m
ofFiMtgam
Wah has been befogged for over twmty yea.
Hart-Clive-1962-Structure-and-Motif-in-Finnegans-Wake
.
(at 380.
~9 it i> Thanksgiving Day); III i, Winter ('white fogbow', 403.
06), beginning with the entry orthe Son
and ending with the Good Friday death (590). Ilnok IV i. the moment of tran,ition from Holy Salurday to Euter Morning.
The fuur pol~ ofJoyce'. liturgical year are thu, the equinoxes and the soiltkes, a. they were in ancient tim",. ' TIle c""otant alhworu 10 the twenty. nine february_girl, ougge<t that the. particular year in questIon i. " leap-year , but I have nQt been
able to determine which date Joy"" had in mind if, "" we may
, 0 " . t h e f o u r c y c t . . ( H l p p . '3-'~' ,.
? Cyclic Form
. uppose, he gave Fu",~garu w. . t, a year \0 e<>rrespond with the I~ of libss. ,-,
All the e<>mplex tim(-! Chemes of L'i""'I<lIU W,,*, are ulti. mately r"",lved in a mJl! tical 'Et. . nal Kow'. The Eternal Now, lite""", . 14m, i. a very old idea involving the mJl! ~riom simul- taneity, in the eyes of the Absolute, of all that in ordinary
ex! ",riencc is called past, present and furore. The idea in one form or anolher was very much in the air in Joyce'. lifetime, after the rediocovery al aboul the lurn of the century of the importance of time and it. PToblem" Suc. h passages a. the fnllowing were nOt unCOmmon in the litnature':
'AU part. oftirne are partsofan eternal "now", and. ? . we cannot fix any limit. to tl," prosent or exdude from it any part
of what we wrongly call "the past" and "the futore" '.
Thcre have been many varian,," of lItu basic concept, but all involve the proposition that event. whicb ""em to be 'spaced' in a tcmporal. occe"ion are prosenllimultanCOWlly- or, ratber, nut of time altogetber- in tbe Eternal Now. T bat the hi,torical cyda ofFinn,gaM Wah arc to be coTUidered as evolved from
the unbiotnrical Timeless i. ! uggested many tim~: 'nne oon- tinnoos present . , . hiotory' (IB5. 36); 'If there i, a future in every pall that is prosent . . " (49l>. 3S)
Of the ""veral lymbol$ which have been used in attempt> to render the concept intelligihk, the moet familiar must be that develop<<l by T. S. Eliot in 'Buml Norton' and the other Quane", : Ihe revolving whttl or ' phere ",illt ito central 'danc_ ing' point, a point whicb, Mnce it i~ a point, <<nnot be said 10 'pin, and yet fromwhich the wbole circular movement (manal". The movement of the wheel represenu, of conroe, common Time, while tbe Ian! almng mid. point ""l"VC3 as symbol for the T imeleos. Joyce IlOCS the same symbol bUl, alwa)'1 more given
to literal interpretation, he provides within Finntgans Wok, itself- tbat 'gigantic wheeling rebus', aI lite SUIt/on K. . , calls it-a pil. I$age co=sponding witb tho eent",l point. Towards thu point of eternity the res t of the book', e<>ntent ;. corutantly
' J. c. Woro. . W<>t(h, -run< . . s~",,', MioJ, ,01. XXVI, '9'7, p. 3'3.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Cyclic riJrm
impellt<! by rhe ",ntripetal fO<'CU of dearh, diaolution and alOnc~t. The ctnll'lll PQUgc it, ofcoune, Book IV, 'Therc'. now with noW. rhtn in ICnse contin. . . . . . I' (5g8. 23); 'in . more or leu ",ult<! nale of equonomic coolllbc equalobc equilab
cqllilibbrium'. (599. 17)
f ,. . . . . . . . I
aDd vain. al\u . . . . '" "",ndda,,' ~n. 'S>
The timcIcP natu", of Book IV it perhaps moot dc. riy cxprracd in the SI. Kevin episode. At GkndaJough Kevin ",Iir. . ,
'centripetally ? . . midway acTOoS the IlIbject lake . url"ace to itt IUpreem cpi(entric lake y. te, whereof itt lake i. the vemrifllgal principali ty: (605. 15)
"h""'lh ~
"
aooot. ,. . . .
