‘1 mm “a?!

vzco's DOCTRINE or RICORSO m:
JAMES JOYCE’S FINNEGANS WAKE

Thesis for the Degree of Ph. D.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

DONNA LEAH HENSELER '
E970

Tr‘nfi'

am-

I“ am RA R Y LI

E/LIChigpn Sta ir-
University f:

 

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

VICO'S DOCTRINE OF RICORSO IN
JAMES JOYCE'S FINNEGANS WAKE

presented by

Donna Leah Henseler

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph. D. degree in English

357 2, [flaw

Major professor

Date December 7, 1970

0-7639

      
  

V smoma BY “1

HOLE & SENS'
500K BINDERY WC. 1

H LIBRARY SINGERS I
III ”mun" Int-Jun:- II

   
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

. l s. . .l .. ,. .o , . .~ .w._ Q h. I. OGIVO“ .oJlL.-¢
. I . . . . . ~ . >I . Vf. . u . A ’ A: I.. 3 ‘ LI ..‘¢a .
. _ II, . L ..,

 

 

 

ABSTRACT

VICO'S DOCTRINE 0F RLCQRSO IN
JAMES JOYCE'S FINNEGANS WAKE

BY

Donna Leah Henseler

This study investigates James Joyce's Fimegans Wake
in terms of its use of Giambattista Vico's doctrine of
ricorsg to demonstrate man's social evolution. Critics

generally recognize that Fimegans Wake owes a debt to

 

Vico's m; Nggv . I‘hey also generally accept that

Joyce considered the Wake his most successful artistic

 

attempt and his most convincing demonstration of his
theory of art. However, deepite the proliferation of
Eak_e studies and the frequent mention of Vico, there is
as YGt no single work that examines Joyce's employment of
the Vichian ricgrsg.

An overview of ME criticism from 1928 to 1969 reveals
that the book has never been analyzed thoroughly from a
Vichian parapective. Additionally, the lack of detailed
StUdY by Joyceans of the Scienza M; has given rise to
some misconceptions about it and its relationship to the
"-35% Most like scholars view Vico's work as a philosophy
0f cyclic history in the manner of Spengler and ‘I‘oynbee
and conclude that Joyce's book, following suit, is non-
Progressive and circular in both theme and form.

In re-opening the Vico question. the present Baldy

analyzes the m m, particularly the doctrine of

 

 

 

Donna L. Henseler

2
£13921: using as its guide A. Robert Caponigri's m
mm: mmummmmm. Dr‘-

Caponigri's eXplanation of the m divests it of the
notion of material recurrence and detaches it from Croce's
use of it as evidence for a circularity of spirit. Viewed
in the context of evolution - Vico's modifications of the
human mind - the £129.39. emerges as a methodological prin-
ciple of progress in which a nation advances in "ideality"
by a reflective descent into its own past to rediscover
the initial force of its primal, spontaneous creativity -
its "poetic wisdom.”

The W is fundamental to Vico's theory of knowl-
edger learning as a dynamic process and humanity as self-
creative. Without understanding the meaning of their
actions. men have created the ”world of nations,” guided
by an immanent divine providence. Long after this "making"
process, man recourses his history and learns the meaning
of his creations. And because, as Vico wrote, man's words
stand midway between mind and body, those words are an
access to the recourse of history. This philological
nlethod is used in the m: to show how the historic "Vico
lT'Oad goes round and round to meet where terms (words? bagin.“

After presenting an alternate explanation for Vico's
dOctrine of am, this study outlines the narrative plan
0f the m as basic evidence or progressin the book.

The examination of {139.151 in the flats: continues with

Donna L. Henseler
3
analyses of the ten thunder words. Vico had used the
thunder image to explain the emergence of consciousness and
to illustrate the operation of ”poetic wisdom.” In the gang
Jche employs this image a total of ten times to signify
important phases in humanity's evolving consciousness.

Shaun's giggzfig (Book 111) makes up the principal
argument of this study. As a postman traveling backward
in time (history). Shaun descends through actions already
narrated. In his quest for the father (spirit), he is
accompanied by the four Gospellers and their ass as he
travels to the deepest level of history: the genesis of
human consciousness.

It is at the point of humanity's mute, mythic be-
ginning - the “dumbshows” of 111.4 - that this study
finds the great epiphany of the'flaflg. After watching the
shows of the three Synoptic Gospellers, Shaun becomes a
”see-er” ashe participatesin the final pantomime. John's
show. Although the shortest, Jehn's show - a view of the
first parents from the horizon line of consciousness -
is revelatory of truth. Climaxing an all-important bees
motif found in_the gang. it is the "finest" show and the
most authentic. As an active observer, Shaun.“makes"
the meaning of the show and therefore can.know it.,

He learns that the mystery of the parents - father
and mother. spirit and nature - lies in their fusion

through an act of generous sacrifice by the male. With

Donna L. Henseler
4

the father's (spirit's) loving gift not simply of his
seminal fluid but of his entire reproductive system, the
mother's (nature's) perpetual impregnation is the con-
stant revelation.of their meaning and of their legacy to
their children. The finite world is filled with infinite
Spirit as an ever-present ideal of potential or becoming.
When this fact is known, every ordinary detail of life
becomes extraordinary. .

Having completed his night journey into history, Shaun
now‘knows its meaning as both thought and felt, both head
and heart. He may at last retrace his path up the Dantesque
"tiers” and ”rounds" to the dawn of a new day (Book IV),
an Easter morning of regenerated vitality in which he and
his brother Shem will unite to become the new man upon
a new threshold of progress.

From this re-assessment of the Vichian giggggg and
its application in Einngg§n§_flagg, this study draws the
following conclusions:

1. Vico's doctrine of giggggg operates in the 5353
as an act of mind through which man gains authentic
knowledge of what he himself has made.

2. Joyce's use of the gigg;§g_as a method .for and
a symbol of human progress points out that the EEK: can
Inc longer be considered a circular, or cyclic, history
in.either theme or form. In the flake, humanity spirals

forward, through a paradoxical return upon itself, toward

”I
, -

 

'cl

[vl

5.

5..

I51

Donna L. Henseler
S
greater consciousness, hence greater control of its
evolution. ’

3. The flake); use of giggzgi leads to a re-con-
sideration of Vichian philology. The flexibility of
language in Joyce's work allows the reader to become a
co-creator as he makes and then knows meaning in terms of
his own era and sensibilities. When language is under-
stood as a dynamic process, the possibilities for man's
making and knowing are limited only by his level of
consciousness. In this way, the flake is indeed - as
Joyce planned - contemporaneous for any generation.

4. Joyce's use of the riggrgg suggests that in
the flake he was attempting a creation of greater dimen-
sion than a philosophical system. If "philosOphic
wisdom” accrues to itself wider dimension by its recourse
cm mythic ”poetic wisdom," then the supreme aspiration
of art would be to create the seedbed for wisdom: a
newmythology. Out of such a m, future generations
would create their own am by recoursing their history
to that poetic source. Such an artistic creation would
nuke and continue to re-energize the "uncreated conscience"
cm'the race. Thus, Einngg§n§_flgk§ may be looked upon as
the fulfillment of the artist's vow taken in Joyce's

first novel .

vrco0s DOCTRINE or w IN
JAMES JOYCE'S FINNEGANS WAKE

BY

Donna Leah Henseler

A THESIS

Submitted to
Midhigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of English

1970

Since ancient was
our living is
in possible to be.
Finnegans Wake (614.9-10)

To the memory of my parents,
Paul A. and Leah S. Millard

To the present, my husband,
Kenneth J. Henseler

For the future, my sons,
Kevin, Todd, and Jay

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Theses do not spring to life full-grown. At
least this one did not. It owes its existence in
good measure to a number of peOple who aided my
project in various ways. It is with true sincerity
that I extend appreciation to the following:

- My thesis chairman, Professor Clyde Henson.
and committee members Professor Linda Wagner and
Professor Herbert Greenberg. They have been.very
helpful and most patient during the writing of this
paper.

- Dr. A. RobertCaponigri, Department of
Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, who read the
Vico Chapter of my thesis and gave me permission
to use his explanation of the m for the basis
of my interpretation of it in the flake. I am also
grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Caponigri for their courtesy
to me when I was their guest at thre Dame's cele-
tmation of the tercentenary of Vico's birth in
Nevember, 1968. A

- Dr. Edmund L. Epstein, Department of English,

Southern Illinois University, who took the time to

iii

iv
read an earlier version of this thesis, gave me

many suggestions, and corrected several errors.

- Those who generously corresponded with me
during my‘flgke_research. Professor Richard Ellmann.
Yale University, clarified several details about
Jche for me as did M. Marcel Brion, Académie
Francaise, Paris. Sir Julian Huxley and Neville_
Braybrooke, both of London, gave me further infor-
mation. Dr. and Mrs. George Barbour, University of
Cincinnati, were of great help to me in my study of
evolution. Finally, Mrs. Eileen Garrett sent me
heretofore unpublished Joyce information.

- My colleagues at Michigan State Uhiversity,
including Miss Lydia Castillo, Peter Banting, and
Dr. George Whitesel, all of whom aided and encouraged
me in my work.

- Ronald Koch, Southern Illinois University,
who read and evaluated my thesis in both its earlier
and its final form.

‘- Dr. Bruce Neier, Academic Dean, MOunt Marty
College, who extended encouragement and many courtesies
during the completion of this thesis. ‘

- Mrs. Bonnie King, who typed my thesis and in the
process learned what it is like to liVe with the HERE;

- My family, for whom I started this project and

without whom I would not have finished it.

INTRODUCTION . . . . o . o o o . o . . . .

CHAPTER
I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Vichian Doctrine of giggggg .

Narrative Outline and Thunder
Placement in Einnggan§_W§k ‘. . .

The Ten Thunder-'W o o o o o

The First Three Phases of Shaun's
Bigg£§2"11101p293) o o o o o o o

Shaun's Revelation: The Great

Epiphany of Finnegans'wake .
(11104) 0 o o o o o o o o 0'. o o

CONC LUS I ON 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

BIBLIOGRAPHY O O O O O O 0' O O O O O O O O

24

68

97

178

247

320

329

N

INTRODUCTION

This study investigates James Joyce's Eigngggng Wake
in terms of its utilization of Giambattista Vico's doctrine

of 3199132 for its demonstration of man's social evolution.

Critics generally recognize that ginnegang Wake owes a debt
to vico's §gignza,uggy§, that is, to his concept of history,

of words' significance in tracing history, and of the self-
creative nature of society. They also generally accept that
Jche considered ginngggna,flgkg his most successful artistic
attempt and his most convincing demonstration of his theory
of art. However, despite the proliferation of-Einngggng
£§kg,studies and the frequent mention of Vico, there is as
yet no single work that examines Joyce's use of the riggrgg
through an analysis of the §gignzg_ungya itself. The present
study attempts such a project and bases its findings in
ginngggn§,fi35§,on a re-assessment of theIgiggggg as Vico
explained and illustrated it. w . . .

The §g1gnza,uygyg, Vico's study of human social evolution,1
was centered in the revelations of man's words:2 and his pre-
occupation was motivated by far more than mere rhetorical
curiosity. He was convinced that in man's analogical signs,
his words, lay the key to existential verification of the?

divine spirit, or idea, working through man and within time.

Consequently, the §gignza,uygyg_set out to retrace the

l

 

 

‘e

i

 

 

2
evolution of humanity through examination of itslinguistic
structures which could, Vico believed, most fruitfully
reveal thecreative spontaneity of the human spirit epiphanized
in history, or time. ‘

According to Vico, to trace man's words to their
earliest origins was to approach that first creative force,
the manifestation of the spirit as it had appeared inter-
mittently in time.3 From this study Vico concluded that man
is the creator of himself in the context of his social
structures and that his words reveal the process of this
evolution as man continues to strive toward the spirit. For
Vico,_both the genesis of man's meaning and his ability to
progress lay in his natural creativity as a poet, a maker
or seer (SN, 180, 375-379). Such a conclusion immediately
brings into question one of the basic assumptions of Joyceans
in their statements about Vico's history: that "Vico, so
far as is known, did not believe in progress.”4 If, on the
other hand, careful examination of the §Qignz§ uggyg reveals
that Vico actually did believe in progress, then the notion
of W W45; (for many years called 3.915 in W)
as non-progressive is also brought into question.

While the present study will not take up the question
of progress in EinneganfiffiakeupggIgg, my examination of the
zigg;5g,and Joyce's application of it will attempt to point
up the necessity for a closer examination of the entire
eeienza users by Joyceans.

Since Jche insisted from the earliest years of work on

3

his book that it was founded upon the thought of an eighteenth
century professor of Latin eloquence, Vico,5 one would imagine
the W 89913 to have been carefully studied by students
of Joyce. This does not, however, appear to have been the
case. While a great deal has been written about Joyce's
allusions to Vico and his theories, the only aspect of the
Vichian science that has been given attention is the notion
of cyclic history. .A survey of critical statements about
£1nngg3n§,flahg and Vico's work reveals the curious fact that
most of what is assumed about the W M; stems not
from the study of Vico directly but from an early essay on
the subject by Samuel Beckett. This essay on a work still
ten years from completion has become the fragile basis for
a pyramid of scholarly exegesis about Einngggn§,fl§kg.

Beckett's 1929 essay, published in Qu;,§xagmflna§ign,6
gave the first clue concerning Vichian influence on Joyce's
m in W. Beckett presented what he believed to be
the basic hypothesis of Joyce's book, the "insluctabls
circular progression of society ” (p. 5) in its three stages
of growth, followed by a decay out of which a new generation
burrows its way. It is of note that Beckett used the term,
"circular progress." although in subsequent statements the
notion of circularity took precedence over the idea of
progress. He went on to explain this circular movement,
calling upon Bruno of Nola's doctrine of the correspondence

of contrariss:7

4 .

The maximum.of corruption and the minimum of

generation are identical: in principle,

corruption is generation. And all things are

ultimately identified with God, the universal

(monad, honad of Monads (p. 6).
Since Beckett's piece was a very abbreviated summary of a
work still in progress, he had neither sufficient space nor
clear direction for anything other than rather sweeping
generalizations. The important questions of the kind of
"corruption” and ”generation,” their relationship, and the
manner of social re-activation were by-passed.

Next, Beckett pointed out that in Vico's §gignza

N392:

we have the spectacle of a human progress

that depends for its movement on individuals,

and which at the same time is independent of

individuals in virtue of what appears to be

a preordained cyclicism (p. 6).
He explained individual action assimultaneously ”super-
individual” (p. 7). The action of the group makes up that
which we call history, the movement of which is not a
random throw of the dice, but action directed by Divine
Providence. "Humanity is divine, but no man is divine" (p. 7).
Beckett's commentary here is at best an ambiguous statement
about the nature of man and is somewhat misleading in the
concept of humanity as divine. Perhaps his greatest ommission
was an explanation of Vico's careful definition of ”Divine
Providence" and the means through which this force animates
the social group.

Beckett then turned his attention to a short discussion

of Vico's theory of poetry, which the Neapolitan himself

 

 

P

had considered his great discovery that made possible the
completion of his principles of humanity. As in his other
statements, Beckett only partially illuminated the subject.
As Beckett summarized it, Vico's great hypothesis was that
poetry was not the result of a highly develOped state of
civilization. (Rather, it was "evidence of a poverty-
stricken vocabulary and of a disability to achieve abstrac-
tion” (p. 10). Poetry was, then, the first attempt at
language rather than the product of verbal SOphistication.
Born of necessity, language, in the form of poetry and
myth, was ”an historical statement of fact, of actual con-
temporary phenomena" (p. 12) in which form and content
could not be separated. As an example of this unity Beckett
pointed out the title Joyce was then using for his book:
£935 in Progress. In this title Beckett recognized "a
form carrying a strict inner determination" (p. 13). 0f
Joyce's language use, Beckett noted,
This reduction of various eXpressive media to
their primitive economic directness, and the
fusion of these primal essences into an
assimilated medium for the exteriorization of
thought is pure Vico, and Vico, applied to the
problem of style (p. 16).
He went on to point out the particularity of statement,
the lack of abstraction or metaphysical generalization
in Eg;5_ig Prggress as examples of the synthesis of form
and content by "Mr. Joyce, biologist in words" (p. 19).

While it is once more recognizable that Beckett's state-

ments about Vico's theory of poetry were no more than the

M... n}, u .. .1 ... . -h. . . m 1L 1. , m .4 T. , Tu. .1.\ h ‘ (Ac... of». ”.w.‘ .2\ . .uus ‘. H s ., H».

 

briefest of outlines, his words did indicate several ideas
that should have been attended to with.more care by later
critics. For example, his comments implied the necessity
of a thorough examination.of Vico's theories of language
and poetry since Joyce's language style was ”pure Vico.”
Finally, Beckett concluded his essay with a further
reference to cyclic history which is ”non-directional - or
multi-directional, and a step forward is, by definition,
a step back” (p. 22). While he had earlier seemed to favor
the idea of progression as fundamental to Joyce's work,
this concluding statement seemed to settle the matter of
history (time) in Einngggn§,!§kg, Like the cycles of
physical nature, the generations of ginngggn§,!gug were
caught in a determined, inevitable pattern of rise and
fall which was repeated ad We Perhaps because this
comment was most easily understood, whereas his earlier
statements in the essay were in turn enigmatic or skeptical,
Beckett's pronouncements of the cyclic nature of Einngggng
!§5g_set the tone for future analyses. In such a ”purgator-
ial" work, as Beckett called it, there is no advance.
There is “neither prize nor penalty; simply a series of,
stimulants to enable the kitten to catch its tail" (p. 22).
Consequently, while Beckett's short essay did suggest a
pervasive Vichian tone for some of the germinal ideas Joyce
was using in.§13ngggn§,flakg, his conclusion discouraged
extended examination of the.§gignz§,ugg_§.

In recent years, J. S. Atherton has_raised the_question

‘3

I

 

 

‘
.J

of the reliability of Beckett's youthful statements.
While Joyce may have "found his Paris disciples amusing,”
Atherton notes that
Joyce seems to remark in gingggang wage that
Beckett did not understand the book. Beckett
can hardly be blamed for this, but he should
have realized that he is the 'Boy' who is 'lost
in the bush' (112.3). The passage continues -
' . . . You most shouts out: Bethicket me for a

stump of a beech if I have the poultriest notions
what the farest he all means.‘8

A second essay in Qu;,§xggmingtign that bore upon the
question of Jche's concept of history was Marcel Brion's
“The Idea of Time in the Work of James Joyce." Brion, an
authority on archaeology and palaeontology as well as art,
called £915,13‘gggg;§§§_"essentially a time work" and
’~insisted that Joyce had created his own time, had "revealed

‘ 9
an entirely individual conception of time and space.”

Brion made it clear that the kind of time to which he
referred was the biological space-time of twentieth century
science:
The fourth dimension is actually the only one
that matters. Space is nothing - it is reduced
every day by mechanical means of communication. . . .
This is not an abstract concept. On the
contrary, it is perhaps the only reality in the
world, the thing which is most concrete (p. 26).
Having defined the time concept with which he was
concerned, Brion continued by explaining how "time is the
essential factor in a work of art" (p. 26). In the greatest
paintings and pieces of sculpture, there is a time-quality
that continues the process of becoming: the best art ”seems

always in the process of 'being made'. It seems to be

constructing itself with the moments . . ." (p. 26).

It is here that great art surpasses the near-great in its
never-ending process of potentiality, or its time-quality.
This sense of constant change is both the challenge and
fulfillment of art. It is the imitation of life: and as
Brion wrote, "life is the consciousness of time” (p. 26).

It was through this concept of time that Brion found
Joyce's new work to attain artistic supremacy. He wrote
that, for Joyce, time "remains the inseparable factor, the
primary element at the base of his work” (p. 29). Briefly
discussing Joyce's method and form, Brion related both to
the notion of time with which the author was concerned:
"the historical theory of Vico A an actual recreation of
the work, its ideas and its forms” (p. 46). His discussion
summarized Joyce's earlier works, pointing out how Joyce
had always gained a measure of his greatness through his
time-sense, which in the present work had reached its high
point.

Because in Joyce's new work Brion recognized a handl-
ing of time, or history, so as to gain both simultaneity
of separate historical events and freedom from traditional
narrative lines, he associated the time concept of flgrk,in
Eggggg§§,with that of Einstein, "because both of these men
have discovered a new aspect of the world" (p. 33). Clearly,
Brion's essay placed Joyce's work in the vanguard of cone
temporary thinkers who accepted the new ideas of change,

relativity, uncertainty, and freedom.10 However, Brion's

I"

 

 

1.
:

If

[I

 

 

statement has never had the popularity that Beckett's
essay has enjoyed.

Another essayist in the Exagminagigg, Frank Budgen,
noted how Joyce's handling of time was essentially a
historic quest for the recovery of man's place in his
world. Through_the means of memory which Joyce, like
' Vico (gy, 2ll), equated with imagination, "human society
in its groups, tribes, nations, races, searches the earth
and its legends for the story of its beginning."11 How-
ever, prefaced by Beckett's breezy disposition of Joyce's
work as circular and non-progress, Budgen's important
statements about memory and man's search for self-meaning
lost significance.

Finally, Thomas McGreevy's essay in the Bxggmipggign
added a word of caution about making any final judgments
‘about Vico's theories in Joyce's book at that stage in its
composition. Readily agreeing that Vico was of primary
concern in Eg;k_ingfiggggg§§, McGreevy went on to suggest
that critical analysis be suspended until the book's com-
pletion:

The conception at the back of flg;k,in,2;gg;§§§
is influenced by the Vico theory of the four
stages of human society's evolution. But the
working out of the parallel between the Vico
conception and the reconstruction of it in
regarding Dublin's life history in £955,1n,
Eggggg§§,T§st wait til the complete work has
appeared. ~
McGreevy accepted without question the idea that Vico's

theory of social evolution was central to Joyce's book.

huh I

’fi

I..-

10

Even more, he seemed certain that m in m was
somehow a "reconstruction” of the figignzg,§ygy§. The
point-at which he encouraged patience was in analyzing the
parallel. It would appear that McGreevy expected readers.
of ginnegangfflak§_to be on conversant terms with Vico's
book since it was central to Joyce's work. As it happened,
this expectation was not fully fulfilled, and McGreevy's
own essay has not been widely quoted.

It was to be ten years before the completed text of
ginngggngfflgke,was published, and during that time the
gxggminatign,was the only guide to its understanding 1
although Joyce had projected a plan for a second explicatory
work.13 Never a popular book, the W nonetheless
became the basic critical tool for those who went about
commentary on Einngggng,flake. Its influence is recognizable
in the first attempt to gloss Einneggnafflakg, Campbell and
Robinson's 5' M E91 35; W flake, which appeared
three years after Joyce's death. Although its attempt to
paraphrase the book resulted in over-simplification, the
§3§lgggnifigy did point up the necessity of grappling with
the m book. '

The §k§l§§gniggy picked up Beckett's explanation of
Vichian history as static and cyclic, as succeeding criti-
ques were to do, and described it in the following manner:

History passes through four phases: theocratic,
aristocratic, democratic, and chabtic. The last

phrase is characterized (like our own) by .
individualism and sterility, and represents the

11

nadir of man's fall. It is terminated by a

thunderclap, which terrifies and reawakens

mankind to the claims of the supernatural

and thus starts the cycle rollinglzgain with

the return of primeval theocracy.
The authors followed this definition with a footnote
explaining that Joyce's Vichian theory of history was like
that of Oswald Spengler, "although the attitudes of the
two men towards the inevitables of history greatly differ."15
Exactly which "inevitables" the authors meant and how they
differed were not clarified in their notation.

That Vico and Spengler were actually poles apart had,
however, already been pointed out a year earlier by a
philosophy scholar. According to Thomas J. Fitzmorris,
Spengler's view of history was entirely pessimistic. In
Spengler's theory, he explained, one finds

no continuity in history, rather a series
of rises and falls. When one culture decays,
or more accurately according to Spengler,
fossilizes into a "civilization," another is

rising. Thus he separates himself clearly from
Vico, for, whereas the latter sees humanity

prggressigg thggugh gzclgs ggder the guidance
Q; Pr v'de e, Spengler admits neither progress

nor Providence. His cycles are independent and
lead inevitably to useless decay. The phoenix
of Vifg has given way in.Speng1er to the dodo
birds
Thus, Joyce's use of Vichian principles could hardly
justify his placement in company with Spengler. In fact,
ginngggné Wake itself Speaks at several points of Spengler
in a most derogatory way, underscoring the implication
that Joyce's view of history was definitely opposed to

that of Spengler.17 These anti-Spengler references in the

Wake serve a two-feld function: they suggest that Joyce

 
 
 

3n

12

recognized the differencesbetween Vico and Spengler and
that, in his interpretation of Vico's science, Joyce
anticipated contemporary historians by at least thirty
years.18

Einngggngfflgkg scholarship in the years following
the §kg1gtgn,§§y continued to reduce the importance of
the §gignz§_uggya,to Joyce's book. While the §kglgtgn
Kgy became a target for later criticism, it was assumed
to be generally correct in its explanation of Vichian
theory, particularly the ziggggg. Consequently, little
more was left to be said about Vico's universal ideal
history, as he called it: and less was done about careful
explication about it.

By 1949, William Ybrk.Tindall's critical judgments
exemplified the nowetraditional manner of attending to
the subject of Vico, whose ”cyclic recurrence“ theory was

by then taken for granted. Tindall wrote,

Vico's pattern appears in Einnegang,flgk§ not as
an approved philOSOphy but as a structural device
and a parallel . . . . Joyce used Vico for
ginngggn§,W§ke as he used Homer for glyggeg.

They are but parallels and devices, and it is
‘wrong, as some have done, to give them too much
weight . . . . Vico's idea of myth as history

is generally dismissed under the name of
euhemerism, but there is much in what he says
about poetic imagination. 9

Such a dictum made it a waste of time to read the §g1gnz3

gggyg since it pre—judged Vichian pursuit relative to
Einngggng flake as useless. Tindall explained further that

Joyce had used.Vico only because he "preferred him to

20

other cyclists” since the Italian's use of myth, language,

14

 

\~..

 

 

13

and family appealed to him. Exactly how Vico had used
these subjects so appealingly was not explained, nor was
the Vichian ”poetic imagination" clarified. In addition, the
designation of Vico's philosophy as a mere device that
Joyce used seems to be contradicted by Joyce's 1926 letter
to his benefactress, Harriet Weaver. The last paragraph
of that letter appears to be a series of answers to
questions that Miss Weaver had raised concerning Vico after
Joyce had earlier urged her to read the Sgiegza flugx_.
Joyce wrote,

I do not know if Vico has been translated. I

would not pay overmuch attention to these theories,

beyond using them for all they are worth, but they

have gradually forced themselyes on me through

circumstances of my own life.

Such comments as Tindall's exemplify the desultory
treatment of Vichian thought that had become the manner
in which to dispose of the Spignzg,uugy§. In Tindall's
study, he used no direct quotations from Vico's book, nor
did he mention the §g1gnza Nugyg in his bibliography. In
a passing reference to Vico's book, Tindall noted its
publication date as 1725, thus calling into some question
his apparent use of Vico's first version rather than the
later and far more important versions of 1730 and 1744.
By 1962, the reference to Vico by Joyceans had all

but petrified into a never-challenged form: a passing
remark.about the §gj§nz3,uggy§ followed by an allusion to
earlier Einngggng flake scholarship that had already

supplied all necessary detail about it. One such example

\Iu

14

is that of Clive Hart, whose important work on Einngggng
Egkg'has established him as one of its leading critics.
Concerning Vico, Hart noted,

It is by now thoroughly well known that in
Einngggng Wake Jche has made use of the cyclic
theories of history set out in Giambattista

Vico's L; Sgienza Nugva. Joyce made frequent
mention of Vico both in letters and in conver-
sation and had Samuel Beckett write an article

for 93; W largely about the relevance
of Viconian theory to the structure and philosOphy
of 'Work in Progress'. Since the publication of
Beckett's article almost every commentator on
ginngggng‘Wle has, as a matter of course, discussed
the Viconian theories and slum how they apply in
general to the book. Convenient summaries of this
information are to be found in the Skeletgn flex,
in A. M. Klein's 'A Shout in the Street', in‘w. Y.
Tindall's game; ggyge and 35 course, in Beckett's
somewhat skittish article.

In his discussion of "cyclic form" in Einnggan§,flake,
Hart went on to demonstrate Joyce's combining of Vichian
”cycles” with those of Indian philosOphy since the latter
used a four-part cycle plus an occasional short fifth.
Hart explained that the four-phase cycle was better for
Joyce's purposes than Vico's three-part system and that
Joyce therefore expanded Vico's cycle by the addition of
the giggzfig, Hart wrote that Joyce
still adheres to the general Viconian progress -
Birth, Marriage, Death, and Reconstitution - but
the ziggzsg, which in Vico is little more than a
transitional flux, is given as much prominence as
the other Ages and is even elevated to the supreme
moment of the cycle. The new emphasis reflects
both Joyce's temperament andzgis perception of
theworld in which he lived.

