ybildte be our
$hibbolcth
Ihat "'.
Hart-Clive-1962-Structure-and-Motif-in-Finnegans-Wake
.
.
h~ .
.
.
.
.
.
.
about when h~ louch~d on cOIT. . pondenc. . .
Mosl of this know~ WllI acquired ""ry early, in lhe daY'
when JOl"'C liked to parade ru. learning in unUlualand obocure fieldl,butitWllInotuntill'in",,~1U W",hthathefullydeveloped allIhepotentialitiaoftheo:onapondcnccu aliteraryd. yju. As wilh '" many alpccu of his iall book, ho,",""VCI", clear ~arly tneeI of the technique a"" to found ev1:n aJ far back ao the potnu, Consciow oft}. . , ulterior ';g";fican~ ;I'\ ) oya', nru. . 1 and appaN:ntly . impl. ,. 1 writing, that "rdent . ymbol,hun~r,
, S. 1Icdc<. "aI. , Ow L q " orin, ""rio, 1<)09, P. ,~. (11. ,,11<. . ', italia. ) ? I :. m . . . . . . '"rul '0 M,. :\1. PoIh<d, i\ui,Ia. l' 1;"'",_ of Manh'" h
~ ~ ! be Llbtvy', ooIl<<:tion in J"! ""'" limo.
? s. . . , for . ,. . ". . . . . , u 371i.
, s. . . E. ~ &nd ll. ? lima"" (cdo. ), no- CWa/ Woitiq, '" J -
Jo:JU, [<wyJ"", 1959, PI'. ,,~? .
. "
? ClMtspondenas
Mr. William York T indall, publi'hed in 1954 hi. authoritative edition of Chamber Music, in whicb h~ tracca a number of thin and often mildly scatological corresponde""",. ' The first line ofChamber M"';"-the first ofJoyce'. to be printed in book form - is perhaps among the mO$t oignificant in tJ""e poenu, al? though, rather surprisingly, it is one to which M r. Tindall fail.
to draw our attention :
SIr,"! S in Ik . arIA and air
If Mr. Tindall'. deep-mining method. are valid, it will not amount to overreading if we ""e in these . . . . "Om. a dcclaTation that even in h;" first . Iight . uite oflyri", J oyce b. . ",d h;" roOm? municativetechniqueon a w<:bofcorrespondences. tretched like string. betw<<n key points on the Scale of N"atllTe. Indced, we c o u l d e x p e c t n o t h i n g 1 = f r o m t he p e d a n t i c y o u n g p o d w h o h a d ,""ad 'ConC! pondance,', 'Harmonic du $<liT', and 'La Chevelure'.
II: SYNERF. THETIst (1$6. 14)
Baudelairian and Rimbaldian S<:ttl<:. oorre'pondences greatly attracted tbe young Joyce, Os b~ tell< ill in Step""'- Htt. :
'He read Blake and Rimbaud on the value. of the letters and e. . . ,n permuted and combined the five vowel< to oorutruct cries for primitive cmotioru: (SH 3~)
A. the texture ofFin? ? ganJ W<1k. everywhere reveals, . ynae. the- lia n"""r lost it> fa. cination for Joyce. Se""'<o"",pondence;" constantly used a, an accepted mr"'''' of modulating from con-
text to context and henee of<:$tabliili. ing $}'mbolic relatioruhip? . 'lne association of the visual aud aural octav", ;" particulaTly frequent. The ubiquit<nu pun 'rainbow. Rimbaud' stem! ! to imply an acknowledgment, hut the idea itself;' ofcourse age-old. It would bc wrong, however, \0 lay too much . tr= on the me of scllsc. . :orrespondence in FiNugdnJ Wake for it perforrm at mOlt an impoTtant m();$aH; function and ;" never called On for
major ' ymbolic or . tructural purposes. (The colour . ltuctuT"C of Books I and III, if it really exilts,' iI, like that of Ulysses, of
, New York, '9}1. , ultns, p. 26 t.
'"
? , cr. 2'~'31l".