? Cyclic Form
St. KC\'in's hermitag<', '" described by Joyce in th= p. o. ga. , iJS
a very effective symbol of ,. . ,nunciation and . piritual ,tiUn. . . . . At the mid-point of tm universe- the 'no placelike IlQ timelike
aboolent' (609. o2)- Kevin, at one with Brahman, giv"," himself OVer to memoryl= meditation: 'memory <xumj"",' (606. 08)- <X t,mpo" since IlQ memory of the past can exi,t in an Eternal Now.
The symbol of the cin::ular uni. . . ,. . . . , with its timd"" ccnln:: is al. . , f()und in the figure of Ih~ Buddh4t manMld which iI of . nch importance 1<> Jung. ' T his it the symbol e which, in the :\iSS, J oyce gave the highly imp<>rlan( ninth questi<>n in 1. 6.
His me ofil 10 dengnate a passage dealing with the ' ! ructn,. . , of FinntgmlJ W. . kt suggests that in one . truetural . JeW<: the whole of the book forms a lIILJIUlB/iJ, ""' in Figure I, oppoo;tc, in which the four fonr_patL cycl"" make the Wheel (If FMtunt:, while
Book IV lies at the 'hub'.
A consequence of (CIOm;e $imu! taneity U the potential im_
manena of eternity in anyone point of time, and hence the ,eeds ofany pall ofhi. {Ory may k ~ent in any 'event'. Call'" and effect mwt also vanish with the ditapp"arance ofternporal sc<Juence, and so here we find further rationalisation for the monadal principle underlying J oyce'. World Ag<:s and for Ihe frequent scattering of the h<;. Qk', impnlsive forces in an appar. ently arbitrary dilarray. 1h= . tructural principleo are dio- c1. WCd at greater length in Chapters Si~ and SC\'en.
17
? CHAPTER THREE
THE DREAM-STRUCTURE
i: ORAUMCONDRA'S DREAM- COUNTRY (293. Ft)
templ3 to identify the Dr~a. m"," of Fimug= Wah have Imt ,,~th little . ucc=. In his . plendidly oouragwu.
early analym, 'Th~ Dream of H. C. Earwickcr',' Mr. Edmund Wi""n made the unwarranted . . . . umption thaI Earwicker hirrudfiJ the Dreamer and as a comequence of the wid""pread inHumee of this <>therwiJc perceptive "",ay, OCrue-
lura! crilici.
m ofFiMtgam Wah has been befogged for over twmty yea. . . . Wilson'. untenabl~ pooition has been explicitly or tacitly accepted by the majority of othe, critic. '! who have considered the matter, induding luch eminent joyuans as M=rs. Harry l. evin, Hugh Kenner, and William Troy. >Their interpretation may be fairly lummariw:\ by the following extract. from Wilson"
'It i. a Saturday night in . ummer, afu:r" disorderly evening in the pub. Somebody-probably Earwi~ker himself- has been p. . . ,. ,. ailed upon to 5ing a lOng; laLer, when it;' dooing time, he had to put a man ou(! ide, who abused him and thnw OCone< at the window. Ther~ "'" also bttn a thunde"torm. Earwicker has been drinllng off and On aU day and has perhapo gone to bed a little drunk. At any rate hU night is troubled. At first he
1 l'in, p~bli. hed j" J""" ond July, I! )3. Q, >J>d rq:otinled ";,~,,,,,,,, reo ";';. ,. . . ondo. ,. ,. =;""';n n. . W. . . . . t . . . . . . . . ? Bow. '-<>ndon, '9~,PP. O[~3.
/{
'J-:hP,N"""",,Conn. , '94',pp. Ii<'If;DuM;"',J'J<',London,
'95. \. pp. ollt""5; 'N"'", ()Q
? The Dream <JfH. C. f. &rwkk<<', pp. "9""0<>.
F~W. . tt',in0;. . . . . ,P. 3"(,c. paotivdy). "
? Tk Dr<<)lll-Structure
dreaJll. ' aoout the day befoTe, with a bad c:omcien"" and a ! ltn! lt of bumiliation: tben, " the night darkens and be sink, mOTe deeply into ,leep, be ha. < to labouT through a nightmar<: nppl'alion .