At no point has ginngggng‘Wake scholarship in general

 

been more misguided in its assumptions about Vichian

15

history than in its interpretation of the ziggggg, The
assumptions apparently grew from an_unstated but universal
acceptance among Joyceans that the Vichian riggggg could
be rather easily understood and would yield to but one
eXplanation. However, this was not the case. Among
scholars in philosophy and social psychology, the study of
Vico brought to light the vision of the Neapolitan and the
surprising contemporaneity of his thought. For example,
nine years before the publication of Hart's Structure and
Min W 335g, a foremost Vico scholar in
philOSOphy wrote, ”The doctrine of 'ricorsi' is, without
dobut, the most celebrated thesis in the entire Vichian
theory ofhistory."24 Far more and far other than a mere
"transitional flux," the giggggg has to do with a
"methodologicaldevice" for the determination of human
meaning. In his study of Vico, 21mg and Idea, philosopher
A. Robert Caponigri wrote,

The most common interpretation of 'ricorsi' is
that it illustrates a recurrence of history. . . .
It is most difficult, however, to see in what
senSe recurrence can be admitted into Vico's
tmory: s e O '

A second interpretation of 'ricorsi' is that
which sees in it the prime evidence for the
circularity of spirit. . . . This . . . is in-
‘validated, in the first place, by the evidence
which denies that the Vichian theory of history
can be conceived fundamentally as a philosophy
Of Spirit or metathSiC Of minds 0 e e

'Ricorsi' . . . designates a methodological
device for making effective [Vico's7 discovery
of the primacy of pOetry, and, with this, of the
genuine time-structure and movement of history.

The elevation of Vico's riggzgg to "the supreme moment

-16

of the cycle" in Einngggng flake might well emphasize
Joyce's vision of his world, as Hart noted. But, it must
also emphasize the possibility that Joyce interpreted the
Vichian {192;§Q,quite differently from the way Joyceans
have explained it. If the doctrine of giggrgg is the
”most celebrated thesis" in Vico's science, and if Joyce
understood it to be so, his elevation of the gicgrgg to
the high point of the movement in §i3n§g§n§_fl§ke takes

on greater plausibility.

Hart is not the only scholar by far to find that "All
diverse cycles find a common culmination in Book IV
[generally identified as the ziggrgg of Einnggan§,fl§k§7,
whose single chapter is one of the most interesting and
successful in Einngganfifflgke.”26 .But without an understand-
ing of the function of Vico's doctrine of ziggggg in the
context of his entire science of human social evolution,
ginngg3n§,flgkg,scholars have viewed the rng£§Q,as a mere
”transitional flux.”

By 1966, despite studies of Vico in other disciplines,

ginngggnfipflgke,criticism still showed no real interest in
the Sgignzg Hung; and its potential uses for understanding

of Joyce's book. Instead, criticism continued to explore
other systems of cyclic-time for aid in explication of
Einnegang,flakg. For instance, Robert Goldman's application
of "cyclic return"27 provided another tool chosenfor use
in explaining Joyce's strange book. However, despite his

designation of Joyce's time-concept as static, Goldman

.q

u

 

 

17

found it necessary to point out Joyce's "predilection for
the 'end' of a cycle."28
The more or less cursory treatment of Vico's Scienza

Nggy§_among Joyceans in the years since the publication v

of Einngggng flake, together with evidence for a different
interpretation of the §§i§nz§.Nggvg in other disciplines,

emphasizes the need for a revaluation of the Neapolitan's
science in relation to Joyce's use of it in Einnggggg flake.
In particular, the Vichian doctrine of £i§g§§g_needs
special attention since Joyce's use of it is well-accepted
but apparently not fully understood.

It is from this need for further clarification of the
Vichian.;igg;§g_as it applies to Einneggn§_fl§kg that the
present study has grown. My discussion does not attempt
an exhaustive explication of the entirety of Einngggngfflake,
nor does it even purport to give ultimate illumination to
all the material in Book III,which is its main subject
for analysis. It is intended, first, as a re-opening of
the Joyce-Vico question through its examination of the
Vichian ziggggg. Second, in its interpretation of the
giggggg_and the application of that principleto Einngggng
flake, particularly Book III, it offers an approach to
Joyce's last work from the angle that he himself urged
others to use.29, Third, it suggests that the principle of
giggggg, prOperly understood in terms of both the _§1§nzg
m and We Liaise, Opens the possibility for further
uses of Vico in understanding ginneggng flake, Joyce's view

18

of human progress as the book demonstrates it, and his
view of man's place in the world.

Chapter I of this study presents an analytic interpre-
tation of Vico's doctrine of giggggg, My discussion .
necessarily takes up certain other elements of Vico's
science without which the ziggrgg could not be explained
satisfactorily. However, I have purposefully omitted a
number of Vichian principles that are valuable to an
extended study of ginn§g3n§,!§kg but not completely
necessary to my discussion of the giggggg.

Chapter II outlines the narrative of Einngggnfijflakg,
as I understand it, to provide a background of reference
for my analysis. Also, it considers the importance of the
ten thunder words as demonstrations of rigggsi and intro-
duces discussion of the twin sons, Shem and Shaun, as they
figurein the book's major zigggsg.

Chapter III investigates each of the ten thunder words
in Einngggngfflahg,in terms of their evolutionary preperties.
If thunder is the sign of humanity's approach to a new
threshold in the modifications of the human mind, it is
important to try to follow the progress of such development.
Each thunder functions, then, as a signal for a gigggggj
and each leads the reader closer to the flakQLQ main
demonstration of 3199‘s; found in Book III.

Chapters IV and V take up the analysis of Book III
of Einnegan§,fla&e as the most extended demonstration of
giggggg in Joyce's book. Because Book III is lengthy and'

.1

IV

fi
-
C

 

 

19

very detailed, I have divided my argument into two chapters.
Chapter IV outlines and explains the four-part structure
of Book III, which.Joyce always referred to as."Shaun

a,b,c,d,"3o

and attempts to show how and why this book of
ginneggns,flake functions as the most significant ricgrsg
in the work. It also discusses the first three chapters
of Book III as preparatory phases making possible the
revelations of the fourth chapter.

Chapter V of my study is a close analysis of Book III,
Chapter 4 of §1nn§g33§,fl§hg. It illustrates the most
intense phase of the giggrgg and tries to show how the
wisdom gained by the events in this phase makes possible the

"new age," the dawn, of Book IV.

Underlying this entire study is my conviction, based

on my discovery of the interrelationship of Eign§g§g§,flgkg
and the §gignz3_flggyg, that Joyce's book is not a demonstra-

tion of mere cyclic recurrence. Rather, the time-conscious-
ness revealed in Einngggng flake is centered in the

dynamism of human progress. It is a time-consciousness
cognizant of human progress as novel, free, and unrepeatable
in particularity. ‘While man can discern certain large
patterns in human history, these do not imply a necessary
determinism or loss of freedom or choice. In fact, as

the §gi§nzg_flggya insists and as I believe ginneggng flake
demonstrates, humanity's ability to recognize, or recover
from the past, these patterns and to understand their

meaning becomes existential proof of the veracity of

‘I

20

progress itself. While my analysis does not deal with the
foregoing ideas centrally, they do help to explain the
importance of the ziggggg as Vico develOped the principle.
In the Sgienza 3392;, the riggzgg is the greatest effort
humanity can make for progress: the recovery of its own
truth by the descent into its past to find its primal
patterns of spontaneous creativity. The force of this
spontaneity, once it is understood, can then act as the
revitalizing agent for the group, nation, or civilization.
Finally, this study is based also upon the convic-
tion that such riggggi are initiated by the philosOphers
and poets of society: and since this belief came through
study of Einngg§n§_fl§kg, I shall attempt to point it out
in this discussion. A statement that conveys quite
precisely my conception of the riggggg as I have found it
illustrated in Einneggnp Wage and the §gignza,Nggva, of
its regenerative powers for society, and of the poet's
integral relation to it is a passage written by Joyce him-
self in §tgphgn fle;g_long before he allied himself
specifically with the Neapolitan philosopher:
It is time for them [the critics? to acknowledge
that here ("in philosOphers' and poets' works?
the imagination has contemplated intensely the
truth of the being of the visible world and that
beauty, the splendour of truth, has been born.
The age, though it bury itself fathoms deep in,
formulas and machinery, has need of these realities
which alone give and sustain life and it must
await from those chosen centres of vivification
(poets, philosOpherd7 the force to live, the
security for life which can come to it only

from them. Thus the spirit of man makes a
continual affirmation. 1 '

21

NOTES FOR INTRODUCTION

1

Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch, trans.,
The ggg;§gigngg g; Giambattista XiQQIZ§gienza Nugva7,
(Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1968). p. xxxv.
All quotations from the translators' introduction will
be documented as footnotes.

28g; nza Nggyg, sections 374, 401-403. All direct
quotations from the main body of Vico's book will be noted
in the text of this study by section number as illustrated
in the following form: §N, 211.

3A. Robert Caponigri, Time gng I ea; The Thegry g;
Histg;y;1n,§i§m§§§§1§§a 2199 (London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul Ltd., 1953 , pp. 119-129. See also SN, 975-979.

4Edmund Wilson, "The Dream of H. C. Earwicker,“ in

The W ang_the Egg (New York: Oxford Univ. Press,
1965 g p. 2050

5James Joyce, Lettegg, III, ed. Stuart Gilbert and
Richard Ellmann (New Yatk: Viking Press, 1966), 463.

6Samuel Beckett, "Dante . . . Bruno, Vico . . .
Joyce." inmwmmsisw t'f'cati £9;
Inga?inagign g; Wgrk in Prggress (New York: New Directions,
1962 , p. 5. This book of essays is usually referred to
as 93;,gxggminatign and will be so called in this study.

All subsequent quotations from Beckett's essay will be
noted in the text of this study.

7For an extended study of Bruno, see Frances Yates,
Element ileum and the Bsmesis Indiana (Chicago: Univ-
of Chicago Press, 1964). Miss Yates discusses the idea
that the "states of the world go by contraries" (p. 279).
Her explanation of Bruno's principle differs from Beckett's
brief reference to the notion of "contraries."

8
J. S. Atherton, The B9955 at the Wake (New York:
Viking Press, 1960). p. 16.

9
Marcel Brion, ”The Idea of Time in the Work of James

Joyce," in 93; E ' t , p. 21. All subsequent
quotations from Brion w 11 appear in the text.

10

Clive Hart, §t§g§t§£§_gng Mgtif in Finnegans wake
(Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern Uhiv. Press, 1962),

pp. 65-66.

.
-..r

0‘
'fl

 

 

 

22

11
Frank Budgen, “James Joyce's 39;; in Egggrggg and
Old Norse Poetry," in 93;,Qxagmingtigg, p. 40.
12

Thomas McGreevy, ”The Catholic Element in £935 in
Emerges." in 9.2: Examination. p- 125-

13
L§§E§£§9 I: 2810

14 »
Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson, A

3 key 39 Einnggang Wake (New York: Viking Press,
1961 g 13. Se

15
‘A.§5§l§§23 EQZ: P0 5

16 '
Thomas J. Fitzmorris, "Vico Adamant and Some Pillars

of Salt,” W m, 156 (February 1943), 574.

17 a
James Joyce, ginnggang Wake (New York, 1960). pp.
157.7-11, 520.35-36, 521.3-9. .All subsequent quotations
from the EEEE will be noted in the text by page and line
number.

18

A. William Salomone, ”Pluralism and Universality
in Vico's Sciggza Nugya,” in Giambattista Vigg: An
Internatignal S sium, ed. Giorgio Tagliacozzo and
Hayden V. White Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1969),
writes that "The Vichian concept of ggggirriggggi'has only
the vaguest and most superficial resemblance to contemporary
cyclical-historicist theories. . . . Vico would first of
all have abhorred the aesthetic disorder and then the
ethical confusion implicit in Spengler's and Toynbee's
cyclical systems" (p. 537).

19
William York Tindall, James ggygg: His Way 9; ‘

Interpretiaa.ths.Medszn.wezld (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1950 , pp. 72, 100. w '

20
Tindall, James.iszse. Po 71-

21
£§§§§I§t 1: 241-

22 -
W and. m. pp- 46-47-

23

23
W and m. p. 50.

24
21192 “d 1993. P- 1300

25
11me_eng Lgee, pp. 130-131. Herbert Read has
claimed Caponigri's explanation of the Vichian ricggsg
is the "clearest interpretation of what Vico meant by this
process" (“Vico andtme Genetic Theory of Poetry,”_in An

Internstinnal mean. 10- 595).

26
Structure and mu. p. 52-

27
Goldman takes this term from Mircea Eliade, Qeemee

and Bunny The am 9:. the m1 Rem-u (New York:
Harper & Row, 1959 .

28
Robert Goldman, 12? ngee gegegeg (London: Rout-
ledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1966). p. 114.

29 ‘

Richard Ellmann, in his biography ismee.£ezse

(New York, 1959), notes that Joyce urged Harriet Weaver to
read Vico's book (p. 575). Joyce's Leeters also point up
his interest in having others read the §eienze,flyexe.

30
For example, Leggege, I, 240.

31
§§ephen H , ed. Theodore Spencer (New York: New
Directions, 1963 , p. 80. All subsequent quotations from
§§eehen_§e;e,will be noted in the text as follows:
(éfl. 81).

CHAPTER I
THE VICHIAN DOCTRINE OF RICORSO

Although James Joyce pointed out, both before and
after its publication, that ginnegene,fle5e was founded
upon Vico's §e1enze Me, Vichian interest has con-
tinued to decline among.many Joyceans. Yet, A §eeeng

Qeng3§_efi,§innegen§ffle§e emphasizes the fact that a great
deal has still to be written about Joyce's use of Vico:

"Prom his‘ZVico'e7’great work, §eienze_uggye, Joyce tack
an immense lot for ginneeenefWgK . Joyce's debt to Vico
1

has not, thus far, been fully or accuratelyexplained.”
_If Joyceans have not concerned themselves with this debt,
students of Vico have continued to find ever greater sig-
nificance in his science. Consequently, the debt of
philosOphy and social science to Vico has been acknowledged
and clarified. For example, Ernest Becker, a social
psychologist, explains that
Vico and Diderot saw how to make science humanly
significant. And, they performed the first
"Copernican shift" for the human sciences, by
centering all the sciences on man. This re-
centering for a science of man then had to be
elaborated to take account of the social nature
of human behavior: the science of man had to
become the science of man in society.

If Vico's science of social man has taken on greater

24

25

meaning for scholars in other disciplines, one might
question why Joyceans have not also made similar dis-
coveries about Vico in relation to We Lake. My .
introduction has suggested one reason: the critical
attitude about Vico and his history has evolved primarily
. from Beckett's early essay. A second reason'may be that
the Selim- Me is a difficult book to read. Joyce
students encounter enough trouble in trying to read
We age without the additional complication of
Vico's book. Third, if one cannot read Italian well, one
must rely on a translation, a problem of further complex-
ity. While Joyce read the §eienLa m in Italian, some
of his friends and, later, many EELS students had to rely
on Fausto Nicolini's 1928 translation or on the 1948
version by Americans Thomas G. Bergin and Max H. Eisch.3
Finally, :many students of We [Lake might easily
have been "pre-conditioned" in their notions about Vichian
tl'leory by philosopher Benedetto Croce's interpretation of
it- Although Croce did keep Vico's work from oblivion.
he also appropriated it. to support his own philosophy.4
To approach Vico and his doctrine of m with
certainty, one must begin with the m Me itself
rather than with Vico's explicators. It is also helpful
‘10 cOnsider why Vico wrote them m, why he
Spent twenty years forming and reeforming'his principles,
and why he called his science ”new.”

‘8 a teacher, Vico was centrally concerned with

26

education, theories of knowledge, and with law, which
provided a testing groundfor man's self-imposed social
regulations, the meaning and force of which changed as
his language changed. ’ Vico's writing before the W
Me concerned itself with law and education. In the
latter, Vico is the ”direct precursor of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau" in the "concept of Mien Me.” But
Vico was unwilling to limit his theories of knowledge
simply to educational methodology. Ultimately, he extended
these theories "to constitute the core of a full-fledged
philosOphical vision of history."6 the W 11991;.
If man could understand 1191 he knows and could retrace
the evolution of his knowing, Vico asserted, man could
comprehend and direct his uniquely self-creative powers,
thereby regaining his sense of place in the world.
The W lime sought to find a logical explanation
. 31’ man's place in relation to God and to the natural world.
If man had suffered a loss of presence in the very process
05 his scientific advances, Vico searched for a means
"herEby man could recover that presence. The loss of self
(identity, place in the world) had precipitated a sense
°f alienation. Science, particularly through thinkers
such as Descartes, intensified this loss of place because
1" eliminated the idea of subjectivity, which was "logically
cancelled by the inclusion of the processes of human
consc:iousness in thesubjectless process of nature and

“steep-:7 In contrast. ViCO's project was a 91‘9““

27

whereby, through an examination of human history rather
than nature, man could divest himself of his overwhelming
sense of displacement, or alienation. History could
reveal how the evolution, or modifications, of man's mind
has placed him outside physical nature . Human movement
therefore differs from nature's static, repetitive cycles
and must be investigated on its own terms rather than
nature' s. As Vico eXplained,
Whoever reflects on this cannot but marvel that
the philosophers should have bent all their
energies to the study of the world of nature,
which, since God made it, he alone knows 3 and
that they should have neglected the study of the
world of nations, or civil world, which, since
men had made it, men could come to know (éfl.
331).
Vico's word's underscore his emphasis on human social
evolution as the subject of the m Ngev . They also
include the basic axiom he had used for many years in his
theory-of knowledge: if‘ man has made something, he can
come to understand it.8
Vico first published his science of man in 1725,
followed it witha revised version in 1730, and in 1744
presented his fully conceived program , W g1
Wmawmsmmmm e
Elm dell; New. The final edition contained Vico's
discovery which he called the "master key" of his science
"hiCh. he wrote, "has cost us the persistent research of

Almost} all our literary life” (€1.11. 34).9 One motive for

his long search was Vico's desire to show how other

 

n-I

I"

fn'

28

social theorists such as Hobbes had been led into error
by rejecting the principle of providence. Vico wrote,
This [providentiag principle of institutions

Thomas Hobbes failed to see among his own "fierce
and violent men," because he went afield in
search of principles and fell into error with
the "chance" of his Epicurus. He thought to
enrich Greek philosophy by adding a great part
which it certainly had lacked . ' . . : the study
of man in the whole society of the human race.

But the result was as unhappy as the effort was
noble. ($.31. 179)

Vico sought throughout all versions of his science to
avoid the pitfall of Hobbesian "fate," which is"refuted
by the facts" (8 , 1109) of history itself. Because he
rejected this principle as well as the notion that a
social science should Operate exactly like the other
sciences, Vico could legitimately call his science "new."
His final version of the geienze We demonstrated
the radical new idea that the social world is
the work of man, and that the earliest layer
of human culture is that of myth and poetry.
In other words, Vico put his finger right on
the pulse of human novelty -- on the culturally
created nature of human institutions. . . . he
saw that the sciences should be centered on
man, specifically on man's mind as a creation
of history. 0 * .

Vico's §eienze Me is, then, not a philosophy of
history as it has often been called. It is a philosophical-
philological study of human society's evolutiOn, and it
uses the ”philosophical problem of history"11 for the
resolution of the problems attending such a study. Vico's'
8t'Jldy is a ”science" precisely because of its dual nature:

a sPeculative, or philosOphical, dimension: and a

29

methodological, philological12 dimension offering a
practical program for man's relocation of himself in the
world.

In establishing his fundamental principles, Vico
wrote of an

eternal never-setting light of this Truth,
which on no condition can be called into doubt,

32112.2 ghis Civil er1g has cergainly been made
by men: whence its Principles [or beginningg]
can, . . . be recovered 11.11231 the modificatiens

of mar cm hman mind- (sa. 3317”
haother words, the truth of man, or man's presence to
Iflmself, lies in the social structures he has created.
ban is therefore the creator of his own meaning and truth;
cu'as Vico put it, men "in a certain sense created them-
selves" (E, 367). Further, the authentication of this
txuth comes through investigation of the mind's modifica-
tions by means of language evolution as the epistemologi-
cal, or philological, basis.

Any consideration of social man must first wrestle
thh his finitude, but evolved humanity is of greater
Complexity than the sum of its limitations. Man has
evolved a type of autonomy, a freedom of will that makes
possible his progres. In his first science, Vico wrote,
"The 34411.net. than. of the mm. 91 am s. who obeys
tihat W W, is Men guise [6r free will:
ilhiggie7 , . . ."14 In his last version of his science,
Vicolexplained this in greater detail:

Human choice, by its nature most uncertain,

30

is made certain and determined by the common

sense of men with reSpect to human needs or

utilities, . . . (§1\l. 141).

Common sense is judgment without reflection,

shared by an entire class, an entire people,

an entire nation, or the entire human race

(§N, 142).
'Ne very first men, then, although primitive, had an
eflmyonic form of free will that Vico defined as "sense"
mmmcn.to all. This commonly shared judgment was employed
hmfulfilling "human needs" at first in random or hap-
hazard ways that, through repeated trial and error,
ewentually evolved, or refined, the philological eegtum
of "human choice." The modifications of the human mind
illustrate this slow, sure process of the nature and
direction of human progress.

But the concepts of freedom and progress do not fully
exnlain social man in his role of creator of meaning. To
‘Ufis must be added a third: moral ideal, or ontological
aspiration.15 Vico interpreted this moral ideal in terms
Cfi'the Spirit's aid to man in his choice-making: ". . .
nmn‘has free choice, however weak, to make virtues of
ids passions; but . . . he is aided by God, naturally by
<fiyine providence and supernaturally by divine grace“

(§N, 136, 310). It is of note that Vico seemed to think
Cfi'the moral ideal as both immanent ("naturally by divine
Inevidence") and transcendent ("supernaturally by divine
grace"). Certainly, the moral ideal has a central function

in the socializing process. But, while freedom, progress,

and moral ideal "link the individual to social life in a

31

. . 1 .
rmndeterm1nist1c and Open way,“ 6 there rema1ns the
pucblem of reconciling the antithetical properties implied
hxthe third term. Therefore, one of Vico's major tasks
in his science of social evolution was to close the gap
MRMeen time (immanence) and the ideal (transcendence)
filorder that his science could offer a positive program
'What put progress under the control of reason and that
Ixought reason down to the happenings of the real world."17

It is not difficult to see that Vico's emphasis on
tfle self-creative character of social man as the subject
ofrdstory was at odds with much of EurOpean thought.
Among other European thinkers,

for two centuries the efforts made for improve-
ment and correction in beliefs, in institutions,
and in art had been, in the main, controlled by
the assumption that, in each phase of his
activity, man would conform as nearly as possible
to a standard conceived as universal, uncompli-
cated, immutable, uniform for every rational
b€ing e o e .18
Inning Vico's time, there abounded that curious brand of
mulosophical optimism which only partially veiled a
Growing anxiety about the nature and place of man. Basil
)Hlley'has named this view "Cosmic Toryism" and has
defined it as
an apologia for the status quo, presenting you
with a God who loved abundance and variety
better than happiness or progress, and a
universe whose 'goodness' consisted in its con-
taining the greatest possible ranges of phenomena,
many of which seem evil to all but the phiIOSOphers.
‘ . . . This glorification of Things as They Are,

and of the God who wills them so, naturally had
social implications. 9

32
In contrast, Vico's Scienga Nugva made human develOpment
its subject, insisted on man's freedom of choice, and con-
cerned itself with change instead of immutability and
uniformity.

In Vico's conception, a fully develOped science of
nan would give humanity both a justification for existence
and the freedom to become. In other words, "science "
tecame synonymous with the attainment of a high degree
cm’wisdom cognizant of human potential. Vico eXplained
ids identification of "science" with "wisdom" in the fol-
lowing way:

Man, in his prOper being as man, consists of
mind and Spirit, or if we prefer, of intellect
and will. It is the function of wisdom to
fulfill both these parts in man, the second by
way of the first, to the end that by a mind
illuminated by knowledge of the highest institu-
tions, the Spirit may be led to choose the best.
The highest institutions in this universe are
those turned toward and conversant with God; the
best are those which look to the good of all
mankind. The former are called divine institu-
tions, the latter human. True wisdom, then,
should teach the knowledge of divine institutions
in order to conduct human knowledge to the high-
est good (§fl. 364%
'Nuough wisdom, or the phiIOSOphical science of humanity,
nan becomes aware of his creative Spirit and can then
exert greater control in its uses: "to conduct human
knowledge to the highest good."

Vico's science of humanity next turned to the method

whereby man could regain his sense of his own meaning

within his social context even after having temporarily

lost that awareness. This was the methodological aSpect

 
 
 

 

u

 

"b

33

of his work, the "scientific certitude" or existential
certainty gained through philological means. In the
earliest version of his science, Vico had pointed out
the fact that his study was more than a Speculative
wfilosophy. It took its beginning with consideration of
certain principles of the humanity of nations
. . . whence with sgiegtific certitude there
might be understood the means by which the

humanity of a nation, after its inception
might arrive at such perfection, and having 20

fallen item it. might ms itself Int—25 again-

As Vico defined his terms, "PhilOSOphy contemplates
reason, whence comes knowledge of the true; philology
observes that of which human choice is the author, whence
comes consciousness of the certain" (§I_\I_, 138). For Vico,
jmfiJOSOphy and philology would Operate in unity as the
lubcess of man's attainment of wisdom that could enable
rum to recover the "perfection" from which he had fallen.
Such a process would be perceivable in the kind of
matural unit formed by man and in the customs that evolved
the values for that unit. The action of temporal, material
Ewocess toward the ideal would be co-existent with and
interdependent upon the idea immanent within that process,
affecting its qualitative changes.

To authenticate this principle of the fusion of
temporal progress and idea, or the ideal, Vico centered
Ins investigation in the human mind's development. He
wrote that

this world of nations has certainly been made by

'5.
'5.

v
.. . a.
u I A.

..-...ydv

t n cuA
:1._I“‘_‘
é.-..~A‘

u'q .
. 4-1.:
ocyi'b

'.
.Hon 4"
“a.“ v‘

 

xv

Lu
'33:

"IA
'\ 5"
L‘- b‘

 

c.-

fi

 

34

men, and its guise must therefore be found
within the modifications of our own human
mind. And history cannot be more certain than
when he who creates the things also narrates

them (S , 349).
Ifius statement repeats Vico's theory of knowledge: that

vnmt man makes he can eXplain. Vico's ideas about the

umbifications of the human mind, of which he had written

 

extensively in his earlier inrittg Universale, did not
relegate them to either the extremes of empirical classifi-
cation or those of transcendentalism. Instead, Vico
defined the mind's modifications as "historical statements."
They assert, consequently, before all else,
the historical structure of the human mind
itself. The human mind does not produce
history as something extraneous and contingent
to itself; it produces itself in history, and

its modifications are the concreEe principles
of its temporal-ideal actuality.

Vico's examination of history in terms of Specific
moments of synthesis of time and idea, or Spirit, illus-
trates the continuity of human consciousness and its
development. For example, pre-man's evolution to man was
the first of these "historic statements," the synthesis
oftime and idea - the first brief glimpse of the Spirit
working in and through time. The "statement" of this
moment in time would be "scientific" proof of the change
of Estate that separated man from animal life by the‘
evolution of his mental abilities, which now included
reaSon (in its germinal form) and reflection.

In describing these "historical statements,“ or the

35

mind's modifications, Vico wrote, "Men at first feel
without perceiving, then they perceive with a troubled
and agitated Spirit, finally they reflect with a clear
mind" (§y_, 218). These three modifications form the
pattern of man's intellective evolution, the "principles
by which creatures who are not men becgme men."22 They
define the three ages of human development: those of
gods, heroes, and men (civil), as Vico called them. These
ages also correspond, in Vico's analysis, to three kinds
of nature: divine, heroic, _ and human. Vico's trans-
lators add explanation of the term, "human," which the
philosopher used in several ways:

In one sense, all three natures are human; in

a second sense, the second and third in contrast

with the first [8297; in a third .sense, the

third in contrast with the first and second.

But this third sense is the strict or proper

sense of the term. That is, Vico identifies

the nature of man more particularly with what

men become in the third of the three ages.
The point here is that Vico appears to have used "human"
in at least two significant contexts. Concerning the
mutation of pre-man into man, he could logically consider
Only the ”civil age" as that of man grown fully human.
The ”divine" and "heroic" ages would, in) this light, be
States of pre-man; and, as the translators note, the
"heroic age" is occasionally called human in contrast to
the "divine age." But, Vico seems to have used the three

t1911113 a second way: for analyzing the development of man

Once he had achieved human consciousness, or the "civil

36

age." Therefore, his axiom, "Doctrines must take their
teginning from that of the matters of which they treat"
(gu, 314), appears to have been applied, first, in trac-
ingjpreeman's evolution to man and, second, in examining
nan "from the time these creatures began to think humanly"
(§fl, 338).. Consequently, Vico's statement about feeling,
perception, and reflection seems applicable at both
levels. Whether in passing from bestiality to humanity or
hievolving from the primitive to the sophisticated, man
has followed an intellectual pattern from poetic feeling
unerudite wisdom. As Vico's translators eXplain this,
Men have themselves made this world of nations,
but it was not only without drafting, it was
even without seeing the plan . . . . Yet it was,
after all, by a kind of wisdom that men made the
world of nations: poetic or creative, common or
vulgar wisdom, wisdom common to whole peoples.
And it is possible now for phiIOSOphic or
recondite wisdom to giscern how, by that poetic
wisdom, they did it. 4
The first Spontaneous "feeling" of the human mind
:fliustrated the values that move men to act, Vico reasoned:
a113eit those qualities were not then understood as
'Walues." In eXploring the mind's modifications, Vico
first applied a philosophical principle:
Men first feel necessity, then look for utility,
next attend to comfort, still later amuse them-
selves with pleasure, and finally go mad and
waste their substance (§§, 241).
Shmutaneously, he used a philological principle:
all the arts of the necessary, the useful, the
convenient, and even in large part those of

human pleasure, were invented in the poetic
centuries before the philOSOphers came; for the

37

arts are nothing but imitations of nature, and
in a certain way “real" poems [made not of words

but of thinga7.
This axiom is the principle of poetic sen-

tences, which are formed by feelings of passion
and emotion, whereas phiIOSOphic sentences are
formed by reflection and reasoning. The more
the latter rise toward universals, the closer
they approach the truth; the more the former
descend to particulars, the more certain they

become (§§, 217, 219).
The philOSOphical principle concerns itself with the
causes of the mind's modifications. The philological
guinciple, or the empirical, verifiable evidence, shows
lbw the phiIOSOphical axiom is manifested in the particu-
larities of time, or history.