OJrTl. Spomun? lS
w:ry minor impona. n<<. J<rycc was, in facl, ftC"'" a gru. colou';l1 and eVen in Finltlgaos W. . t. , his Inn. t kaleidoscopic book, ooloul1 tend to be flK<! and artificial, . . . on a tapestry, In A P_ail (190), Stephen" made 10 disclaim any interest in
the ,ubject ofVi:rbal colour. )
O ne typical uamplc ofJlmplo: cross-cll~ptu corTCIpondcncc
involving synaesthesia will . uf! ioe to demot\lttate the kind 0( UJe to which Joyce pUIS the device. At 609. t9 an incantation to the lun U about I<> be lUng:
'When the mcaallger 0( u. . , ti$c:1I , un, (tee other oriel) ohall
glW: I<> evny ~Jble a hue and to every bearable il cry and to each lpectacle h;'lpol and I<> each happening II". bouram. The while~, W(: are "'airing, w<: are waiting for. Hymn. '
This hymn is u. e<! . I<> introduce tbe white. Hght? r&inbow con?
troveny (6Jt) and hence ther"<: can bc litlle doubt that the 'pecln,lm ;. implied in 'to every _able a hue', cte. ' The . hythms a. . . , b~ on tbote o? thuong 'As I wu going to St. Iva . ? . '" ;n which a multiplicity of sevens are introduced, only to be absorbed into the 011" m~n going 10 St. IVCI, juol as the raillbow i. at. orlxd into the unified while l;ght 0( Ihe run. Sewll cor? responding ""undl are of course implied in 'hue and . ? . cry'. A ~pond1ng pHUgC ;. to be found in I I. ~:
'Rclilha beacon, bcckol! brighl! U"",'dte, unmesh usl That grCDe ray of urnn! ! it Wlva UI to yonder as the . ed, hlue and yellow 1\Qg. tUn( on the domilole, with a b1ewy blow and a windigo. \Vllere fWh bco:Imeo word and siknlS Iellioud. To brace oongmen, trebly bounden and assct"V:\ged twainly. Adamman, Emhe, I_ianmheen and oomelYJ>CI Yggcly OS' Wcib. Uwayocil So mag 1m. .
ybildte be our $hibbolcth Ihat "'. . may ryllable h. . . . wdll' (267. 12)
The fiv~ vowels and the two ""mi. \IOw. 1s haw: heen combined in a 'cry for a primiriw: cmotioo'. Since we are here 'on lhe olhc< I,d. ' of the book, il is the moon ('Usher"<:lte'), not the ,un, wbooe ri,;ng we witn. . . , hUlthe pra~. ,. . ,m~iN the sarno.
? s:. . M. 1. C. IUodpnandM. P. W"",,,,-,~ . . lAo W"~I" J"'" J';P'N"", Yorl, '959, p. '7i.
. ,.
? Curre. Jporui(7lcu
Tbis prohahly owes much 10 Ihe aDCiePI Egyptian morning prayer which Joyce _ uld have read aboul ip Blaval. 'lky': 'llle Egyptian p,;""u ,hanled . he acv<:n vowdI . . . . a bymn addresstd <0 Serapis; and at lhe sound of the KVenth ,-owe! , as at th~ "seventh ray" of the rUing ,un, the lIa'lIe of Memnon responded. ' (Cf. 'PRIMITIVE SEPT', ~67. RI, and cf. also
9'ho~? l
III: EXTRAVENT INTERVULVE COUPLING (3Ipo)
Duality of being is perlLaps the mos. imponant of all tbe balic IInrelural ronecpu in r llt1lt,. ,u Will,. There arc tWO of "vcrything-tO that any crux can alwaY" be rclatffi to IOlne analogoul p. . . . K" for ~nLight. cnmml-and everything in the book~'"in[WO ,. . ,rsions,om:"nlttdandonedch<u<:d. This principle applies to the abstract I'datioruhi,," bel\<o"Co:n things and even" as much as to the things . nd evenl! them. dvts.
J oy<< even IUpplies a debased analogue of the mystical thCO<)' of corrcspondeoca by expLain. ing it away in te. . . . . 0( ronnaions, of a pun:ly mechanical kind, hidd"" behind the fabric of 11K
univerul . I18o. . . ,t. Several important cp;. ooa . . ,. . . . . . , to build up this level of meaning, the II"IOIIt purely naturalistic of which iI undoubtedly the copulation ofF. a",-ick~r and Anna C583-~). Thil . he S M _ 1(9 quile improperly calls urwoti. raaory. ' Everything in the daeription ofthc Kene ,uggtsl! that, on the contrary, the act in which the chapt~r (I11. 41 mmes to its d im u is wholly IUCCaIfu1. Hen: Ihe ph)~c. al connaion uniting the OOliUponding coojugal pair is al Leul ph)'Jically . . . . t of light. Ebewberc (1. 4) Barwickr, havipg been buri<d, lpend. his time tunnelling like . mole ; one world ;1 'bufTowing On anoth. cr' indeed (275-06). We arc constantly inriled to . . ,arch . . . . , the hidden link< and ro elIpo6C the fuoetiooing 01 God'. ma,;oneuc l)IItem -an ol>>ttnc luggcstion in the ~ of the physical relatioruhip of the Earwicken, bul one which it con- sUolt:rlt with Shem'. lewd prcoccupatio. . . . Charact. crilticalil',
, 1mU_iJoJ,~ . . . . ,Londoo. '1In,vol. I,p. s. . . . . ? SK otis.