'He and his wife ar<: sleeping u. g. ther; hut he has no longer any interest in her as a WOman. He is pTeoccupied now witb his children . . .
' . . . tbe 'tory . . . deptnds for its dra,nali<; . Jleet on our not finding out till almost tbe end---p>>. ge1 5. ~5-590, in which
Earwicker partially wak<:5 up--thatthe flights of erotic fant. . "y and the horron of guilt of hi. dr<:am have been impired by his
feding> fOT his childun'.
Thi, r<:adinl{ can be quickly dismiw:d by an appeal to the
litl:ral narrative, for there is nothing whatever in the text to 1U~,tthat Books I and II are aUTeam of the protagonist whose oleep begi"" at 403. ' ]; my analym of the drum_levels (below) will . how in greatl:r detail how inconsistent is this interpretation with the available evidence.
M r. J oseph Camphell, one of the authors of the Shltlen Kg, holds a somewhat modified view. Although he believ. . F,ar- wicker to be the DTeamer, he doe. not think of Finlltgmu Wakt ". a 'stream of unconsciousness', to me Harry Levin's phr. . "e, hut rather as a kind of ><;holarly running commentary by an anonymous pedant on a dream in progress, interrupted now and then hy personal digressiom, qnerulouo a,id. . , ,nippets from other dream. 'l, and even by an ohjrctive description of the Dreamer momentarily awake in lll+ '
Mrs. Ruth von Phnl, who h,. . treated the dream-situation at greatt:itlength, was the lint to orrer a reasoned argument in favour of the Dreamer', being IQmebody other than Earwicker. She attempt. to,how thatJerry i. the Dreamer, but ha. <. . much of her argument on an inaccurate analrY' of 11l. 4 and on a number of ","umptioJU, all of which _ m \() me to be demon-
. trably wrong. ' T bere is not ,ufficient ' pace here for a detailed 'J. C. mpbell,? Finn. :g. "'hel'ial~', inGiv=,pp. ~t4-5.
, R. von PhoJ, 'Who Sleep<" F<-,,,,,, Woh? ? 110. J. . . . , J"J<' /U",w, vol. I, ,,". '. '95J, pp. 0J""38.
79
? The Drtam-$trvcllde
refutation of MOl. von Phu\'. ICn_page article, but her caac di,appean ifa few ofher most important prtm;"', aTe <li1proved.
Fin! , she holds tha. t:
'Jerry i. the only cbaracl<< in ! he hook 1" minI both ti,e arwt'. i'llight and Ihe almoot eneydopedic learni! ! ! ! , n<:<:dcd to evolve a dream of . \leh fanta&tie richntll"
whereaa botD Mn: and in U/1uu (where Joy<< makes Bloom h. allucinalC a . . . . ,a1th ofmalCrial o? "'hieh he can have no . ,. ,. . _ ociousknowl~) Joyce",dearlyallowingh",Dreamen,whe>- ewrthey may he, todraw on lhe wbole quaoi-Jungiln coHeelive
\lnconociouI for Ihe lullllan"" o? their fantasies. Secood, she, in common with th" aull>on of the SktinIM Kg, makes the odd error of auuming that Jelry ICes hi. ralhee'. erecl;on, whereas
Ihe leI:llpCci&ally ltate/i that neither Iwin optnl his eyes at aU during the Kene in quation:
'The two prine<< of th" {()we:r royal, daulphin and d""'lin, to lie how lhey are without to 0 << . The dame dowager'. duffgerenl
to p"""'nl wappon, blade drawn {() Ihe full and about wh<< 1 without to be IC"Jl ofthe,,,'. (,~66-'9)
The frightened child;. in fact the daughter, oobel (566. ~8 ff), who, when the notie<:l tlte father'. member, becomes aware of 'pc";""'nvy', fearing that her body is intomplete or thai . 1Ie "' an cm;UC\llued boy:
'What have you Iherefore? . . 1 feu lel1 we have lost oun (nOli grant itl) rapc:cting these wildly para'. (566. 30; hobel is convening with her 'looking-glass girl'. )
Th"
i"ltargeac of lifesiglll over early lived offi' (230-26)
wherell in fact nearly every character in Fi. OIlIIUU Wab is depicted u druming al ""me time or othe:r.