His discovery of the modifications of the human mind,
examined both in terms of time and idea and in terms of 3
these modifications as significant syntheses of time and
idea, enabled Vico to present his study as both “new"
and "science." Further, it was his analysis of Homer that
finally provided the "master key” for his science: that
the first spontaneous_moment in the emerging human mind
"asinggtig. The first men "by a demonstrated necessity
°fliature, were poets who Spoke in poetic characters"
(ell. 34).

This Vichian.principle of the first men as natural
poets was, of course, in opposition to all the poetic
the(”fies up to ardincluding Vico's own time. Although
he Vanerated Plato, Vico insisted that man's creative
spontaneity was evidence of the Spirit (idea) and that

mama natural response to life was poetic. Unlike Plato's

:9," f
350 “""

l

n "" fi
3'.‘ Us
0
1. O. W
.=. .. a»

.:l
I
,ul . .

"v 1?“

‘n. now:-

sv-n-Iw
.
.nIv-h‘

 

Incl. .
A

a‘uo’
u v
0

.
‘IIQI
an...

m"
"p!
" .1.

‘I'.

:
1 A
| A '

bJE

‘l‘l
‘.,:~
‘

~ '~:
.,~'
‘a
.
o‘:
Q
s. ,

38

designation of art to life's periphery, "the Vichian
theory of Spirit would integrate art and life, recogniz-

ing in art the first movements of the Spirit toward the

idea . . . ."25

Hypothesizing that the first men were natural poets,
Vico next set about to recover those Spontaneous poetic
structures that manifested the Spirit in time most
cflearly. For his study he used humanity's primal creation:
words. As the mag 131m eXplains this, human history
reveals its meaning through the evolution of knowledge
embedded naturally in etymology:

The human mind is naturally inclined by the
senses to see itself externally in the body,
and only with great difficulty does it come
to understand itself by means of reflection
(fig, 236).

This axiom gives us the universal principle
of etymology in all languages: words are
carried over from bodies and from the preperties
of bodies to signify the institutions of the
mind and Spirit (éfl, 237).

The order of ideas must follow the order of
institutions (éfl: 238).

- This was the order of human institutions:
first the forests, after that the huts, then
the villages, next the cities, and finally
academies (gg, 239). '

This axiom is a great principle of etymology,
for this sequence of human institutions sets
the pattern for the histories of words in the
various native languages (éfl. 240).

Vico's science is, then, in one important philological
sense a study of etymology which reveals the "sequence
‘xf human.institutions." In almost numberless examples,
IRE used words' histories to show the modifications of

trka human mind. To reverse the order of his statements

39

above, the first men were mute, sensing creatures (divine
age) with a "natural need to graSp . . . the phenomena:
of experience within a prerational mental framework . . .
, I 26

defective, coarse, and weak-minded." Perhaps the
most important phase of man's evolution was the "heroic
age" in which "words are carried over from bodies,“ this
advance necessitated by man's need of self-eXpression
gave birth to metaphor and analogy. The language of the
"civil age," that "conventionally agreed upon by a
collectivity,"2.7 evolved in both Spoken and written form
simultaneously (.5291. 431) and patterned itself on lines
analogous to those of the "human institutions" using them.
For example, Vico's explanation of the heroic age's
origin of “Jove" centered in what the civil age would later
call "onomatopoeia."

By the Latins Jove was at first, from the roar

of the thunder, called Igus; by the Greeks,

from the whistle of the lightning, Zeus 3 by

the Easterners, from the sound of burning fire,

he must have been called U , whence came m,

the power of fire: and from this same origin

must have come the Greek m, sky, and

the Latin verb, m, to burn (£33, 447).

The patterns of man's words bear directly upon the
Pattern of his social structures. In turn, these reveal
the nature of the creators at any given time and show as
well their qualities of mind. To retrace words to their
beginnings was to come into proximity with the creative

f°rce of the first men who could not reason but who could

respond poetically to experience. Each stage of the mind's

 

 

"use“ v

..... .-
.

“shin-I

-
n.-
.-

'.
a. v-

“. ‘9

cu. .,‘

 

.: "c

3‘: A

IQ. V

_‘
N" b:

 

Y.» .

"N
n. .

40

evolution revealed a synthesis of time and idea: the
Spirit's Showing forth in time, or the fusing of trans-
cendence and immanence.

Vico found that the nation, as one "order of human
institutions," passed from one state to another through
levels of consciousness, not in a straight arrow of time
but in a line rather like that seen on a graph. In such
passage, the nation progressed, fell back, rose again -
rmt throughout such extremes it did not lose all vestiges
of creativity. Humanity never starts over from zero.

Some of the first creative Spontaneity is always retained
and carried over into the present of the evolved state
(§fl, 412, 629). And, the degree to which this past is
W ordered as part of the present reflects
significantly the health of any level ofconsciousness.

In Vico's science, the progress of a nation's move-
Hent in synthesizing time and idea is a qualitative one,
an "ultimate" development. It is a "progress which passes
through, or includes, the contradictions inherent in this
ffinite-infinite structure of the human Spirit."28. Vico's
science of the nations as time-forms is based on the
e"OILution of consciousness which finally reaches that
stage at which man can make his past contemporaneous with
‘the present through.an act of mind. That act is reflection,
an eSpecially SOphisticated process of the intellect which
coIlsciously utilizes the past for purposes of social

regeneration. This process is delineated in Vico's

41

doctrine of rigg;§i. And, the Sgienza Nugva is a good
example of this very process since, in using half his
tnok for an examination of poetic wisdom,

Vico exhibits scientific and philosophic wisdom
seeking to know itself by recovering its own
origins in vulgar or poetic wisdom. In doing
this, it becomes itself creative or recreative.
Doubtless all science is in some sense con-
structive, but the new science is so in a
special way. For in this science, philos0phic
or scientific wisdom comprehends, though with
the greatest difficulty, that vulgar or creative
wisdom which is the origin and prefigpposition
of all science and all philosophy.

The Vichian doctrine of ziggggi has often been
reduced to a cyclic theory of history in which nations
cu'cultures rise only to decline and in which there is
cwelic regularity but no progress. It is according to
this interpretation that the Vichian doctrine has been
used in Finnegans Wake commentary. Tindall exemplifies
tfle attitude of most Joyceans regarding ricgrsi: “In
each‘cycle of history there are three ages: . . . When
one cycle is over, another begins, and, as the Phoenix
rises from its ashes, history repeats itself."30

On the other hand, Vico's translators, Bergin and
Fisch, while maintaining a conservative view of the
concept of recourse, nevertheless state that

Course and recourse . . . may mean traversing
the same stages in opposite directions; or
recourse may mean simple recurrence, . . . but
the strongest and most literal meaning is a
retraversing of the same stages in the same
order. . . . But the term "recourse" has a

further meaning. A giggggg does not, like the
recurrence of a cosmic cycle, merely repeat the

U... H‘
.

‘0 I: -.

II chu-

.
a; ,..-
.e. “A.

" :0. p.-
"Hy.
n

   

 

"‘n-
. f'
MI".

“m,

.
‘u q
.:.‘3;

'o

42

gg;_g, It is a historical, not a purely natural
process, and it has the legal sense of a retrial
or appeal. Since the historical ggggg has not
received justice, it must, as it were, appeal

to a higher court for a hearing of its case.31

If the giggggg cannot be interpreted as a cosmic
cycle but must be considered a historical process, then
it must be investigated in terms of the modifications of
the human mind. Vico had already designated his view of
lfistory (storia ideale exterga) as human social evolution
through time (gggsi-ricggsi) by means of self-creation

O O O O 2 0
according to the mind's modifications.3 The giggggg
thus becomes an intellective process, possible only upon
attainment of reflective or philosophic wisdom, in which
immanity can ”place" the past within the present. Through
ricgrgi man can discover the meaning and force of poetic
:fisdom. In such a process, the entire evolution of the
nund's modifications is recoursed, but this occurs at the
level of reflection.

The doctrine of riggrsi receives perhaps its most
illuminating treatment in the analysis of philoSOpher A.
RObert Caponigri. He writes,

The ideal and eternal history is not a principle
of recurrence: it defines the eternal principles
of historical becoming, which themselves do not
become, but are. What does not become, clearly,
cannot recur; the notion of recurrence, con-
sequently, can have no reference here. Nor can
the concept of recurrence be admitted at the
level of the course of the nations through time.
The fact that the essential time-structure of the
nation, . . . is contemporaneous would seem to
preclude the notion of recurrence. Finally, the

orientation of Vico's theory toward universal
history makes recurrence without meaning in his

43

thought: universal history is Open and

inexhaustible: above all, it is unique.33
According to these conditions, the {129.159. is integral
to the reflective capabilities of man's mind. And,
because man's mind is characterized by constant change —
by freedom, novelty, uniqueness without exact reduplica-
tion, and progress through time toward the spirit (idea)
—these elements are integral to the concept of W
as well.

In terms of W flake, such a definition of the
Vichian m requires that the entire concept of ”cyclic
history" claimed for Joyce's book be revaluated. Joyceans
will need to consider the m as it relates to the
evolution of the mind and the psychology of consciousness
engaged in a Specific type of reflection. After all, the
W m grew from a conception of the mind's growth
based on a theory of knowledge which, ”with two centuries
of anticipation," supports "John Dewey's conception of
the dynamic process of learning."34 A re-examination of
the Vichian principle of am might well aid in under-
standing Joyce's intention that his book should continue
to be contemporaneous for each generation of readers.35

The doctrine of m was developed by Vico in
two senses. First, it was a "methodological" process
through which the cultural institutions of later times
could be explained by recognition of their evolution from

Poetic wisdom. Book V of the Sgienza m is Vico's

.-
I»)-
a I

«0'

L...

'.'I I
W..-

(p:

1‘.

 

44

best example of this methodology. He used the Middle
Ages as an illustration of a "returned” divine time to
.aid the progress of “civil institutions" threatened
with destruction. As Vico outlined the crisis in the
ChriStian culture,
when armed nations were about to arise on every
hand destined to combat the true divinity of its
Founder, he permitted a new order of humanity to
be born among the nations in order that (the
true religion) might be firmly established

according to the natural course of human institu-
tions themselves .

Following this eternal counsel, he brought

back the truly divine times, in which Catholic

kings everywhere, in order to defend the Christian

religion, of which they are protectors, donned

the dalmatics of deacons and consecrated their

royal persons . . .

Amazing indeed is the recourse of these human

civil institutions in the returned barbaric

times (§§, 1047, 1048, 1050).
In other words, Vico was demonstrating here his discovery
of the ”marvelous correSpondence between the first and
‘the returned barbaric times" (g3, 1046). He was not
implying that the Middle Ages suffered a collapse -
‘the chaotic end of a "cycle" -from which humanity had to
start over at point zero. He was emphasizing the spiritual
revitalization that appeared when it was needed most and
that provided the energy to counteract social decay. The
human, or civil, institutions were able to draw from the
reservoir of reflection a spontaneous creativity m-
129mm to that of the first men, those "barbaric" but
creative humans of "robust" imaginative capacities.

TTtiS in turn brought forth the “new order of humanity,“

45

men of vitality and dedication to theircultural group

and its beliefs. 36

The W was, then, the act of the
mind's descent into its cultural past to retrieve the
vivifying powers of an earlier time for present use.

In addition to its methodological (philological)
sense, the doctrine of m was developed in a second
sense: a Speculative, or philoSOphical one. Used in
this way, it was possible for Vico to show the relationship
of the nations and the universal historical time-structure
of all humanity. In this sense, the doctrine of m
functions

to resolve the dualisms between the course of the
nations through time and the ideal movement of
universal history . . . . It is 'ricorsi' which,
within the orbit of providence, sustains the
movement of history from finite to infinite,
resolving those contradictions which impede this
movement, while resisting the dissolution of

the dynamgg finite into the immobility of the
infinite. .

The m m provides an apt example of this Sus-
taining power of the m "within the orbit of provi-

dence" in Vico's comments about Sparta, Athens, and Rome.

These cultures, Vico wrote, have been praised as "three
cities that outshone all others in the fairest and
greatest civil virtues” because of the wisdom, goOd
institutions, and sound laws of their founders.

Yet they were all of short duration and even
of small extent as compared with the universe
of peoples, which was ordered by such institu-
tions and secured by such laws that even in its
decay it assumes those forms of states by which

alone it may everywhere be preserved and per-
petually endure (_S_1_~I,, 1107). ’

46

The doctrine of riggggi therefore refers to the
individual nation and to universal human history as well,
but Vico dealt with it primarily as it is observable in
the former. The Sgienza Nggva elucidates his scientific
discovery of the meanings embedded within the social
structures of the nation as it evolves. And, as noted
earlier, Vico made his discovery in his study of Homer,

a study that traced the modifications of the human mind
to its earliest times. Through his discovery, Vico
sought to illustrate how humanity has available to it at
all times, if it will but recognize it, the means of
revitalizing itself and its institutions even when it
is threatened with decay or loss of vital energy. For
this reason, Vico's doctrine of rigggsi should have
removed from it
all reference to recurrence . . . . [TZhe process
of 'ricorsi', here the rejuvenation and revitali-
zation of the life form of the nation, is referred
wholly to the free and reflective moment of the
nation's life. 'Ricorso' is the movement within
the free, reflective life of Spirit. For this
reason, it can imply no recurrence to the spon-
taneous, prereflective or prelogical moment.
If the vital sources of the nation's strength
and civil growth are recovered by 'ricorso',
they may be recovered in their pristine figggg,
but not in their pristine form. There can be
no recurrence to the prereflective Springs of
life: in such a notion there is to be found only
the most illusory form of romanticism.38

Vico's {iggzgg is therefore a further modification
of the mind; it is the conscious, directed use of reflec-
tion in order to recapture the idea, or spirit, of

poetic wisdom. In this sense, the gigg;§g_is evidence of

47

a highly refined intellectual state in which, having
attained philosophic wisdom, the mind is now able to
progress, paradoxically, by turning back or inward to
explore its own history. The riggrsg searches man's

"inner Space" or "deep consciousness"; and the object of
the search is that Spontaneous, poetic creativity of the
first state of consciousness. Again, this vitality can

be recovered not in its first form, since that form belongs
to an earlier time, but can be recovered in its primal
force as an energizing agent for later times.

The concept of riggggi, divested of recurrence in
either a formal or material sense, was, as Vico envisioned
it, the nation's (group's, humanity's) attempt Spiritually
to recover reflectively the principles of its own
Spontaneity. Such a definition of the ricgrsg emphasizes
this reflective process as the crowning achievement of
the human mind. As Vico wrote, after summarizing the
irregular line of human progress,

That which did all this was mind, for men did
it with intelligence; it was not fate, for they
did it by choice: not chance, for the results of
their always so acting are perpetually the same
(5 , 1108).
Vico's statement also implies the idea that the giggggg
is a process "through which the nation must pass many
times, indeed continually, when once it has achieved an

initial reflective stage."39 Only as man is able to

retrace his development can he find the spontaneity and

48

force that initially generated his progress: and having
recovered these, he can use the idea of them to generate
his reflective life.

Vico posited as the whole movement of history the
fulfillment of the idea of man through ricgrsi which
illuminated to man the meanings of his creations. In
tmmanity's beginning, the first men were, by necessity,
poets "who Spoke in poetic characters" (§fl, 34). This
essentially poetic nature was the keystone for Vico's
science. To the concept of primal man's poetic nature,
Vico applied his axiom that "Doctrines must take their
beginning from that of the matters of which they treat"
(§§,_314). Therefore, if the truth of historic man were
to be found, such a study must go to the beginnings of
history‘s movement to reconstruct that spontaneous genesis
of the human Spirit. Consequently,

The positive programme of the 'New Science' is,
in fact, the supreme 'ricorso' of the human
Spirit: it is the descent into the inferno of
its own beginnings, thence to reascend, laden
with the reality of its own past, to the light
of its own idea. . . . In this descent, the
theory of poetry is his (Vico's? Virgil.4o

Vico initiated his study of poetry and poetic wisdom
by pointing out that all of early man's first records
were written in some type of poetic structure. To
assume that these verse forms used in early religion, law,.
science, and the like were a sophisticated reworking of

their contents into forms esthetically pleasing was

untenable. This notion assumed the presence of a degree

‘u

.0.

 

 

49

of intellectual capability not possible among the primitive
people who wrote the documents. Early documents must have
been poetic because, the primitive mind's being unable to
distinguish between form and content, the consciousness

of the first men was by its very nature poetic. Vico wrote,
"Men first feel necessity, . . ." (éfl, 241) Man's sur-
vival, in the earliest times, depended on his reSponses

to the basic needs of himself and the group. The reSponse
to his feeling necessity was an imaginative one; it was

the reSponse of poetic, or vulgar, wisdom which was
imaginative and, in the main, non-rational. As Vico
eXplained this poetic wisdom,

In children memory is most vigorous, and
imagination is therefore excessively vivid,
for imagination is nothing but extended or
compounded memory.

This axiom is the principle of the expressive-
ness of the poetic images that the world formed
in its first childhood.

In every [Ether] pursuit men without natural
aptitude succeed by obstinate study of technique,
but he who is not a poet by nature can never
become one by art.

This axiom shows that, since poetry founded
gentile humanity, from which alone Sprang all
the arts, the first poets were such by nature
[not by art? (8 , 211, 212, 213, 214).

Poetry did not, then, originate from the desire either to
delight or to teach. Neither did it belong to the
periphery of the social structure as Plato had thought.
For'Vico, poetry such as that found in man's first records
was the Spontaneous, natural eXpression of the Spirit

in pre-reflective man. It was born of early man's need

and through his imaginative reSponse to that need.

50

If early man's documents are direct expressions of
his state of consciousness, and if these documents are
poetic, then ”in the world's childhood men were by nature
sublime poets" (éfl, 187). However, as noted above, it
would be incorrect to read these early documents as
other than historical records. DeSpite their essentially
poetic character, they function as hiStory, not poetry.
The philological importance of these documents is that
they reveal the innate poetic consciousness of their
creators. Consequently, they have a function in the
doctrine of riggggi Since they can be used in the search
for the most elemental evidence of man's poetic conscious-
ness and, concomitantly , the revitalizing force attending
it.

Vico found that among the first men the "most Sublime
labor of poetry is to give sense and passion to insensate
things" (éfl: 186) and that this was most clearly evident
in the structures of primitive myth.

It is the myth.which the poetic activity
initially generates and it is the myth which
later becomes the argument of the more reflec-
tive and self-conscious modes of poetic
expression. The Spontaneous consciousness is
essentially mythical in structure in that it
realizes itself and indeeglexhausts itself in
the creation of the myth.

In examining the myth as it related to the principle
of giggggi, Vico found it to contain at least two important

elements. First, he pointed out its natural truthfulness:

Thus the first language in the first mute times
of the nations must have been with signs, whether

 

'3’.

u

u.-

‘olo

51

gestures or physical objects, which had
ngtgggl re at' to the ideas [to be eXpresseg7
(_s_1_\1_, 401).
Second, if the myth was ”Egg; gagratig, or true Speech"
(§fl. 401), its second element was its universality. Vico
noted that the myths
must have a univocal signification connoting a
quality common to all their Species and individ-
uals (as Achilles connotes an idea of valor
common to all strong men, or Ulysses an idea of
prudence common to all wise men); such that these
allegories must be the etymologies of the poetic
languages, which wOuld make their origins all
univocal, whereas those of the vulgar [EiviL7

languages are more often analogical. We also
have the definition of the word ”etymology”

itself as meaning yg_ilgguium, . . . (SN. 403)

In other words, the myth is universal truth in its kernel
form at the first moment of poetic spontaneity. Vico
wrote that the first men felt (sensed) without perceiving
(understanding): and this very inability to reason or to
abstract meaning from experience brought into being the
natural, truth-bearing myth, ”an elementary form of
universality, the form in which the human mind eXpresses
its first, limited advertence of the universal . . . ."42
In terms of the modifications of the human mind, the
myth was humanity's first creation of its meaning: and
man's intellectual evolution has resulted in what Vico
called ”philos0phic wisdom," which includes the abilities
of abstraction, reason, reflection, and criticism.
Philosophic wisdom moves ever cloSer to the idea, or the
ideal. And, it is phiIOSOphic wisdom that enables the

mind to perform the act of {iggzgg, which in turn can

52

retrace truth as man has recognized and defined it at
earlier stages of history. Consequently, such a process
is, in one sense, the destruction of myth. Simultaneously,
"the corrosive force of criticism and reflection, far
from destroying the myth, actually releases its innermost
reality, the universal idea . . . imprisoned within it.43
The giggggg, in searching the past and its primitive
expression of the universal, is a regenerative act for
recovering for contemporary use the poetic force of that
first spontaneity.
Man in his first consciousness could explain the
causes of that which he felt only in terms of imaginative
use of himself and his senses, since "human nature, so
far as it is like that of animals, carries with it this
property, that the senses are its sole way of knowing
things" (S , 374). And, because primitive men were
still chiefly reliant on their feelings, or senses,
they gave the things they wondered at sub-
stantial being after their own ideas (primarily,
here, their bodieg7, . . . by virtue of a wholly
corporeal imagination. And because it was quite
corporeal, they did it with marvelous sublimity:
a sublimity such and so great that it excessively
perturbed the very poets who by imagining did
the creating, for which they were called "poets,"
which is Greek for "creators" . . . . (§fl. 375,
376).

The important point here is that Vico is explaining the

thought procesS of primitive poetic wisdom, showing it

to be a natural (and therefore truthful) means by which

humanity explained the causes of things in terms of what

53

men did know: their bodily features and functions.

Vico's illustrations of this self-creative process
are many and varied, but one of the principal examples
is that of man's creation of Jove. Beginning with the
natural phenomenon of thunder, Vico eXplained how the
fir-at men ' I

were frightened and astonished by the great
effect whose cause they did not know, and raised
their eyes and became aware of the sky. And
because in such a case the nature of the human
mind leads it to attribute its own nature to
the effect, and because in that state their
nature was that of men all robust bodily
strength, who expressed their very violent
passions by shouting and grumbling [like the
thundeg7, they pictured the sky to themselves
as a great animated body, which in that aSpect
they called Jave, . . . who meant to tell them
something by the hiss of his bolts and the clap
of his thunder. . . [It is? beyond our power
to enter into the vast imagination of those
first men, whose minds were not in the least
abstract, refined, or Spiritualized, because
they were entirely immersed in the senses,
buffeted by the passions, buried in the body.
In this fashion the first theological poets
created the first divine fable, the greatest
they ever created: that of Jove, king and
father of men and gods, . . . The first men,
who Spoke by signs, naturally believed that
lightning bolts and thunderclaps were signs
made to them by Jove; whence from nag, to
make a Sign, came ngmgn, the divine will, by
an idea more than sublime and worthy to express
divine majesty (S , 377, 378, 379).

Vico's account of the evolution of the Jove myth
:novides a Step-by-step outline of the mind's deveIOp-
nent. First, man naturally and necessarily interpreted
thunder as the sound of a being greater than himself but
like himself at least in the sounds forthcoming. Second,

nun went a step further: he identified this being as a

54

ruler and a father of all men, again using as the basis

of his explanation himself and his own social heirarchy.

Third, with the evolution from signs to written and

Spoken language, the "idea" was extracted from the myth

of Jove, and the word ngmgn eventually became the abstrac-

tion of that idea. Therefore, "divine will" is the

abstraction of the “poetic" truth lying in embryonic

form within the JOve myth. Fourth, man today cannot

reCapture the farm of that first "vast imagination,“

since history does not repeat itself. Such form was

unique with the primal "theological poets.” However, man

933 recover and use -indeed, has need for - the ”robust"

creative fgrge, or vitality, of the first men. Fifth,

this process of human self-creation(in this instance,

man turning himself into a "God-believer") was triggered

by an ”immanent providence operating according to uniform

laws and using means as natural and easy as human customs

themselves . . ." which concept is not ”incompatible

with full human agency in the making of institutions . . . .44
This reflective process, a form of giggggg, applied

to the origin of Jove emphasizes its beginning not only

"in an act of divine providence but in a rudimentary form

45 Therefore, in

of the belief in divine providence.“
Vico's retracing the idea of the apnea, he was actually
accomplishing two tasks. He was illustrating one way in
which the ziggrsg operates. In addition, he was pre-

senting further evidence for one of the three enduring

55

and archetypal institutions that, he believed, character-
ized all human societies in all ages deSpite the fact
that such groups probably never came into contact with
each other. Those institutions are religion (illustrated
here), marriage, and burial. In the case of the institu-
tion of religion, Vico's tracing of its idea back to
Jbve led him to conclude that the image created as a
result of the thunder was such a powerful projection of
the mind that ”its creators themselves believed in it
. . .” (fig, 379) and came to listen to its sound with
fear, ”not fear awakened in men by other men, but fear
awakened in men by themselves" (SE, 382). Vico concluded:
That such was the origin of poetry is finally
confirmed by this eternal property of it: that
its prOper material is the credible impossibility.
It is impossible that bodies should be minds,
yet it was believed that the thundering sky was
Jove. . . . All this is to be explained by a
hidden sense the nations have of the omnipotence
of God. From this sense Springs another by which
all peoples are naturally led to do infinite
honors to divinity (S5, 383).

The examination of such figures as Jove's was not,
meever, the ultimate test of Vico's science. His theory
of poetry necessitated practical application to poetry
itself, and for this Vico chose the two great poetic
documents of the western world, the Iliad and the nggng.
Moretappropriately, the Sgienz§,uggy§,3pends the most
time in an examination of Homer. Vico was well aware of

Plato's universally accepted dictum that Homer was

”endowed with sublime esoteric wisdom" ($1, 780). In

56

contrast to this view, Vico offered an alternate: "that
Homer was an idea or a heroic character of Grecian men
insofar as they told their histories in song" (§fl, 893).

Vico's argument was predicated on the assertion that
"the Greek peOples were themselves Homer" (éfl, 875).
Therefore, Homer could not be considered a philosopher
nor could his poems be considered instructive since both
were products of man's first age, although born in
differing periods within that age, and were products of
primitive Spontaneity.46 To search for a "historical"
Homer would be fruitless because he was a culturally
created, corporate character and existed "on the lips and
in the memories of the peOples of Greece throughout the
whole period frOm the Trojan War down to the time of
Numa, a Span of 460 years" (SE, 876).

Vico went on to Show how the Iliad and the nggggy
are separated in time by the actions and the social
customs contained within each:

Thus Homer composed the Iliad in his youth,
that is, when Greece was young and consequently
seething with sublime passions, . . . But he
wrote the Odyssey in his old age, that is, when
the Spirits of Greece had been somewhat cooled
by reflection, . . . (§fl, 879).

Through an investigation of the language of the two
epics and of the etymological implications, Vico was able
to conclude that Homer, if he were to be given any title,
should be called the ”first historian of the entire

gentile world who has come down to us" (g3, 903). In

Sa-
‘0».-

n,
0U.

57

like manner, Vico insisted that the epics were, before
all else, "two great treasure stores of the customs of
early Greece" (§§, 904).

Using his theory of poetry and its origins, Vico
argued that it was useless to criticize Homer for weak-
nesses in poetic structure at certain points. Likewise,
it was foolish to attribute to him s0phisticated artistry,
at least a ggnggiggs sophistication of form. Examination
of the language of the epics revealed that Homer

must be assigned to the third age of the heroic
poets. The first age invented the fables [fiythgg,
ve n§££§§i97 to serve as true narratives, the
primary and proper meaning of the word mythgg,

as defined by the Greeks themselves, being

"true narration." The second altered and cor-
rupted them. The third and last, that of Homer,
received them thus corrupted (SE, 808).

While there remains throughout the §gignz§,Nggya
some ambiguity as to the meaning Vico assigned to his terms
for the three ages (divine, heroic, civil), his philo-
sophical-philological argument about Homer and the epics
is clear. First, as noted above, Vico denied the pos-
sibility that Homer was a single person, basing his
argument on etymological evidence.“ Second, he rejected
two of the titles traditionally assigned to Homer -the
founder of Greek civilization: the ”father" of all the
Greek poets (S , 899, 900) -but allowed him the title
of "first historian.” Third, and most important, Vico

pointed out that the Homeric epics have been sources of

regeneration and revitalization because later times,

17559

mi

.i'v

“A!
.....5

ii I.
In I"

have.
«I:

c?»
'.:n

,.
V“.
*‘M

at?

