' (&. 13_33). sayt Anna, and . he it obviously making an allulion 10 Earwid::u'. virility as well U 10 the obscurity orhis meanl of expression; ili. any and every let"'" of the alphabel, which forms yet another cyclic
mio:rocosm; interpreted u the agent from the \lerb 'to leI', it if; both ? charter of libmy and " tource of inhibition for HCE
. . . . d for aU who may read it; it is lbe 'lucier' . nd me 'b tttt'--the fint and tbe Ill$! , Gern:! lio ami Revelation; ;t is me ~a ilJClf, lIOurce of . ll: 'The Letterl The LeIlU ! '. '
Numeroua importa! lt IOUI'CtI for the leiter have already been diJcuascd in publi'hed criticitm and ;1 aeems l. i. I<ely that
t 'Pipinghot' iun importan' . . . . . . . if? . oo:l. ,td~tb,. . ,;"r. ,rntionin lJ! ,wt;, U ~,,_ 506.
? s. . Appendi>: A.
' 00
? Two Mqjar Motifs
o t h = will come 10 light a. . work on FiMtgaJlS Wd:. continu. . . . ?
:s. ,fo", going on 10 treat some of the Letter's symbolism, I ,hall mention only one rno,", 50urce which does not yet oeem 10 ha""
be<. n noticW. : namely, Sheehy. Skeffington'. MidrMl D<zmt. ' lltis includes perhap, the best? known acoount of the once celebrated 'pen l~r', which wa> . . nt by Davitt 10 a young }'eru. . . n with the object of di. . uading him from murdering a fellow member of their group. In his letter Davitt pretended 10 fall in with the young man's design in order that ht: might gain sufficient time 10 prevent the crime, which in fa. ct he mccceded in doing. The letter, ostensibly agr<:eing with the proposed plan 10 carry out a murder, proved to be Davitt'. downfall, however, for it ~ uled a, evidence agaiml him in a trial at which he w"" ,entenced 10 mOre than nine y<:an of detention, some of it lpent in solitary confinement; he also had to fight hi. . 'penisolate war'. The document came 10 known as the 'pen letter' becau,e in it Davitt referred 10 the murder_ weapon (a revolver) by Ihe usual Penian cant term, 'pen', Throughout FillJltllallJ Wake 'pen' and 'Letter' go together, of couroe; it i. Shem Ihe Penman, modelled partly On Davitt
hirruelf, who writ. . the LeIter, and it is ht: who brandish. . a ",volver under Earwicker'. nole in 1. 2. The word 'pen' is often
used in contexts of fighting and bloodilied, which sugget" that ] oy<:e is ming it in the Fenian 1! eIIX:
'his pmname SHUT' (,82,32)
'r. the Pen Mightier than the Sword? ' (S06,18)
'murthe. . . . . . so apt as my pen is upt 10 scratch' (,P~. S~) 'davit, , ,penal,' (464,S6)
'pennyladde1'1l' (479,27)
'D. ;vitt. , . letter ocllp<:nned' (-t-89. go)
As Mr. Atherton h"" emphasilCd,' ]oy<:e w"" always looking out fur ~=mpl'" of forgery, minakcn identity and deception '" modeh fur Fin""giJIU Wah, and this misundentood 'pen
, SI< 85 fT; Athe. --. I'P. 63. 65, " G, <:Ie. ; A. Gb. h=, 'F;"', _ Wod. and the Girlofrom. lIooton, M. . . :, n. . H _ &. Mw, ",I. VII, Spring, 19~
. . . .
~
? F. ~keffittstOll, ? Atherton, p. 6g.
Mi<Md L/aQiU, London, '9<'8, pp. '3 fT.