, 'WhoSIn". . tF__ w. . r,,,,. a ? s. . " ,06; ,". u. App<ndilI A.
is, of cou""" one of the moot common of inCantile experi- ences. Third, Mn.
and ending with the Good Friday death (590). Ilnok IV i. the moment of tran,ition from Holy Salurday to Euter Morning.
The fuur pol~ ofJoyce'. liturgical year are thu, the equinoxes and the soiltkes, a. they were in ancient tim",. ' TIle c""otant alhworu 10 the twenty. nine february_girl, ougge<t that the. particular year in questIon i. " leap-year , but I have nQt been
able to determine which date Joy"" had in mind if, "" we may
, 0 " . t h e f o u r c y c t . . ( H l p p . '3-'~' ,.
? Cyclic Form
. uppose, he gave Fu",~garu w. . t, a year \0 e<>rrespond with the I~ of libss. ,-,
All the e<>mplex tim(-! Chemes of L'i""'I<lIU W,,*, are ulti. mately r"",lved in a mJl! tical 'Et. . nal Kow'. The Eternal Now, lite""", . 14m, i. a very old idea involving the mJl! ~riom simul- taneity, in the eyes of the Absolute, of all that in ordinary
ex! ",riencc is called past, present and furore. The idea in one form or anolher was very much in the air in Joyce'. lifetime, after the rediocovery al aboul the lurn of the century of the importance of time and it. PToblem" Suc. h passages a. the fnllowing were nOt unCOmmon in the litnature':
'AU part. oftirne are partsofan eternal "now", and. ? . we cannot fix any limit. to tl," prosent or exdude from it any part
of what we wrongly call "the past" and "the futore" '.
Thcre have been many varian,," of lItu basic concept, but all involve the proposition that event. whicb ""em to be 'spaced' in a tcmporal. occe"ion are prosenllimultanCOWlly- or, ratber, nut of time altogetber- in tbe Eternal Now. T bat the hi,torical cyda ofFinn,gaM Wah arc to be coTUidered as evolved from
the unbiotnrical Timeless i. ! uggested many tim~: 'nne oon- tinnoos present . , . hiotory' (IB5. 36); 'If there i, a future in every pall that is prosent . . " (49l>. 3S)
Of the ""veral lymbol$ which have been used in attempt> to render the concept intelligihk, the moet familiar must be that develop<<l by T. S. Eliot in 'Buml Norton' and the other Quane", : Ihe revolving whttl or ' phere ",illt ito central 'danc_ ing' point, a point whicb, Mnce it i~ a point, <<nnot be said 10 'pin, and yet fromwhich the wbole circular movement (manal". The movement of the wheel represenu, of conroe, common Time, while tbe Ian! almng mid. point ""l"VC3 as symbol for the T imeleos. Joyce IlOCS the same symbol bUl, alwa)'1 more given
to literal interpretation, he provides within Finntgans Wok, itself- tbat 'gigantic wheeling rebus', aI lite SUIt/on K. . , calls it-a pil. I$age co=sponding witb tho eent",l point. Towards thu point of eternity the res t of the book', e<>ntent ;. corutantly
' J. c. Woro. . W<>t(h, -run< . . s~",,', MioJ, ,01. XXVI, '9'7, p. 3'3.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Cyclic riJrm
impellt<! by rhe ",ntripetal fO<'CU of dearh, diaolution and alOnc~t. The ctnll'lll PQUgc it, ofcoune, Book IV, 'Therc'. now with noW. rhtn in ICnse contin. . . . . . I' (5g8. 23); 'in . more or leu ",ult<! nale of equonomic coolllbc equalobc equilab
cqllilibbrium'. (599. 17)
f ,. . . . . . . . I
aDd vain. al\u . . . . '" "",ndda,,' ~n. 'S>
The timcIcP natu", of Book IV it perhaps moot dc. riy cxprracd in the SI. Kevin episode. At GkndaJough Kevin ",Iir. . ,
'centripetally ? . . midway acTOoS the IlIbject lake . url"ace to itt IUpreem cpi(entric lake y. te, whereof itt lake i. the vemrifllgal principali ty: (605. 15)
"h""'lh ~
"
aooot. ,. . . .