(D

58

those of philOSOphic wisdom, have recoursed human history
revealed in the epics and have extracted from them the
seeds of truth buried in the myths. These brief revela-
tions of the Spirit showing through man's words recorded
in ancient times have provided philosophic wisdom with
its essential nourishment. Homer's primary value, then,
lay in his presence as a ”poetic character" created by
man in the process of humanity's progress through time
toward the idea, or ideal. The epics remain a supremely
significant source, among many in the world, of revitali-
zation if they are used in the process of the gigg;§g.
Vico summarized this very clearly:

. . . the philosophers did not discover their

philosophies in the Homeric fables but rather

inserted them therein. But it was poetic

wisdom itself whose fables provided occasions

for the phiIOSOphers to meditate their lofty

truths, and supplied them also with means for

expounding them, as we showed through Book Two

in fulfillment of the promise made at its

With his designation of poetic wisdom as the first

Spontaneous, creative reSponse to experience by the first
man and with his explanation of that reSponse, illustrated
best in man's words, as the evidence of an immanent
divine providence working through humanity in a natural
way, Vico has established the major argument of his
science. The §g§§nza,uggya,offered a blueprint for
examining the intermittent synthesis of time and idea

in the process of history, and it set forth the doctrine

59

of riggggi as the act of mind through which the meaning
of the historical process becomes available. Beginning
with the hypothesis that if one makes something, he can
also come to understand it, Vico built his own Science
upon the same premise:
. . . this world of nations has certainly been
made by men, and its guise must therefore be
found within the modifications of our own human
mind. And history cannot be more certain than
when he who creates the things also narrates
them (SN, 349).
Consequently, the §gieng flggyg asserts throughout, both
directly and implicitly, that since human truth was from
the beginning Shaped by man himself he has now, with the
acquisition of philOSOphic wisdom, the means to find and
understand that truth. Vico's study is a philosophical-
philological program whereby man can rediscover and
reinstate his sense of presence to himself, by means of
rigg;§1, in a world where his material progress has
threatened to become a barrier to his attainment of an
authentic identity.

In like manner, the central thematic problem of
Joyce's Finnegan; Hake correSpondS closely to the major
preoccupation of the §gienzg,flggya. As Mrs. Glasheen
puts it, the quest in Einnegans flake is for "rational,
truthful explanation of what can be called Historical

47 O O O
In the narrative, thunder is to function

'Pruth or Man.“
ten times as a signal of man's progress in knowing.

‘Ultimately the flake focuses on the sons' learning

60
experience: the search for their father, HCE, motivated
by their need to know his meaning —-his guilt or innocence
concerning the story told about him. In addition the
sons must learn the meaning of the parents' union since
an understanding of this mystery can help them to justify
their own existence and can give them direction in their
lives. The thrust of Einngggng flake centers in learning -
in the process of human knowing, in man's modes of learn-
ing, and in the possibilities of human learning.

For Vico, the riggggg was an intellectual, or
psychological, means through which man could gain illumi-
nation regarding the initial Spontaneous creativity that
generates human progress. For Jche, the riggggg seems
also to have been used as a psychological device for
reviving or regenerating creativity in man's quest for his
meaning.

AS I noted in my introduction, most Joyceans assume
the giggrgg to beia part of the ”cyclic recurrence" in
Einneggng‘flake. Because they have attempted to classify
the four sections of Joyce's book according to Vico's
three ages, they have found it necessary to apprOpriate
the ziggrgg as a historical cycle which is the "trans-
ition" of Book IV. In this way, the riggggg has been
transformed into a "fourth age" of chaos and instability
that is

terminated by a thunderclap, which terrifies

and reawakens mankind to the claims of the
supernatural, and thus starts the cycle rolling

fig.

9.,

a...

61

again with a return to primeval theocracy.48

My examination of Jche's use of the Vichian doctrine
of ziggggg has found no textual substantiation for a
chaotic ”fourth age" interpretation of Vico's principle
in Finnegans flgkg. Further, I have found little or no
textual evidence to suggest that Book IV is a :iggrsg,
if that term is defined as a period of instability.
Instead, the £igg;§g_appears to be Operative as a learn-
ing device at a number of key points throughout Joyce's
book. It is used, first, in connection with each of the
ten thunder words and, second, in the entirety of Book
III which I believe to be the most important and certainly
the most extended demonstration of the principle. My
project, then, in defense of such a reading of Einngggnfi
flgkg is, first, to review briefly the narrative of
finnesana.fleksa to mark the position of the thunder words,

and to introduce the idea of their significance as

21291.21.

1
an
‘41:
'lu
—

'6‘-
but

if”.

a
I
'1

62

NOTES FOR CHAPTER I

1

Adeline Glasheen, A,§gggnd Census t9 Finnegggs
nge (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern Univ. Press,

1963 ) p p. 2680

2
Ernest Becker, The Stggcture g; Evil: An Essay 9n
The Quifiiggtign,gfi the Sciences 9; Man (New York:

George Braziller, 1968). p. 31.

3

Translators Bergin and Fisch in 1968 published
their revised translation of the 1948 Sciegza Nugva
and clarified a number of passages troublesome in the
earlier version.

4

Caponigri, Time and Idea, p. 2. Croce discusses
the Vichian science in his own Aesthetics (New York:
Modern Library, 1966), p. 231. His extended work on
Vico is The Phi;g_gphy_gf’Giambatt%sta Vigg, trans.,
R. G. Collingwood (New Ybrk: 1913 . Others agree
with Caponigri' s assertion of Croce's misuse of Vico's
science. For example, see A. William Salomone,
"Pluralism and Universality in Vico's _gignz_ Nggv a,"
(p. 537): Enrico DeMaS, "Vico and Italian Thought"
(pp. 160-164): Hayden V. White, "What Is Living
and What Is Dead in Croce's Criticism of Vico" (pp.

379-389). all appearing in An lnternatienel .msism

5
Elio Gianturco, ”Introduction. " _n the §tggy
flatness. 2f .210 lines [5e m7. by Giambattista Vico

(Indianapolis: Library of Liberal Arts, 1965). p.
m1]...

6

"Introduction." Qn.£h§ §§291.MSEEQQ§. p. XXVii-
7 I

21mg an§.lgfiil PO 2-

8

"Introduction,” 03 the StugylMethgds, p. xxxi.
9

This "master key" was Vico's discovery of "the
true Homer," the theory that Homer was no single man
but rather a corporate image of the Greek people them-
selves. Homer was, then, a created character reflective
of an entire culture. This theory will be discussed
later in this chapter.

. .
an.
in.
.

63

10
Structure 9.1:. mi . pp- 28-29.
11
Time and __eaId . p- 60-
12

The term ”philology" poses one of the most difficult
problems in Vico's science Since it is given a variety
of interpretations by scholars. Further, this methodo-
logical aSpect of the Vichian science seems to operate
simultaneously in a number of ways so that one definition
of it as well as another is appropriate. For example,
Stuart Hampshire, "Vico and the Contemporary Philosophy
of Language." An W emanates. eXP1ains Vichian
philology as the principle that
the clue to understanding a civilization is
the study of the forms of its language: each
phase of the human mind, as it develops by
stages in history, is reflected in the form
of language, in the vocabulary, and in the type
of word formation whiCh is typical of that
phase . . . . the study of the human mind is
the study of the evolution of language, and
vice versa. Philology is the supreme historical
science (p. 478).
Girolamo Cotroneo agrees with Hampshire's definition. In
"A Renaissance Source of the §gi§nzg,flggy§," An‘Inter-
natign§1_§ympg§igm, he writes that in Vico's science
"the secret of ancient civilizations may be understood
through languages, . . ." (p. 55).

From another perSpective, philology may be under-
stood as "the science of the gggtgm, of factual events
and phenomena, whereas philosophy is the science of
truth or veggm“ (Enzo Paci, "Vico and Cassirer," An
Internatignal §ympg§ium, p. 465). Or, as Vico trans-
lator Max H. Fisch writes, “Science is knowledge of the
true: ggnscience, the witnessing consciousness, is
knowledge of the certain. Philosophy aims at science:
philology aims at conscience" ("Vico and Pragmatism,"
en Wane]. W. p- 412). Pietro Piovani
amplifies this definition of philology, pointing out its
meaning as a way of knowing, an epistemological method
that, instead of attempting to reduce to a system the
"multiplicity of the historical world," strives to get
at the "inner meaning of individualities." In this
sense,”philology, conceived as recognition of an
individuated reality, viewed for itself within a wide
system of forms of human knowledge, not only can be
listed among the 'major discoveries' of Vico but also
can be hailed as a deepening of a new epistemological
dimension, which has not yet been utilized in all of
its Speculative implications: ("Vico Without Hegel,”

“21‘

"U‘VI

1
Ah! .‘
"Ia\

x‘ J

64

en Internatieael W. p- 116)-

In the present study, I attempt to discuss Vichian
philology within a context broad enough to allow for
this variety of definitions since they seem to be
related by the general nature of Vico's theory of know—
ledge.

13

This translation of Vico is by Arthur Child,
"Making and Knowing in Hobbes, Vico, and Dewey,”
Universigy g; Califggnia Publicatiggs in_Philgsgg y, 16,
13 (1953), 277. I chose to use this translation of
Vico's passage because Child uses the term "recovered”
which seems closer to Vico's intention than Bergin and
Fisch's ”found."

14
Child's translation (p. 277) is used here also
because it illustrates Vico's process of using etymo-
logical relationships.

15 ,
The term "ontological aSpiration," an apprOpriate
synonym for ”moral ideal," is borrowed for use here from

Walter Kaufmann, grigiggg g: Re ’ i and Philgggphy
(New York: Anchor Books, 1961 , pp. 421-431.

16
etrllesere of Eli]... p. 19.
17
§trsetere cf _113v' . pp- 31-32.
18

Arthur 0. Lovejoy. The great _elaCh ' 9.: Being
(New York: ,Harper-Row, 1960), p. 292.

19
Basil Willey, The E' ht th Century Backgrggnd
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1962), p. 48.
20
This passage from Vico's first version of the
§giggz3,Nggva (1725) is quoted in Time gag Id , pp.
56-57. Italics are mine.
21
.1m_T‘ e and Idea. pp. 74-75-
22
"Introduction." Ne! Science. p. xxxviii.

65

23

"Introduction,“ New Scie e, p. xxiv.
24

"Introduction," New 5 'e ce, p. xlv.
25

Time gag Idea, p. 85.
26

Tullio De Mauro, "Giambattista Vico: From
Rhetoric to Linguistic Historicism," An Internatiggal

W. p. 291-

27
"From Rhetoric to Linguistic Historicism,"

p. 292.
28
Time gnqudga, pp. 126-127.
29
”Introduction," Neg Scie ce, pp. xli-xlii.
30
Tindall, figmgg ggyge, pp. 70-71.
31
"Introduction," Neg Sgience, pp. xlii-xliii.
32

For an important explication of the “Vichian
Space-time continuum" which takes up the reciprocal
fuxaction of Vico's "ideal external history" (Space) and
his conception of time (ggmi- i ggrsi) in relation to the
Mirad's evolution, see A. William Salomone, "Pluralism
and Universality in Vico's Sgiegza Nu va," An Internatignai
§¥Inpg§igm, pp. 537-540. Salomone emphatically rejects
hirstoric cyclicisms such as those of Hegel, Marx, Spengler,
anti Toynbee as having anything more than the remotest
klliship to Vico's conception of history.

33

413.1" 9 and lies. p- 130.
34

"Introduction," 9;; 331.9. Study Methgds, p. xxxi.
35

. The idea of a written work's constant contempor-
amalty is traceable to Vico as well as Joyce. Vico
Claianed that every reader of the Sgigngg ngva made it
aney, for himself Since he brought to it his own attitudes
and iimagination. In the case of the Wake, there have

66

been determined efforts to limit or close its potential
for meaning because of some irresponsible analyses.
Fred H. Higginson recently stressed the limitations of
"ALE study a
The work is no longer in progress; Joyce
stopped its progress when he gave it a title,
which he had intended to do all along. 80
ginnggdns dee belongs to the past and must
be studied by the same methods we would use
with Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Malmud's last
novel but one (review of A w ke Ui est, James
dege Qdartegly, 6, No. 3 pring 196g7, 278).
While such a statement may point up the necessity for
responsible Wake study, it runs counter to the corner-
stone of Vico's science: his concept of the dynamic
nature of learning. Simultaneously, it denies the
Edkg's linguistic Open-endedness —-its invitation to
the reader to become a co-creator -that Joyce intended
as the means through which his book would be a viable
source of knowing for every generation.

36
The ”returned barbaric times" should not be con-
fused with Vico's barbarism of intellect. The latter
is the intellectual sterility that can destroy a culture.
The former is the result of gigdggd: recapturing in
civil times some degree of the creative vitality in
the first men who were barbarians of sense.

37
Iime.an§ Idea, p. 132.

38
Tilfle 311d Idgég p. 1330

39
Manama . p. 137-

40
Time and Idea, p. 165.

41
Zim§.§n§ lggit p0 1670

42 .
lime and 1923. p. 169.

43
Time dud Idea, p. 170.

44
"Introduction," jgx_S 'e e, p. xxxii. See

also §diggz§ ngvd, 313.

J‘.

x
:..A'.‘
_ >

.,....u'
w

33".;
we ‘:

Iiui

5 e

67

45
“Introduction,” HQ! S 'e e, p. xxx. See also

Sgienza N V g 3980

46
Vico seems to use his three ages (divine, heroic,

civil) in several ways, for he also asserts that Homer
must be gassigned to the third age of the heroic poets"
S , 808 .

47
5mm 8 a. p- 11X-

48
lmmmwme. p- 5-

CHAPTER II

NARRATIVE OUTLINE AND THUNDER PLACEMENT IN FINNEGANS WAKE

Ever since the publication of Finnegans fldkg, one

of the many problems about it has been the lack of
scholarly agreement about the narrative of the work.
That such a seemingly simple description has proved to be
a difficult task is illustrated by the variety of these
narrative accounts. There are many complicating factors.
The EQEE deals simultaneously with a "history of Ireland,
a survey of English literature, a universal mythology,
a naturalistic novel, an autobiography of James Augustine
Joyce, a summary cosmology,"1 comparative religions, the
liturgical year, Holy Week, modern science, and a host
of other subjects. All of this subject matter has some
relationship, as well, to Vico's §dignzd_flddy_. Joyce
himself pointed out such a dependence when he told
Padriac Colum, ”I use his [Vico's] cycles as trellises."2
At another time, Joyce commented to Eugene Jolas about
the fldkgfs narrative:

I might easily have written this story in the

traditional manner. Every novelist knows the

recipe. It is not very difficult to follow a

simple, chronological scheme which the critics

will understand. But I, after all, am trying
to tell the story of this Chapelizod family in

68’

69

a new way. Time and the river and the mountain

are the real heroes of my book. Yet the ele-

ments are exactly what every novelist might

use: man, woman, birth, childhood, night,

sleep, marriage, prayer, death. There is

nothing paradoxical about all this. Only I

am trying to build many planes of narrative

with a single esthetic purpose.
Despite Joyce's explanation of his narrative elements
and their simplicity, there is as yet no universally
accepted summary of the "story of this Chapelizod family."

Edmund Wilson made one of the first attempts to

"provide the realistic foundation"4 of Einngddng Edge.
However, he concluded his plot outline with something
of an apology: "To tell the story in this way, however,
. . 5
18 to present it the wrong way around.” Later, the
Skeletdn Key illustrated the hazards of paraphrase and
the perils of over-simplifying Joyce's narrative "planes."
Mrs. Glasheen's synapsis in her §gddnd Cegsds is one of
the most helpful narrative summaries because it remains
close to bece's text and, admitting the inability to
clarify certain sections, leaves these passages open.
Mrs. Glasheen explains that her

. . . synopsis gives a flat, meager impression

of Fw. . . but I think people need to be reminded

that PW is not a lot of fragments, . . . Fw

is a narrative, tight and tailored as Ul sses

. . . and what I want this synapsis to do is

stimulate better readers to attend to nagrative

connection and narrative progress in 3!.
Still another treatment of the Wake's narrative is that
<3f Benard Benstock, “A Working Outline of Einngddng wage,"

Which prefaces his gum-m Wake.7 However, Benstock

IVI

.m-

7O

himself makes no reference to his outline; consequently,
as E. L. Epstein has pointed out, its value is minimal
for either the beginning fldkg reader or for the well-
seasoned researcher.8

Regardless of the partial failures and limited
successes of other attempts, I offer here my own
narrative synOpsis to clarify the framework for my exam-
ination of Vichian gigdgdi in Finnegans fldkg. My outline
emphasizes the thematic preoccupation in the fldkg with
the Chapelizod family as a paradigm of man's basic
social unit or, one might say, the Vichian "family of
man." By this term I mean that the single family of the
H252 may at any given point be thought of as the tribe,
the nation, and even the civilization.

ginngddn§,fldkg is developed in four parts usually
called books, the first three of which are sub-divided.
The last book, much shorter than the others, has no
separate divisions. Deepite the brevity of Book IV, the
entire structure of the Edge has a strict mathematical
balance based on the number four and multiples of four.
For example, Book I is divided into eight chapters, and
I believe these are balanced by the eight short sections
or events in Book IV. Books II and III have four chapters
each, together making another number eight. Such mathe-
matical balance provides an initial sense of unity in

the book, and both the narrative and the thematic deve10p-

ment reinforce this equilibrium.

71

An outline of the narrative plan may help to
illustrate both the balance and the precision of the
gang's structure. In the outline below, I have prefaced
the narrative of each book with a content note indicating
the central themes of the section as I read it.

fiddk . Evolution of the Family (Vico's "first

men" of spontaneous "poetic wisdom"):
Introduction of the Major Conflict;
Establishment of the Quest Theme

Cha t -29) Prologue: The re-enactment of

the genesis of man (the "fall" into consciousness) is
followed by primitive battles. The first parents are
introduced as “Bygmester Finnegan, . . . in his rushlit
toofarback for messuages before joshuan judges had given
us numbers. . . . He addle liddle phifie Annie . . .”
(4.18-20, 28-29). Man next evolves to the agricultural
age of ”Nassaily Booslaeugh . . . husbandman handling
his hoe” (5.5-6, 9). This phase of human deveIOpment
introduces the guilt theme: the male is suspected of
sexual sins. He falls from the wall he is building and
is laid out for a wake but seems to vanish just as the
mourners are about to devour him in a sacrificial ritual.
The absence of the father initiates a search for him.
The scene shifts to a visit through "Willingdone Musey-
room" (8.9: human willing and doing), conducted by the
"janitrix, the mistress Kathe" (8.8: Kate, the family's
housemaid: man's gdgggories of knowledge), and shows

historical artifacts that replay the conflict theme.

After the museum scene, four new characters are introduced:

72

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (13.20-28).9 As historians,
they add another dimension to human progress; they are

to record history and, simultaneously, will distort the
truth of man's first myths. The scene following indicates
the beginning of barter and trade in the dialogue of Mutt
and Jute (15.29-18.16). The invention of letters next
takes place (18.17-21.4). Then the Prankquean Story,

"the first peace of illiterative porthery" (21.5-23.15).
provides a paradigm for social evolution in the Edge.

The family's story is "portheryr this term itself
stressing the unity of literature ("poetry”) and the
paradoxes of human progress (L. pdggd, gate: pdggdyg,

to carry: pgyghegdg, ravager: also, the parents are

later called "the Porters" 560.22). Next, Finn, the first
man, stirs in his grave; the past is not dead but only
sleeping. The old historians quiet him: the "hooky
Salmon“ may rest, for a ”big rody ramlad" (28.35-36) is

to take his place as the father.

C 2 0- ). The family narrative prOper
begins here with the introduction of the "ramlad,”
Humphrey Chimpden, living in "prefall paradise peace"
(30.10) as the king's road keeper. The "ethnarch,"
stopping by, is intrigued with his servant's ingenuity
and gives him a last name (Earwicker). HCE becomes a
leading citizen of Chapelizod. He is a "big cleanminded
gian " (33.29) who is nonetheless soon suspected of an

indiscretion in Phoenix Park. Although HCE is accused

af mm:-
:I'£ park
it: a p
.‘re :05:

Ballad t

M-
»H
_
{\I‘
Ilait‘

I I
“‘6‘
as.

 

I)

73

of misbehavior with two girls or perhaps three soldiers,
the park incident actually involves his meeting a “cad

with a pipe” (35.11) who begins the libelous rumors.
The gossip spreads and is even turned into a song, "The
Ballad of Persse O'Reilly."

A C t 8- . The rumor of the father's
guilt, supposedly involving two girls or three soldiers,
runs wild. He is hunted but disappears as his progenitor,
Finn, had done. He leaves behind him, for those able to
understand it, a hint of his essential nature: "a
theory none too rectiline of the evolution of human society
and a testament of the rocks from the dead unto some of
the living" (73.31-33).

Chapge; 5 (2§-LQ§). Although HCE is hiding, the
citizens prepare for his trial and provide a grave for
him, a "vastohavebeen underground heaven, . . . intended
to foster wheat crops and ginger up tourist trade"
(76.33-35). The trial turns into a festival with "Festy
King” (85.23) as the scapegoat. This character seems to
be HCE, who apparently has come back to face his townsmen.
The cad is called upon to testify. When his words become
confusing, ”the senior king of all, Pegger Festy" (91.1).
is called to the witness box. I identify this figure as
Finn, the past age, since he must be exhumed in order to
testify "as soon as the outer layer of stucckomuck had
been removed” (91.1-2). The evidence is inconclusive

concerning HCE's guilt because the three central witnesses

74

seem to be emanations of a single consciousness. All

are varying manifestations of the father-figure. Their
differences lie primarily in their "time-differential."
The four judges (the old Irish historians; also
"Mamalujo”) finally free the prisoner. DeSpite his free-
dom, HCE is hunted once more, disappears into his hiding
place (the dump, garbage heap, litter), and leaves his
wife and children to exonerate him.

Chgptg; § (l04-125). Of prime concern is a letter
ostensibly written by HCE's wife, Anna Livia Plurabelle.
This document is thought to contain evidence of the
father's innocence. Shem the Penman, the family's poet-
son, attempts to read the letter supposedly found in the
family garbage heap. A writer himself, Shem examines
every facet of the letter in a humorous parody of scholarly
textual examination but cannot interpret it. Although
a seer (see-er), Shem is inhibited by his "poetic wisdom,”
to use Vico's term, and lacks the reflective powers of
"philosophic wosdom." The latter attribute is necessary
if he is to recognize and understand the meaning of the
parents. 5

C te 26- ). Called a "family album" as
well as a "question-answer game," this chapter presents
portraits of the family and other characters. Shem asks
twelve questions which are answered by his humorless
pedantic twin, Shaun. This chapter is of Special

importance since Joyce explained that it acted as a

2.32.5.

can

'6.“

|\~

n“.

‘Ia
\‘ LIE

at

~g|

-F\
“‘

u
a.
u

75

balance to Book 111,10 the major m of the Me.

Qh§n§§;_1_11§2:12§). This word-portrait of Shem
by Shaun actually reveals the personalities of both
'sons. Although Shem, the poet, is his mother's favorite,
he appears in an unfavorable light here. Shaun, who
makes the series of accusations against his brother,
seems as distasteful a character as he claims Shem to be.
The chapter suggests that each brother is a fragmented
personality in one way or another and that each is aware
of this condition to some degree but that neither knows,
at this point, how to achieve wholeness.

Chdpggg 8 (lgd-Zlfi). This section is a portrait
of ALP as mother-river. Two washerwomen gossip about
the secrets of her past, her love life, and her present
situation. The mother's mystery is still unrevealed as
night falls and the two gossipers metamorphose into a
tree and a stone.

Joyce's augmentation in this chapter (the addition
of over six hundred river names) has been severely
criticized. Edmund Wilson questioned whether "it really
made Anna Livia any more riVerlike to introduce the names

11 Also, according to A.

of several hundred rivers?"
Walton Litz, "it is a damning commentary on Joyce's method
that a study of earlier versions often provides important

clues to the meaning of‘a passage in the final text.”12
Such views seem to assume that Joyce was defining a

"thing“ in the traditional noun sense: therefore his

.0‘1

. 1
OI:
I“.

‘6
0b

ow

'1

76

river-embroidered definitions of ALP could only be
explained as verbal precocity. HOwever, if one reads
this chapter from a Vichian perspective - that language
is a dynamic process rather than a static packaging of
things -the effect is quite different. The river names
are not bits of information stitched at random into the
text on the assumption that if two hundred names will
produce "riverness" a seriatim listing of six hundred
will yield more. To the contrary, the form of this
passage about the mother-river-nature is synonymous with
its theme: man cannot know nature simply by stuffing
himself with data about it. The entire chapter, then,
demonstrates a false assumption about man's learning
process. It also implies that if there is to be any
authentic reunion of man and nature after the separation
resulting from the "fall" into consciousness, it cannot
come about by a simplistic "return to nature." The
chapter's last word ”Night!" foreshadows Shaun's night
journey of Book III in which will come true knowledge

of the mother, hence the possibility for a renewed union
of man and his world.

2995_ll- Preparation for the Quest: Education of
the Children: Modes of Learning

ighdpgg; 1 (2:9-252): Learning Through Imitation.
The children play night games that are also a "play"
at ”Feenichts Playhouse” (219.2). The presentation is

”The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies" given in ”four

u..
”'9',
IHUNI

9"

iii!

r‘t
5“

HI»

6..

.0.

71..

u

 

?
t

1'..-

77

tubbloids" (219.17-19). Although advertised as four-
sectioned, the play actually concerns three questions
asked of Glugg (Shem), who answers incorrectly each time.
He fights with his brother, Chuff (Shaun), loses, and
must watch the chorus of rainbow girls praise Chuff.

The girls' leader is "the Leap Year Girl," the boys'
sister Isabel (Issy). Glugg pines in vain for her
affection. The play ends when the parents enter and call
the children home. (HCE's appearance suggests that this
scene is a reminiscence, but in Einnggdng fldkg the time
factor is a relative one and does not prohibit credibility
in this scene even though HCE has disappeared prior to
this chapter.)

C t 2 260- 0 ): Rote Learning; Acquisition of
Data. In this "study period,” the children do their
homework by reviewing the recorded contents of human know-
ledge: history, language, and mathematics primarily.
Their central interest in each area repeatedly becomes
the mystery of the parents and of the children's own
existence. As they study, Dolph (Shem) writes the left-
hand gloss to the chapter's text, Kev (Shaun) adds the
right-hand gloss, and Issy writes the footnotes.18 A
skirmish takes place when Dolph uses geometric figures to
explain to his brother the shape and position of his
mother's sex organs. Kev (Shaun) is enraged at having
been thus told. I interpret his anger as an implication

that such knowledge cannot be gained successfully from

78

the mode of learning illustrated in this chapter. The
learning here concerns abstract data about which there
can be no authentic feeling, hence no productive response.

Chdpgg; d (309-3d2): Learning Through Multiple
Senses: Mass Media. In HCE's pub, radio and television
offer two plays the themes of which are constantly
reiterated in the Edge: ”The Norwegian Captain and
Kersse the Tailor," and "Buckley and the Russian General."
The old four historians appear here as customers who
accuse HCE of the Phoenix Park incident. He attempts to
defend himself unsuccessfully. After the pub closes,

HCE tries to clean the tavern but hears in memory the
accusations against him and in deeperation drinks him-
self into a stupor.

Chapter 3 (3d3-322): Learning at Another Level of
Consciousness; Phantasy. As HCE passes out in the
preceding chapter, he begins to hallucinate: "So sailed
the stout ship Ngngyygdng . . . . Now follow we out by
Starloe" (382.27-30). The episode of 11.4 is that of
the King Mark-Iseult-Tristram legend, and the father
phantasizes himself as the aging King. It is possible
that the twin sons become Tristram and the daughter
Iseult. Of equal importance is the contrast of youth
and age, for the old four historians again appear —-
this time as aging voyeurs watching the sexual activities
of the young couple. The "learning" here may be unreli-

able, but it does reveal the father's frustrations and the

lacs

'(1

79

hostilities of youth and age, father and sons. The
father will never be exonerated if the sons are satisfied
simply to usurp his place without questioning the meaning
or responsibility of that place. Simultaneously, the
children cannot ever know themselves or their own meaning
so long as they ignore the past in favor of present
pleasures. The inherent anxieties of man, often suppressed
at the waking level of consciousness, are laid bare at
the dream level. Although the chapter ends with a song'
of praise for Iseult, its words negate the traditional
ideas of romantic love and female purity. The lyric
transforms Iseult into an image of cheap, whore-like
lust. Driven to its limits, the dream paradoxically
brings reality. The Old Four are finally called upon to
guide the action that is to follow, since the dream
sequence has brought no authentic union or knowledge.

The Old Four will act as guides (399.29-34) and as "a
frame" for the action that is to follow.

EQQB_IL;, Attainment of Vichian "PhilOSOphic

Wisdom" through 3129£§9' Shaun's
Quest; The Four "Watches" of Shaun
the Post

Since my analysis of this book will take up chapters
IV and V of the present study, I shall simply note the
four divisions here.

C te - 28): Shaun the Post14

-the activity
preliminary to his quest. The ass of the four GOSpellers

is the narrator for this chapter and for the next two.

b
2"
T... bu '

We

”‘1
'I
-
'3; p
....5 x.

,-‘.'.
39H:

3“”
'bva

A:
V.

80

Shaun tells the fable of the Ondt and the Gracehoper
before he begins his journey.

C 2 29- 7 : Shaun as "Jaun" (Don Juan).
This chapter deals with the temptations of Shaun as he
begins his gigdzgd, the descent into history, or as I
shall later call it, "deep consciousness." To foreshadow
this descent, "Jaun" becomes ”Haun" (haunt?) at the very
end of this section.

c e 7 - : Shaun as "Yawn" becomes the
medium at a seance conducted by the Old Four. They
attempt to reach history's deepest level through him.

C te - 0 : Shaun's revelation. Shaun
learns the meaning of the parents when, during his
fourth "watch," he becomes a ”see-er," a condition making
possible his union with Shem to form a "whole" man.