'53
? ComS/Mndtnu s
Joya finds a convenient technical tum fur all this: 'an. . . tt>- 1I1OiI,,', defined hy the Sittnln 0,,/? ? 1 1::",lul< Didi. " 'J as 'Intcrcommunicalion ""tw. ,. . . . tlO'(),-='d',channels,orb~ncllCs, by ? connecting cross branch. Olig. of the cross conneo;ions ""tWffll the anen. :. and vcillS, elc. ; DOW of u. . . . . of any branching . )'Stem'.
The fundamental act of copulation is . pecifically dclino:d in these terml:
. H umperfe1dl and Anuruka, wedded now evcl"fIlOI"e in ann. . . to- moses by Il ground plan ofthe pl. ~hunl"", wh;"ke",d beau . nd
dona. h""Ua. ' (S85. ~~)
In the timelcas Book tV all the disparate elements of Fu-pM 1I'. d:t are said to be 'ana. tomosinlly assimilaltd' (615. 0S), j. . . 1
. . . in Ufflsn:oll mankind had been mytlic;ally uniU:d: '. . . OUr grandam, which we are linked up wilh by . . ,o:'"'! i~ . n. . . tt>-
nl<l! U of nave1coro? . ' (U 374)
The anlltomosical conncxion typifio:d by this copuluion
scene i. nOI always ", flatly and unilt1. . l. gillativdy carnal. Any form of cross-pollination or troII-fertililation may oerve the same Iymbolic pUIf'O"". l"e analtomosu of615. "5 ",ferl in the
firsl place to the fertilisalion of the fIowerl which figure 10 1"'lC1y in the Quinel motif'; these arc the chutely liornt;""" rainbow? girb whose sauality KelTlS oomcIww always able to avoid Ihe direcl $Ullying OOIIlacl of the flo b. At Ibe o;nodQt levd of this promising tMmc tl>c girls, like the Bl. . . . . . . !
about when h~ louch~d on cOIT. . pondenc. . .
Mosl of this know~ WllI acquired ""ry early, in lhe daY'
when JOl"'C liked to parade ru. learning in unUlualand obocure fieldl,butitWllInotuntill'in",,~1U W",hthathefullydeveloped allIhepotentialitiaoftheo:onapondcnccu aliteraryd. yju. As wilh '" many alpccu of his iall book, ho,",""VCI", clear ~arly tneeI of the technique a"" to found ev1:n aJ far back ao the potnu, Consciow oft}. . , ulterior ';g";fican~ ;I'\ ) oya', nru. . 1 and appaN:ntly . impl. ,. 1 writing, that "rdent . ymbol,hun~r,
, S. 1Icdc<. "aI. , Ow L q " orin, ""rio, 1<)09, P. ,~. (11. ,,11<. . ', italia. ) ? I :. m . . . . . . '"rul '0 M,. :\1. PoIh<d, i\ui,Ia. l' 1;"'",_ of Manh'" h
~ ~ ! be Llbtvy', ooIl<<:tion in J"! ""'" limo.
? s. . . , for . ,. . ". . . . . , u 371i.
, s. . . E. ~ &nd ll. ? lima"" (cdo. ), no- CWa/ Woitiq, '" J -
Jo:JU, [<wyJ"", 1959, PI'. ,,~? .
. "
? ClMtspondenas
Mr. William York T indall, publi'hed in 1954 hi. authoritative edition of Chamber Music, in whicb h~ tracca a number of thin and often mildly scatological corresponde""",. ' The first line ofChamber M"';"-the first ofJoyce'. to be printed in book form - is perhaps among the mO$t oignificant in tJ""e poenu, al? though, rather surprisingly, it is one to which M r. Tindall fail.
to draw our attention :
SIr,"! S in Ik . arIA and air
If Mr. Tindall'. deep-mining method. are valid, it will not amount to overreading if we ""e in these . . . . "Om. a dcclaTation that even in h;" first . Iight . uite oflyri", J oyce b. . ",d h;" roOm? municativetechniqueon a w<:bofcorrespondences. tretched like string. betw<<n key points on the Scale of N"atllTe. Indced, we c o u l d e x p e c t n o t h i n g 1 = f r o m t he p e d a n t i c y o u n g p o d w h o h a d ,""ad 'ConC! pondance,', 'Harmonic du $<liT', and 'La Chevelure'.
