Their reckoning
intimates
approval: they call FWa polyhedron of IICripture (107.
McHugh-Roland-1976-The-Sigla-of-Finnegans-Wake
I:('the havcnot$').
The dedicationof Blake'.
j.
.
.
.
.
""/"'" to the .
heep and8~U i.
probably comprehended herein, for it was Blake who said that wilbout cont~r'" there w:U no Pro&res.
sion.
We can also visualize the partition of Ireland between the mythical Tuatha IX
Danann and Fomorian. , who embodied the respective powers of light and d. arkneso: TIu Book of rile Dun eo. . credits the Fonwrianowith goat wonhip. In his letter of 30 July t929' Joyce told Valery Larbaud that he was now hopc:l=ly with ~ iO"tS
'JJ, ? >.
? Gt. . . ! o. '1. . "", I, 11? .
? and could only think and write 'capriciOusly'. The traditional por- trayal of the Prince of Darkness as a goat is appropriate to C a- i. sheepishness to "-
Observing the occasional refel"<:flttS to Kierkegaatd and bi. En/tn-Ell" ('EiIM'IO,')a very W<lrkable p",miae arisel. C seems always to be aeolhctically mmivated whereas A is ethically TT1Qli- vated. However, this i. likely to be a consequence of ""rallel thoui tll rather than of influence by K iorlu:a::aard. The earliest all\Ul;':'n to d>< philosopher (kieri<eyaard', ZOI. 3r) waS added in
1928.
Altoough c an(! A are in esoence a! >wlutelY <<lual and opposed,
C is accorded ,,,,ater prominence in book: I and A in book III. In faet m in book I shares SOme of 1:'. trait. and in boot III he shares"""" of A'S. The mosl conspicuous traill a"" in the tint "'IS" m. ol. ,(nism. , in the second. sadism, but these 0'" me", symp_ tom? . 'lbe hook I con. ciousness strives with "". . . ionate intensity for unanainable ideal1 until in 1. 7 it anain. madnes. , whilst that of boot III descends into the Stultifying sanity of urNn mediocrity. Joyce's way of saying thi, i. that I: i, life and A i. death. In physicol terms he repteSCnlS C a. an elm trce, moaning pathetically in the wind, and A . . a srone, pitiless and immobile
as the throne of SI Peter.
I: and A are often briefly OO(iced in pain . 0 poorly delineated
that we. '" unable to decide which brother i, which. T""",\e T om and Fri,i<y Shorty appear in 039. 14- 27 but we are able ro id<ntify
Tom as A only when we read his evidence in the refleetion of S23. z1-5Z$. oS, where he say1 that Shorty i. 'uncommon ,truck
on poplar poetry', and the",f""e 1:, the artist and tree.
1:'0 finl extensive appearance i. . . the "ial of FeSIY Kina: fer outrages apitUI m Fosty King is called 'Crowbar' and 'Meleky' (086. 08). Two m:ojor ingredients in m a", the Irish high kings
Roderick O'Connor and. Brian Boru. Their ",spective SUCCC$O<In Catha] Crobhdhcarg 6 Conooobhair' and Malachy II appear to be the . 0Ur<:el efthese ""mel. Th<: def<ndant is then p",sumably rrr. 1uecc. . or, . . Earwicl<er wal the su<ccuor of Finnegan. But twO p<:~' testify: which is Fosty King? The fir"St witness i. an ear, nose and thr"'"t 1~alist. . . wao Dr Gogarty, the modd for
Mulligan, and theT1:fnre A. He aectI1es Hyacinth O'Donnell, B. A. , a wmdpainter (C), of violent behaviour; but it transpire:! that at th~ l i m e o f tb~ a s a a u l t t h e n i g h t M I l t O O d a r k f o r t h e d o c t o r t o r e -
cognize anyone (087. 33-088. "'! -). He . ubmits evid"",,~ derogating 'ac. , J6.