§9g5_;_, Dawn: Effects of the Ricdrgd: Revitalization

of the Family through Synthesis of Vichian
"Poetic Wisdom” and "PhilosOphic Wisdom"

1. pp, §2§'§013 Easter Sunday. The sun rises
on a new day, and ”the week of wakes is out and over”
(608.30). Although the fourth book is not divided into
chapters, this section balances the prologue of 1.1.

2I pp, QOI-dgd: A choir (rainbow girls?) sings
of the "new man," Kevin. Mixed with these voices are
others echoing the old gossip about HCE. The section
balances the introduction of the earlier ”new man,"

Humphrey, I o 2 o

13"‘:

BO...

P’I‘D

'Oibu'
.

7:va
I “U

m:

lu.‘

AI;

U. U

81

3. pp. QQQ-QQQ: The gossip fades as the mystic

marriage of Kevin with his "holy sister water" takes
place. The action balances the uncontrolled tide of
rumor in 1.3..

4I pp, 605-606: The new day grows lighter, and
shadows lift as Muta and Juva meet to visit, a scene
parallel to that of Mutt and Jute in I.l. This second
conversation reveals a much higher level of communication
and understanding than the first. Memgry and reasdn are
stressed in the conversation, which balances the unreason
of the trial, 1.4.

5. pp, fill-6;}: The debate of St. Patrick and the
Archdruid Berkeley. This scene acts to unify many of the
polarities of the book. St. Patrick wins his argument
by demonstrating an appropriate use of nature (shamrock),
thereby clarifying the purpose of ALP (Nature) and her
letter as the means through which man can come to know
his own.meaning. Man's use of his world includes his
employment of analogies from physical nature to aid him
in defining himself and his relationship both to nature
and to the Ho1y. This action balances 1.5 by giving
information that could not be extracted from ALP's letter.

‘d, pp, Gld-dld: Commentary on the debate, on the
meaning of all that has taken place, and on the signifi-
cance of memory in assigning meaning to the earlier
events. The commentary on the activities of the human

mind forms an interesting balance to the family album

82

section, 1.6. There, neither pictures nor questions and

answers could illustrate the potential for the modifica-

tions of the human mind.

7. pp, 615-912: The last version of ALP's letter.

This form of the letter gives some additional clarification
of man's meaning - the children's as well as the parents.

It clarifies much of the mystery surrounding its own

existence and meaning. In one sense, this section

balances the portrait of Shem by Shaun (1.7), which
revealed two fragments of a potentially whole man.

Additionally, it relates to the first reading of the letter

(1.5).

8, pp, 619-628. Their actions cleared of sus-

PiCion, their meaning finally having been ”made," hence

known by the children, the old parents now rise, dress,

and walk together to the sea (death). This section

breaks off in the middle of a sentence, indicating the

fUture of man to be Open, undetermined, and unrepeatable

in any sense other than in recollection. While the last

half-sentence does, of course, flow into the first half-
sentence of the entire book, this does not necessarily
imply mere repetition without progress. In terms of

the reader, to eXperience Blame Malta. a second time
mud be, to use Vico's term, to ”make it” anew for him-

self- Only the broad pattern of human progress would be

parallel to the first reading. Book IV. like the other

t
hree concludes by focusing on the female. 1.8 ends

83

with unanswered questions about the mother: "Tell me,
tell me, tell me, elm! . . . Night!" Book II concludes
with the ribald song about Iseult. Book III is com-
pleted with the momentous statement about the “queenbee”
(290.28). Accordingly, the last section of Book IV
allows Anna Livia to Speak for herself in her dying-
moments. Her words reveal the essential motivation for

all her acts -and perhaps the energizing force of all
human progress: love.

With this narrative plan as a basis for further
discussion, I turn now to an initial investigation of the
ten thunder words' position in the text of W E_a__k_e
and to their general function. I have earlier asserted
that the thunder words appear at significant points in

the progress of human creativity, as a signal of HERE—Qi-

The ten words appear throughout W Wake in the
following pattern:
Emk_. £99k. ._I_. Bonk—II . 1.59.95.11-
Chapter 1 * * Chapter 1 * Chapter 1 * *

2 * 2 2

3 3 a * 3

4 * 4 4

5 *

6

7

8

The heaviest concentration of thunders lies in
BOOK I o , thereby eliminating the designation of that
m section as Vico's "divine age" if one is to read
the th“waders as 21.29.2810 One must remember that according

t
° Vico the W is a saphisticated act of mind

84

characterized by a specific application of memory. All

of 1.1, which 1 have called a prologue, is a voyage back

in time to the moment when pre-man crossed the threshold

of hominization. We; wake begins with the thunder-

clap that attended the birth of human consciousness, the

book taking its start, in Vichian terminology, from the

beginning of that which it treats (£111, 314). Following

the prologue's swift movement through history to the main

narrative of the Chapelizod family, the dee employs the

other thunders in Book I as m in which the memory

factor becomes increasingly more sOphisticated.

The placement of the thunders in Book II is, at

first observation, somewhat strange. I have called the

four chapters of this book modes of learning: yet there
are thunder-riddle; in chapters 1 and 3 only. However, if
my designation of the four modes of learning is correct,
11.1 and 11.3 are the only sections in which thunder-

mi would properly take place.
To eXplain, 11.1 deals with learning by imitation

and role-playing ("Feenichts Playhouse": no fee = free

association or play), an activity requiring the use of
memory if it is to be productive.

The children's homework session, 11.2, would seem
logical 1y to be an appropriate place for the sound of
thunder. However, this mode of learning ~memorization
Of fact:8, recitation of formulas, and rote memorization -

is . . . . .
not primarily a creative acthlty. It IS a preparatory

85

or a reinforcement exercise. One might consider it as a

prelude to authentic learning or as an apprenticeship to

"cognizing the truth"15 as Vico called the learning

process. At any rate, deepite the study of "art, litera-

ture, politics, economy, chemistry, humanity, etc."
(306.13-15), the children experience no thunder word to
signal any reflective illumination of human meaning.

In contrast, 11.3 contains two thunders, one after

true beginning of the story-play, "Kersse the Tailor and
true Norwegian Captain," and a second at the end of it.
Here again, as in 11.1, the mode of learning involves

thug learner intimately with the medium, calling upon

hiJn to develOp and refine his preceptual awareness.
Ihlluike the conceptual learning of 11.2, the mode of
learning in 11.3 parallels the Vichian dictum, "Leggy
1mm gdgtum . . . . Knowledge is tantamount to
Operation.“-6 More explicitly, "we gain full understanding
Of an idea when we achieve a thorough appropriation of

it. 'when we have 'made it ourselves.”17 This "making"
factor, as Vico explained it in 1708, involves imagina-
tion and also memory, "which, though not exactly the same
as imagination, is almost identical with it."18 This
makitag-knowing theory was later to become Vico's primary
aXiC>r1 in his study of "poetic wisdom" and its evolution
to '.I>hilosophic wisdom."

The two thunders framing the Kersse story may have

a O 0 O I O
not:her function in View of the narrative's relationship

86

to the earlier Prankquean Story (1.1) which climaxed

with a thunder. The earlier "peace of illiterative

porthery" concerned itself centrally with the female's

asking a question about her identity. "Why do I am alook

alike a pose of porter pease?" is an inquiry carrying

an implicit request for self-definition. Further, a

question is in itself a perceptual instrument that
impresses itself upon the listener and evokes a reSponse,

a meaning created by the listener from the fabric of

his own meaning. The Kersse story "immerges a mirage in

a merror" (310.24): it is thus a reversal of the earlier

narrative. The introductory thunder of the Kersse story

Consequently balances the final thunder word of the

Prankquean Story. And, the concluding thunder of the

Kersse story seems to underscore emphatically the authen-

ticity of that particular learning experience, the

details of which 1 shall discuss later.
The last two thunder-m appear in 111.1.

have to do directly with the twin sons, and in each
The ninth

Both

instance Shaun is tie principle speaker.

thunder word introduces a narrative, Shaun's recounting

°f"the Ondt and the Gracehoper" (414.20-21)- In one

Sense this is a more sophisticated kind of story than the
Kersse narrative, for it approximates the "grim gests

°f Ja.cko and Esaup, fable one, feeble too" (414.17-18).
It is to be, then, a story from which can be extracted

a "Dr a1. Here, the perceptual mode has combined with a

87

concept, the natural analogies now classified as restricted

allegorical categories: Ondts are good: Gracehopers are

bad. From this abstraction of the narrative, Shaun's

listeners are eXpected to make a strict one-to-one

relationship concerning the brothers. Such a didactic use

of the fable would seem to inhibit its effectiveness as

The thunder word is nonetheless apprOpriate

a rim-
in signaling the approach of a reflective recourse be-
cause the fable bursts its barriers to reveal far different

meanings from those Shaun intends. Out of control, the

fable turns upon its narrator and concludes with the

Gracehoper's song, a triumphant last word: "Your genus

its worldwide, your Spacest sublime! But, Holy Salt-

martin, why can't you beat time?" (419.7-8). Signifi-

cantly, Shaun (Ondt) has not yet ”beaten time" in re-
coursing history at this stage of his journey.

The tenth thunder, sounding soon after the Ondt
Story, follows Shaun's overt statement of antagonism

toward Shem. Shaun's earlier fable suggested this dis-

like in a narrative form, but now Shaun makes no effort

to conceal his feeling. Again it would seem difficult

t° View the thunder word as announcing a m in the

Vichian sense. Nevertheless, it is triggered by the

very reasonfor Shaun's disdain of his brother. and
that reason points up Shaun's emerging awareness. He
dislikes Shem ”for his root language" (424.17% This is

i . .
ndeed a revelation of Shaun's growing sense of his

88

brother's meaning, albeit he has‘ yet to learn the meaning

of that meaning. Like Shaun, the poet-maker Shem is but

The offspring of "fallen" man, the twins
Shem

a partial man.
are the fragments of that fall into consciousness.

is the see-er with a high degree of perceptual awareness
and a keen sense of "root language," but he is incapable

of extracting the idea from that language because he is

"in his bardic memory low" (172.28). Shem cannot progress

without his brother's help because he lacks the powers of
reflection and memory that could make possible a :icdrsg.

Conversely, Shaun is a "watcher" exercising critical

abilities as an objective observer. While he effects at

least two of the thunder-m, he is unable to control
or use them as revitalizing agents without the aid of

Shem. Yet, his very eXplanation about his feeling for

Sham suggests that Shaun has at least isolated the main

reason for his enmity. This is a first step in the long

journey of Book 111, a quest that is to bring the union
0f the brothers, their understanding of the parents'
meaning, and knowledge of their own meaning and purpose.

There are no further thunders in the Edge because

the major {19.93292 successfully takes place in Book 111

"1th shaun's descent into the past. After Shaun's

“EEK—fig, there will be no need for continued external

stimuli to precipitate reflective recourse. Shem-Shaun.
a whole man, will be at once seer and watcher able both

t
o deScend to the creative Spontaneous force of the

89

first men and to extract the idea from that seedbed of

myth.
Therefore, the placement of the thunder-m

in the 21315; is of significance for several reasons.
Five appear in Book 1, which covers the greatest linear
time period, to emphasize the progress of humanity as
it responded to experience under the aegis of divine
providence working in natural ways through mankind

itself. Three thunders sound in Book II, the learning

sequence, to indicate the importance of the mind's

reflective act as a necessity in certain types of "educa-

ting." Finally, two thunders echo in 111.1. These seem

to underscore, or perhaps to intensify, Shaun's aware-
ness of his brother's real relationship to him. After
the lOl-lettered tenth word, the thunder is silent, the

additional letter indicating a change of state in humanity

(here, Shaun) that obviates the need for any external
ulettivation for {139.2910

Once more, the 1129.13.52 is an act of mind.
memory and reflection in examining the "categories of

It employs

Poetic wisdom for the interpretation of the cultural and

social structures of post-poetic times."]'9 A nation or

culture progresses and constantly renews its vitality
only 80 long as it continues the process of m.
the dhamism of which, paradoxically, is an intellective

N
mvehlent back upon the whole of its concrete experience.“

This interpretation of the Limo, is wholly consistent

90

with Vico's theory of knowledge -that man knows what he
makes, or that man understands ("cognizes") what he has

made when he draws upon his inner reservoir of memory.

The M May; repeatedly refers to this theory of

knowledge:
. . . man becomes all things by 1191; under-
standing them ( 119mg mm end fit

m: . . . [for when a m does not under-
stand he makes the things out of himself and
becomes them by transforming himself into

As an apt example of this learning-by-making process
employing the am as the methodological device for
"making,” Vico used the m Edgy; itself and the

readers of it:
Indeed, we make bold to affirm that he who
meditates this Science narrates to himself
this ideal eternal history so far as he
makes it for himself . . . (Q, 349).

If Vico could assert that reading his book was
actually a practical application of its principles,
certainly the same may be said for W 21915;. I
shall point out later how Joyce provided in the lake
for the reader's use of memory in order to "make" the
book as he reads it, thus coming to "know" it.

In pursuit of this making-knowing principle and its
relevance to m, I shall next examine the context
°f each of the ten thunder words in the Me. Vico
designed the 1.1293229. as the mind's reflective descent
into hanan history to recapture the "principle of vitality

°f life , . . not, obviously, in its immediacy, but in

91

its idea.”21 My analysis will show exactly how Joyce
used his thunders as a signal of this type of swift
reflective movement to retrieve the vital force of
“poetic wisdom's" Spontaniety.

Before analysis of each thunder, it is important to
reiterate the fact that my interpretation of the Vichian
ziggggi in Eign§g§n§_flgkg runs counter to the traditional
explanation by Joyceans. As recently as 1969, A Reader's
guide still called Vico's Sgienza 3292; a "philosophy of
history . . . (that? proceeds cyclically through three
ages, . . . After a giggggg or period of reflux, the
cycle begins again, . . ."22 Disregarding Vico's dynamic
theory of knowledge, the central concern of all his works
up to and including the §gi§nz§,flggy§, this guide to the
flake contents itself with defining the Vichian science
as an "idea of temporal cycling . . . neither new nor
extravagant. . . . Cycling had become attractive again
after disenchantment with the idea of linear progress."23
As in earlier analyses, the four books of the E553 are
assigned, without regard to the details of the §gi§gz§
quyg, to Vico's "ages" as if these were historical

24 Further, ”Joyce found Vico agreeable because

periods.
. . . he liked cycles . . . [Buti'Joyce gave more emphasis
than Vico had to thunder and giants; and, giving more than
Viconian importance to the ziggggg, made four ages of

Vico's three."25

In another oversight concerning a related subject,

92

this guide completely ignores the very real possibility
that the flake‘s constant reference to Giordano Bruno
of Nola points up a similarity between Vico's employ-
ment of memory and the Nolan's central preoccupation:
the Hermetic use of memory as a "kind of inner way of

26 While it is true that Bruno

knowing the universe."
believed "the states of the world go by contraries,"

this was hardly the principal subject of his books. An
avowed magus and alchemist who studied Hermes Trismegistus,
believed in metempsychosis, and employed the Cabalistic
concept of "unity in multiplicity," Bruno's chief magical
method was the "conditioning of the imagination or the
memory to receive the demonic influences through images
or other magical signs stamped on memory."28 There is

in many of Bruno's statements an unmistakeable Vichian
parallel. For example, Bruno questioned, "Why, I say,

do so few understand and apprehend the eternal power?

. . . He who in himself sees all things, is all things."2
His question bears remarkable similarity to Vico's belief
that a man "makes the things out of himself and becomes
them by transforming himself into them" (g3, 405).

That one finds in Vico and Bruno many close parallels

in their statements about imagination and memory should
Open the possibility that Joyce (who read both men in

the original Italian) very readily recognized these
correSpondences and just as readily used them in the

£32.30

93

My point in this reference to Bruno is that a great
deal of flake criticism, beginning as it often does with
a casual reference to Vico's works (and Bruno's) as'a
mere strucunnl.device, automatically discourages the
examination of those works for use in flake study. Yet,
Joyce himself recommended a reading of Vico as an approach
to the fl;§g.31 The present study has utilized that
recommendation for its re-assessment of the flakg's
demonstration of the doctrine of giggggi, "the most
celebrated thesis in the entire Vichian theory of his-
tory."32

The Egkgfs ten thunders are riggggi -not as signals
of a cultural collapse and a new cycle but rather, in
the Vichian sense, as signals of the mind's evolution
through retrieval of its initial creative force. There-
fore, an analysis of each thunder in context should help
to clarify its evolutionary function. Further, an
investigation of these thunders should help to determine
the degree to which the flake agrees with and makes use

of Vico's theory of learning, the cornerstone of the

Edema N__eLu -

94

NOTES FOR CHAPTER II

1

. Clive Hart. W ens! Mi: in Mi 9 s
HIKE: P0 230

2
Richard Ellmann,_J§mes J ce, p. 565.

3
games m. p- 566-

4
Edmund Wilson, The Shgges Q; Light (New York:
Random House, 1952), p. 198.

5
Shares 2:. _ig__tL' . p- 200.

6

Adeline Glasheen, A Sgggng Census pg Finnegans Wake,
p. XXiiio

7
Bernard Benstock, ggyggrégginlg Hake (Seattle:
Univ. of Washington Press, 1964). pp. xv-xxiv.

8
E. L. Epstein, "Interpreting Finnegans Wake: A

Half-Way House," _3me§,ggygg Quarterly, 3, No. 4 (Summer
1966), 254.

9
These Gospellers, "Mamalujo," are also the four
Irish provinces —-Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Con-

naught according to A geggng Ce sus, pp. 86-87. Brendan
OHehir'ségaemLesmmW'ifak ‘
(Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, l967 gives

additional valuable information about "The Four Masters,"
pp. 383-3850

10
Letters, I, ed., Stuart Gilbert, 257-58.

11
Edmund Wilson. The me and the 8211. p- 214-

12

A.Walton Litz, zhg.A:§ g; games ggxge (New YOrk:
Oxford Univ. Press, 1964). p. 113.

13
The brothers' glosses exchange sides after their
fight, p. 293.

95

14
I read Joyce's term for Shaun as, first, a ref-
erence to his function as postman carrying ALP's letter
and, in this first "watch," as his being a "blind post"
watching but not seeing.

15
Elio Gianturco, "Introduction," Giambattista Vico's

gnlheéssfl—Wt d 2£_.LOu .imles newt-r . p- xxxi-

QuotationsD from Vico' 3 text itself will be noted as

follows: £ng§_;i, p. 14.

16
2g 8t .3 pp. 29-300

17
9.3 m: P0 30-

18
2g 29%: PO 14-

19
Caponigri, Time and Idea, p. 131.

20
Time and .1393. p- 136

21
m mg mg: P0 133-

22

William York Tindall, A Reader's Guiget Einn_g§n§
Wake (New Ybrk: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969). p. 8.

23
A Reader's Guide, p. 58.

24
Tindall makes the following designation: Book I -
divine age, Book II -heroic age, Book III -"human“ age,
Book IV -"an enlarged ziggggg" (p. 10).

25
A Reader'g Ggige' p. 90

26

Frances Yates, _ig;g§ng,_;ung .39 the Hermetic
43.1.2121: p. 191-

27
mummma “ti .po 279-

28

. Em see the. firm—H etic W. p- 265. Italics
mine.

96

29
mmmwm. p. 337.

30
James S. Atherton suggests, in The ngks at the
335g, that Joyce used a good many ”mottoes as bases"
for his ideas in the flake but ”said nothing about them"
(p. 52).

31
See JOyCe's Letter to Harriet Weaver, 21 May
1926, in Lette s, I, 240, 241. Also, in Ellmann‘s A
gamg§_J ce, he mentions Joyce's urging Miss Weaver and
others to read Vico (pp. 565, 575).

32
Elms and Idea. p. 130.

CHAPTER III

THE TEN THUNDER-RICORSI

T der-r s 3 -24)

The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronn-
konnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawn-
skawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk3) of a once wall-
strait oldparr is retaled early in bed and
later on life down through all christian
minstrelsy. The great fall of the offwall
entailed at such short notice the pftjschute
of Finnegan, erse solid man, that the humpty-
hillhead of humself prumptly sends an unquiring
one well to the west in quest of his tumptytum-
toes: and their upturnpikepointandplace is at
the knock out in the park where oranges have
been laid to rust upon the green since devlins—
first loved livvy.

The first thunder word of ginnegagg Wake appears
in the book's second paragraph immediately following the
announcement of a journey back in time. As the §gignz§
flgggg employed Vico's axiom that a science must start by
returning to the genesis of its subject (SE, 314, 338),
so Einnggang Wake requires the reader to return reflec-
tively to the birth of human consciousness. In Joyce's
own explication of the two paragraphs preceding the fall,
be identified this time as that of.the floodl, an arche-
type for human genesis in many mythologies.

I have earlier noted this fall as the evolution of

human consciousness: a paradoxical fall upward to a

97

98

higher state of being. The thunder itself suggests this
in its beginning letters, "ba-ba-bad," a faltering

value judgement of which pre-human mentality would have

been incapable.2 The fall is that of a "once wallstrait

oldparr." In addition to "wall" and "Wall Street," the

term "wallstrait" also suggests a lack or a restriction
of will.3 If this "oldparr" was once restricted in will,
hominization brought freedom. Even Vico's "first men"
whose human nature was born with the thunder, were
endowed with a Specific ”human authority" (prOperty) that

not even God can take from man without destroy-
ing him. . . This authority is the free use of
the will, the intellect on the other hand being
a passive power subject to truth.[§§e., not yet
evolved7. For from this first point of all
human things, men began to exercise the freedom

of humancl'oice. . . (_S_I_\l_, 338).

Even if "wallstrait" may not be accepted as relating to
the absence of free will, the term nonetheless indicates
confinement. And with man's fall, that limitation
(‘fhuether restricted in "will" or to "wall") was past.
Before crossing the threshold of consciousness, pre-man
had no will -free or otherwise. He became man when he
t""'-'5~E>ped over himself, i.e., fell into consciousness.
Vico designated this liberty of will as the single
chatJE‘acteristic distinguishing man from beasts: ”for since
this liberty does not come from the body, . . . it must
(bow from the mind and is therefore properly human"
KSQ- 1098). No longer imprisoned by the senses, the

W
K's first humans throw off their "wallstrait" yoke

A

99

with their minds.
The word "oldparr” is, as often noted, a contra-

"old" vs. "parr," a mung salmon

dict ion in terms :
the Vichian

before it enters salt water. However,

etymological method reveals a lexical relationship be-

The Latin root of "old" is 1ere,

tween those words.
"to nourish": and the Latin in turn relates to the Indo-
If the giant Finn is old,

European base, a],— "to grow."
he is simultaneously a virile, growing "leaper" (salmon

As such, he is an appropriate

L. gauge, to leap).
example of the Vichian first men who, "without power of

ratiocination, were all robust sense and vigorous imag-

ination" (E, 375).
The salmon epithet resounds throughout Finnegans

M as a constant reference to Finn. The four old
historians call him a "hooky salmon," and this title

l1'¢=‘-’:i.nforces my identification of "Pegger Festy," a witness

at HCE-3's trial later. Etymologically, ”hook" relates to

AS has; and ultimately derives from the IE base, Leggy,
peg - Again using the Vichian philological method, one
can relate "hooky salmon" Finn and Eggger Festy, "the

Senior king of all" (90.36, 91.1). Additional allusions
to Finn as a salmon are found on 79.11-12, 132.35.

3
37 - 9-10, and 525, among others. Still another reference

tb
aalmon connects Shem to the fish-father:

Shem was a sham and a low sham and his low-
So

ness creeped out first via foodstuffs.
low was he that he preferred Gibsen's tea-time

100

salmon tinned, . . . [E0 fresh fish7 (170.25-27.)

"Low" is a key word here for clarification of the salmon
reference. The word takes its origin from the verb "lie"
whose roots stem from the Indo-European base leg_-, to
lie down. This base is also the foundation for L. lectus,
Gr. Lgkhgg, bed, lgkhgs, lair. The repeated mention of
Shem's lowness suggests that as a poet-seer, he has an
intuitive sense of identity with the father-figures,
Finn and HCE, who lie in their reSpective "lairs" await—
ing exoneration. (Because Shem feels this familial tie,
he chooses the tinned salmon. But because he is at this
point unable to know or interpret the meaning of these
sensations, Shem is imprisoned by his feelings. He is
like Vico's "first poets" who had "vast imaginations" but
whose intellects were "entirely immersed in the senses,
buffeted by the passions buried in the body" (S5, 378).
To Shem's ”poetic wisdom” must be added Shaun's now-
latent "philosophic wisdom" if the father-salmon and his
powers for life are to be known.6

"Oldparr" could also be read as a reference to the
"growing pair," the giant and his mate (old = al- to
grow: L. 23;, equal). This definition is of note because
the loss of equality between male and female, the con-
flict for dominance, and the emergence of a new sexual
eqmnity'form one of the thematic patterns in Finnegags

Wake.

‘ Man's fall is "retaled early in bed and later on

lOl

life." Or, one might say that the immediate response to
man's fall into consciousness is the creation of myth to
be "re-told." In fact, the first example of this "re-
taling" of the fall occurs shortly: "One's upon a thyme
and two's behind their lettice leap and three's among the
stubbely beds" (20.23-25). This first "retale"7 takes
place in a bed and implies creation not by verbal inter-
course but by a non—verbal creative act: the making of
the family, the ”three" who are the result of "two's
lettice leap." Later, the fall will be "retaled 93
life," recounted as an indictment against or on humanity
in general.

The fall into human consciousness is simultaneously
a fragmentation of man. ”Offwall" becomes the offal —-
the refuse, garbage, or animal waste parts -Split into
separate pieces (entailed = in + Eagle, from F. taillier,
to cut; L. tailigge, to Split, cut). Paradoxically, this
fragmentation or separation of man from nature (male from
female) is a sign of humanity's initial evolution. It
precipitates both a conflict (war of the sexes; clothing
becomes a weapon as in the Prankquean Story and in Kersse
the Tailor) and a quest (a search for the father; the
retrieval of the fragments of man thereby making possible
a revitalized union of humanity and the world of nature).

The rapidity of this fall causes the first man,
Finnegan, no end of confusion as to the whereabouts of

his parts. And, there is an emphasis on animalistic

102

9
8 the "pftjschute" of this

characteristics that ”entail"
primitive, Irish (erse) bearlike man (erse solid =
ursine?). His descendent, HCE, will later be called a
bear (430.7) and has "bear's hairs" (516.14) as well as
a "bearpaw" (621.21). The word "pftjschute" contains
still more of Finn's related elements. "Chute" refers
to waterfalls, rapids (the female—river), and derives
from Latin gaggge, to fall. The German schute is a
barge used in shallow water, and such a boat parallels
HCE's means of arrival on the scene: "a bumrush in a

hull of a wherry" (29.21-22). In Central America, the

Spanish chute means prick or pike. This last term recalls

 

HCE's later meeting in which he walks "amid the fixed
pikes of the hunting party" carrying"a high perch"
(L. e t' , pole) to greet his king (31.2).

His initial fragmentation stirs the first man to
another creative act. He uses minimal reasoning power
("humptyhillhead of humself" = human awareness of finitude:
humus) to instigate a search for his origin, his physical
antecedents ("tumptytumtoes"). Finn "sends an unquiring
one well to the west" to retrieve his fragments. This
"one" is "unquiring," both unquiet and inquiring, unable
to sing (quire, choir) but not silent like the four
ecliptic letters caught in "pftjschute." This "one" is
to go west, traditionally the direction of death; however,
in this instance west seems to be a journey into the past.

The direction, in fact, suggests that the traveler is

103

Shaun, who will in time embark on the supreme ricorsg
and to whom the old historians will then call encourage-
ment:
Brave footsore Haunt Work your progress! . . .
The west shall shake the east awake. Walk
while ye have the night for morn, lightbreakfast
bringer, s o o (473020-24).

The father's creative reSponse to the first thunder
is, then, a desire to know his past. He describes the
"location" of that earlier age: "at the knock (Gael,,
hill) out in the park where oranges have been laid to
rust." And he is right. In 111.3, as Shaun approaches
the deepest level of history, he is asked, "Name yur
historical grouns," and answers, "This same prehistoric
barrow 'tis the orangery" (477.35-36).

The first thunder-ricorsg thus takes the reader
back to the moment when pre-man crossed the threshold of
consciousness. It demonstrates Vico's account of man's
genesis:

. . . the sky broke forth in thunder and Jove
thus gave a beginning to the world of men by
arousing in them the conatus [natural active
force analogous to human effort? which is
prOper to the liberty of the mind, . . .
(.511. 689).
Certainly, this initial rigorsg in the Hake does not
stress terror in the first humans so much as it shows
the birth of rudimentary thought, hence self-curiosity.
There is no evidence of collapse or chaos preceding this

thunder. Instead there is emphasis on a creative reSponse

to it and on man's need to know the nature of his

104

condition as well as his desire for aid in reconstitution

of his wholeness. Again, the Sciegza Nugva suggests

the way in which man first deve10ped faith that these

needs could be fulfilled:
. . . divine providence, apprehended by such
human sense as could have been possessed by
rough, wild and savage men who in deepair of
nature's succors [i.e., as nature "cares for"
animals? desired something superior to save
them . . . , permitted them to be deceived
into fearing the false divinity of Jove because
he could strike them with lightning. Thus,
through the thick clouds of those first
tempests, . . . they made out this great truth,
that divine providence watches over the wel-
fare of all mankind (SE, 385).

