in fact no
absolute
position what- ever in Pi_tmlS W4k, and if we choose to consider it mainly from the naturalistic frame of rdhencc it can only I.
Hart-Clive-1962-Structure-and-Motif-in-Finnegans-Wake
.
.
, in a
later chapter, joy<< points . . UI Wt in their cal(: 'the meet of thdr noght wu worth IWO ofhis morning' (473,H), Becaw. e of lhit ecrutanl mobility of forms and times tho: Karch for an abtolute is in everybody'. mind throughout the book and iI tho: . pecial concern of the ubiquilOUI Old MCl'I who arc involved in Irying to find a commOn denominalOr for their four differenl poinu of view; but the only abaolute they en, diKon. iI the abaolute uncertainly from "'hien they began, the "'holly relative nllure of all the cyclel. Blavaaky reminds <II thaI il waa lhe practice of the priesu of virtually aU the myllic cret<1a OVer which . ne enth""", 10 I'CIerve fur tIlemaelvei alone the facu conaming th. uuc and Jeerel cycle functionlllI wi! hiD, or p&DUd to, the morc obvious cycles ofwhich vulgar minda werc allowed 10 have l:nowledgc,' This Secret Cycle . 1. . . a)'1 differed from the olben in subtle details of great mystical significance. Returning to the magical num~ '4,2', she writa':
'[a previow comrnental. Or] junly believed that the cycLe of the IndiaD 'yllem, of 43~,OOO. " the true key tu tbe Secret Cycle, But bi. failure in trying to decipber it was made ap~rcnt, lOr . . ;t pertained 10 me mY'lery of tile creation, mit cycle walthe mo. t inviolable of all'.
j oyce embeds ! lOme highly disguised information about luch a Secret Cycle ill the very mathematil:aUy oriented tenm chapter
, 4il UoMUI, >"01. 1, pp. S2, '>93-4? ? 1>" U. . ;JN, . . . . . . . I, p. , ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? Cyclil F _
(U. 2). He parodi'" Dlavat>ky', '+3~' and k . dl from Ihe. . . , on 10 lhe W<lrld of modem phrlics:
'. . . by ribbon development, from COI:I~ct hridg. : 10 leaoe la(>>C, only two millium lwo humberec1 and eighlYIhausiS nine humbered and ,a ly radiolumin lines \0 the WllSIWOl'tJ of ~
FinnlOWIl" g. :n"fOUI poel', office. ' ('l6:,. 24)
T hai i. 10 oay, from th underclap to sandhi a cycle of 2,280,! )60 units. The mystery (the uy \0 the Seem Cycle) liel in the natun: of th. quao. i-scientific uni. . ; no one could be expected 10 derive the significance of the figu re unaided, hut furtunately the
tnaouscrip'-'prm~deIhenec' "'Ydue. InBriti. ! 1>MuteumAdd, MS 47488, f. 246 we n:ad:
190,080
"
2,280,'J60
Now 3 X 12 X 12 '" 432, and 5,280 . . . f<<1 in a mile. The nature of Ihe cycle i. Ihus reveal<<i: it is a opace. tim<: unil, a four-dimeru. ional cycle of 432 miJe. . yeul, measuring a DOn_ Eudidian world offO\lr-dimo:n. ;onal events. The imponanu of Ihi, al first appa. . ntly pc:ripheral pi""e ohymbolism li. ,. in the IP"<<=-time COncepL The Four, whose geom<:trical position. out. line the frame which . -. . closes tho: book,' an: thnruc:l""" the 'fuurdimmaru;iolU'-thc . ynoplk g<I$~ne. . . . corresponding 10 the Ihl"<< 'p3cc dime"';o"",, and Johnny, always late, 10 time (36pO If. ). Witb ? iMlein Mnd ). Iinltowski at h;, bad
Joyce was at>! e 10. urpall even the andenl m)'Jtics in complexity :>nd IOrtUOlll1l(lS. Like Ibe mathcmatie. tl world? modd of MinkOWllri, lhe g""1 cycle ofF"",t"'" lY. . ucannol be properly
' J"I"U It,. "u<d F. ,. . . . . . . . . . ;! >df by the I1"nbol 0; '" u_', po ,. . . . .
"
? Cyclic Form
under1tood unless the dutance betwun 'events' u rneasured in terms of boll, 'pace and time.