Cojlridtnrja Oppo';lmum 29
? JO The Sigla of I'innqlDU Wake
. ~. m ,and therefo! "<; implicoteS himsdf. Pegger Festy, evidently 1:, then takes the . tand and emir. 'a loudbur-st of poesy' through an intCTPrettr (CI9I. OI-33). He declare! ! tilat despite the CUt- throat's depositions 'he did not fil"ll' stone either before or after he was born down and up 1() tluit time'. and Ihu he would never ask to sec the light of this or any other world if he (vcr raittd a luind to throw. Slid: or lIODe al anyone. n. ere ore twenty-eight advocatcsscs, 'maidies of the bar' (barmaids, <:>> who after thi. acclaim Aand deride I:on 092 and 093 resptttively, bUI the judges
fail to convict anyone and lapse in{() inane mminatinn. over the intricacies of 'he c. . e. The actual r. . . ponsibility for the uuul' is
discussed below, p. 92. The rest of {,4 oon. . . . ins a . . . . i. . . of lele- graphic reports of rtl's poSsible whereaboutll, given in the pluper- fcct and therefore referring praumably 10 evcntll before the trial.
Ofl. 5 J. S. Atherton . a%, 'In the litenl S<"fise lhil chap'er 'ells h o w a l e t l e r w a s s c r a t c h e d u p o u t o f . " m i d d e n " ( I IO. 2S ) o r " m u d _ nwund" (III. 34). n. e midden is a symool, elaborated later. for the inhabited world in which men have left 50 many traCC$. The letter Stand. at a . ymbol for all . nempts al wrinen communication including aU <<her ! ctttr. , all the world'. lile"ilure, Th. Boo/! of Kdl" aU manuscripts. all the s. aned books of the world. and al. o
Fi>fM({ans Wak. itsclf. One =""n why Th. Bo. ;k of K. //j i. in_ dudedh= i. that it was once "",olen by night . . . and found afler a lapst of some months, concealed unde. sods. . . ? ?
The . . . . . . . . . tonl of l. S are s,ill Xin search of m but they now poSscs. only the exhumed manif. . . to wh"eby to reconstruct him. Their oommentary is drier and more reserved than any 50 far. n. ey ClIplain the discov. ry of the document and pro<:<<d suc- cinctly '0 . :<amine its pans.
Their reckoning intimates approval: they call FWa polyhedron of IICripture (107. 08) and urge il5 readtr. {() cultivate paticru:c (108. 08-16) and pay attention to the enveloping circumstanCC1 of nylc. od vocabulary. The inlention ii not to dazzle the . rudent with Lotin ,nd Grecok glosuries (1I~. 36--II3. (U). The ciphe. . . . doubl1. . . . oonccal obscenities or
political s=""(IIS. I1-' 16. ~S) but it is assuredly not gibberish and w. shOuld he gra,dul for the 1;111. w . do und. . . . . tand (118. 28- 119 . 0\1).
Behind thi. dtfensiveconoution;, seems thaI the paleognlphers understand their ttx' Ie. . wen than th<:y think. . Al I ' 3. 34- "4. :1O
tbey reproach the author to doe following effect' 'I am a worktr, anxious 1() please everybody; you au a hourgcois and l<;rribly sorry
? when it'. rime tOg<> home again. We cannnt sec eye to eye. Whcre in tit<: waste is the wisdom? ' UltiTT\4ltely the narrato. . . can he seen to posse", the A viewpOint, and in this they ""cord wi,h their equi? valent> in the other book I chapte. . . .
T o posit. general rule, boo! < I il A ', prt"SCn. . . . 'ion <>f C and his wnrks whilst boo! < III i, C'. presentation of A and hi? . In bo,h Cltt<1 the narrato. . . arc X, biased towsrdt C or A as the case TT\4ly be.
A, a oci<:n'il1 A reacts to enigma by focusing down in . ea",h ofan ultimate cause or panicle. Having r<ad the liSt of titles and scrutinized the envelope he needs the Joan of a len. (112. 01- 2),
draW! ! nearer (II 3. 30-33) and findo the Jin<1 <>f writing. What i. their PlJl"POS'" could it be geodetic? Perhaps a polemical funct;"n
can be di. e<weo:ed.
Individual syllables are classified by their phonetic ( . t 6. 21\-33)
and etymological (117. 12-15) characters. T he paragraph "9. 1{)- n}. 10 <i<:o. :cnds to the province of separate letters and w<; find bete trune specific designation, of slgla (119. 17-)2). ' Finally at 124? 01- 3 we arrive at the ullima,e minutia<:, punctuation mark,. Putting two and two togt:\l\er it b<<rnncs obvious that thete were inflicted by ? that odi"". and . til! insufficiently maleotinutted note? . . . . . tch<r . . . Sh. . . . , the Penman'. Thus )( ",Ive the problem of auth"r-ship. M r Athenon"! >OIeo that Th4 BooI. qf K. tls was dated by Sir Edward Sullivan', analysis of its puru:tuation marks, and . he I. S narrator says that C'. 'paper wound,' were made 'to _ intro-
dUce a notion of tiou:' (. 24-1{)-1 1). The Notion of"Tlme
Theinstillationoftimemakes 124actuCiaJpageinFW. Ci, a. sod? atcd with time (the elm'. growth) and A with space (the stone's fixity). This will permit sUMequent alignments of C with . a. (the river <>ftime), and A with m (the city as I fixed poin. ). Time:md ,pace begin to interact in 1. 6.