II: SYNERF. THETIst (1$6. 14)
Baudelairian and Rimbaldian S<:ttl<:. oorre'pondences greatly attracted tbe young Joyce, Os b~ tell< ill in Step""'- Htt. :
'He read Blake and Rimbaud on the value. of the letters and e. . . ,n permuted and combined the five vowel< to oorutruct cries for primitive cmotioru: (SH 3~)
A. the texture ofFin? ? ganJ W<1k. everywhere reveals, . ynae. the- lia n"""r lost it> fa. cination for Joyce. Se""'<o"",pondence;" constantly used a, an accepted mr"'''' of modulating from con-
text to context and henee of<:$tabliili. ing $}'mbolic relatioruhip? . 'lne association of the visual aud aural octav", ;" particulaTly frequent. The ubiquit<nu pun 'rainbow. Rimbaud' stem! ! to imply an acknowledgment, hut the idea itself;' ofcourse age-old. It would bc wrong, however, \0 lay too much . tr= on the me of scllsc. . :orrespondence in FiNugdnJ Wake for it perforrm at mOlt an impoTtant m();$aH; function and ;" never called On for
major ' ymbolic or . tructural purposes. (The colour . ltuctuT"C of Books I and III, if it really exilts,' iI, like that of Ulysses, of
, New York, '9}1. , ultns, p. 26 t.
'"
? , cr. 2'~'31l".
OJrTl. Spomun? lS
w:ry minor impona. n<<. J<rycc was, in facl, ftC"'" a gru. colou';l1 and eVen in Finltlgaos W. . t. , his Inn. t kaleidoscopic book, ooloul1 tend to be flK<! and artificial, . . . on a tapestry, In A P_ail (190), Stephen" made 10 disclaim any interest in
the ,ubject ofVi:rbal colour. )
O ne typical uamplc ofJlmplo: cross-cll~ptu corTCIpondcncc
involving synaesthesia will . uf! ioe to demot\lttate the kind 0( UJe to which Joyce pUIS the device. At 609. t9 an incantation to the lun U about I<> be lUng:
'When the mcaallger 0( u. . , ti$c:1I , un, (tee other oriel) ohall
glW: I<> evny ~Jble a hue and to every bearable il cry and to each lpectacle h;'lpol and I<> each happening II". bouram. The while~, W(: are "'airing, w<: are waiting for. Hymn. '
This hymn is u. e<! . I<> introduce tbe white. Hght? r&inbow con?
troveny (6Jt) and hence ther"<: can bc litlle doubt that the 'pecln,lm ;. implied in 'to every _able a hue', cte. ' The . hythms a. . . , b~ on tbote o? thuong 'As I wu going to St. Iva . ? . '" ;n which a multiplicity of sevens are introduced, only to be absorbed into the 011" m~n going 10 St. IVCI, juol as the raillbow i. at. orlxd into the unified while l;ght 0( Ihe run. Sewll cor? responding ""undl are of course implied in 'hue and . ? . cry'. A ~pond1ng pHUgC ;. to be found in I I. ~:
'Rclilha beacon, bcckol! brighl! U"",'dte, unmesh usl That grCDe ray of urnn! ! it Wlva UI to yonder as the . ed, hlue and yellow 1\Qg. tUn( on the domilole, with a b1ewy blow and a windigo. \Vllere fWh bco:Imeo word and siknlS Iellioud. To brace oongmen, trebly bounden and assct"V:\ged twainly. Adamman, Emhe, I_ianmheen and oomelYJ>CI Yggcly OS' Wcib. Uwayocil So mag 1m. .
ybildte be our $hibbolcth Ihat "'. . may ryllable h. . . . wdll' (267. 12)
The fiv~ vowels and the two ""mi. \IOw. 1s haw: heen combined in a 'cry for a primiriw: cmotioo'. Since we are here 'on lhe olhc< I,d. ' of the book, il is the moon ('Usher"<:lte'), not the ,un, wbooe ri,;ng we witn. . . , hUlthe pra~. ,. . ,m~iN the sarno.
? s:. . M. 1. C. IUodpnandM. P. W"",,,,-,~ . . lAo W"~I" J"'" J';P'N"", Yorl, '959, p. '7i.
. ,.