'What ,ubiler timeplaa: of the w<:ald . . . than then . . . . hen ru<;tioru ended, than here . . . . . . . ,re raa: began. ' (80. ! 2)
It i, by such up-to-date method, rather than by rnean. of Ihe sterile a"'thetics ofStephen Dedalu. thatJoyce finally managed IQ place himself above and hehind hu handiw<lIk, ",anning an artificial universe f",e of time', armw, able to apprehend time
spatially. '
Parallel cycle. rcpres~nt the first of twn diffe"'nt types of
"ructurol counterpoint in FittlU{,,'" Walt a oimple . yncopa_ tion of movement in Ihe "'me g<'neral dire<:tion. Clearly the use of thu kind ofcounl~rpoint makes for greal flexibility of de'ign andmightevenwithwmejrulicebeailedan""euSeforI~.
ness, but in facl "a:rta;n random dement of unpredictability w"-' nee""",,ry to Fimr. tgQ1IS WIlkt if it wa. adequately to rcfle<:t the new _rid ofphJl! i'"ofwhicbJoyce was trying 10 build up a faithful verbal analogue. Throughout hu carur J Qyce usually solved the technical problem< of imitative form by t1u: mO$' literal application ofilS principko, ~ every reader of Ul;1/J<S il awa",. In Fin""gans WIlkt he wa. paM. icularly coru:erned to reproduce relativity and the uncertainly principle. 1be latter functiona in the book exactly "-' it does in Ihe phy';cal world. The large "Yelic blOCQ of the constituent material arc b:. >lh clearly defined and pttdictahle, but the 'rnaller the "ruClural
"nits we: cor"ider, Ihe more difficult it;' 10 know how they will function. When adding brief new motifsJoy<:e . ometimes went . . , far"-, to rt:iinquilh all control ov. . their position in the text, and hen~e over . he details oftheir effeet<' ; the old determinum of Uly. . . s has bun replaced by a scale of prohability.
The Ibwry of relativity is even mo,"" 'lIited 10 Joyce', pur_ poses than a the u",ful uncertainty principle. T haI values and points of view . hould be entirely relalive within the world of I. book w"-' nothing new by '939, nor even by 'g<>o, bllt in Finlltgans Wak. J oyce has pu,hed relativity 10 the exlreme and
,Thenat"'"ofW. . . . . ti"'";"J~;nthenext"",. ionofthis<:MpI<T. ? SH be. . . . . p. '79. ,,
?
? Cyclic Forni
mad~ it a b""ic aesthetic and Stcucturallaw. Everything differs " , 'docks from keY", "" joye. : oays (77. 1 'I, alluding, I think, to the 'clocks and measuring_rods' so bclov<<l of expoaito. . of Einsteinian theory. There ;.
in fact no absolute position what- ever in Pi_tmlS W4k, and if we choose to consider it mainly from the naturalistic frame of rdhencc it can only I. w: because in SO doing we get the most familiar pictuTe; from whichever ltandpoim we may examine theJ<>ycean phenomena, all other poosiblc &am", of n:ference, no malter how irreconcilable or unpalatable, rum! be taken ;'11<> account a. valid alternative>. Op~pointsofviewdonolcanedoutbutaTemadeto coui<! in equilibrium, for Joyce meant Fin/"ta", W. . . . . to be a, congenial 10 the Shanru of thi. world . . . to the Shems. If, as saint, moo. . rn man has grown puny like Kevin, he has achieved
a CQmpen"'IOry greatn= . . . arU. t and sage; if, as artut or "'g<', hi! mind is grubby, '" bourgeoi. his bOOy U clean. J ust as th = theoretical train. hurtling along at half the . peed of light hav. o differing lengths and mauc. ac. :ording to the standpoints from which one me. . ,u",", them, '" Shem and Shaun and all their paired corrdative. , . piralling around their orbits, find that each scenu puny to the other yet mighty to himself.