A$ Edmund Epstein ObservCi, 'Since 1. 6 wll composed after I. S and 1. 7 w e " , dcafrcd (in COOIIiderable detail), the end of I. S
:md tit<: beginning <>f 1. 7 still dovetail very neotly. ''' The inter_ posed 1. 6 is strikingly nonlinear, with ito twelve qU<1. iQn. of eq~1 gravity and highly uneqWlllength. In my view it ('OrlSti",rc. the final pronouncement of science on m :md hi, companions, . f'er which ouly the artist, C, hat l i = to penetrate further.
? Disoouooed beIoor, Po 'J+ "Boo,t" >\6.
" -'be T\lm;oa- """,,,', ca, . . . .
T he Notion of Time 3'
? ? A notebook in tb? Bri. ish Mutwm",uppliet w tin. dnof. of
1. 6 atld also a list of
,
itsqun. ions: m
. i,,,,romspondina: 10
, ,
?
0
,
?
X ?
,,
0 ? -
7
, "
? ?
"
A
"
1 m"". S tttn rho . . . tlc lI. I'''''''' of m in 1. 6. ? : . his catllloau< of
Inrib",. . . does ~ ''''&itS' any form of currenl a<:tivi. y and ha, noI rho,. . ,rore been ooflli<iered in the m chapler. II ,. 1 rood pIa<:.
to look rnr ,. . ,latively "'nmodified quotalinn. For in. tlrwe, the dubious . tI. omenl thl' there . ,. . , twrn. y_fnur Dublin' in tho Uni. ed States ('30. 2:7"-41) comee from Dillon CoIigra. ve. " AI 1)4. 1)~ 10)'00 ua<:I an acooo. lIIl of the I rish plund<< of Vileina;-
and wi. active, large. and _Ufnrmcd ~. ''' 136. OS~ dno"" on 'Culhwcllind 0 1",",';n TIl. M. . b.
Danann and Fomorian. , who embodied the respective powers of light and d. arkneso: TIu Book of rile Dun eo. . credits the Fonwrianowith goat wonhip. In his letter of 30 July t929' Joyce told Valery Larbaud that he was now hopc:l=ly with ~ iO"tS
'JJ, ? >.
? Gt. . . ! o. '1. . "", I, 11? .
? and could only think and write 'capriciOusly'. The traditional por- trayal of the Prince of Darkness as a goat is appropriate to C a- i. sheepishness to "-
Observing the occasional refel"<:flttS to Kierkegaatd and bi. En/tn-Ell" ('EiIM'IO,')a very W<lrkable p",miae arisel. C seems always to be aeolhctically mmivated whereas A is ethically TT1Qli- vated. However, this i. likely to be a consequence of ""rallel thoui tll rather than of influence by K iorlu:a::aard. The earliest all\Ul;':'n to d>< philosopher (kieri<eyaard', ZOI. 3r) waS added in
1928.
Altoough c an(! A are in esoence a! >wlutelY <<lual and opposed,
C is accorded ,,,,ater prominence in book: I and A in book III. In faet m in book I shares SOme of 1:'. trait. and in boot III he shares"""" of A'S. The mosl conspicuous traill a"" in the tint "'IS" m. ol. ,(nism. , in the second. sadism, but these 0'" me", symp_ tom? . 'lbe hook I con. ciousness strives with "". . . ionate intensity for unanainable ideal1 until in 1. 7 it anain. madnes. , whilst that of boot III descends into the Stultifying sanity of urNn mediocrity. Joyce's way of saying thi, i. that I: i, life and A i. death. In physicol terms he repteSCnlS C a. an elm trce, moaning pathetically in the wind, and A . . a srone, pitiless and immobile
as the throne of SI Peter.