? Curre. Jporui(7lcu
Tbis prohahly owes much 10 Ihe aDCiePI Egyptian morning prayer which Joyce _ uld have read aboul ip Blaval. 'lky': 'llle Egyptian p,;""u ,hanled . he acv<:n vowdI . . . . a bymn addresstd <0 Serapis; and at lhe sound of the KVenth ,-owe! , as at th~ "seventh ray" of the rUing ,un, the lIa'lIe of Memnon responded. ' (Cf. 'PRIMITIVE SEPT', ~67. RI, and cf. also
9'ho~? l
III: EXTRAVENT INTERVULVE COUPLING (3Ipo)
Duality of being is perlLaps the mos. imponant of all tbe balic IInrelural ronecpu in r llt1lt,. ,u Will,. There arc tWO of "vcrything-tO that any crux can alwaY" be rclatffi to IOlne analogoul p. . . . K" for ~nLight. cnmml-and everything in the book~'"in[WO ,. . ,rsions,om:"nlttdandonedch<u<:d. This principle applies to the abstract I'datioruhi,," bel\<o"Co:n things and even" as much as to the things . nd evenl! them. dvts.
J oy<< even IUpplies a debased analogue of the mystical thCO<)' of corrcspondeoca by expLain. ing it away in te. . . . . 0( ronnaions, of a pun:ly mechanical kind, hidd"" behind the fabric of 11K
univerul . I18o. . . ,t. Several important cp;. ooa . . ,. . . . . . , to build up this level of meaning, the II"IOIIt purely naturalistic of which iI undoubtedly the copulation ofF. a",-ick~r and Anna C583-~). Thil . he S M _ 1(9 quile improperly calls urwoti. raaory. ' Everything in the daeription ofthc Kene ,uggtsl! that, on the contrary, the act in which the chapt~r (I11. 41 mmes to its d im u is wholly IUCCaIfu1. Hen: Ihe ph)~c. al connaion uniting the OOliUponding coojugal pair is al Leul ph)'Jically . . . . t of light. Ebewberc (1. 4) Barwickr, havipg been buri<d, lpend. his time tunnelling like . mole ; one world ;1 'bufTowing On anoth. cr' indeed (275-06). We arc constantly inriled to . . ,arch . . . . , the hidden link< and ro elIpo6C the fuoetiooing 01 God'. ma,;oneuc l)IItem -an ol>>ttnc luggcstion in the ~ of the physical relatioruhip of the Earwicken, bul one which it con- sUolt:rlt with Shem'. lewd prcoccupatio. . . . Charact. crilticalil',
, 1mU_iJoJ,~ . . . . ,Londoo. '1In,vol. I,p. s. . . . . ? SK otis.
'53
? ComS/Mndtnu s
Joya finds a convenient technical tum fur all this: 'an. . . tt>- 1I1OiI,,', defined hy the Sittnln 0,,/? ? 1 1::",lul< Didi. " 'J as 'Intcrcommunicalion ""tw. ,. . . . tlO'(),-='d',channels,orb~ncllCs, by ? connecting cross branch. Olig. of the cross conneo;ions ""tWffll the anen. :. and vcillS, elc. ; DOW of u. . . . . of any branching . )'Stem'.
The fundamental act of copulation is . pecifically dclino:d in these terml:
. H umperfe1dl and Anuruka, wedded now evcl"fIlOI"e in ann. . . to- moses by Il ground plan ofthe pl. ~hunl"", wh;"ke",d beau . nd
dona. h""Ua. ' (S85. ~~)
In the timelcas Book tV all the disparate elements of Fu-pM 1I'. d:t are said to be 'ana. tomosinlly assimilaltd' (615. 0S), j. . . 1
. . . in Ufflsn:oll mankind had been mytlic;ally uniU:d: '. . . OUr grandam, which we are linked up wilh by . . ,o:'"'! i~ . n. . . tt>-
nl<l! U of nave1coro? . ' (U 374)
The anlltomosical conncxion typifio:d by this copuluion
scene i. nOI always ", flatly and unilt1. . l. gillativdy carnal. Any form of cross-pollination or troII-fertililation may oerve the same Iymbolic pUIf'O"". l"e analtomosu of615. "5 ",ferl in the
firsl place to the fertilisalion of the fIowerl which figure 10 1"'lC1y in the Quinel motif'; these arc the chutely liornt;""" rainbow? girb whose sauality KelTlS oomcIww always able to avoid Ihe direcl $Ullying OOIIlacl of the flo b. At Ibe o;nodQt levd of this promising tMmc tl>c girls, like the Bl. . . . . . . !