The second type of counterpoint i, much more difficult to bring off but altogether richer in pouihilitie? . Thi. involVe! the me of opposing cycle> centrW. , $0 to . peak, in the same ,ub- stance, but moving in contrary direction. . , always preserving an ovcrall balance ofmotion. 'nu,other type ofstructural counter_ point;' no more original inJoyce than;' the fi. . . . t. Indeed he has taken it ovcr virtually unchanged fr"m Yea'" and Blah--from
A V"icn and 'The lI-kntal Traveller' in particular':
'a h<:ing racing into the future pU! CS a. h<:ing racing into the past, two foot_prints perpetually oblilr. rating one another, toe 10 heel, heel to toe. '
Around a central ""ction, Book iI, Joyce build. two oppooing
, . -I Vi';"', p. >10: 10)'0' ,cad. of Vi';'" in both the r"" and ><<ODd (r"""""l editions, publi>hed m 19>6 &nd 1937 ,=v<<,jvo:ly. &. Elimann, p. 608: T. E. Connolly. T k P",,,,04 (,j. "'"? ifJ"""J')<', mel <<I". , IlufWo.
='
t" E~< Job>, ",gr""jng <h>. t 'Yea" 66
1~~7,
did not put . U (hi. into a CKa'i~ W(M"k', OJ,,,,,,,,, p. I~.
p. 4'; ct. aool0)'0'"
? Cyclic Form
cycks oonUlling of Boob I and III. In these two Book! there is e. ;tablished a pattern of oorreapondenccs of the major event> of each, th= in Book In occurring in revc= order and having inV<'l"lC (. b. aracteri,(ics. ' Whereas Book I begins with a rather ohvioul hiTth (~6-9) and enw with a Iymb:. >lk death (2'5- ,6), Book III begirn with death (-lOS) and endo with a birth (590): 'roadl" and the meeting with the King (I. ~) reap! ",ar in III. 4. the trial of I. S-4 in TH. S, the Letter of 1. 5 in III. I, and the fables of 1. 6 . ,. din in III. I. In ru. oollopondcnce Joyce
implicitly referred to tm. pattern':
'I wanted it [,. 6. 11 ) as ballast and the whole piece [1. 6] il 10
balance /I. abed [Book III] more ao::uratdy . . . 1\ """ot i; " bit hUlky bwide the mOre melodious Shaun ofthe third pari . . . ' " had a rather . trange dT"am the other night. I was looking at a Turk. eated in a bazaar. He had a framework On his knees and on one oide he had a jumble of alI. hade, of red and yellow skeins and on the other ajumble of greens and bluo of ill ,hado. He was picking fTom Tight and left very calmly and wea,? ing away. It is evidently . . ,piit rainbow and also Parts' and lII. '
To FraIlk Budgen he described the pTOCcU of oomposing Finrllg= W. . t. . :
'I am boring through a mOWltall from two . ide. . The question i,. how to meet in the middle. '
Thi, inven<: relaUoll. 'lhip explain. what Joyce meant by hi; ,tatement that Book III is 'a deocriplion ofa postman travelling backward, in the night through the even" already narrated'. ' Th. dream-vision, of Book III are a mirror-image Qf the legend. of Rook 1, while both drealIl. '! and legends "Te Tation- ali,cd in the nnderlying natura. lism ofJlook IT, on I<. > which they
oonverge. On this ground. plan Joyce builds up a dynamic $CI. of rclali(m3hip' between youch and age which reproduce the outline of the 'Mental Traveller' situation. The pattern i;
, ce. Bradky", n\W> ? wh<> ,. . . . " ,. . . ,he. . . . . . ,hiotO<)' "';tn 0Il<><1v<>, bu, in Ih< oppooi'" dir<ctiOtl', F. IT. 1hIdley, . lfP' . . "" "'" RI"'-ilJ, London,
1l! g3. p . ''1 .
? Lm"" p. '3'.
? uti"" Pl>. 256. >6t.
? Oi,"""". p. 't. , Utkf',P? ? 14?