I: and A are often briefly OO(iced in pain . 0 poorly delineated
that we. '" unable to decide which brother i, which. T""",\e T om and Fri,i<y Shorty appear in 039. 14- 27 but we are able ro id<ntify
Tom as A only when we read his evidence in the refleetion of S23. z1-5Z$. oS, where he say1 that Shorty i. 'uncommon ,truck
on poplar poetry', and the",f""e 1:, the artist and tree.
1:'0 finl extensive appearance i. . . the "ial of FeSIY Kina: fer outrages apitUI m Fosty King is called 'Crowbar' and 'Meleky' (086. 08). Two m:ojor ingredients in m a", the Irish high kings
Roderick O'Connor and. Brian Boru. Their ",spective SUCCC$O<In Catha] Crobhdhcarg 6 Conooobhair' and Malachy II appear to be the . 0Ur<:el efthese ""mel. Th<: def<ndant is then p",sumably rrr. 1uecc. . or, . . Earwicl<er wal the su<ccuor of Finnegan. But twO p<:~' testify: which is Fosty King? The fir"St witness i. an ear, nose and thr"'"t 1~alist. . . wao Dr Gogarty, the modd for
Mulligan, and theT1:fnre A. He aectI1es Hyacinth O'Donnell, B. A. , a wmdpainter (C), of violent behaviour; but it transpire:! that at th~ l i m e o f tb~ a s a a u l t t h e n i g h t M I l t O O d a r k f o r t h e d o c t o r t o r e -
cognize anyone (087. 33-088. "'! -). He . ubmits evid"",,~ derogating 'ac. , J6.
Cojlridtnrja Oppo';lmum 29
? JO The Sigla of I'innqlDU Wake
. ~. m ,and therefo! "<; implicoteS himsdf. Pegger Festy, evidently 1:, then takes the . tand and emir. 'a loudbur-st of poesy' through an intCTPrettr (CI9I. OI-33). He declare! ! tilat despite the CUt- throat's depositions 'he did not fil"ll' stone either before or after he was born down and up 1() tluit time'. and Ihu he would never ask to sec the light of this or any other world if he (vcr raittd a luind to throw. Slid: or lIODe al anyone. n. ere ore twenty-eight advocatcsscs, 'maidies of the bar' (barmaids, <:>> who after thi. acclaim Aand deride I:on 092 and 093 resptttively, bUI the judges
fail to convict anyone and lapse in{() inane mminatinn. over the intricacies of 'he c. . e. The actual r. . . ponsibility for the uuul' is
discussed below, p. 92. The rest of {,4 oon. . . . ins a . . . . i. . . of lele- graphic reports of rtl's poSsible whereaboutll, given in the pluper- fcct and therefore referring praumably 10 evcntll before the trial.
Ofl. 5 J. S. Atherton . a%, 'In the litenl S<"fise lhil chap'er 'ells h o w a l e t l e r w a s s c r a t c h e d u p o u t o f . " m i d d e n " ( I IO. 2S ) o r " m u d _ nwund" (III. 34). n. e midden is a symool, elaborated later. for the inhabited world in which men have left 50 many traCC$. The letter Stand. at a . ymbol for all . nempts al wrinen communication including aU <<her ! ctttr. , all the world'. lile"ilure, Th. Boo/! of Kdl" aU manuscripts. all the s. aned books of the world. and al. o
Fi>fM({ans Wak. itsclf. One =""n why Th. Bo. ;k of K. //j i. in_ dudedh= i. that it was once "",olen by night . . . and found afler a lapst of some months, concealed unde. sods. . . ? ?
The . . . . . . . . . tonl of l. S are s,ill Xin search of m but they now poSscs. only the exhumed manif. . . to wh"eby to reconstruct him. Their oommentary is drier and more reserved than any 50 far. n. ey ClIplain the discov. ry of the document and pro<:<<d suc- cinctly '0 . :<amine its pans.
Their reckoning intimates approval: they call FWa polyhedron of IICripture (107. 08) and urge il5 readtr. {() cultivate paticru:c (108. 08-16) and pay attention to the enveloping circumstanCC1 of nylc. od vocabulary. The inlention ii not to dazzle the . rudent with Lotin ,nd Grecok glosuries (1I~. 36--II3. (U). The ciphe. . . . doubl1. . . . oonccal obscenities or
political s=""(IIS. I1-' 16. ~S) but it is assuredly not gibberish and w. shOuld he gra,dul for the 1;111. w . do und. . . . . tand (118. 28- 119 . 0\1).
