No More Learning

! ! . ,,ot,infact,beachieved WIt out eshlescness Mary M . , I . ~ "
. . . -,~. ~-,~,,~~,<<,-. , . anmng s very c ever dramatIsatIOn of Fm~e! ,a? s ~ake,whIch she calls The Voice ofShem,' is shocking and dlffilTIlshmg becau~e it fixes the personages in time and place and a'ppearance, ~educmg them to actors on a lighted stage? it
establishes (and thIS may be its main virtue) the danger of tryin~to turn Fznnegans Wake ir:to an experience for the visual imagination as opp~s~d to the readmg eye. But those critics who hate verbal amb'gU1t1es tend to love sharp visual images, and Joyce (not only in thIS book) has been repeatedly attacked for the low visibility of his
wntmg. . yet lIterature at ItS most ltterary (for instance when it ic
poetry) IS not weU bI t ~'. ~~-'--~ . ' . ' '" '-"N. ~. ,L. o. ! llak. e? . st,()nK~l? l"~. ! . o the ;/::e: visualisa-
tlOn~. sthe . 4e~! 1:! . . 2Ltm". . 1m%~o. m! kiJlk When we thmk ;;Of Hamlet wet mkofanactorplayingthepart;whenwereadHamlet'sspeeches we are, more strong! y aware of responses of smell taste feeling move;nent than of SIght. There is little to look at i~ Paradise Los,'
Blake s Jerusalem, Keats's Ode to a Nightingale, or Eliot's Fou; Quartets. Poetry may take fragments of visual experience but only for the purpose of combmmg them, of creating a complex that it is penlous to try to see clearly. 'Where the bus stops there shop l' says HCE from the dead, a~dvague visions of shopping and bussin~ are swallowed up m the httle joy of the parody. Finnegans Wake
does not depnve us of SIght (though It nearly deprived Joyce of it).
ItfE~:Su~frQID th~. b]! ! ~! ~o(havi! ! )L! R,J>! 2i~Lcoherentima~ ! he Imag1TIatl~eretI~~~. ~~,,~_~r. r0rmsz1:_/~elSisthe jOb that literatu~e
was bornto perform. --',' "'"'''". _-'-c<'"'''
,----~. -
1 Faber and Faber, 1958.
we may
? ? The Man-made Mountain
Only in one respect is Finnegans Wake morc solidly spatial than real dreams. I once dreamed of a plate. . . :whi. ch had ~even sh~es of bread and butteron"it- I t k __ ay three and six remamed. ThIS sort o' t mg never appens in Earwicker's dr~am. Joyce often spoke of his book as mathematical, and one thtng m It that the vast chaotiC dreaming mind never impairs is number. Halfof 1132 is always 566, and out of that basic figure of fall and recovery some of the sIgmfi- cant numbers of the book are made: 1 for HCE, 1 for ALP, 3 for the children, 2 for the sons. 1+1~2; 3 x2~6; 6 X 2 gives us the eternal twelve. 1+1+2 gives us the four old men. The sum ofthe four figures of II32 is 7 number of the rainbow gIrls. 4 x 7 grves the 28 days of February, ;he number of the St Bride's girls, divisible
by 4 to bring back therainbow. Every four years comes the leap-year girl. The two girls in the park and the three watchmg soldIers, HCE and his enemy-all are in the ricorso-and-fall number; the three and the two are always there to remind us that fallmg bodIes, whether of Finnegan, Parnell, HCE or Humpty Dumpty, go down at 32 feet per second per second. . .
It is this devotion to number which makes pznnegans Wake the long book it is. Joyce had enough of algebra, with its generalisi~g letters, in Ulysses; in Finnegans Wake he glor. lfieshumble anthmetIc, dwelling with a kind of awe on the nch multIphclty conveyed by the
number of ALP's children, for instance, so that each of the 111 IS fully named and the 1II gifts (fruit ofthefather) speCIfied. Even the mention o f Ulysses is enough to make Joyce . want to. dre~m-enumer- ate the chapters. Number is the reality behmd the IllUSlDn of name and appearance. Critics have spoken ? f the book's dIffuseness, but that seeming sprawl is really numerical exactness. The cQuntmg
fingers are at their work, however deep the sleep, and those thunder-
words always have exactly a hun~redletters, no ~ore,nO less. ThIS is not childishness; the profundIty of the meamng of number, set out seriously beneath the joke of the lesson-chapter, permeates the
whole book. .