? Cyclic Form
St. KC\'in's hermitag<', '" described by Joyce in th= p. o. ga. , iJS
a very effective symbol of ,. . ,nunciation and . piritual ,tiUn. . . . . At the mid-point of tm universe- the 'no placelike IlQ timelike
aboolent' (609. o2)- Kevin, at one with Brahman, giv"," himself OVer to memoryl= meditation: 'memory <xumj"",' (606. 08)- <X t,mpo" since IlQ memory of the past can exi,t in an Eternal Now.
The symbol of the cin::ular uni. . . ,. . . . , with its timd"" ccnln:: is al. . , f()und in the figure of Ih~ Buddh4t manMld which iI of . nch importance 1<> Jung. ' T his it the symbol e which, in the :\iSS, J oyce gave the highly imp<>rlan( ninth questi<>n in 1. 6.
His me ofil 10 dengnate a passage dealing with the ' ! ructn,. . , of FinntgmlJ W. . kt suggests that in one . truetural . JeW<: the whole of the book forms a lIILJIUlB/iJ, ""' in Figure I, oppoo;tc, in which the four fonr_patL cycl"" make the Wheel (If FMtunt:, while
Book IV lies at the 'hub'.
A consequence of (CIOm;e $imu! taneity U the potential im_
manena of eternity in anyone point of time, and hence the ,eeds ofany pall ofhi. {Ory may k ~ent in any 'event'. Call'" and effect mwt also vanish with the ditapp"arance ofternporal sc<Juence, and so here we find further rationalisation for the monadal principle underlying J oyce'. World Ag<:s and for Ihe frequent scattering of the h<;. Qk', impnlsive forces in an appar. ently arbitrary dilarray. 1h= . tructural principleo are dio- c1. WCd at greater length in Chapters Si~ and SC\'en.
17
? CHAPTER THREE
THE DREAM-STRUCTURE
i: ORAUMCONDRA'S DREAM- COUNTRY (293. Ft)
templ3 to identify the Dr~a. m"," of Fimug= Wah have Imt ,,~th little . ucc=. In his . plendidly oouragwu.
early analym, 'Th~ Dream of H. C. Earwickcr',' Mr. Edmund Wi""n made the unwarranted . . . . umption thaI Earwicker hirrudfiJ the Dreamer and as a comequence of the wid""pread inHumee of this <>therwiJc perceptive "",ay, OCrue-
lura! crilici.
m ofFiMtgam Wah has been befogged for over twmty yea. . . . Wilson'. untenabl~ pooition has been explicitly or tacitly accepted by the majority of othe, critic. '! who have considered the matter, induding luch eminent joyuans as M=rs. Harry l. evin, Hugh Kenner, and William Troy. >Their interpretation may be fairly lummariw:\ by the following extract. from Wilson"
'It i. a Saturday night in . ummer, afu:r" disorderly evening in the pub. Somebody-probably Earwi~ker himself- has been p. . . ,. ,. ailed upon to 5ing a lOng; laLer, when it;' dooing time, he had to put a man ou(! ide, who abused him and thnw OCone< at the window. Ther~ "'" also bttn a thunde"torm. Earwicker has been drinllng off and On aU day and has perhapo gone to bed a little drunk. At any rate hU night is troubled. At first he
1 l'in, p~bli. hed j" J""" ond July, I! )3. Q, >J>d rq:otinled ";,~,,,,,,,, reo ";';. ,. . . ondo. ,. ,. =;""';n n. . W. . . . . t . . . . . . . . ? Bow. '-<>ndon, '9~,PP. O[~3.
/{
'J-:hP,N"""",,Conn. , '94',pp. Ii<'If;DuM;"',J'J<',London,
'95. \. pp. ollt""5; 'N"'", ()Q
? The Dream <JfH. C. f. &rwkk<<', pp. "9""0<>.
F~W. . tt',in0;. . . . . ,P. 3"(,c. paotivdy). "
? Tk Dr<<)lll-Structure
dreaJll. ' aoout the day befoTe, with a bad c:omcien"" and a ! ltn! lt of bumiliation: tben, " the night darkens and be sink, mOTe deeply into ,leep, be ha. < to labouT through a nightmar<: nppl'alion .
'He and his wife ar<: sleeping u. g. ther; hut he has no longer any interest in her as a WOman. He is pTeoccupied now witb his children . . .