? TWQ Maj{JY Motifs
letter' is jUlt ouch a soun;<:, though, . . with so many of m. sources, Joyce ,eeJru! to have made dire(:t USe only of the litle,'
'Work in Progr. . . ' w"" the ambiguou! letter on the evidence of which the W<lrld <;<>ndemne(\ Joy<;(, but, he impli. . , the <:On- demnation w,," unwarrante(\ and ha. . ed on a misinterpretation of wholly laudable aiJru! ,
How. . ver numtrom and diven<: it! ! oureeS, the Letter remairu primarily an expression of the natu", of Anna Livia, the female principle of flux and continuity, Anna i, ph)'1ically identified
with the Letter, and hence with the whole 'riverrun' ofFimltt"'" lVaM, in a quite lileral way, Much h"" been said about Joyce'. image of Ihe gianI_figure lying beneath the . oil and forming the featu~ oflhe landscap<:--hi. fcet in the Phoenix Park and hi, head at Howth'--but it dt>C1not. ecm to have been suffici- ently apprecialed that th~ JXnonificalion of Ihe Liffer is
worked out in similarly detailed gcographicaltenr\l,
Befure I go on to dioc"," the <;<>m:.
(2:;6. i1) -which is one of the l"avonrite putimes of l"at-beI\iod Sh:>un to "'bom the 'climb duanbdlCl' (2:J6. 08) pander at every tUTn. (Tho: dumb-bell- the mathtmatical sign ror infinity,
C:O---;I, of coune, an eapeciaIly luitable symbol for J oyce'. im_ mortal but empty-headed and. vulgar fIowcr-girh. )"IN: IelIQO_ ing or history's stew is just one more . aped of the 'Eating the God' theme whlch J oytt lOOk over from Fruer, and. , afkr aU, SAysJoy<<, 00 matter how often tlu: Holl may go a P' Dg'C>S through the guts of a oommunicant, the true God rem"'''' whole, inviolate. However (\almetive and degenoerale Shaun's
. "
? Troo Major Motift
gourmandiling may seem, nothing is really destroyed in the I'itIiXW; the Ia_ of~rvation alwa)'l bold, 10 ! hal 'whatnot wiU~ ilnor'. History, liU the hleido. cope ofFiaNgau W. . u, limply rearnnga a "umberof'endadjU$. . . b1. ,. ',and the: wring OUt of the God among the congrq;ation, though il . ymbolista the continuity of Iik, is no rna", than a juggling wilh the dis- tribution of Ihe l>JIIe panicle. of lIdng. Through past eons (236. 30) and past epoch. (236. 31) the flower-dance. . . have continued to 'UM"" thejooul tIu HI,iil. . which are nO longer "'{uatcd, as On page '17, with the lively and 'flUin' (S08) cup of tea, oot with the: suuggltlll of the ogeing Anna to ",main ~. BookIIistheBookoftheChildun;Annab. ubttl! rcpIa<<d, and "'" watch the pitif. . . . spectacle of the al",ady mummified woman playing iIlt the 1lI01~rhood of which . . . . i. no Longer capahle (236. 31 ). The cu p of tta that wat once her lII0I1 important fertility-. ymbol ",appean in this parody, hut onlyinlWOciati(1nwiththedeaf,purblind,ando~old man ora past age, who hat heeD luppLantedjust '" his wife hat: 'the bcdeafdom of po'. taeorm, tbe olxo:city of pa'. teapucs'. Funhenno"" . . Joyne lut;OI ba. clt-alang for the cup ('teapUCI') "'" may fairly assume WI il is upsidedown and hence, like Omar'. glasa, empty. The word 'teapucs' may aka oontain the ''P'''''' """ ory 10 combat pa'. approaching bli"d",,",; there seemll 10 be at 1(lIIt one ph)"io;ai dd'ecl that F. arwicku shartlll with hil myopic ""condhtot lI0II, Shem.