If critics will accept the logic of Finnegans Wake, hIdden beneath
what seem to be mad words and intolerable length, they WIll stIll shy at the lack of what they call action. This, they say, IS presented to us as a novel, and in a novel things are supposed to happen. Very little muscle is exerted in either Finnegans Wake or Ulysses, but we have to avoid lamenting the fact that Joyce was never strong on action ofthe Sir Walter Scott kind, that, though he was drawn to epIC, he early rejected the bloody substance of epic. We have seen m hIS
270
In the End is the Word
work how even the least gesture of violence will provoke earthquakes or Armageddon, even shiver the universe to atoms-events too ~pocalyptical to be more than static, comic rites, final mockeries of action as the best-sellers know action. He did not reject such action as. a vulgarity, only as a property that might damage language by infl",~---. :t:-The representation of passiori-Orvrolence had best be limited to thought or speech, since tne thrust offist or phallus, being a physical cliche, seems to call for a verbal cliche in the recounting. The cliches ofDublin pub-talk or an advertising canvasser's interior monologue are mere naturalism; the frame of symbol and poetry is a new creation out of words and the rhythms of words, static rather than kinetic. 1:! I_e. . ! loyeL~hOJ1. ldJ! :mir"JQ-Shake~~ Shake. spearC:s stage-dir! ;. <li=.
But, of course, Joyce was a family-man, and the small events of the family day had far more meaning than the big passionate public events of the books on the sitting-room shelves. In both Ulysses and Finnegans Wake he attempts to cut history down to size, measure it against his son's cold or his daughter's toothache, his wife's plea for more housekeeping money and the broken dental plate he can- notafford to have repaired. He committed himself to glorifying the common man and his family, anointing them with a richer language than the romantics, whose eyes were full of the universe, ever gave themselves time myopically to amass. Examine that stain on the table-doth, the crescent of dirt in your thumb-nail, the delicacy of that frail cone of ash on your cheap cigar, the pattern on the stringy carpet, and see what words will most exactly and lovingly render them. The words that glorify the commonplace will tame the bluster of history. The moon is in a cup of cocoa and the Viconian cycle turns with the sleeper on the bed with the jangling springs. At the same time, take words as well as give them, so that eternal myths are expressed in exactly caught baby-talk, the slobbering of the crone in the jug-and-bottle, or a poor silly song on the radio. This is Joyce's art.
It is, finally, an art ofscrupulous rendering. I do not mean by this that Joyce's great achievement was solely to find the right word and the right rhythm for the thing that was already there, waiting in the DBC tea-shop where Parnell's brother 'translates a white bishop' or on the banks of Shakespeare's Thames where the pen is 'chivying her game of cygnets'. I mean rather that he set himself the task of creating exact and inevitable language for the conceivable as well as the actual, and that Finnegans Wake is an exercise in rendering the
271
? ? ? The Man-made Mountain .
almost inconceivable. From this point o f view. alone . 1t ca~not be . h h ima inative writers continue to Ignore It, bemg per-
~an;r;~~~t~~~dof aJrnitting that they, likeyoung StePth:~eD~~:~~:; t
'have much, much t~h~;ate~'~eJ~Y~~a~~~;~~~:~i:an,Pope and ~t~StoO;h~? ::0aspire to;'riting well. ~iSit~{;:! ~o:,;~:
the end of the street where so many 0 f us war . w
fearful of looking out. So ~ng:we i~O~:I~:sg:~I~~~i::_~~c1~ on being content wIth w at de wo~tea the heightened journalis- Augustamsffi, good manners a~ wea ~atics asms ofthe open-
tic,. the no-nons';:':l~t~;:. -~i~;~a~l~! poten/But when wehave aIr mvalId, the p dl . t f his substance neIther IItera-
read him and absorbe even an 10 a 0 . W h'll be finding an ture nor life can ever be quite the same agam. t~:~ost defiled city embarrassing joy in the cdommonplace;gs~~~gall the odds, a hardly
Index
ABBREVIATIONS: D- Dubliners. FW-Finm:gans Wake. POTA-A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. SH - Stephen Hero. U - Ulysses
as a figure of heaven, an
supportable optimism.
assummg,
'&lus' (U), II8ff.
Anna Livia Plurabe1Ie (FW), 1 9 2 , 2 0 1 ,
20g-IO; her letter, 210, 26r; as wife and mother, 216-18; as geometrical
Bloom, Milly (U), 108
Bloom, Rudy (U), II6, 163-4 Bloomsday (dramatisation o f U ) , Ign. ,
28
Boardman, Edy (U), ' 4 7
Boylan, 'Blazes' (U), 108-9, 125, 134-
135
Brilliant Career, A , 75
Browne and Nolan (FW), 204
Bruno, Gtlordano, 79
Butler, Samuel, 147
Caffrey, Cissy (U), 147
Carroll, Lewis, 192 and passim Chamher Music, 7<>-'73
'Otizen, The' (U), 142tf.