' . . . tbe 'tory . . . deptnds for its dra,nali<; . Jleet on our not finding out till almost tbe end---p>>. ge1 5. ~5-590, in which
Earwicker partially wak<:5 up--thatthe flights of erotic fant. . "y and the horron of guilt of hi. dr<:am have been impired by his
feding> fOT his childun'.
Thi, r<:adinl{ can be quickly dismiw:d by an appeal to the
litl:ral narrative, for there is nothing whatever in the text to 1U~,tthat Books I and II are aUTeam of the protagonist whose oleep begi"" at 403. ' ]; my analym of the drum_levels (below) will . how in greatl:r detail how inconsistent is this interpretation with the available evidence.
M r. J oseph Camphell, one of the authors of the Shltlen Kg, holds a somewhat modified view. Although he believ. . F,ar- wicker to be the DTeamer, he doe. not think of Finlltgmu Wakt ". a 'stream of unconsciousness', to me Harry Levin's phr. . "e, hut rather as a kind of ><;holarly running commentary by an anonymous pedant on a dream in progress, interrupted now and then hy personal digressiom, qnerulouo a,id. . , ,nippets from other dream. 'l, and even by an ohjrctive description of the Dreamer momentarily awake in lll+ '
Mrs. Ruth von Phnl, who h,. . treated the dream-situation at greatt:itlength, was the lint to orrer a reasoned argument in favour of the Dreamer', being IQmebody other than Earwicker. She attempt. to,how thatJerry i. the Dreamer, but ha. <. . much of her argument on an inaccurate analrY' of 11l. 4 and on a number of ","umptioJU, all of which _ m \() me to be demon-
. trably wrong. ' T bere is not ,ufficient ' pace here for a detailed 'J. C. mpbell,? Finn. :g. "'hel'ial~', inGiv=,pp. ~t4-5.
, R. von PhoJ, 'Who Sleep<" F<-,,,,,, Woh? ? 110. J. . . . , J"J<' /U",w, vol. I, ,,". '. '95J, pp. 0J""38.
79
? The Drtam-$trvcllde
refutation of MOl. von Phu\'. ICn_page article, but her caac di,appean ifa few ofher most important prtm;"', aTe <li1proved.
Fin! , she holds tha. t:
'Jerry i. the only cbaracl<< in ! he hook 1" minI both ti,e arwt'. i'llight and Ihe almoot eneydopedic learni! ! ! ! , n<:<:dcd to evolve a dream of . \leh fanta&tie richntll"
whereaa botD Mn: and in U/1uu (where Joy<< makes Bloom h. allucinalC a . . . . ,a1th ofmalCrial o? "'hieh he can have no . ,. ,. . _ ociousknowl~) Joyce",dearlyallowingh",Dreamen,whe>- ewrthey may he, todraw on lhe wbole quaoi-Jungiln coHeelive
\lnconociouI for Ihe lullllan"" o? their fantasies. Secood, she, in common with th" aull>on of the SktinIM Kg, makes the odd error of auuming that Jelry ICes hi. ralhee'. erecl;on, whereas
Ihe leI:llpCci&ally ltate/i that neither Iwin optnl his eyes at aU during the Kene in quation:
'The two prine<< of th" {()we:r royal, daulphin and d""'lin, to lie how lhey are without to 0 << . The dame dowager'. duffgerenl
to p"""'nl wappon, blade drawn {() Ihe full and about wh<< 1 without to be IC"Jl ofthe,,,'. (,~66-'9)
The frightened child;. in fact the daughter, oobel (566. ~8 ff), who, when the notie<:l tlte father'. member, becomes aware of 'pc";""'nvy', fearing that her body is intomplete or thai . 1Ie "' an cm;UC\llued boy:
'What have you Iherefore? . . 1 feu lel1 we have lost oun (nOli grant itl) rapc:cting these wildly para'. (566. 30; hobel is convening with her 'looking-glass girl'. )
Th"
i"ltargeac of lifesiglll over early lived offi' (230-26)
wherell in fact nearly every character in Fi. OIlIIUU Wab is depicted u druming al ""me time or othe:r.
, 'WhoSIn". . tF__ w. . r,,,,. a ? s. . " ,06; ,". u. App<ndilI A.
is, of cou""" one of the moot common of inCantile experi- ences. Third, Mn.