In the preceding p=agraph Anna Uvia'. buW dqo~ ('billy . . . tOo') is idenliftetl with Ihe Miual . . . . d at the oommunion, hUI when an office from it io . ung--'and . ing a . ru. allOO'- this iI dilCOVCl'fll, rather IUl]>I'isingly, to be no more than the btel! veniun ofQuil>eI. Joyu could hardly ha,. . , nw:\e greater claim. for his motif. :
The fourth parody is by f,. . . the mOlt diffoeult of Ih~ leI, and at the lame tirDe on~ of the lII0I1 signi6canL The supreme importat>Ce ofQuiodl""ntence in Pi_,IUS W. ut i. o emphuivd. by tlte . . . . 10 whichJ oyu pull thil vtnion- namdy 10 conclude tlte central 'Butt and Taff' convenation III the two . peak in unioon for the fint and only time. The passage is 110 den. . , with
'97
? Tl/iQ Mo}oT Motifs
meaning that it will be as well to quoe. the final polilhed t. xt in full:
'When old the wormd W a ) a gadden and Anthea first unfolled her limbi! wand. rloo, W a ) the way the wood wagged where
opter and aptcr we~ samnraited twirnhs. They had their mutthering ivies and their murdhcring idies and their mouldher_ ing iries in that musht grove but there'll be bright pHnny_ flowe. . . in Calomella'. cool bowers when the magpyre'. habbk towers scorching and $<;r~hing from the ravenindow. If th~ lobed the . . " of hit head and me. . ates the ,eep of hi, traublen he'. dancing figgiel to the spittk sid. and ,hoving out, the soord. And hell be buying buys and go gulling gcll< with hit flo""im and j<:ssim of carm, silk and honey while myandtbJl' playing Janeifor lneifug and what', duff as a bettIe for usses makes coy O>$yn eorollane,' moue, ""e<:tcr to Wee. So till but_ again budly shoots thon rising germinal let bodky chow the fau of hi> an! l"r and badley bide tbe toil of h" tubb. '
T bi, i. the only <><:<:"-,ion on wbich Quinet', single "'nteru:e has ~n broken down by J oyce into more than one---<> fact which must be accounted em by lbe pecnliar circum'tan. ,. . of the parody'. genesi,. The flowers have bo::cn transported away from time and . pace and made to bloo. . . ,m in tbe Garden of Eden, the site at which 10 many ofJ oyce'. moLif! a~ allowed to play thenudves out. It will be ,een that I'lilly and Columella are once again pre<<:nt in pcrron and that Anna Livia bersclfmakes a ,hird with her girls, in the gui><: of Aphrodite Antheia. In thil pa. ,agc, howev<:1", J cyec h", gone far beyond Quinet, on to who. . little 'entenee be ha. piled allusion after allusion to virtually every major theme in Finntgmu Wok" including the Fall, ritual murder, hlindn. . . , Wagnerian Magie-Fire, tbe dance, Irish nationalitm, homooexuality, . imony, and mic-
turition.
On page 615, where the Wt of the parodi. . imme<iiatoly
p~ced. . the fulle$t and most important ve. . . ion of the l. etter, the a,sociation of the two motifs i, given its final and simplest exp. . . . . ion. Since Book IV is the A! I" of Vico'? . u. r~, in which dawn bo::gin. to di,pttoC many mi,t. , J oyce reverts to a rather
. "
? T1m) Major Motifs
d~r a. dhuenee to tbe rhythnu and content of the original 8<:ntence. Pliny and Columella ""appear alm~t undisguised, and the thue flower> flourish again in the fornu which Quinet gave them. Even here, howcveT, thero are n"meToul complm- Ii. . . Colu. mella douhlco with Columkille, thus making another link in the long chain of correspondent. . that Joy"e is always at pai"" to establish hetween I""land and Rome. ' The tbree fiowen from Gaul, Illyria, and Numancia, now mow by their name. that they in fact owe allegianr,e to more than one nation,
the hyacinth from Gaul ('an_loo-ghoulish') ;. aLro Italian (,Giacinta'); the Jllyrian periwinkle ha. French ancestry (,PeITeoche'); the Spanish dai,y among the Tui", of~umancia i, halfEnglhlt ('~larga"'I'). In the lalt analysis they all belong to Irdand: 'our muUer nation'. '
The mool inte. . . . ting chang<: in thi> final parody is the in_ clwion for the fi. . . . t time of a clear . ymbol of male immortality. 'Finni". the old One' also endu. . . . Ihrough Ihe 'hophauaro. ' of hi,tory. Though the manif""tations of Ihe masculine principle 8<:en' morc transient than th". . , of Ihe feminine, the underlying ",. enee of Finn the Giant i. no 1= rul or indcotruelible 'han that of Anna Livia wilh her twenly_nine tributarie? . finn will wak~ again al 'Oxkalooralooraloomenoo'. (Thi' is one of lhe
la:! l appearn. nc. .