Cohen, Bella (V), 161
Conmee, the Rev. John, S. J. , (U) 134 Conroy, Gabriel (D), 43-44
Conroy, Gretta (D), 43; (V), IIO Critical Writings o fJames Joyce, The,
71Hlo
Cunningham, . Mattin (D), 47; (V),
IISff. , 142; (FW), 237
D'Arcy, Bartell (D), 4J, 47
Day o fthe Rabblement, The, 35, 78 Deasy, Garrett (V), 97, 99-101 Decameron, The, 18
Dedolus, Simon (POTA), 29; (U),
IISff.
Dedolus, Stephen (POTA), Symbol- ism ofname, 49-50; as child, 50-51;
273
272
figurej ALP , 227; her final
mono-
logue, 262-3
Aquinas, St Thomas, 3I, 37 Archer, William, 75
Aristotle, 101
AxePs Castle (Edmund Wilson), 12
Best, William (t)), 127
Blake, William, 31, 78-]9
Bloom, Leopold (U), as cuckold, 44- 45, 76, ISO; as father-mother, 97; getting breakfast, 106-9 j in lavatory, 109; as Henry Flower, lID-II; as Lotus Eater, nD-I3; in bath, II3; in Hades, I 14ff. ; in ne~aper office(JEolus), I I 8tf. ;among LaestIj- gonians, 12Iff':; going to Museum, 125; entering National Library, 129; alleged pederasty of, 131; buying Sweets o f Sin, 135; and the Sirens, 137ff. ; and the Cyclops, I42ff. ; and the Oxen of the Sun, ISIff. ; in Nighttown, I57ff. j changing sex, 161; as Stephen Dedalus's protec- tor, 163; in cabman's shelter, 167"""9; back in 7 Eccles Street, 171ft". and passim
Bloom, Marion (Molly) (V), I07ff. ; :final monologue, 173-6; and passim
? Index
Index
as schoolboy, 51-57 j as student (pOTA and SH compared), 58-59; as student in POTA, 6~9; and internationalism, 6r; and Irish nationalism, 62; aesthetic theory of, 62-65 j as poet, 65-66; conversa- tions with Cranly, 61, 66-68; con- versations with Lynch, 62-65 j apostasy of, 66-68 j as eternal stu- dent, 68-&j; (SH), 28, 37-38; (U), on Socrates, 28 j as T elemachus, 94ff. ; on Hamlet, 96, I26ff. j and
Proteus (on sea-shore), 100--5; as Hamlet, 103-4; in newspaper office, 120ft'. ; in lying-in hospital, 151ff,j in Nighttown, 161? [ ; as Bloom's son-substitute, 163; with Bloom, 167ff. and passim
Dickens, Charles. , 23; George Orwell on, 24-25
'Drama and Life', 78
Duhliners, 19; epiphanies in, 37; pub-
lication of, 38; 'The Sisters', 38; 43 ; 'An Encounter', 39, 43; 'Araby', 39; 'Eveline', 40; 'A Little Cloud', 40; 'Counterparts', 40-41; 'Two Gal- lants', 41, 46; 'After the Race', 41; 'Ivy Day in the Committee Room', 41-42; 'Grace" 42, 43, 46; 'The Dead', 43-44; Importance of, 45-47
Dudley, Lord (U), 134
Earwicker, Humphrey Chimpden (also HeE) (FW), as hero, '92-3; guilt of, 193; stutter of, 199; early his- tory of, 203-4; libel on, 204-5; trial and incarceration of, 205-8; destruc- tion of, 230ff. ; invocation of spirit of, 247ff. ; identification of with Finnegan, 251-2; awakens (as Mr Porter), 253ff. ; attempts inter- course, 254-7; as Honuphrius, 255- 256; and passim
'Ecce Puer', 74
Eglinton, John (real life), 48; (U),
126
Essential James Joyce, The (Harry Levin),19
Et Tu, Healy, 35 Ex;"! es, 45, 75-77
Fantasia ofthe Unconscious, 18
Finnegan (FW), 196, 199, 200 Finnegan's Wake (traditional ballad),
'94-5
Finnegans Wake (the book), economy
of, 45; composition of, 185; publi- cation in instalments of, 185-6; language of, 186ft'. ; time-element in, 192; as dream book, 264; alleged unintelligibility of, 265-8; auditory quality of, 268-9; arithmetical basis of, 270; lack of action in, 270-1 .