"
? Cyclic Form
dearest {owa:rd the end of Flook TV but pervades lhe whole of
Fiiwgmu WaM . . . a gcncnolliru: "fdevelopment. Shaun;. king rejuvenated; during Book III he rno"". toward the dawn of cc<aliem, and hu final appearencc in Book IV . . . the 'child
Kevin' cone/udes a long and complicated pmc. " by which he retrt:a~ through cloud. of glory 10 {he moment of hi. OWn birth and the con<<:plion which precrded it: 'wurming along gradu- ally for our . avings bac. klowaro. motherwatml' (84. 30). Con- lemporaneow with Shaun', hopeful rejuvenati. :m i. Anna'. d. . pairing prog.
later chapter, joy<< points . . UI Wt in their cal(: 'the meet of thdr noght wu worth IWO ofhis morning' (473,H), Becaw. e of lhit ecrutanl mobility of forms and times tho: Karch for an abtolute is in everybody'. mind throughout the book and iI tho: . pecial concern of the ubiquilOUI Old MCl'I who arc involved in Irying to find a commOn denominalOr for their four differenl poinu of view; but the only abaolute they en, diKon. iI the abaolute uncertainly from "'hien they began, the "'holly relative nllure of all the cyclel. Blavaaky reminds <II thaI il waa lhe practice of the priesu of virtually aU the myllic cret<1a OVer which . ne enth""", 10 I'CIerve fur tIlemaelvei alone the facu conaming th. uuc and Jeerel cycle functionlllI wi! hiD, or p&DUd to, the morc obvious cycles ofwhich vulgar minda werc allowed 10 have l:nowledgc,' This Secret Cycle . 1. . . a)'1 differed from the olben in subtle details of great mystical significance. Returning to the magical num~ '4,2', she writa':
'[a previow comrnental. Or] junly believed that the cycLe of the IndiaD 'yllem, of 43~,OOO. " the true key tu tbe Secret Cycle, But bi. failure in trying to decipber it was made ap~rcnt, lOr . . ;t pertained 10 me mY'lery of tile creation, mit cycle walthe mo. t inviolable of all'.
j oyce embeds ! lOme highly disguised information about luch a Secret Cycle ill the very mathematil:aUy oriented tenm chapter
, 4il UoMUI, >"01. 1, pp. S2, '>93-4? ? 1>" U. . ;JN, . . . . . . . I, p. , ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? Cyclil F _
(U. 2). He parodi'" Dlavat>ky', '+3~' and k . dl from Ihe. . . , on 10 lhe W<lrld of modem phrlics:
'. . . by ribbon development, from COI:I~ct hridg. : 10 leaoe la(>>C, only two millium lwo humberec1 and eighlYIhausiS nine humbered and ,a ly radiolumin lines \0 the WllSIWOl'tJ of ~
FinnlOWIl" g. :n"fOUI poel', office. ' ('l6:,. 24)
T hai i. 10 oay, from th underclap to sandhi a cycle of 2,280,! )60 units. The mystery (the uy \0 the Seem Cycle) liel in the natun: of th. quao. i-scientific uni. . ; no one could be expected 10 derive the significance of the figu re unaided, hut furtunately the
tnaouscrip'-'prm~deIhenec' "'Ydue. InBriti. ! 1>MuteumAdd, MS 47488, f. 246 we n:ad:
190,080
"
2,280,'J60
Now 3 X 12 X 12 '" 432, and 5,280 . . . f<<1 in a mile. The nature of Ihe cycle i. Ihus reveal<<i: it is a opace. tim<: unil, a four-dimeru. ional cycle of 432 miJe. . yeul, measuring a DOn_ Eudidian world offO\lr-dimo:n. ;onal events. The imponanu of Ihi, al first appa. . ntly pc:ripheral pi""e ohymbolism li. ,. in the IP"<<=-time COncepL The Four, whose geom<:trical position. out. line the frame which . -. . closes tho: book,' an: thnruc:l""" the 'fuurdimmaru;iolU'-thc . ynoplk g<I$~ne. . . . corresponding 10 the Ihl"<< 'p3cc dime"';o"",, and Johnny, always late, 10 time (36pO If. ). Witb ? iMlein Mnd ). Iinltowski at h;, bad
Joyce was at>! e 10. urpall even the andenl m)'Jtics in complexity :>nd IOrtUOlll1l(lS. Like Ibe mathcmatie. tl world? modd of MinkOWllri, lhe g""1 cycle ofF"",t"'" lY. . ucannol be properly
' J"I"U It,. "u<d F. ,. . . . . . . . . . ;! >df by the I1"nbol 0; '" u_', po ,. . . . .
"
? Cyclic Form
under1tood unless the dutance betwun 'events' u rneasured in terms of boll, 'pace and time.