in Finntgmts Woh ofthe cocI
"lbe tea_Lahle with cup, . aucer, and {ea. pot i, now r=1 '" lhe morning breakfa<! t-table al which eggs are to he eaten: 'the",'ll he igg' for brelt:kers come 10 mournhim' (12. (4). At I~ast one version of Ih~ Leller is writlen on Ihe mells of th"",
egg_ 'there'? . cribing5 scrawled on eggs' (6'5. 1O)-and ,. . they afe broken open to bt eaten W~ at last understand how it ill
that the 'punctuation' of the Leller is mpplied by the furk of the Professof at the Breakfast T able (104), although the att~mpl t<> cal boi1~d eggs with" forlt: 8<:e"" to brand the Prof=nr ,. .
1 Cf. , for <o<ampl<, "n. . , . . . &>Ud MI<\ the pobbel quouc', ,,,,,,,,;00,,' (iH-S~)?
'99
? Two Major Motifs
one of the abocllt-min<kd . . . . . riety. . . . . . alway&, Joyce aimo for a duality of fUIICtion in his Iymbol;'m, 10 that the 'pipiIlg bot' momitlg tu - pot is made to ~ abo q MolIy-J. . ephine'l onnge-~ nigbl_uten&ik, the 'Sophy_Key_Po' of 9-34. '
Ibving 10 firmly otabli$h<<i the . . . . ,aalion of the Lertu with tbe cggs on which it i$ wril! (1I, with lhe ~nerative power of tea, and with the cycle of ingoing and outgoing water, Joyce
then hllehu Ihe <<>mplele text (615- 19).
II : THE LETTER
TItougb neither 10 poetic: q Ihe Anna Livia moti& (al! i-16) nor 10 satisfactorily controlled q me Quine! sentence. the wonderfully rich and txpteLiive motif-oomplex which makel up the Let""r musl rank fint among lhe many '''''panding rymboll' in FinlUlg<w W. w. Significantly, it begins with the W<. )I"(1 'Rcw=rend' (6I5. I~)- pronounced in popular Irish
spe<<t. almost exactly like 'riverrun'-and goes on to treat every theme in FiMtglUlJ W&t4, to lhot il '''''Yquickly comeo 10
aand lOr Ille book ilxlf. Detailed COIIQpondenca proliferate in all directions;l& me Letter if; developed in every coneci. . . . . ble contut: it isa " enda ietkr which me lewd Shaun introduces into lhe hcnnaphmditic pill_boloI ('a henn, a piliMbox', 66. ~6); 'Every leIter is a bard ? . . ' (&. 13_33). sayt Anna, and . he it obviously making an allulion 10 Earwid::u'. virility as well U 10 the obscurity orhis meanl of expression; ili. any and every let"'" of the alphabel, which forms yet another cyclic
mio:rocosm; interpreted u the agent from the \lerb 'to leI', it if; both ? charter of libmy and " tource of inhibition for HCE
. . . . d for aU who may read it; it is lbe 'lucier' . nd me 'b tttt'--the fint and tbe Ill$! , Gern:! lio ami Revelation; ;t is me ~a ilJClf, lIOurce of . ll: 'The Letterl The LeIlU ! '. '
Numeroua importa! lt IOUI'CtI for the leiter have already been diJcuascd in publi'hed criticitm and ;1 aeems l. i. I<ely that
t 'Pipinghot' iun importan' . . . . . . . if? . oo:l. ,td~tb,. . ,;"r. ,rntionin lJ! ,wt;, U ~,,_ 506.