Finnegans Wake, A Census of(Adehne Glasheen), 12,45
Finnegans Wake, A Skeleton Key to
(Campbell and Robinson), 12 Fleming, Ian, 19,21-22,24
'From a Banned Writer to a Banned
Singer', 71)-80
Gallaher, Ignatius CD and U), 40
Gas from a Burner, 36-37
Gogarty, Oliver St John, 72 (see also Mulligan, Buck)
Golding, William, 73 Goulding family (U), 102 Goulding, Richie (D), 139 Greene, Graham, 3I
Haines (U), 95, 96, 97
Holy Office, The, 35-36
Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 20-21, 26, 266
Hosty (FW), 204, 205, 235--6
Ibsen, Henrik, 75, 77, 78
'Ibsen's New Drama', 78
Isabel or Issy or ! zzy (FW), 192, 198,
212,220-2,226,243,~53
musician, 28-29; as linguist, 29; in
Trieste, 30; and Nora Barnacle, 30; 128 and Catholicism, 30-33; as Irish-
man, 33; as Dubliner, 33-34; as
poet, 70-75
Iseult (FW), 2 3 6 ,
Eliot, T. S. , 78, 267 (see also Waste Jam~s Joyce's Ulysses - a study by
Joyce,John,28-29 Joyce, Lucia, 30 Joyce, Stanilaus, 30
Juno and the Paycock (Sean O'Casey) 46 '
Kate the cleaning woman (FW), 232- 233,250
Lady Chatterley's Lover (D. H. Law- rence),18
Lawrence, D. H. (as mother's boy), 27 Lenehan (D), 4'; (U), II9
Lynch (U), 161 (and see Dedalus,
Stephen)
MacDowell, Gertie (U), 147ff. MacHugh, Professor (U), H9 Magrath (FW), 1 I Malinowsky,46
Mamalujo (FW), ! 93, 235
Mangan, James Clarence, 78 Mau? ham, W. Somerset, 19, 24 Mulligan, Buck (U), 94ff. , lZ9
Mutt and Jute (FW), 201; as Butt and
Taff, 233ff. ; as Muta and Juva, 260 My Brother's Keeper (Stanislaus Joyce),
12,30
Odyssey, 88-g0; Joyce's version of, 9D--93
? O;Malley, Grace (FW), 201-2
Toole, Lawrence (FW), 197 Ou~. Exagmination Round his Factifica-
tton for Incamt"nau? on of Work in Progress, 12, 193
Parnell, Charles Stewart, 35,S! 117 Patrick, St (FW), 2 6 0 . ' Pomes Penyeach, 70, 73
Portrait 0/the Artist as a Young Man,
A, genesis of, 48; technique and symbolismof,49andpam? m; analysis of, 48-&j
Sh~kespeare, William, 10! , 149 (Ham- tet), 127, 159, 162
Shaun (FW), as Stanislaus Joyce, 3Q, 198; as Jones, 212-14; as Chuff, 220-2; at lessons, 223-9; as Kev, 227; as Mick, 228; succeeds his
father, 239; rejects Shem's way of life, 241; as Jaun, 243-6; as Yawn, 246ff. ; as St Kevin, 259
Shem (FW), as James Joyce, 30, 198, 2I! , 215-1. 6.
; as Glugg, 220-2; pro- poses wntmg Ulysses, 221; at lessons, 223-9 j as Dolph, 227; as Nick,228
Shute, Nevil, 21, 24
'Sirens, The' (U), 137ft:
Stephen D (dramatisation of SH and
POTA),19
Stephen Hero, 48-49 (and see Portrat? t
ofthe Artist as a Young Man, A) Sterne, Laurence, 23, 24
Sullivan, John, 79-80
Swift, Jonathan, 102,? 198, ! 99 and
passim
Tristram (FW), 197, 236-8
Ulysses - as 'dirty' book, 18-19; style of, 20, 22-23; blasphemy in, 31-32j prose poetry of, 74-'75; publication difficulties of, 83; 'bigness' of, 83-
84; interior monologue in, 84-85; epic scope of, 85; Homeric parallels ~f, 85-86; symbolism in, 86-87; lIterary parodies and pastiches in, 15zff. ; how to read, 177-9; as a
great comic novel, 17g-80; humanity of, 180-! ; as a picture of Western civilization, 181-2
Vico, Giovanni Battista, 19! 'Wandering Rocks, The' (U), 133ft'.
Waste Land, The, 74-75, 226, 237, 258, 267
Land, The)
Ellmann, Richard, I Z, 44 274
stuart Gilbert, 1I, 152
Joyce, James, as family man, 27; as
Waugh, Evelyn, 25, 31
Russell, George (AE), 29, 126, 127,
275
? ? ? ? Index
Wello/Loneliness,The(RadcliffeHall), s8
When We Dead Awaken (Ibsen), 77- 78
Wound and the Bow, The (Edmund Wilson), I2
Yeats, W. B.