'What ,ubiler timeplaa: of the w<:ald . . . than then . . . . hen ru<;tioru ended, than here . . . . . . . ,re raa: began. ' (80. ! 2)
It i, by such up-to-date method, rather than by rnean. of Ihe sterile a"'thetics ofStephen Dedalu. thatJoyce finally managed IQ place himself above and hehind hu handiw<lIk, ",anning an artificial universe f",e of time', armw, able to apprehend time
spatially. '
Parallel cycle. rcpres~nt the first of twn diffe"'nt types of
"ructurol counterpoint in FittlU{,,'" Walt a oimple . yncopa_ tion of movement in Ihe "'me g<'neral dire<:tion. Clearly the use of thu kind ofcounl~rpoint makes for greal flexibility of de'ign andmightevenwithwmejrulicebeailedan""euSeforI~.
ness, but in facl "a:rta;n random dement of unpredictability w"-' nee""",,ry to Fimr. tgQ1IS WIlkt if it wa. adequately to rcfle<:t the new _rid ofphJl! i'"ofwhicbJoyce was trying 10 build up a faithful verbal analogue. Throughout hu carur J Qyce usually solved the technical problem< of imitative form by t1u: mO$' literal application ofilS principko, ~ every reader of Ul;1/J<S il awa",. In Fin""gans WIlkt he wa. paM. icularly coru:erned to reproduce relativity and the uncertainly principle. 1be latter functiona in the book exactly "-' it does in Ihe phy';cal world. The large "Yelic blOCQ of the constituent material arc b:. >lh clearly defined and pttdictahle, but the 'rnaller the "ruClural
"nits we: cor"ider, Ihe more difficult it;' 10 know how they will function. When adding brief new motifsJoy<:e . ometimes went . . , far"-, to rt:iinquilh all control ov. . their position in the text, and hen~e over . he details oftheir effeet<' ; the old determinum of Uly. . . s has bun replaced by a scale of prohability.
The Ibwry of relativity is even mo,"" 'lIited 10 Joyce', pur_ poses than a the u",ful uncertainty principle. T haI values and points of view . hould be entirely relalive within the world of I. book w"-' nothing new by '939, nor even by 'g<>o, bllt in Finlltgans Wak. J oyce has pu,hed relativity 10 the exlreme and
,Thenat"'"ofW. . . . . ti"'";"J~;nthenext"",. ionofthis<:MpI<T. ? SH be. . . . . p. '79. ,,
?
? Cyclic Forni
mad~ it a b""ic aesthetic and Stcucturallaw. Everything differs " , 'docks from keY", "" joye. : oays (77. 1 'I, alluding, I think, to the 'clocks and measuring_rods' so bclov<<l of expoaito. . of Einsteinian theory. There ;.
in fact no absolute position what- ever in Pi_tmlS W4k, and if we choose to consider it mainly from the naturalistic frame of rdhencc it can only I. w: because in SO doing we get the most familiar pictuTe; from whichever ltandpoim we may examine theJ<>ycean phenomena, all other poosiblc &am", of n:ference, no malter how irreconcilable or unpalatable, rum! be taken ;'11<> account a. valid alternative>. Op~pointsofviewdonolcanedoutbutaTemadeto coui<! in equilibrium, for Joyce meant Fin/"ta", W. . . . . to be a, congenial 10 the Shanru of thi. world . . . to the Shems. If, as saint, moo. . rn man has grown puny like Kevin, he has achieved
a CQmpen"'IOry greatn= . . . arU. t and sage; if, as artut or "'g<', hi! mind is grubby, '" bourgeoi. his bOOy U clean. J ust as th = theoretical train. hurtling along at half the . peed of light hav. o differing lengths and mauc. ac. :ording to the standpoints from which one me. . ,u",", them, '" Shem and Shaun and all their paired corrdative. , . piralling around their orbits, find that each scenu puny to the other yet mighty to himself.