? s. . Appendi>: A.
' 00
? Two Mqjar Motifs
o t h = will come 10 light a. . work on FiMtgaJlS Wd:. continu. . . . ?
:s. ,fo", going on 10 treat some of the Letter's symbolism, I ,hall mention only one rno,", 50urce which does not yet oeem 10 ha""
be<. n noticW. : namely, Sheehy. Skeffington'. MidrMl D<zmt. ' lltis includes perhap, the best? known acoount of the once celebrated 'pen l~r', which wa> . . nt by Davitt 10 a young }'eru. . . n with the object of di. . uading him from murdering a fellow member of their group. In his letter Davitt pretended 10 fall in with the young man's design in order that ht: might gain sufficient time 10 prevent the crime, which in fa. ct he mccceded in doing. The letter, ostensibly agr<:eing with the proposed plan 10 carry out a murder, proved to be Davitt'. downfall, however, for it ~ uled a, evidence agaiml him in a trial at which he w"" ,entenced 10 mOre than nine y<:an of detention, some of it lpent in solitary confinement; he also had to fight hi. . 'penisolate war'. The document came 10 known as the 'pen letter' becau,e in it Davitt referred 10 the murder_ weapon (a revolver) by Ihe usual Penian cant term, 'pen', Throughout FillJltllallJ Wake 'pen' and 'Letter' go together, of couroe; it i. Shem Ihe Penman, modelled partly On Davitt
hirruelf, who writ. . the LeIter, and it is ht: who brandish. . a ",volver under Earwicker'. nole in 1. 2. The word 'pen' is often
used in contexts of fighting and bloodilied, which sugget" that ] oy<:e is ming it in the Fenian 1! eIIX:
'his pmname SHUT' (,82,32)
'r. the Pen Mightier than the Sword? ' (S06,18)
'murthe. . . . . . so apt as my pen is upt 10 scratch' (,P~. S~) 'davit, , ,penal,' (464,S6)
'pennyladde1'1l' (479,27)
'D. ;vitt. , . letter ocllp<:nned' (-t-89. go)
As Mr. Atherton h"" emphasilCd,' ]oy<:e w"" always looking out fur ~=mpl'" of forgery, minakcn identity and deception '" modeh fur Fin""giJIU Wah, and this misundentood 'pen
, SI< 85 fT; Athe. --. I'P. 63. 65, " G, <:Ie. ; A. Gb. h=, 'F;"', _ Wod. and the Girlofrom. lIooton, M. . . :, n. . H _ &. Mw, ",I. VII, Spring, 19~
. . . .
~
? F. ~keffittstOll, ? Atherton, p. 6g.
Mi<Md L/aQiU, London, '9<'8, pp. '3 fT.
? TWQ Maj{JY Motifs
letter' is jUlt ouch a soun;<:, though, . . with so many of m. sources, Joyce ,eeJru! to have made dire(:t USe only of the litle,'
'Work in Progr. . . ' w"" the ambiguou! letter on the evidence of which the W<lrld <;<>ndemne(\ Joy<;(, but, he impli. . , the <:On- demnation w,," unwarrante(\ and ha. . ed on a misinterpretation of wholly laudable aiJru! ,
How. . ver numtrom and diven<: it! ! oureeS, the Letter remairu primarily an expression of the natu", of Anna Livia, the female principle of flux and continuity, Anna i, ph)'1ically identified
with the Letter, and hence with the whole 'riverrun' ofFimltt"'" lVaM, in a quite lileral way, Much h"" been said about Joyce'. image of Ihe gianI_figure lying beneath the . oil and forming the featu~ oflhe landscap<:--hi. fcet in the Phoenix Park and hi, head at Howth'--but it dt>C1not. ecm to have been suffici- ently apprecialed that th~ JXnonificalion of Ihe Liffer is
worked out in similarly detailed gcographicaltenr\l,
Befure I go on to dioc"," the <;<>m:.