Thun e -r'c rs #2 21 5-23 5)

The Prankquean Story in which the second thunder
sounds is an epitome of several of the Wake's major
themes including the battle of the sexes, the metamor-
phoses of the twins, and the quest for identity. It is
the first of several self-contained narratives found in
the book: however, it has a connecting function within
the whole narrative. First, the story is an example of
written literary form which became increasingly more
pOpular after the invention of the printing press. In
Einngggng‘w ke, moveable type has been introduced just
prior to the story (18.17-20.18). Second, the story
demonstrates man's growing suSpicion that the female is
responsible for his sense of guilt, fragmentation, and

alienation. A discussion of this idea has also immediately

preceded the story. Consequently, the Prankquean Story

105

is the first "poetic" eXplanation of man's "fall" into
consciousness as he himself is able to reconstruct it
and of the establishment of the family.

The narrative begins with the pre-human condition,
idealized as a time "when mulk mountynotty man was
everybully" and when "everybilly lived alove with every-
biddy else, . . ." (21.7-9). But, the family of the
story exhibits in its makeup, neither the marriage
partnership nor the universal love supposedly existing in
paradise. There is a father, Jarl von Hoother, whose
first name suggests that he bears a familiar relation-

10 It is significant that the Scienza Nggva

ship to Jove.
repeatedly emphasizes the primitive belief that the
heroes were sons of Jove, who Spoke to them in thunder
(e.g., §fl, 193-198, 666). and also discusses at length
the importance among primitive people of Jove's eagle
(éfl. 525).

Other family members include the twin sons, or
”jiminies" (gemini), Tristopher and Hilary. Unlike the
archetypal twins of almost every mythology, these boys
do not at first seem antagonistic although as Shem and
Shaun they will later become enemies. Here, they take
mutual pleasure in "kickaheeling their dummy on the oil
cloth flure” (21.12-13). This "dummy" is, I believe,
the fourth member of the family: the sister, unnamed,

undesignated in sex, and mute. As in many mythologies

that include twin sons and a female, She is the necessary

106

third person for whom the two males will later duel.

The strangest detail about the family unit is the
conSpicuous absence of a mother-figure. This very
absence emphasizes the patriarchies, such as those Vico
noted, that constituted man's first social unit. In
the flgke, this paradise seems to be secure only so long
as it is free of a vocal female. The initial lack of a
female mother-figure in this family unit seems to me
highly significant in view of the female's role in the
main narrative of the fleke. Without a female partner,
the Jarl may have peace, but there is no progress. Even
procreation in such a paradise could only be thought of
as some kind of parthenogenesis which does not bring
progress in the usual sense.

The male does not reign undisturbed for long, how-
ever. The female-prankquean comes to his castle-inn
demanding recognition and, significantly, self-identifi-
cation. Her appearances occur in the familiar three-
times-and-out formula. The prankquean marks her three
visits by making her "wit"11 first on the door, then the
wicket, and finally the archway. She marks her visits
in a second way by addressing the male differently each
time: "Mark the Vans," "Mark the Twy," "Mark the Tris"
(21.18, 22.5, 29). Each time, She asks a variation of
the same question, "Why do I am alook alike a poss of
porterpease?" (21.18-19) While the question, which will

be repeated with variations throughout the Wake, defies

107

a single interpretation, the nature of its inquiry is
clear. Recognizing her separate existence ("I am"), the
female desires to know its meaning, here beginning with
visual perception ("alook alike"). Her questions only
make the Jarl hostile and serve to incite the battle of
the sexes. "And that was how the skirtmishes [Skirt =
female + Gael. mieke, I am? began" (21.19).

The Jarl apparently feels that to answer this
question, to identify the female, would be to jeopardize
his position in the social order. He refuses to admit
her existence. In retaliation, the prankquean steals
each of his twin sons in turn, transforming the appearance
of each and changing each personality as well. Further,
with each visit the prankquean herself changes her cloth-
ing, using it like a weapon as if to defy the Jarl's
identifying her on the basis of a superficial costume alone
should he attempt to do so.

The third visit finally rouses the Jarl, "old terror
of the dames" (22.32), to action. Using the prankquean's
own sartorial weapon against her, he emerges from his
castle

in his broadginger hat and his civic chollar
and his allabuff hemmed and his bullbraggin
soxangloves and his ladbroke breeks and his
cattegut bandolair and his furframed panuncular
cumbottes like a rudd yellow gruebleen orange-
man in his violet indigonation, to the whole
longth of the strongth of his bowman's bill
(22.34-36, 23.1-3).

The Jarl's costume establishes him as the stronger

108

force in this conflict, and he immediately asserts his

powers of law: "he ordurd" (23.4). His imposition of

order is Simultaneously a directive to the prankquean

and a change of state in himself as well. "Orduring,"

or evacuation, parallels the pattern of the female's

making her "wit," or urinating, upon the Jarl's premises —

a pattern, or motif, used throughout the fleke in the

context of creativity and the life process.12 The Jarl's

order, verbal and physical, creates the conditions for

a change of state both in himself and in the social

structure.13 He commands the prankquean to "shut up

ShOp, dappy. And the duppy shot the shutter clup

(Perkodhuskurunbarggruauyagokgor1ayorgromgremmitghundhur-

thrumathunaradidillifaititillibumullunukkunun!)" (23.5-7).
Since the Jarl is directing his order-ordure to the

prankquean, I suggest that he is responding at last to

her "I am" question by naming her "dappy" and "duppy."

The terms are surprisingly apt definitions of the female
so apprOpriate that a thunder sounds, indicating a
creative advance in human development. To clarify the
meaning of these definitive names, one first must recall
the story's initial term for the female: "dummy," the
silent sister. Second, "dappy" implies the Jarl's
recognition of the prankquean's sex. That word is a
combined ”dame" and "mammy" with "pp" replacing "mm"
since the prankquean has repeatedly exhibited her female

reproductive potential with her "pee-pee." Third,

109

»"duppy" closely approximates "dummy": and it suggests
that if the prankquean, even with her creative "pp," is
to take over the function of wife and mother, she must
do so mutely. The Jarl's reSponse to the prankquean's
question is, then, a gicgrso since he creates her mean-
ing by making it out of himself, exactly the process
Vico described again and again in his science. She is
woman and mother, hence a partner in creation by virtue
of the likeness in her "wit" and the Jarl's "ordure."14
At the same time, she is to obey his order to be silent.

The immediateresults of the gicgrsg are dramatic.
The narrative itself is resolved; there is peace. And,
this peace is also a piece of art; "the first peace of
illiterative porthery in all the floody flamend flatuous
world" (23.9-10). Its subject is the prankquean's
infiltration of the enemy camp, the Jarl's stronghold,
and of her inclusion as a part of the family. The poem
is aptly titled "How kirssy [the prankqueag? the tiler
made a sweet unclose to the Narwhealian captol" (23.10—
11). The title carries allusions to other characters in
Einnegene fleke who will appear in varied art forms:
Persse O'Reilly, Kersse the Tailor (who also made a
"sweet unclose," a "suit of clothes"), and the Norwegian
Captain.

The poem's title also relates to the prankquean in
another way. The chief sounds in "kirssy" are k-c.

93y applying the Irish P/K Split15 to these letters, they

110

transform to p-p, the letters that the Jarl assigned to
the female in "dappy" and "duppy." This female of
creative "p-p" has managed to Open the closed circle of
the family: as a "tiler," she has "made a sweet" to
"unclose" the social unit. The male fortress that the
female has forced open has a nautical name reminiscent
of Finn with his barge. The Jarl's "Narwhealian captol"
is actually a whaling ship and a rather unhealthy,
sterile one at that without a female aboard. Such
identification of the name results from use of Vichian
etymological analysis. The term contains "narwhal," a
small whale: "nar" - corpse, white belly; "captol" -
capitol; also, use of the Irish L/R interchangel6 trans-
forms this word to "captor," a type of French ship.

In this newly eXpanded social order, the duties of
each family member are nautically outlined. "The prank-
quean was to hold her dummyship and the jimminies was
to keep the peacewave and van Hoother was to git the
wind up" (23.12-14). In other words, the female is to
act as guardian of the daughter ("her dummyship," mute
vessel) and to maintain silence as well (to hold her own
"dummyship"). The twin boys are to assure the family
harmonious sailing. The father now plans to take over
the process of procreation by means of sexual inter-
course rather than his former asexual method. The male
will inseminate the female by "gitting the wind up."17

In this second thunder-gicgrsg, the Jove-like Jarl

111

acts creatively as a result of the female's question,
thereby making meaning and ultimately creating order out
of his own imaging powers. This narrative is an
apprOpriate demonstration of Vico's theory of knowledge,
the self-creative operations of making and knowing among
the first men. In fact, the Scienza fleeye itself can be
used to summarize this passage in the fleke:
. . . the age of the gods coursed on, . . .
Thus, in the State of the families, out of
the reigning fathers they made Jove; . . .
providence led them again to unite with
certain women in constant and lifelong
companionship; . . . (éfl, 629).
- ' s 3

This thunder is a particularly good example of the
Vichian gieegee as the swift retracing of the past in
order to revitalize present human creativity. In
addition, it demonstrates another of Vico's principles:
his designation of fables as "imaginative class concepts"
of which the early myths were the "allegories corres-
ponding to them" (3 , 403). Finally, this thunder —-
or the action immediately preceding it -illustrates a
third Vichian theory, the "heroic character" or "imag-
inative universal" (ea, 934). The three principles
coalesce in the figure of "Hosty" the pub-keeper who
creates "The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly."

In develOping his principles of icors , fable,

and heroic characters, Vico gives numerous examples but

points out that the greatest creation of the "theological

112

poets” who made the fables was "that of Jove, king and
father of men and gods, in the act of hurling the
lightning bolt: . . ." (§fl, 379). Because Jove Spoke
directly to his people,

he acquired the two titles, that of best

( timus) in the sense of strongest (fertis-
eimee) (as by a reverse process fortis meant

in early Latin what genus did in late), and
that of greatest (maximus) from his vast body,
the sky itself. From the first great benefit
he conferred on mankind by not destroying it
with his bolts, he received the title Sgger,
or savior. . .Afind a second title? Stat r,
stayer or establisher (SN, 379..

JOve was, then, man's first "divine character or

imaginative universal" (Sfl, 381).

The development of heroic characters followed from
the divine. Heroes such as Hercules and Bacchus were
imaginative universals described as men who were sons of
the great Jove who had impregnated their mothers with a
thunderbolt (éfl: 508). All heroes' assertion that they
were sons of JOve was, according to Vico, "a truth of
the senses to them" (éfl. 508) since full reasoning powers
had not yet develOped. Heroic characters were consequently
created in the reverse of today's artistic process. For
example, the contemporary poet, wishing to write of
thirst, searches for an appropriate metaphor or image
for that abstraction. Primitive man, incapable of
abstraction but sensing a need for water, identified

lakes and rivers metaphorically: and his metaphors were

true reality to him. For example, bodies of water were

113

goddesses who waited to fulfill his needs and to whose

persons he attached a series of water myths (gfl, 528).

The first men viewed all of life poetically and
attributed to bodies the being of animate sub-
stances, with capacities measured by their own,
namely sense and passion, and in this way made

fables [Imaginative class concepte7 of them.
Thus every metaphor so formed is a fable in

brief (§fl, 404).

In similar fashion, later cultures develOped "heroic
. characters,” a corporate individual to whom theycould
ascribe the creation of the myths originated through time
by the group. Vico's key to his science was, as I noted
earlier, his discovery that Homer was not a single, real
person any more than Achilles was. The fact was that

. . . the Greek peoples were themselves Homer

(S , 875). [This corporate figure? . . .

lived on the lips and in the memories of the
peo les of Greece. . .Zfor? 460 years. (gm.
876 . And the blindness and the poverty of
Homer were characteristics of the rhapsodes,
who, being blind, . . . had exceptionally
retentive memories, and being poor, sustained
life by singing the poems of Homer. . . .

(S , 877, 878).

In the lines preceding the fleke's third thunder, Joyce
managed to make double use of this Vichian principle

of the corporate character. First, the ballad creator
IprOper is Hosty, evidently a host of people because
”Boyles and Cahills, Skerretts and Pritchards, viersified
and piersified. . . ."18 SecOnd, Hosty himself creates

a creator of the song, a character who is a conglomerate
0f twenty listed heroic characters.19 Then, since

fhasty is the present versifier, or maker of the ”rann"

'n
1‘33":

'\ 1'5

“0”»

: I

:LA

v..-

V-‘

ah:

A:
\H

0"

n:

A!

("1.

7

'f

114

(Gaelic for "verse“), he announces the hero-composer's
name: "I parse him Persse O'Reilly else he's called no
name at all" (44.13-14).

This Persse is a counterpart of the prankquean
("kirssy") in the second thunder passage. Both figures
appeal to the senses, but the prankquean had dealt with
Sight (in clothing, in her transformation of the children)
while Persse's sensory appeal is that of sound. While
the ballad itself is an art form born of the Spontaneous
imagination of "poetic wisdom," its words are nonethe-
less derogatory of the father-figure. Thunder two had
sounded with the father's creative act. Paradoxically,
thunder three Signals an art form, the message of which
diminishes the father in reputation and position. For
this reason, perhaps, the ballad is attributed to "Persse,"
a name meaning "destroyer" or "destruction."20

At the same time, this very diminution of the
father's image is a Sign of humanity's progress in the
modifications of the mind. According to the Sciegza flegye,
as mankind's "vast imagination shrank and the power of
abstraction grew, the personifications were reduced to
diminutive signs" (§fl, 402). Therefore, HCE's denigra-
tion actually may be viewed as a sign of evolving human
mental powers. This idea, in turn, suggests that the
tr“Anders will become increasingly more Specific signals
0f man's reflective returns for purposes of social

reVivification. This evolutive process in which progress

1
CE.

‘I
‘
'.'.(

vi

a:

115

calls for the destruction of myth, man's first explana-

tion of reality, is amplified by Vico:
Metonymy drew a cloak of learning over the pre-
vailing ignorance of these origins of human
institutions, . . . [For example? Jove becomes
so small and light that he is flown about by
an eagle. Neptune rides the waves in a fragile
chariot (§fl, 402).

' In the Wekels present ballad sequences, this second
thunder-{eeegee that marks man's movement from poetic
wisdom toward philOSOphic wisdom is preceded by greater
awareness (hence greater control) concerning the event:

Arrah, leave it to Hosty, . . . for he's the

mann to rhyme the rann, . . . Have you here?

(Some ha) Have we where? (Somehant) Have

you hered? (Others do) Have we whered?

(Others don't) It's cumming, it's brumming!

The clip, the clop! (All cla) Glass crash.

The (klikkaklakkaklaskaklopatzklatschabatta-

creppycrottygraddaghsemmihsammihnouithappludd-

yappladdypkonpkot!) (44.15-21).
This thunder sounds like applause, at least from those
who have attained awareness of the significance of this
act of memory. A third time humanity has pressed for-
ward in its quest for its self-created meaning.
W

The {ieegee that takes place during the trial of

Festy King is one of Jche's most obvious examples of
Vico's conception of the reflective return to the past.
Following the thunder, Finn is brought from his grave to
act as a witness for the defense. While his testimony
does not actually help the case of the defendent, the

failure is not so much his as it is those who have

v
I“.
ch...

‘5 ‘
4‘

Fl

.’ f

116

resurrected him. This situation suggests that, by the
time of the trial, humanity has evolved greater powers
of reason and reflection but that mankind is still
faltering in his ability to extract clear meaning from
that which memory evokes.

The trial is a festival, mardi gras, sacramental
offering of the scapegoat, banquet -in short, a "play"
in every sense of the word. It signifies a Specific
human method for the creation of meaning: "playing" a
role. At the trial, HCE wears a costume of "a child of
Maam,21 Festy King" (85.23), the festival king to be
sacrificed for the "sins" of the group. Witnesses are
called during this ritual, the main character of the
"play" being the cad.

Interrogation of the cad reveals that, deSpite his
criticism of HCE, he is himself identified with him,
having been given life by the prisoner. The first question
asked of the cad concerns his veridicious ess, his

natural truth.22

The mixer, accordingly, was bluntly broached, .
. . as to whether he was one of those lucky
cocks for whom the audible-visible-gnosible
edible world existed (88.4-7).

Does he really exist?

The cad's answer is affirmative, and his evidence for
his existence is his account of the event in the park:

That he was only too cognitively conatively
cogitabundantly sure of it because, living,
loving, breathing, and sleeping morphomelo-
sophopancreates, as he most Significantly did,
whenever he thought he heard he saw he felt
he made a bell clipperclipperclipperclipper
(8807-11).

d

F.

its.

RU:

117

These sensory reSponses actually were HCE's when he
heard the church bell ringing, but the cad has eXperienced
them also because he has grown out of HCE.
Next asked his name, the cad answers with a list

of titles which again are those of HCE. Questioned
further about his name, he adds other Startling infor-
mation.

But, of course, he could call himself Tem,

too, if he had tome to? You butt he could

anytom. When he pleased? Win and place.

A stoker temptated by evesdripping against

the driver who was a witness as well?

Sacred avatar, how the devil did they guess

it! Two dreamyums in one dromium? Yes and

no error. And both as like as a duel of

lentils? Peacisely. So he was pelted out

of the coram pOpulo, was he? Be the powers

that be he was (88.34-6, 89.1-5).
Is the cad a time-figure ("Tem") who may also be a
tempter ("Tem, too") if given authority ("tome" e book,
written legality)?” Yes, he is human --"in time" --
and has also inherited man's basic guilt-sin-sex complex
("anytom" recalls Finn's earlier "Mastabadtom"). Does
he have freedom to call himself Tem when he pleeeeg?
His answer is "win and place" (when-win = time; please-
place a Space), a play on words adding further details
about the cad's identity.24

The court is Shocked by the cad's answer. Does he

mean that he and HCE share some eXperience, the one
given vital energy indirectly by the other? Is the
pipe-smoking cad ("Stoker" a smoker 3 locomotive furnace

tender) "temptated (brought to life, into time) by

118

evesdripping (somehow using the female) against the
driver" (HCE: locomotive driving wheel indirectly set-
ting other wheels in motion)? Are accused and accuser
the same? Yes, they are twins, two "dreamyums" living
in one "dromium."25 This revelation of the common
dwelling of HCE and the cad —-HCE's consciousness —-
is indeed the union of contraries, a yes-and-no area.
Is the cad "pelted" (of the same fur) exactly like the
”ram lad," HCE, who is in turn the corporate body of
the age, the "co-ram populo"? Yes, answers the cad, the
two share a common origin.

The examination of the witness continues, becoming
more and more pointed as to HCE's park-indiscretion.
In reSponse, the cad begins to cater to the court's
obvious concupiscent curiosity. If HCE really did engage
in some kind of sexual activity, they ask, did it result
"in yappanoise language, ach bad clap?" To this the cad
answers, "00! Ah!" (90.27-28). His reply echoes the

fleke's A-O motif,26

the letters for beginning and end.
Here, the cad reverses them, perhaps insinuating that
HCE's preoccupation with the female "end" has resulted
in the beginning of a "bad clap."

The court officials take the cad's answer as an
admission of HCE's participation in an undefined orgy.
Reversing the cad's O-A, they ask, "Augs and ohrs Rhian

O'Kehley to put it tertianly, we wrong?" (90.28-29).

Or, perhaps HCE's eyes and ears (G. augen and Qhren)

119

confused (Gael., Rhia , mixed up) the top and bottom
(A-O: Rhien 9)? Perhaps HCE used his mouth and throat
(G. kekle) in some perverted activity with the three
("tertianly") soldiers? "Treely and rurally," reSponds
the cad (90.31): "three-1y" and orally, really and
truly, freely and thoroughly.

The cad's ”treely and rurally" has yet another
function. The words trigger a thunder-ricgrsg that will
bring Finn from the past to act as a second witness for
HCE-Festy King. The words are symbolic of nature (tree)
and Space (IE. base for ”rural" is rew 5, Space; Joyce
designated HCE as mountain, Space). In such a context,
the two words become a call for reinforcements from
nature-from the Hill of Howth where Finn lies sleeping.
The cad is therefore employing gicerse consciously to
aid him in his efforts as a witness. The thunder sounds:
"Bladyughfoulmoecklenburgwhurawhorascortastrumpaporn-
anennykocksapastippatappatupperstrippuckputtanach"
(90.32-33). The cad seems to be completely aware of the
nature of his act. He has called upon the past, certain
that history will reinforce his testimony. "YOu have it
alright," he remarks in satisfaction after the thunder
rumbles (90.33).

There issome reason for the cad's sense of security
at this resurrection of the past. The thunder word
itself contains a series of pornographic allusions to

sex.27 They are as follows:

120

Bladyughfoulmoecklenburgwhur a Bloody you -
ugh -to foul my clean burgher (HCE has
earlier been called a "bigcleanminded giant,
33.29, and has an "erstwhile burr" (34.36).
awhoras - a'whoring after (ass)

cortastrumps - courtesans and strumpets

pornanennykocksap - Gr. r e, harlot - any
cock - sap (semen?)

astippatap - ass, tip it up - or, patting the
ass

patupperstrip - pat the upper area

strippuckputtanach - strip, poke, put it in

While this is only one suggested reading, the thunder
does imply that the “luciferant” (35.11) cad has an
intimate relationship to human sexuality, hence crea-
tivity. Although his Speech is crude, he has somehow
been the chief moving force in activating this giegrse.

"Meirdreach and Oincuish!" (90.34) is the first
shocked reaction of the court: a whore, a harlot!28
HOwever, a new witness stands before the judge and jury,
and his very presence denies such a judgment of the man
on trial. From the grave of history, "the senior king
of all, Pegger Festy," (90.36, 91.1) has risen to bear
witness to the essential decency of his "sibsubstitute,"
HCE-Festy King.

This earlier Festy first has his "stuccomuck," or
his gravedmud, removed at the court's request. Immed-

iately he begins to testify "in a loudburst of poesy,

through his Brythonic interpreter on his oath" (91.3-4)

121

that he is not guilty of anything "either before or
after he was born down and up to that time" (91.12-13).
In his native "poesy" the giant Speaks of the first
human.age of "poetic wisdom," to use Vico's term. His
"brythonic" words are Celtic and must therefore be trans-
lated by an interpreter who is ”on his oath" (HCE'S
‘mountain, the Hill of Howth, pronounced "hoaeth" accord-
ing to Jchezg). This is the hill under which Finn has
lain sleeping.

Pegger Festy's testimony is actually a defense for
himself, which is apprOpriate although misunderstood.
Finn and HCE are also one person, as in the case of HCE
and the cad. Both figures signify the same culture but
at different Stages of its development. The court
ridicules Pegger when he tries to make the Sign of the
cross, the "Roman God-helic faix" (91.35-36), as a
gesture or hieroglyph of his truthfulness. Finn's attempt
to vindicate HCE is futile because his testimony Simply
parallels that of the cad about their relationsip to HCE.
Such.evidence does nothing to clear HCE so far as the
court is concerned. But, it does emphasize the inter-
relatedness of the three males in terms of the historical
time-line.

Equally as important, these testimonies outline the
movement of human evolution, as Vico explained it, in the

synthesis of time and idea. The Wake explains,

The hilariohoot of Pegger's Windup cumjustled
as neatly with the tristitone of the wet Pinter's

122

as were they ieee’ee ille, equals of opposites,
evolved by a onesame power of nature or of
Spirit, ieee, as the sole condition and means
of its himundher manifestation and polarised

for reunion by the symphysis of their anti-

pathies. Distinctly different were their

duasdestinies (92.6-11).
Finn's cheerful ("hilariohoot," L. hilagis) testimony
("Pegger's Windup") does fit naturally ("cumjustle")
with HCE'S trustworthy but melancholy tone ("tristitone"
-L. skieeie, sad: TristOpher, the twin of Hilary).3O
The ”triStitone” is also a "tri-tone" or third voice of
the cad who has testified that he and HCE are one. HCE
is the ”Wet Pinter," first, because he has "appeared in
dry doc ” while "soaked in methylated" (85.31-32).
Second, in his earlier meeting with the cad, he perspired
nervously and then "pointed at an angle" (36.17) toward
'the grave of Finn for self-identification. Finn and HCE
are further related by their titles, whose initials are
reversed "Eegger's flindup" and "flet fiinter." This
reversal, however, does not signify a swapping of roles
solmuch as it indicates the time-differential of the two.
HCE and Finn are ieee e; 11.12 (L. 15, "he" + CE and L.
111e, the former), ”equals" in their humanity but "of
Opposites" in their historic ages and in their mind's
modifications. Phey are also ”equals of opposites" in

their nature. In becoming human, all men share equally
the problem of innate W: finite body and

infinite Spirit.
Finn and HCE have "evolved by e eneeeme pgge; Q;

123

DELEIE.Q£.Q£.§21£iL-" In other words, the one same
agent working either through the body (time) or Spirit

(idea) empowers the evolution of man. And, iege -it is
"that Of yours": it is immanent among all men in all
historic ages. The "sole condition and means" of this
power's "manifestation" is its "himundher" aSpect. It

is revealed in human history through "him and her," male-
female perpetuation of the race; in time's arrow here and
there (G. Din 2mg egg): and in the Vichian principle of
Speech and words as central to human evolution (G. £229:
mouth). Human Speech makes possible the "poetic state-
ments" that reveal the Spirit in time. Therefore, Finn
and HCE are "polarized" historically in order that
"reunion" (humanity's repossession of itself as 12919
(presence) may occur through "symphasis" (synthesis +
symphony, harmony) of their "antipathies," the con-
trareity implied in humanity's distention between time
and idea or Spirit.

Although Finn's appearance and testimony do not
actually aid HCE's case, they demonstrate something about
the power and nature of the gicgrsg. It was the cad,
the polarity of HCE, who evoked the past seemingly in
an effort to damage HCE'S case. But, in descending to
'the Springs of human Spontaneous creativity, he brought
forth the truth of historical man and the pristine force
<>f that truth. The cad could not manipulate or rearrange

what he had evoked in his reflective return to the past.

124

Vico's §eienze_fleeye provides a reason for the cad's
failure to exploit the past: the first human communica-
tion evolved from gestures, objects, and finally
language ”which had natural relations with the ideas“
(§fl, 431: also 225, 383, 401). And, Vico went on, this
naturalness meant that primitive man's communication

could be nothing but true (§fl, 401). Therefore, the

 

cad's calling forth of the past has brought Finn who is
capable of Speaking truth only. If Finn is misunderstood,
it is the fault of the listener who, in a more sophisti-
cated society, has adOpted the protective coating of
circumlocution and vagueness.

This second thunder, then, is another appropriate
illustration of liQQIEQ as an act of mind that evokes
history, Finn, who is exemplary of historical man's
first natural verediciousness. That the cad's narrow
reason for retracing the past is overwhelmed by the far-
reaching effects of his act is also "pure Vico." In
Vico's final summary, he explained how "the particular
ends that men had prOposed to themselves" are turned by
a "mind often diverse, at times quite contrary, and
always superior" toward human benefits of far greater
dimensions than those intended by means that are "always
employed to preserve the human race upon this earth"
(em, 1108).

W

Anna Livia's letter is the subject of 1.5 in which

125

the fifth thunder sounds. This chapter is concerned
not only with the technologies of printing and photo-
graphy, it is also overflowing with literary works and
comments about them.31 Since it is the mother-as-hen
who has scratched the letter out of the garbage heap,
the chapter and its thunder also have to do with the
emergence of the female as a subject for close scrutiny.
Unlike the prankquean, this woman has not been told to
keep her Silence: nor would she be apt to obey were she
so ordered. ALP'S main task is to clear her husband of
suSpicion, a project that cannot be completed without
language both written and Spoken.

Written language, the famous letter, preoccupies
the interest of the characters in this chapter. The
titles of the letter are given, its paper and envelope
are examined, and it is finally read (lO4-lll.24). The
results of this careful investigation are a complete zero
because the letter has lain in the "litter" (history's
dump: HCE'S hideout) so long that it is smudged, punctured,
and illegible. There is also the suggestion that its
readers are too close to the letter, both physically and
emotionally, to extract its meaning,

causing somefeatures palpably nearer your
pecker to be swollen up most grossly while
the farther back we manage to wiggle the
more we need the loan of a lens to see as
much as the hen saw (111.35-36, 112.1-2).

Tfihe letter's examiners are historically Short-sighted:

they are unable to take the long view of human progress.

126

Such a view would be a fully conscious IIQQIEQ such as
they are incapable of at present.

Since the letter is unintelligible, the researchers
turn to the little hen—mother herself. Their words
imply that the female has always been the dominant force
in any society: "Lead, kindly fowl! They always did:
ask the ages. What bird has done yesterday man may do
next year, . . ." (112.9—10). As the Speech continues,
however, it becomes evident that in the present social
structure the woman is thought to be usurping the male's
role.‘ In time ". . . the manewanting human lioness with
her dishorned discipular manram will lie down together
publicly flank upon fleece" (112.21-23). Further, the
Speaker notes that there is some consternation about the
female's intrusion into the masculine Spheres of activity,
particularly that of literature (112.23927).