Behind thi. dtfensiveconoution;, seems thaI the paleognlphers understand their ttx' Ie. . wen than th<:y think. . Al I ' 3. 34- "4. :1O
tbey reproach the author to doe following effect' 'I am a worktr, anxious 1() please everybody; you au a hourgcois and l<;rribly sorry
? when it'. rime tOg<> home again. We cannnt sec eye to eye. Whcre in tit<: waste is the wisdom? ' UltiTT\4ltely the narrato. . . can he seen to posse", the A viewpOint, and in this they ""cord wi,h their equi? valent> in the other book I chapte. . . .
T o posit. general rule, boo! < I il A ', prt"SCn. . . . 'ion <>f C and his wnrks whilst boo! < III i, C'. presentation of A and hi? . In bo,h Cltt<1 the narrato. . . arc X, biased towsrdt C or A as the case TT\4ly be.
A, a oci<:n'il1 A reacts to enigma by focusing down in . ea",h ofan ultimate cause or panicle. Having r<ad the liSt of titles and scrutinized the envelope he needs the Joan of a len. (112. 01- 2),
draW! ! nearer (II 3. 30-33) and findo the Jin<1 <>f writing. What i. their PlJl"POS'" could it be geodetic? Perhaps a polemical funct;"n
can be di. e<weo:ed.
Individual syllables are classified by their phonetic ( . t 6. 21\-33)
and etymological (117. 12-15) characters. T he paragraph "9. 1{)- n}. 10 <i<:o. :cnds to the province of separate letters and w<; find bete trune specific designation, of slgla (119. 17-)2). ' Finally at 124? 01- 3 we arrive at the ullima,e minutia<:, punctuation mark,. Putting two and two togt:\l\er it b<<rnncs obvious that thete were inflicted by ? that odi"". and . til! insufficiently maleotinutted note? . . . . . tch<r . . . Sh. . . . , the Penman'. Thus )( ",Ive the problem of auth"r-ship. M r Athenon"! >OIeo that Th4 BooI. qf K. tls was dated by Sir Edward Sullivan', analysis of its puru:tuation marks, and . he I. S narrator says that C'. 'paper wound,' were made 'to _ intro-
dUce a notion of tiou:' (. 24-1{)-1 1). The Notion of"Tlme
Theinstillationoftimemakes 124actuCiaJpageinFW. Ci, a. sod? atcd with time (the elm'. growth) and A with space (the stone's fixity). This will permit sUMequent alignments of C with . a. (the river <>ftime), and A with m (the city as I fixed poin. ). Time:md ,pace begin to interact in 1. 6.
A$ Edmund Epstein ObservCi, 'Since 1. 6 wll composed after I. S and 1. 7 w e " , dcafrcd (in COOIIiderable detail), the end of I. S
:md tit<: beginning <>f 1. 7 still dovetail very neotly. ''' The inter_ posed 1. 6 is strikingly nonlinear, with ito twelve qU<1. iQn. of eq~1 gravity and highly uneqWlllength. In my view it ('OrlSti",rc. the final pronouncement of science on m :md hi, companions, . f'er which ouly the artist, C, hat l i = to penetrate further.
? Disoouooed beIoor, Po 'J+ "Boo,t" >\6.
" -'be T\lm;oa- """,,,', ca, . . . .
T he Notion of Time 3'
? ? A notebook in tb? Bri. ish Mutwm",uppliet w tin. dnof. of
1. 6 atld also a list of
,
itsqun. ions: m
. i,,,,romspondina: 10
, ,
?
0
,
?
X ?
,,
0 ? -
7
, "
? ?
"
A
"
1 m"". S tttn rho . . . tlc lI. I'''''''' of m in 1. 6. ? : . his catllloau< of
Inrib",. . . does ~ ''''&itS' any form of currenl a<:tivi. y and ha, noI rho,. . ,rore been ooflli<iered in the m chapler. II ,. 1 rood pIa<:.
to look rnr ,. . ,latively "'nmodified quotalinn. For in. tlrwe, the dubious . tI. omenl thl' there . ,. . , twrn. y_fnur Dublin' in tho Uni. ed States ('30. 2:7"-41) comee from Dillon CoIigra. ve. " AI 1)4. 1)~ 10)'00 ua<:I an acooo. lIIl of the I rish plund<< of Vileina;-
and wi. active, large. and _Ufnrmcd ~. ''' 136. OS~ dno"" on 'Culhwcllind 0 1",",';n TIl. M. . b.