The second type of counterpoint i, much more difficult to bring off but altogether richer in pouihilitie? . Thi. involVe! the me of opposing cycle> centrW. , $0 to . peak, in the same ,ub- stance, but moving in contrary direction. . , always preserving an ovcrall balance ofmotion. 'nu,other type ofstructural counter_ point;' no more original inJoyce than;' the fi. . . . t. Indeed he has taken it ovcr virtually unchanged fr"m Yea'" and Blah--from
A V"icn and 'The lI-kntal Traveller' in particular':
'a h<:ing racing into the future pU! CS a. h<:ing racing into the past, two foot_prints perpetually oblilr. rating one another, toe 10 heel, heel to toe. '
Around a central ""ction, Book iI, Joyce build. two oppooing
, . -I Vi';"', p. >10: 10)'0' ,cad. of Vi';'" in both the r"" and ><<ODd (r"""""l editions, publi>hed m 19>6 &nd 1937 ,=v<<,jvo:ly. &. Elimann, p. 608: T. E. Connolly. T k P",,,,04 (,j. "'"? ifJ"""J')<', mel <<I". , IlufWo.
='
t" E~< Job>, ",gr""jng <h>. t 'Yea" 66
1~~7,
did not put . U (hi. into a CKa'i~ W(M"k', OJ,,,,,,,,, p. I~.
p. 4'; ct. aool0)'0'"
? Cyclic Form
cycks oonUlling of Boob I and III. In these two Book! there is e. ;tablished a pattern of oorreapondenccs of the major event> of each, th= in Book In occurring in revc= order and having inV<'l"lC (. b. aracteri,(ics. ' Whereas Book I begins with a rather ohvioul hiTth (~6-9) and enw with a Iymb:. >lk death (2'5- ,6), Book III begirn with death (-lOS) and endo with a birth (590): 'roadl" and the meeting with the King (I. ~) reap! ",ar in III. 4. the trial of I. S-4 in TH. S, the Letter of 1. 5 in III. I, and the fables of 1. 6 . ,. din in III. I. In ru. oollopondcnce Joyce
implicitly referred to tm. pattern':
'I wanted it [,. 6. 11 ) as ballast and the whole piece [1. 6] il 10
balance /I. abed [Book III] more ao::uratdy . . . 1\ """ot i; " bit hUlky bwide the mOre melodious Shaun ofthe third pari . . . ' " had a rather . trange dT"am the other night. I was looking at a Turk. eated in a bazaar. He had a framework On his knees and on one oide he had a jumble of alI. hade, of red and yellow skeins and on the other ajumble of greens and bluo of ill ,hado. He was picking fTom Tight and left very calmly and wea,? ing away. It is evidently . . ,piit rainbow and also Parts' and lII. '
To FraIlk Budgen he described the pTOCcU of oomposing Finrllg= W. . t. . :
'I am boring through a mOWltall from two . ide. . The question i,. how to meet in the middle. '
Thi, inven<: relaUoll. 'lhip explain. what Joyce meant by hi; ,tatement that Book III is 'a deocriplion ofa postman travelling backward, in the night through the even" already narrated'. ' Th. dream-vision, of Book III are a mirror-image Qf the legend. of Rook 1, while both drealIl. '! and legends "Te Tation- ali,cd in the nnderlying natura. lism ofJlook IT, on I<. > which they
oonverge. On this ground. plan Joyce builds up a dynamic $CI. of rclali(m3hip' between youch and age which reproduce the outline of the 'Mental Traveller' situation. The pattern i;
, ce. Bradky", n\W> ? wh<> ,. . . . " ,. . . ,he. . . . . . ,hiotO<)' "';tn 0Il<><1v<>, bu, in Ih< oppooi'" dir<ctiOtl', F. IT. 1hIdley, . lfP' . . "" "'" RI"'-ilJ, London,
1l! g3. p . ''1 .
? Lm"" p. '3'.
? uti"" Pl>. 256. >6t.
? Oi,"""". p. 't. , Utkf',P? ? 14?
"
? Cyclic Form
dearest {owa:rd the end of Flook TV but pervades lhe whole of
Fiiwgmu WaM . . . a gcncnolliru: "fdevelopment. Shaun;. king rejuvenated; during Book III he rno"". toward the dawn of cc<aliem, and hu final appearencc in Book IV . . . the 'child
Kevin' cone/udes a long and complicated pmc. " by which he retrt:a~ through cloud. of glory 10 {he moment of hi. OWn birth and the con<<:plion which precrded it: 'wurming along gradu- ally for our . avings bac. klowaro. motherwatml' (84. 30). Con- lemporaneow with Shaun', hopeful rejuvenati. :m i. Anna'. d. . pairing prog.