The speaker goes on to call ”this midget madgetcy"
izhe "Misthress of Arths" (112.29-3), bestowing an M.A.
<iegree and hinting that her actions may resemble those
<>f Arthur's queen. The female has, with her degree, a
"right“ to literature and the arts, but she may be
tunfaithful to their standards -a Guinevere to poetry.
*Tfiue Speaker is quick to defend this woman of letters,

however. He asks,

But how many of her readers realize that She
is not out to dizzledazzle with a graith
uncouthrement of post-mantuam glasseries
from the lapins and the grigs. Nuttings on
her wilelife! Grabar gooden grandy for

127

old almeanium adamologists like Dariaumaurius
and Zovotrimaserovmeravmerouvian (112.36,

11301-5).
First, in terms of business (Gael. ggeiEh) this par-

ticular mother is not attempting commercial competition

with the male. She does not care to merchandise accoutre-

ment such as foreign furs (F. lapin, rabbit; N. grig —

Norwegian krek) by mail-order catalogues or glossaries

("postmantuam glasseries"). Nor is She interested in

such scholarly pursuits as constructing (accoutre = L.

s e , sew, knit together) the class series ("glass-

eries") after the Olympian, or patriarchal, period (pg§_-
mantuam) of the Latins or the Greeks ("lapins and the
grigs").

These notions, the Speaker insists, are ridiculous

to this mother. Not on her life ("Nuttings on her

Irilelifel”) would she involve herself in such endeavors.
If She were to search history, the female would descend

far past Greek culture to the ancient Egyptians and to

Iqlxt (”Nuttings"), the sky-goddess whose ”wile-life"

produced five children32 born in the "no-time" wrought

133? Thoth. ‘In the main, graves ("grabar" -G. ggebe) are
good and grand places, she believes, for "adamologists"

who are only interested in unearthing the remains of old

3F>attriarchal societies. This female has strong feelings

alanaut over-preoccupation with the patriarch to the

exclusion of the matriarch:

128

a man alones sine anyon anyons utharas has
no rates to done a kik (dance? at with anyon
anakars about tutus milking fores and the
rereres on the outerrand asikin the tutus to

be forrarder (113.6-9).

The emphatic statement may be read several ways. First,
in business terms, a man alone without any thought for
others has no legitimate rate or right to "dun" others
about sharing fairly -two and two make four ("tutus
mindng fores") -and then to reverse his ethics, asking

that the "two and two” be more than four ("tutus to be
forrarder"). ‘
A second reading is closer to the male-female

question and appears to trigger the thunder to substan-

tiate its truth. The idea of the male alone without

(”sine") any female ("anyon" - yoni, female sexual Sign)
(or the female's uterus ("utharas") for human perpetua-
1:ion has no validity ("rates," L. IBEBS: valid). The
Ilotion is equally foolish that the male should play or
ciance around with ("done a kik at with") the female

( "anyon") and, feigning curiosity about her breasts
(I“tutus“), ask her about these two making ("milking")
four while his "rear thing" (rere + L. Lee) at the other
end ("outerrand") is asking ("asikin") that all ("tutus" =
II-. eggge) be for love ("forrarder" = for ardor). The
Statement suggests that male supremacy is a myth, that

l'Listory can prove it, and that as HCE'S mate ALP is his

equal.33

129

Immediately, in affirmation of the mother's beliefs,
the thunder roars: ”Thingcrooklyexineverypasturesix-

dixlikencehimaroundherSthemaggerbykinkinkankankanwith-

downmindlookingated" (113.9-11). First, the word con-

tains many numbers, perhaps suggesting the earlier

subject of business enterprise. The word includes such
number allusions as the following:

1 - 50

y - unknown quantity

x - 10 (also unknown quantity)

six - sexigesimal numbering system for
Tritualistic measuring of Space

and time"34
dix - Fr. 10 - decimal numbering system
11 - 51 ‘
Also, "crook," ”pasture,” and "gate" emphasize the
”milking“ or female motif. In all, the thunder word seems
‘to confirm the idea about the roles of the first parents.
I translate this thunder in the following way: Things

Ibecome twisted (”crookly”) as they evolve out of every

past (”ex in every pasture"). But, a reflective return

:in time reveals man's initial sex act as a "him around
11ers” Situation requiring equal participation by both
partners. ‘Mythically, the queen ("magger") usually
iLs impregnated by."kin" -father, son, or uncle. Their
heating is a ritual dance ("kankan") with "down mind

JLooking at it” (dawn mind: the first men: the view from

t:he horizon).
This fifth {ieggee is an even more sophisticated
iform than the fourth. While the earlier thunder produced

130

the person of Pegger Festy-Finn, this fifth thunder
extracts the idea from history and presents it in evidence
of the wife as the partner of her husband rather than his
competitor. Not surprisingly, the Scienza fleeye deals
with this evolution of the marriage partnership, begin-
ning with the first giants, progressing through the Greek
gods, and pointing out contemporary likenesses (§fl, 502-19).
For Vico, marriage was historically the second major
principle of his science. He had found man's primary
institutions to be religion, marriage, and burial. Vico
called these institutions “principles"

in the sense that they are the necessary and

sufficient generative conditions of the gene,

the minimal society that can outlive its

members and3§hus make possible an evolution

of culture.
Marriage was for Vico one of the "universal and eternal
principles . . . on which all nations were founded and
still preserve themselves" (S , 332). The fifth thunder
in the fleke_echoes agreement with the importance of that
partnership. Although 1.5 has given no valid information
about its subject, ALP'S letter, the thunder-ggeggeg
has confirmed the mother's sense of her own legitimacy
'within the marriage partnership.
T -R

11.1 of ginnegene‘fleke has earned for itself quite

appropriately the term "dense."36 The chapter's basic

framework, if one may call it so, is the children's

131

night games.37 Overlaid upon this pattern is that of

a dramatic production, "The Mime of Mick, Nick, and

the Maggies."38 To this double pattern, heavily weighted
with details and earlier motifs, there is also added

the action following the games. It is in this conclud-
ing passage that the Sixth thunder Speaks.

While the antagonism of the twin sons has much
earlier become evident, this chapter demonstrates their
animosity as they vie for their sister's attention.
Their game-play concerns a riddle asked by Issy, the
sister. Glugg (Shem) is given three chances to answer:39
however he fails miserably with each try. Chuff (Shaun)
wins Issy's attention when Glugg fails, and the latter
must watch in agony as Issy and the other girls fawn
over his brother.

Shem cannot understand his failures to attract Issy
and to be a part of this children's play-society.
"Evidentament he has failed as tiercely as the deuce
before . . . ." (253.19). "Tiercely" (G. eieg, animal,
brute) offers a hint for Shem's inability to be an
acceptable member of the social structure. The male
twins of HCE are suggestive of the division in man's
(consciousness intensifying as human civilization has
advanced. Each twin is a "half-man." Shem is the pas-
sional part of human consciousness, the sensual nature

that is closer to the "deuce," the two primeval parents.40

132

As such, Shem is out of step with the times. To be sure,
Shaun is equally fragmented: but the direction of human
progress has continued to move toward reliance on reason,
an attribute closer to Shaun's temperament.
ginnegege,fleke emphasizes Shem's situation by what

could be read as a direct allusion to the Scienza fleeye:
"Because to explain why the residue is, was, or will not
be, according to the eighth axion, . . . this yam ham
in never live could, . . ." (253.21-25). Vico's eighth
axiom in the §eienze fleeye'has to do with problems such
as Shem's and suggests their meaning as well. In his
seventh axiom, Vico discussed law and the way in which
providence has insured society's order by guiding men to
turn their very bestiality to good:

For out of the passions of men each bent on

his private advantage, for the sake of which

they would live like wild beasts in the

wilderness, it has made the civil insititutions

by which they may live in human society (S ,

133).
'The eighth axiom continues, "Things do not settle or
endure out of their natural state" (gfl, 134). Shem's
"natural state" is undisciplined and wild, although he
is sensitive to everything in his world. In the night
*game he is playing (learning-bybimitation), he has seen
Thimself rejected by the children's society. He has
learned that to endure - that is, to live in harmony

‘with others - he must somehow change his state and adopt

certain Shaun-like qualities. The possibility of change

133

is also included in Vico's eighth axion: ”man has free

choice, however weak, to make virtues of his passions:

. . .” (S , 136). The girls' rejection of 5hem stresses
the necessity of his choosing to change himself in some

way, but at this point he does not know how. He is out

of his element and suffers social rejection.

At this moment, HCE comes out to call the children
in for their studies. His presence evokes a cloud of
”murmury mermers to the mind's ear" (254.18) of earlier
forms of the father, all of whom have suffered various
feelings of separation similar to Shem's. These his-
toric emanations hover about HCE,

and we are recurrently meeting em, par Mahun
Mesme, in cycloannalism, from Space to Space,
time after time, in various phases of scripture
as in various poses of sepulture (254.25-28).
'The emanations continue to swarm, filling the "stage,"
now widened to include the parents, with the conflicts
{and confusions of the earlier fathers who lived in the
primitive times of poetic, or sentient, wisdom. Then,
as these visions of the past seem to crowd the present
lxncontrollably, "the producer (Mr John Baptister Vickar)"
(255.27) steps in to bring order back to the drama. The
Ifather's task is Simply to call the children home: it
118 not yet time for his exoneration by means of the past.
TPhe children are just beginning their learning period.
‘Phey have much.more to learn before they will be ready

to undertake the quest for the father's meaning.

134

Consequently, the producer directs the characters to
take ”your wildeshaweshowe . . . swiftly sterneward.
For here the holy language. Soons to come. To pausse"
(256.13-15).

The characters all go into the house and, as they
disappear, the thunder rolls: "Lukkedoerendunandurr-
askewdylooshoofermoyportertooryzooySphalnabortansporthu-
okansakroidverjkapakkapuk“ (257.27-28). "Shut the door,"
the thunder says in three languages (D. Lukkedeegg Gae1.,
QEDQDQEEIES Fr., fie;meype;§e;). The thunder word also
contains references to the sexual nature of human evolu-
tion, Since Shem and Shaun have felt sexual attraction
to Issy. These terms include "phal-," "abort-," "Spor-,"
and "Sport." There seems also to be a reference to the
mother, the "sacred river" ("sakroidver").

The thunder-gieggeg is followed by a call for

applause.

Byfall. (G. héifiéll: applaud)

Upploud!

The play thou schouburgst, Game, here endeth.

The curtain drops by deep request.

Uplouderamain! (257.29-33)
The thunder here affirms the action of the play as a
means of learning. Further, it suggests that, the
illumination of the past fathers having been recognized,
‘the players may close the door upon that past temporarily.
In.other words, if the past is to have use for mankind,
‘through :1;e;e1, man must be able to egnkkel that past,

to shut the door at will. If the past can overtake the

 

135

present uncontrollably, if it is never actually assimi-

lated into the present as "the past," then man becomes

41 Finnegene

Wake reiterates quite clearly these ideas of history's

the victim of history instead of its master.

use and the control of the past and memory much later in

its last pages:
‘What has gone? How it ends?
Begin to forget it. It will remember itself
from every sides, with all gestures, in each
our word. Today's truth, tomorrow's trend.
Forget, remember! (614.19-22).
With the thunder's word, the play, or game, ends. The
curtain draps by, or beside, a "deep re-quest," a type
of reprise in which the major themes of the fleke have
been swiftly reviewed immediately before the thunder. The
curtain down, there follows an epilogue Spoken as a type
of prayer (257.34-36, 258.1-18). Again, there is a
call for applause: "Uplouderamainagain!" (258.19).

The fleke's explanation of this request for applause
makes it clear that humanity is approaching the philo-
SOphic, or reflective, wisdom of the Vichian civil age.
‘The human mind has gained powers of understanding and
memory enabling man to interpret some meaning in the
thunder:

For the Clearer of the Air on high has spoken
in tumbuldum.tambaldam to his tembledim tom-
baldoom worrild and, moguphonoised by that
phonemanon, the unhappitents of the earth have
terrerumbled from fimament unto fundament and
from tweedledeedumms down to twiddledeedees
(258020-24).

 

136

The adjectives describing the world and the "Clearer's"
‘voice are strikingly Similar, almost the only difference
being the vowels used. Even these vowels overlap, for
the divinity's words contain “u - a" arrangements
(”tumbuldum tambaldam”) while those of humanity have an
”a - e - i - 0" pattern. Perhaps it is the divine "u"
that will be added to the last thunder word of 101 letters.
The explanation of the thunder voice tells even
more about humanity's present state. Man now has some
understanding of his beginnings and of his relationship
to the creator. Humanity has been modified by the noisy
voice (”moguphonoised") of that great "phone-man."
Through the soundings of the thunder and man's reSponse
to it, humanity has come to know that in the beginning
it was a creature of the earth, living by instinct .
”fimament" - L. fimgg, dirt, dung). Now, man is aware of
his procreative power (”fundament” - buttocks) and of the
society he has created as a result of that power. Man
Tknows he has evolved from a bestial State with minimal
.reasoning powers ("tweedledeedumms” - Fr. igee, idea +
dumb, mute) to an intellectual state in which he can
:reason and can have ideas about ideas ("twiddledeedees").
The invocation concludes with "Loud, hear us! Loud,
graciously hear us!" (258.25-26). There is the plea
that "thy children may read in the book of the opening of
'the mind to light and may not err in the darkness . . . .“

(258.31-32). This request has at least two meanings:

137

first, that man may continue to grow in knowledge and,
second, in the immediate case of the children, that
their homework lessons will be to good purpose.

This Sixth thunder seems to mark the end of an
important division in Einnegene flake, and this is often
explained as the end of a Vichian divine age.42 The
thunder is significant, indeed: but it can hardly be
thought of as the end of a divine age which -to use
Vico's term correctly -would be the primitive, mute,
half-bestial time of man's first experience as man. The
fact that man is able to ”play" or dramatize his remem-
bered experience (e.g., the three-question pattern of
the children's game) indicates a mental sophistication
far advanced from that of a divine-age mind. Rather,
the thunder seems to reinforce the idea of man's control
of mind and memory. Saying "Shut the door” a total of
three times, the thunder stresses humanity's advanced
state of awareness, its ability to call upon the past and
‘then, at will, to put it back within its historical
perSpective. This chapter of "play," or learning-by-
:imitation, has been a kind of re-play (recourse) of the
roast from which man can learn about himself. The sixth
izhunder underscores the validity of this kind of learning.

I suggested earlier that the thunder's silence in
ItI.2 and 11.4 might be due to the type oflearning that
izakes place in these sections. The thunders preceding

ltnd concluding the Kersse story in II.3 would then imply

138

that this narrative, a dramatized recollection, has
greater potentiality for inducing a productive rieggeg
than the other two modes of learning. This would also
hold true for thunder #9 in the fable of III.l.

The §eienee fleeye provides still another reason
that one might use to understand the thunder's silence
in 11.2 and 11.4. To explain, "philoSOphic wisdom" is
the most difficult human state to maintain because there
is always the danger of over-self sufficiency and dis-
regard of the past as a revitalizing agent. AS the

§eienze_flgeye explains it, once a democracy evolved,

These commonwealths gave birth to philosophy.
By their very form they inSpired it to form the
hero (here, a man "in command of his passions27,
and for that purpose to interest itself in
truth. All this was ordained by providence to
the end that, since virtuous actions were no
longer prompted by religious sentiments as
formerly, philosophy Should make the virtues
understood in their idea, and by that dint of
reflection thereon, if men were without virtue
they should at least be ashamed of their

vices. . . . (éfl, 1101). But as the popular
states became corrupt, so also did the philoso-
phers. They descended to skepticism. Learned
fools fell to calumniating the truth. Thence
arose a false eloquence. . . [Finally there
followed a? fall from perfect liberty into
perfect tyranny of anarchy . . . (S , 1102).

Itn other words, the ”civil age" of the mind, reached
(centuries ago, maintains itself with difficulty. Nations
arise and fall within this “age" which continues even
t:oday. For, the "civil age" is that phase of human
Eavolution in which man has gained full reasoning powers.

SSacieties may follow the course of Vico's "commonwealth,"

(Dr they may use their "philosophic wisdom" to perpetuate

139

and regenerate themselves. Since, as Vico wrote, men
no longer use as their ethical guide the old religious,

43 they now rely on their philosophers.

fearful feelings,
This kind of reliance resembles almost exactly the kind
of which Stephen Dedalus Spoke in Skephen Hege: that
"every age must look for its sanction to its poets and
philosophers” (S5, 80). As if to develop this idea,

Book II of the fleke concerns itself with the various
modes of learning by which the "civil age" of the mind
may be enhanced philosophically and poetically. II.2

and 11.4, lacking thunder, would thus be lesser or
secondary means of such enhancement.

. At the same time, as Vico noted the dangers inherent
in the commonwealth, so there is a corrupting force at
’work in Einnegene,fl§ke as well. The pressure of antagon-
ism between the twin brothers (Shem and Shaun, heart
and head, passion and reason, seeing and watching) con-
tinues to grow in 11.2, the homework section. If Shem's
geometric description of the mother's sex organs is not
a false ”calumniating of the truth,” it is certainly a
slanderous presentation of it. And, deSpite the thunders
of the radio/television sequence, II.3 concludes with
the pub customers' attack on HCE'S reputation, driving
him to an escape in whiskey with their "false eloquence”
land ”skepticism.” The pressures of corruption grow more
Jintense in 11.4, the dream sequence in which the father

eXperiences the vision of his son as usurper of his

140

sexuality and hears the "eloquent” voyeuristic commentary
of the four old historians. There is no thunder when
the past (here, the Old Four) is perverted. By the
time II.4 concludes, the family is threatened with a
crucial breakdown: a fall into "perfect tyranny of
anarchy.” This collapse imminent, there comes at last
a call to the Old Pour, a call to unmegipulateg history,
for aid in preventing the complete corruption of the
social unit. The result of that call is Shaun's quest
for the true meaning of the family, the Old Four acting
as guides and commentators during the son's recourse of
history.

Therefore, thunder #6 following the night game does
mark an important turn in the narrative of the flek_.
As learning continues within the "civil age" of the family,
the sons' conflicts and those of the father and sons
become more intense. AS the family progresses in know-
ledge, it is increasingly threatened with growing cor-
ruption. The Split consciousness of man (Shem and Shaun)
is a condition that is to become more and more acute
until.human progress will hang in the balance.
T r- ' &

Since these thunders appear at the beginning and
end of the story of the tailor and the Norwegian captain,
I Shall deal with both in this section. II.3 of ginnegene
.fleke has been given a variety of interpretations. W. Y.

Tindall notes of it, "If Chapter IX is denser than what

141

preceded it, Chapter X should be densest: but Chapter

XI is even denser.“44 It is in this "even denser"
chapter that Joyce placed the seventh and eighth thunders:
and although there are at least three separate, fully

45 the thunders

develOped narratives in the chapter,
sound only for the first story.

'The scene is HCE'S pub where he is busily filling
glasses for his customers. The first story dramatized
in this setting is ”Kersse the Tailor and the Norwegian

Captain,” a tale interpreted by some as HCE's invention.46

47 while still other

Others read it as a radio play,
critics call it a television Show.48 Although it is
extremely difficult to determine the exact medium, I
find possibly more evidence for television and will
explain my reason for this shortly. I

There also continues to be some difference of Opinion
as to the identity of Kersse. The §ke;eeen key calls

49 the alter-ego of HCE, while other

him a "young hero,"
interpretations identify him as a rival of the Norwegian'
captain, the latter being an emanation of HCE. Almost
the only bit of indiSputable evidence about Kersse's
identity is his occupation: he is a tailor. Joyce
fashioned him at least in part after a story told of a
real Dublin tailor.so However, as in reading any portion
of ginnegene fleke, the problem is not simply that of

identifying the characters or of recognizing single

allusions. Clive Hart has pointed out that the real

142

problems are "those involved in learning how to make an
adequate analysis and resynthesis of a symbolic language."51
To this statement I would add two additional necessary
steps in dealing with the complexities of the fleke:
the recognition of patterns and the comprehension of
their cumulative meaning in terms of their recurrence.
Consequently, the identification of Kersse and of the
Norwegian captain as well can best be handled within the
context of the pattern in which they appear and in terms
of that pattern's earlier appearance.

This chapter of Book II unifies with the others in
the sense of its involving a further mode of learning.
To this premise may be added another concerning the value
of these learning types. While all four chapters of
Book II deal with learning, only II.l and II.3 contain
thunder-zieggei. Nou.the gleegeg is a reflective return
to the past that, according to Vico, is possible only
with the employment of imagination and memory. These
chapters both concern themselves with "play" in particu-
lar ways. The children's game-play involves role-playing
as well as the ritual of three questions, the folk-tale
device of recurring statements, and the use of the
riddle. The pub scene makes use of the same devices of
”play" and presents them as parts of radio and television
shows, emphasizing the "play" properties of man's
technologies as a Significant mode of learning. The

first and third chapters thus contain thunders because

143

they illustrate the kind of imaginative, creative use
of memory through which humanity learns most productively.
If the statement above is valid, one may also con-
sider the reverse of it as a statement about the chapters
in which no thunder sounds. 11.2 is a less valuable
learning experience because it does not call upon the
learner to ”play" a role or to create a medium for his
memory-imaging.52 This study session involves the
assimilation of facts in the traditional, content-centered
educational mode, which'has a very low frequency rate
for generating imaginative reSponses. Conversely, II.4
(dream) is of secondary value for learning because it is
eneiker phantasy. Without clear demarcations for reality
and 91235122 imagination, the learning mode of II.4 is
uncontrolled, hence uncertain, as an authentic means of
knowledge. One might say that this phantasy chapter
verges on the schizoid Since the events that occur are
all motivated by the passions alone. Consequently, while
some learning takes place in these chapters, it is not
the kind that engenders a rieggeg. The second and
fourth chapters actually seem to contrast the effective-
ness of learning in an atmoSphere of sterile reason with
that in an atmoSphere of unbridled passion. As such,
neither Situation provides a satisfactory setting for
learning nor a wholly suitable educational method. On
the other hand, 11.1 and II.3, providing freedom for

human "play" both in drama-experience and in man's

144

technological innovations as "toys," contain thunder
words whose presence emphasizes the authenticity of
the learning modes employed.

The learning mode of II.3 is, then, at least in the
first narrative presented, a valuable one that uses the
newer media of communication, radio and television.53
The products of human creativity, these media are also
potentially a part of the "book of the opening of the
mind to light" (258.31-32). Television is particularly
significant because it uses, within a new dimension and
on a higher level of intellection, the hieroglyphic
gesture of Vico's first men. In its wide reach of
audience, it can bring nations and continents into a
near-familial proximity through mimesis.

Such a technology, used with a sense of history, can
indeed open the mind to light in a paradoxical turn of
humanity back to its beginnings to regain what Stephen
Dedalus called “the force to live, the security for
life" (§fl, 80). This adaptation of a process that
utilizes earlier processes (i.e., television's use of
gesture) is in no sense a historical cycle or re-cycle.
It is the application of memory, in the Vichian sense,
to the "separated elements of precedent decomposition
for the verypetpurpose of subsequent recombination"
(614.34-35) within the social fabric of contemporary
.times. The purpose of such application is the renewal

of that fabric.

145

If the mode of learning in 11.3 is as I have des-
cribed it, one can better understand the chapter's
beginning with reference to the "balk of the deaf“
(309.3), the Egyptian Begk_g§ EDE.QQBQ- The television
and radio plays will revive the early hieroglyphic
gestures of man, or at least the Spirit that attended
them. In keeping with this Egyptian motif, the chapter
uses Egyptian names or approximations of them.54 Also,
HCE recites a "negative confession" early in the chapter
(311.10-14). the form of which follows the egg]; 9; the
geee's negative confessions that "declare the moral
purity cf the man who has been redeemed: . . .”55 The
technologiCal innovations that entertain the pub crowd
become, then, the media for evoking athunder-gieggee.

HCE'S pub with its electronic entertainment is a
popular place. To the customers, this

House of call is all their evenbreads though

its cartomance hallucinate like an erection

in the night the mummery of whose deed, a lur

of Nur, immerges a mirage in a merror, . . .

(310.22-24). *
There is a magical allure about these media that fasci-
nates and entertains the clientele who come to be
"muzzinmessed for one watthour, . . . (310.25) that is
also a ”watch-hour" extending to closing time. The
drinkers listen to and watch the "mirage in a merror,"
'the television set. Although the chapter begins with

a description of a radio, the reference to a "mirror"

immediately preceding the Kersse story leads me to

146

believe that the medium, at least part of the time, is
television. In fact, the idea of the mirror also sug-
gests that what the pub audience will see is a reversed
story.

The televised story finally begins, and the main
characters are in a sense reversed images of the Prank-
quean Story figures. In that ”first illiterative por-
thery" there had been the pirate prankquean, “her grace
o'malice“ (20.2041)?6 the Jarl; the two "jiminies":
and the dummy. In this story, the sailor is a male,
the Norwegian captain: the "ship's husband” or shipping
agent57 is the authoritative father-figure; and the
tailor seems to approximate the role of the earlier
twins although he does not play his part silently nor is
he kidnapped by the sailor. Finally, the daughter of
the “ship's husband” appears to be cast in the role of
the earlier dummy. Obviously, to say that the two
stories are a perfect point-by-point reversal would be
incorrect. It is the RELEEEO of the two narratives in
which one finds significant likenesses. Of equal importance,
the meaning of this pattern-likeness within the context
of the thunder-ricegei points to the nature of human
progress.

The Norwegian captain comes to town and asks the
shipping agent 'wl'ere he might have a suit made. (Con-
'versely, the Prankquean had arrived to "pay suit“ to

the Jarl, asking her question.) The ship's husband

147

(an HCE-figure who is also a pub owner) freely answers
the sailor and recommends "that bediest his friend, the
tayler" (311.25-26). This tailor, explains the ship's
husband, is the "Ashe and Whitehead, successor to"
(311.24). If "ashe" refers to “tree" and "Whitehead"

58 then the tailor's ante-

to a white-capped mountain,
cedents are tree (nature) and mountain, "stem or stone"
(216.3-4), the archetypal parents. The tailor seems to

be something of a novice at his trade, but he is eager

to make the suit: "Let me prove, I pray thee, but this
once; sazd Mengarments" (311.29-30).

This tailor also bears a certain likeness to the
prankquean. He desires to make a suit of clothes while
she made a ”sweet unclose," or opened the hitherto closed
family circle or "wheel" of the male-dominated social
structure.59 When he cannot successfully fit the captain,
the tailor changes the sailor to fit the clothes, trans-
forming him into a guitar for the daughter of the ship's
husband.60 The tailor's similarity to the prankquean as
well as to the jiminies is exemplary of the way in which
Joyce repeated the patterns of earlier events without a)
strict one-to-one relationship. In the earlier narrative,
the prankquean paid three visits, stole the jiminies,
and transformed them. In the present story, the Norwegian
captain parallels the prankquean's three visits, and the
tailor plays the role of the jiminies but transforms

rather than being transformed. The tailor's name, Kersse,

148

relates him to the prankquean (as "kirssy the tiler")
and to Persse O'Reilly, the corporate author of the
earlier ballad.61

The tailor's attempt to suit the sailor fails when
the captain takes ”French leave" ("he tog his fringe
sleeve," 311.33), running off without paying. The
ship's husband calls after the captain, in Jarl-like
words, to come back: "Stolp, tief, stolp, come bag to
Moy Eireann!” (312.1). Although it is the father—figure
who calls for the restoration of order, it is the son-
figure, Kersse the~tailor, who vows to go after the
captain. The pub audience calls encouragement to the
tailor as he repeats his decision to follow the captain
"to Adams" if necessary:

-Sets on sayfohrtl Go to it, agitator!
they bassabosuned over the flowre of their
hoose. Godeown moseys and skeep thy beeble
bee!

-I will do that, acordial, by mine hand,
sazd Kersse, piece Cod, . . . as sober as
the ship's husband he was one my godfather
when he told me saw whileupon I am now well
and jurily sagasfide after the boonamorse
the widower, according to rider, following
pnomoneya, he is consistently blown to
Adams. So help me boyg who keeps the book!
(31304-13). .

The tailor's speech initiates the possibility for a
thunder. He vows to follow the sailor even to the
beginning of human time, to "riverrun, past Eve and
Adam's" as it is now recorded in ”the book." In his
avowal, the tailor foreshadows Shaun's retracing of

history in Book III.

149

In the present narrative, the tailor's mention of
the first human condition turns the pub talk to the
subject of man's initial "fall." The conversation is
couched in nautical terms since it is simultaneously
a discussion of the Norwegian captain as well. Finally,
the inevitable questions are asked: why did the fall
occur and how?

. . how the camel and where the deiffel or
when the finicking or why the funicking, who
caused the scaffolding to be first removed
you give orders, babeling, were their reidey
meade answer when on the cutey (the coreSpon-
dent) in conflict of evidence drew a kick at
witness but (missed) and for whom in the
dyfflun's kiddy removed the planks they were
wanted , boob.

Bump!

Bothal 1 cho ractorschummi naroundgans ummnina’mmdrum-
strumtruminahumptadumpwaultopoofoolooderamauns-
turnup:

- Did do a dive, aped one.

- Propellopalombarouter, based two.

- Rutsch is for rutterman ramping his roe,

seed three. (313.36, 314)
The customers' remarks about the fall of man, about the
removal of the scaffolding, and about the possibility of
the female's role in the event all precipitate the
thunder o

The thunder-word itself emphasizes the interrelated-
ness of the characters and action, the first fall, the
Prankquean Story, and the present tailor-sailor narrative.
Equally important, the customers' judgments about the

thunder-ziggggg,indicates humanity's progressin utilizing

150

the thunder for such decisions. Their reSponse to the
thunder's voice comes in "ABC" fashion ("aped," "based,"
"seed“). The order of their judgments also reflects the
evolution of humanity, or the modifications of the mind.
The first speaker simply "apes" or imitates the fact

of the fall. The second uses some reason as the "basis"
of his response: the thunder recapitulates man's loss
of Eden, or recounts his being propelled from it. The
'third offers a judgment resulting from his "seeing" the
gigggggj "Rutsch (G. ggtggh, a fall, slip) is for
rutterman" (rutter a chart of a course; also, a horseman
[Willingdonez7g also, a rudderman.z£he sailorZ?) in the
act of "ramping (v. ramp 3 to advance in a menacing way,
to rage) his roe" (fish eggs, or offspring in pre-birth
state). In other words, the fall of man is judged as
an injustice; the guiding man appears to be menacing his
own children unnecessarily. Whether the judgment is
right or wrong, whether it is related to the father as
God, Finn, HCE, or the Norwegian captain, the important
point is that this thunder-{jggggg brings a creative
response among its listeners.

The significance of this seventh thunder lies in
its reference to the first thunder and the fall. In
turn, the characters' responses to this reference are
imaginative judgments that illustrate social revitaliza-
tion in action. The Norwegian captain.-Kerrse the tailor

story is the chapter's only narrative that turns back

151

to the first fall of man during its action. Other
stories (Buckley and the Russian General, the Butt and
Taff episode) take up later conflicts of humanity in its
social evolution and are thus outgrowths of this first
story. Because of this important recourse to man's
beginning, it follows that the story's beginning and
concluding thunders are used to emphasize the signifi-
cance of humanity's reflective return to its own genesis.
The second visit of the Norwegian captain parallels
the first except that he eats a meal and then leaves
without paying for it. An affront to the ship's husband,
it is nonetheless Kersse the tailor who chases the
sailor. The third time, the captain returns close upon
the heels of his second visit. Again, Kersse (“Ashe
Junior,” 321.34) arrives upon the scene still following
the captain. By now, the tailor seems to have lost
pOpularity with his townsmen, for they greet him with
cries to take off his white hat: "-Take off thatch
whitehat . . . .” (322.1). If Kersse is related to
"Ashe and Whitehead,” the mother and father, he is
apparently no longer considered worthy of the relation-
ship.. After all, the tailor has not been able to suit
the captain satisfactorily, nor has he been successful
in bringing the captain back for judgment. However, even
if the tailor's suit for the captain has been a failure,

his RBEEELS of him has paid off in the captain's coming

152

back to the town of his own accord.

Once the captain has returned, the ship's husband
and his allies set about ”civilizing" the sailor. First,
they baptize him ("I popetithes thee, Ocean, . . .
Oscarvaughther, . . . Erievikkingr, . . ." 326.6-7) and
then talk him into marrying the daughter of the ship's
husband who will "beat his barge into a battering pram"
(328.2-3). Here the story demonstrates another reversal
of the prankquean narrative. In that tale, the female
had to force her way into the family. In the present
story, the sailor is cornered and then coaxed to become
a member of the family. Since the captain would not pay
for the tailor's ill-fitting suit of clothes, the tailor
has made another kind. He has paid suit to the captain
and has won him as a husband for the female. This
reversal of the prankquean story is, then, more than a
simple turnabout. It is a far more complex narrative in
which the characters share or exchange attributes of the
earlier figures.

The captain's conversion is assured when he tells
"Kersse, Son of Joe Ashe, her coaxfonder" (328.4-5) that
he is willing to marry the daughter. The sailor declares,

I will turn my thinks to things alove and

I will speak but threes ones, . . . when

it comes to the ride onerable, . . . she'll
have then in her armsbrace to doll the
dallydandle, our fiery quean, . . . (328.6-7,
13, 30-31).

TPhe union of the two makes for general joy in town.

153

”And Dub did glow that night. . . . The soul of every-

elsesbody rolled into its olesoleself" (329.14, 19).

The story itself concludes with an assertion of the

love shared by the couple, who now are Spoken of as

HCE and ALP. Thunder #8 accompanies this conclusion to

emphasize the veracity of the statement:
Noo err historyend good. Of a lil trip trap
and a big treeskooner for he ut off the ketyl
and they made three (for fie! and if hec dont
love alpy then lad you annoy me. For hanigen
with hunigen still haunt ahunt to finnd their
hinnigen where Pappappapparrassannuaragheal-
lachnatullaghmonganmacmacmacwhackfa1ltherdebble-

nonthedubb 1a ndaddydoodled and anruly person
creeked a jest. . .

Such was the act of goth stepping the tolk
of Doolin, . . . (332.1-10).

The thunder word reads like a geneological table
of fathers ("pappa") and sons ("mac") and provides the
line of continuity from the first parents to the present
state of man in the flgfig. As I noted before, the stories
that follow in this chapter all deal with the later con-
flicts of the sons and therefore do not have thunder
words accompanying them. They may be read as examples
of Vico's belief that the first myths were distorted
as they were passed from one generation to another (§N,
905). While these stories might well be creative even
in their distortions, the thunder-giggggi appear in the
.Kersse story to emphasize it as the geneSis from which
subsequent narratives spring. Once more, in its dis-
position of thunders seven and eight, W Egg

:Eollows the Vichian axiom that an authentic study of

154

human social evolution must ground itself in the first
evidence of that beginning development (éfl, 314).
-R a 0
As in the case of thunders seven and eight, the last
two thunders share a common characteristic. Both are
spoken through, or by, Shaun before he begins his journey
as ”postman.“ Perhaps this characteristic is the most
important aspect of the thunders since their presence in
close proximity to Shaun emphasizes him as the center of
the action. Because of their mutual concern with Shaun,
I shall deal with the last two thunders together.
The last words of Book II serve as a transition to
.Book III. Following the scurrilous song about "Iseult
1a bellel,” which concludes the phantasy on a very low
.nmte, there comes a call:
Mattheehew, Markeehew, Lukeehew, J ohnheehewheewhew!
Kggzstill a lightmoves long the river. And
stiller the mermen ply their keg.
Its pith is full. The way is free. Their lot is
So, tocjghn for a john,johnajeams, led it be:
(399.29-34).
7r1we Old Four are summoned to take part in some way in
the events to follow. Not so strangely, the call comes
as a donkey's braying, "Heehaw! " As Book III begins,
it is the ass, conveyor of the Gospellers, who acts as
the narrator. He will continue to function as narrator
‘tl‘lriough three of the four chapters of this book.62

Since my next chapters will take up this section

155

of the m in greater detail, I shall only point out

here that Shaun is in conversation with the ass at the

time the ninth thunder sounds. Having been asked to

sing a song, Shaun replies,

- I apologuise, Shaun began, but I would
rather spinooze you one from the grimm gests

of Jacko and Esaup, fable one, feeble too.
Let us here consider the casus, my deal little

cousis (husstenhasstencaffincoffintussemtossem-

damandamnacosaghcusaghhobixhatouXpeswchbechos-
cashlcarcarcaract) of the Ondt and the Grace-

hOper. (414016-21)

This thunder differs from earlier ones, first, because
The

it is a sound produced from within Shaun himself.

Skeletgn Iggy explains this fact as simply an indication
that Shaun is the father's favorite son,63 but I believe

there are stronger justifications for its placement.

First, the lot of carrying the narrative forward has

fallen to Shaun. For some reason, of which neither

Shaun nor the reader may be clearly aware here, he is

now the focus of attention. Next, if Shaun is actually

Verbalizing the thunder, one may assume that his control

Of it indicates a change of state in the thunder and in

the human thunder-producer.
The thunder is important within the context of

Shaun's speech and within its own structure as well. In

terms of its context, the word sounds when Shaun explains
that he will tell a fable. Since fable is an important

part. of Vico's science, the term should probably be

cons idered in relation to the Edema magis-

156

In the §gjgnz3,ugggg, Vico defined fables as
”imaginative class concepts" and mythologies as the
”proper language of the fables,” or the "allegories
corresponding to them” (éfl, 403). Further on, Vico
referred to fables again in his argument that speaking
and writing develOped simultaneously, not one after the
other. To examine Shaun's fable for Vichian relation-
ships, one can best begin with Vico's theory of the
development of thinking, talking, and writing. In dis-
cussing the origin of language and letters, Vico noted
that a major difficulty in such research 4

was created by the scholars themselves, all
of whom regarded the origin of letters as a
separate question from that of the origin of
languages, whereas the two were by nature
conjoined. And they should have made out as
much from the words "grammar" and "character3.”
From the former, because grammar is defined as
t1. art of Speaking, yet grammata are letters,
so that grammar should have been defined as
the art of writing. So, indeed, it was
defined by Aristotle, and so in fact it
originally was: for all nations began to

speak by writing, since all were originally ‘
mute. "Characteri'on the other hand, means
idea, form, model: and certainly poetic charac-
ters came before those of articulate sounds
[that is, before alphabetic letters7. Josephus
stoutly maintains that at the time of Homer the
so-called vulgar letters had not yet been
invented. Moreover, if these letters had
been shaped to represent articulated sounds
instead of being arbitrary signs, they would
have been uniform among all nations, as the,
articulated sounds themselves are. Thus, in
their hopeless ignorance of the way in which
languages and letters began, scholars have
failed to understand how the first nations
thoqxt;in poetic characters, spoke in fables,
and wrote in hieroglyphs. Yet these should
have been the principles, which must by their

157

nature be most certain, of philosophy in its

study of human ideas and of philology in its

study of human words (éfi: 429).
To illustrate Vico's principle, Jove was a "poetic
character" whose meaning could be communicated only
when he was put into action in a fable (Speech). This
fable thus set up a class concept whose meaning was uni-
vocal: it was a true narrative (vgza DQIIQELQ) because
the fable's subject matter emerged from man's percep-
tion of the truth as he knew it. The fables were, Vico
said, true histories because the poetic characters of
whom they told were "time-structures." For example,
the first Jove was simply the sky; later Joves became
ever smaller physically as the "vast imaginations shrank
and the power of abstraction grew" (§N, 402).

The development of "philosOphic wisdom" -further
powers of abstraction, reflection, and memory -brought
'with it a shift in the fable's meaning. Caponigri
expl ains ,

as the reality of the fable and of the

whole poetic moment of consciousness becomes
apparent to reflection, all levels of sig-
nificance tend to converge on one, . . .

the historical. . . . But this convergence
only takes place at the level of reflection,
when the fabric of the fables is in process

of dissolution by that criticism from which
the idea will arise.64

The Vichian theory of poetic characters' diminishment
E‘ES the fables began to give way to the abstraction of
‘1}iee idea provides one way to explain Shaun's use of

table. The Ondt and the Gracehoper are "poetic

158

characters" put into motion by an "imaginative class
concept," a fable. Shaun tells this fable in the
moments before he begins his trip backward in time.
Because of the fable's proximity to his leaving-time,
Shaun as a fable-teller might be said to illustrate,
at this particular moment, the converging "levels of
significance," poetic imagination at one extreme and
philosOphic reflection at the other. Therefore, the
fable's use in the flake as a viable method for classify-
ing data is beginning to give way to the idea. There
is little time left to use the fable effectively.

On first reading, the fable seems an odd one for
Shaun to tell since the Ondt (a Shaun-like class con-
cept) emerges as second-best to the GracehOper (a Shem-
type). But, if one applies Vico's theory of fable and
its dissolution, it becomes increasingly clear thata
Shaun no longer has complete control of the fable. No
longer capable of explaining man and his world, the
fable is diminishing as a reliable vehicle for know-
ledge. Thus, the Gracehoper-Shem has the last word in
'the verses concluding the fable:

Your feats end enormous, your volumes immense,
(May the Graces I hoped for sing your Ondt-
ship song senses), ‘
Your genus its worldwide, your Spacest sublime!
But, Holy Saltmartin, why can't you beat time?
(419.5-8)

S311aun's telling a fable derogatory to himself would

IWhat be credible were it not that he is undergoing a

gradual change of state. This is true of his mode of

159

communication as well. Consequently, Shaun's fable
reveals his growing, if reluctant, sense of his brother's
value.

The thunder, coming as a cough or perhaps Shaun's
clearing his throat, adds credence to its change of
'state: the thunder is beginning to sound through man
rather than outside of him. Also, the thunder urges
that Shaun's travels should get underway, that he should
hurry in his action. There are almost numberless com-
binations of words in all of the thunders, but in this
one the idea of hurrying is repeated several times, as
is ”ten.”

I have been able to make out several patterns in
this particular thunder, and each seems to bear upon
Shaun's journey in some way. However, since I cannot
pull these patterns into a larger one, I shall simply
record my findings of the inner structure of thunder #9.

First, the words through "-cusagh-" appear as
related pairs, a total of ten words, perhaps one for
each thunder. Second, I have found what might be a
significant vowel pattern in each pair of words, with
particular emphasis on "a-o” and on "u," the latter
vowel suggestive of the divine in the passage following
thunder #6. Third, most of the words, at least those in
pairs, seem to have a German origin. Since the parts
of thunder #10 are from Norse and Icelandic mythology,

perhaps one might consider that Shaun is presently

160

moving north.65 Fourth, there is a number pattern
that stresses "ten," perhaps hinting at the need to
complete the tenth thunder in a "hurry." Finally, the
last units of the thunder seem to form some kind of
declarative statement that might have to do with the
foregoing pairs of words. I have analyzed the words

as follows:

 

 

l 2 3 4
inner words vowel related German number
‘ patterns words pattern
-hussten- u G.hug§gn, cough ~ten
-hassten- a G.hasteg, hurry -ten
-Caffin" a 60%: Chaff, -fin = $5000
rubbish
-coffin- o G.§g§gn, shed; -fin,=_§§LQQ
pigsty $10.00
-tussem- u G.tg§chen, hush, -em
silence' = 1,000 (M)
-daman- a G.g§mmgn, restrain, -an
check a Anna
-damna- a -na
-cosagh- o G.Kgsgn, caress; also:
sagh e Sa e, fable,
legend
-cusagh- u G.Kfi , kiss; agha -

ruler, title of
respect; also: Cusa,
Nicholas of

161

"hObiX" o o o o o o o 0 Gem, lift, remcve, Battle 3
diapute; hob - a peg:
hobbies(?)

-hatouxpes- . . . . . . Fr.hater, hurry: also, head-to-
foot; had toupees; hat to
pay: had to pay

G. ese , hurry

-wch- . . . . . . . . . G.Each, awake; also, switch (?),
which(?)

G. ech, to yield

“beChOS'” o o o o o o 0 because ('0’)

'Caahl“ o o o o o o o o caShWi11(?)
cache will (secret hiding place?)

-car,car,car- . . . . . Fr. car, for, because; also,
a stutter like HCE's

-3Ct" o o o o o o o o 0 With "car," correCt (7)

The general sense of the ninth thunder seems to indicate
that Shaun should hurry on his way to the secret hiding
place that will ”correct” his understanding of the
parents. Such a reading of the thunder appears to be
reinforced by the tenth thunder that follows shortly.

In the final thunder, there is also the indication
that the sound emanates from Shaun and that he there-
fore has greater importance because of it. Having
finished his fable, Shaun basks momentarily in the
admiration of his audience. Although the Skeletgn ggy

66 the

labels this chapter ”Shaun before the People,"
only audience I can find is the talking ass introduced
tearlier as the narrator. A Sgcgnd Census agrees that

'the ass is the ”we” of the passage but also identifies

the ass with Shem.67 While I do believe Shem is

162

traveling with Shaun at least in Spirit, I can find no
really conclusive evidence that would link Shem to the
ass. The nature of the ass's questions, his humble
attitude before Shaun, and his "learned ignorance" all
support the possibility that Joyce patterned this ass
after Bruno's strange animal, the talking "ass of

68

negative theology or Unknowing." In Bruno's L'asinQ

Qillsnisn ssl helm. this ass
contemplates the "works of the world and
the principles of nature“ and its nature
is "physical." It becomes a member of the
Pythagorean academy devoted to the "physical,“
because

It is not possible to understand super-
natural things, except through their
shining in natural things; for only a
purged and superior intellect can con-
sider them in themselves.
In the flake, the ass perceives the "supernatural shining
in natural things." Consequently, I read the ass as a
Bruno-type animal and will discuss his role in greater
detail later. In the passage following the fable, it
is he who questions Shaun about his brother and the
mother's letter.

This inquiry drives Shaun into a rage. He knows
that he cannot read the letter and that his brother has
some kind of perceptive powers lacking in himself.
Shaun boasts that he can actually read the letter.
shithough to him, as he says, it is "-Greek! Hand it
‘to me!" (419.20), he makes an attempt to de-cipher it.

tJnable to do so, Shaun brands the letter as "a pinch

163

of scribble, not worth a bottle of cabbis. Overdrawn!
Puffedly offal tosh!" (419.31-32). In his ignorance,
Shaun resorts to arrogance.‘

The subject of Shem sends Shaun into an even
lengthier diatribe. Shem is "weird, I tell you, and
middayevil down to his vegetable soul" (423.27-28).
The brother continues to list his twin's weaknesses of
character as he sees them, concluding his bombast with
a judgment of Shem. "I have the outmost contempt for.
Prost bitten! ConShy! . . . Your puddin is cooked"
(424. 8'9, 12).

The ass answers this indignant Speech with a question:
why does Shaun dislike Shem so much? Always humble, the
ass inquires courteously of Shaun, "the gracious one"
(424.15). Shaun's answer includes the last thunder
word:

——For his root language, if you ask me
whys, Shaun replied, as he blessed himself
devotionally like a crawsbomb, making act
of oblivion, footinmouther! (what the
thickuns else?) which he picksticked into
his lettruce invrention. Ullhodturdenweir-
mudgaardgringnirurdrmolnirfenrirlukkilokki-
baugimandatzerinsurtkrinmgernrackinarockar1
Thor's for yo! (424.17-25)-

Shaun deSpises Shem for his "root language," the
brother's intuitive proximity to the vital force of
man's first creative, Spontaneous communication. This
is the poet's unique talent,70 and Shaun cannot as yet

share in it or understand it. This language has indeed

"let-truce," or given an alternative to violence as a

164

persuasive measure. But, there is an "act of oblivion"
built into man's root language. Whenever man's language
atrophies, there is a Ragnarok, a twilight of the gods
in words' meanings. In mythological terms, such atrophy
destroys the order of communication and of the social
structure as well. That destruction, paradoxically,
sets up conditions for a revitalized society —-and
1anguage. This is not to say that the last thunder
underscores a collapse and a return to an earlier time.
To the contrary, Shaun's statement and the thunder simply
point up the fact that progress has a built-in, self-
destruct mechanism which is actually a means to further
progress. In the ancient myths, a twilight of the gods
was necessary if progress were to_take place. Myth-
ically, the ruling pantheon's destruction made possible
the formation of a more advanced culture built from
the few survivors of the holocaust. Shaun is extending
this idea to language, damning his brother that he has
an intimate sense of "root language" and condemning him
as well because Shaun at this point sees no alternative
to the destruction and ensuing trauma imminent within
all language forms. He has yet to learn the appropriate
use of the past: its power to revivify language and
life without a necessary destructive pattern of violence.
The thunder word itself is filled with names of
characters from Norse mythology, particularly those who

fought at the Ragnarok. These names suggest that a type

165

of Ragnarok may be fast approaching. However, one
could probably best view this coming event as Shaun's
own voyage into the twilight of memory to recover the
values and meanings of things that have yet to come
alive for him. The names and items from the Norse and
Icelandic Eggas that are parts of the tenth thunder
appear as follows:
91; - one of the Aesir (horse gods; singular
term for god is egg); stepson of Thor
(Odin, Wodan)

hagtggggnl- Hoder, a blind man who killed Baldur;
Tyr, god of battles

weir - Wyrd (see ”urdr" below)
mugggggg - Midgard, the earth - middle section of
. universe
9118831; ' ’
urg; - Urdur (Urth, Wyrd), one of the Norns
(the past)

mglgi; - Mjollnir, Thor's magic hammer that
always returned whenever he threw it

{engir - Fenrir, wolf, child of Loki; he
kills Odin

1955i - Loki, evil character who fought the
gods in Ragnarok; in many ways he
was a very "lucky" figure.

u 'ma - (bogeyman, referring to Loki?) ,

mm - Odin (Wodan), father god, also known
in later times as Thor; had 432,000
warriors (432 = much-used number in
the Wake); note that "Erin" is also
a part of this word.

gugg - Surt (Surtur), ruler of fire world,
killer of Prey

kginm - Hringham, Baldur's ship (contracted
form of the word)

e - Garm, hell hound that howls on morn-
ing of Ragnarok; Geri, one of Odin's
wolves

rackinarocker - Ragnarok, the final battle of the
gods versus Loki and his forces

Exactly why Joyce Should have used characters from

the ancient Eddas in this last thunder is problematical.

166

It might have been their antiquity that was a decisive
factor, the Edda; pre-dating the similar EiQQEQBDQQDLiQQ
by several centuries. A more plausible possibility for
their use lies in the Eddgs' figures of the first
parents from whom issued the gods.

In the beginning, according to the Eddas, there
was no heaven nor earth but only a misty void in which
there was a fountain that fed twelve rivers, each
freezing over in layers that gradually filled the
emptiness. AS a warm south wind blew upon the ice, it
melted and from the dripping rime there emerged the
form of a sleeping giant,69 Ymir the Frost Giant.
Shaun has, just prior to the thunder, called Shem
"Prost bitten," perhaps a combination of Frost and
Proust, author of Remembrance Q; Things Past. Follow-
ing the thunder, Shaun scoffs of Shem, "Frost! Nope!
. . . Thaw! The last word in stolentelling" (424.30,
35.).

The Egdas continue the genesis story with the
creation of Ymir's family and his cow.

A sweat came over Ymir and there grew
under his left hand a male and female, one
of his feet begat a son with the other,
and thus the Rime Giants appeared. More-
over, there condensed from the rime a cow,
her name Audumla, four streams of milk
flowing from her udder: and she nourished
Ymir. She licked the ice-blocks, . . .
15nd gradually a man appeared7. His name
was Buri, fair of feature, great and

Buri begat Borr, who married the daughter
of a giant and had three sons: Othin, Vili,

167

and vs, who slew the giant Ymir and

fashioned of his body the earth: . . .

[the seas and the heavens as well7.72

The interesting parallel of the aaaaa with ginge-
gage flake begins with the first male's being a sleeping
giant whose body was used to create the earth. Finn-
‘HCEiS a mountain, a sleeping giant. The primary
creative impulse in the gaaae' genesis came from water,
and creative nourishment later came from the cow. ALP
is both mother and river.73 From Ymir's body Sprang
the great ash tree, Ygdrasill, the three roots of
which connected the earth (Midgard) with the gods'
home, the rims giants' domain, and the regions of dark-
ness. Earlier in the E252: Joyce Specifically connects
HCE with the world tree at one point by naming him
"yggdrasselman" (88.23).74 Finally, one of the con-
stant motifs in Einnegana gage is that of "tree and
stone," a phrase bearing relationships to female-and
male and quite possibly to like elements in the aaa_§.
The last thunder word, then, with its references to
Norse deities and to Ragnarok seems to indicate an
approaching climax of some sort. What follows is not,
however, a battle to the death. It is a quest as
Shaun recourses the past in search of the parents'
meaning.
The ass's reSponse to the thunder is of particu-

lar interest: “The hundredlettered name again, last

word of perfect language" (424.23-24). The ass uses

168

"again" because he has heard Shaun emit a thunder only
moments ago as he started his fable. Additionally,

the ass's calling this the "last word" implies that
there will be no necessity for further thunders. If
the ass is similar to Bruno's ass of negative theology,
he would foresee a change precluding the need for more
thunders. The ass also calls the word "hundredlettered"
which it is not. This thunder has one extra letter in)
it. The fact that this "perfect language" is no longer
perfect, therefore no longer an effective indicator of
gigagai, implies that there will be other means of

recoursing human history. If the Wake's ass is patterned

 

after Bruno's beast, his calling the language ”perfect"
would probably be in keeping with his natural humility and
courtesy.

One other detail regarding the last thunder is
its use of the letter "u" which, I suggested earlier,
might be the extra letter that could bring man and the
divine into closer proximity. How one could ascertain
'which letter is the additional one is a question that
will probably never be answered. But, it is of note
that the first and the fiftieth letters of the last
thunder are each "u."

The ten thunder-gieegai bring the reader almost
directly to the beginning of Shaun's journey. Each
thunder seems to evolve as humanity evolves. Each

seems to signal an important advance in man's powers

169

of reflection. Certainly, one can find no pattern
of dissolution following each thunder, no "return"

to any kind of beginning such as other wake analyses

 

have asserted. Such an interpretation of the gicorsg
and of the thunder is untenable in terms of the
Scieazahuagya and equally unacceptable to the context

of the narrative pattern of Fiaaegaas flake. The words
appear to have a continuity that follows the constant
refinement of society through the modifications of the
human mind. Most important, each word seems to stress
those moments of creativity that revivify humanity for
further progress or those situations involving authentic
means of learning. As the last thunder dies away,

Elnnssans.wahs turns its full attention to Shaun and

his enactment of the great £i£Q£§Q of the book.

170

NOTES FOR CHAPTER III

1
W! I o 247'480

2

The §£1281§ Nuava deals with the questions of
pre-human mentality in a number of instances, notably
sections 185, 374, and 385.

3

The verb, wold ("walled"), is an obsolete past
participle of "will." "Strait" = limited, restricted,
narrow.

4
The salmon's later struggle upstream is a striking

example of a natural analogy to the Vichian {geekee, a

return to man's "Spawning ground." Later, when Shaun

begins his gleegag (111.1), he floats away apetzeam in

a barrel. See ”Parr" in A Secgna Ceasua for still

another possible identification of this word (p. 201).

5

For a discussion of Shem and his salmon relation-
ship, see Patricia A. Morley, "Fish Symbolism in Chapter
Seven of gianegane Wake: The Hidden Defence of Shem the

Penman,” _aaeangyee Qaagterly, 6, No. 3 (Spring 1969).
267-2700

6

In Sir James Fraser's Ike NE!.§QLQ§D.§QBQD: ed.
Theodor G. Gaster (New York: The New American Library,
1964), p. 553, there is mention of the salmon's super-
natural properties. The Kwakiutl Indians of British
Columbia believe in the salmon's resurrection and throw
salmon bones and offal into the ocean so that the
salmon "may reanimate them."

7
"Tale" 3 AS gala, Speech, number.

8
"Entail" 2 limit, require, involve, as well as to

cut (F. Bullet)-

9

In the first five letters of "pftjschute,“ Joyce
seems to be making some use of eclipsis (for a discus-
sion of IriSh grammatical eclipsis, see Brendan O Hehir,
A 6.13.11” Easiest: is; Eimsssns m e. pp. 382-383)-
Although ”j" and "s" are not normally subject to eclipsis,
the application of this rule to the word would give it

171

the pronunciation of "pschute" or ”p-schute.” The
latter of these suggests urination, a much-used motif
for creativity in the Wake.

10
"Jarl” and ”earl” both stem from the IE base
eg-, great bird or eagle. The eagle was the traditional
bird of Jove.

11 ‘

Wit a ME giteg, know: IE root = weid, to see:
Sanskrit root 3 gig, to know, learn, find. If the
prankquean is making ”wit," or urinating, on the
premises, this is a creative act that is also learning
and knowing.

12
Benstock, Jayce-again's wake, pp. 271-72.

13
Later, Shem is also to use his own waste material
for creative purposes: he ”made synthetic ink and
sensitive paper for his own end out of his wit's waste
. . . . a no uncertain quantity of obscene matter . . .
through the bowels of his misery” (185.7-8, 29-33).

14
Order a L. aide, order, and is related directly
to L. , to begin, and ggigi, to arise. The prank-
quean's w t (water, urine, creativity, learning, knowing)
in union with the Jarl's order-ordure (begin, arise) forms
the essentials for human progress.

15
A. gene Lenses. pp- 403-405.

16
A. 921.15 22:12:25. pp. 392-393-

17
"Getting the wind up” as a means of insemination

dates far back to pre-Hellenic myths of the chthonic
tradition. In this ancient culture, "Fatherhood was
not honored, conception being attributed to the wind, the
eating of beans, or the accidental swallowing of an
insect” (Robert Graves, The G ee Mtha [New York:
George Braziller, Inc., 195 , p. 28). If the Jarl is
to ”git the wind up,” he is to take over the sexual
activities previously attributed to the wind. My
reading of this section is compatible with Joyce's
description of the world as ”flatuous" (flatulent).

172

18
”Boyles and Cahills” are names that in Gaelic
mean "boys and girls“ (A §3§119.Lexiggn. p. 29). Also,
Dr. E. L. Epstein has informed me that ”Skerretts and
Pritchards” may be read as ”skirts and britches.”

19
The possible identities for these characters are

listed in.a Gaelig Lexicgn, pp. 29-31, and in a §eegaa

geneae where they are found in the alphabetical divisions.
20
The Ggeek Mykas, p. 404.
21

As ”a child of Maam,” Festy King may be related
to the man servant of the Wake family (see A.§2£292
C s s, pp. 166-168). "Maam" could also be read
"Ma'am," making Festy King (HCE) a child of the female-
nature 0

22
The examiners are using a principle that parallels

Vico's axiom for determining the authenticity of man's
creations: natural truthfulness. Vico insisted that
early man's myths had a natural truth-bearing power.
Because they were Spontaneous creative reSponses to
experience, they could be nothing other than ”XEEE
DEIISELQ or true Speech” (ék, 401).

23

If the cad calls himself "Tem" (and possibly
"Tem 2"), he identifies himself with time in yet another
way. Mythically, ”Tem" was an alternate name for Ra,
the Egyptian sun god, and represented the western,
setting sun. The cad claims this title is applicable
"anytom.” é.§2£Qn§ Census notes that in the Wake
”Tem," "Tom,” "Tim,” and "Tammuz" are interrelated.
”Tammuz,” the Babylonian fertility god derived from the
Sumerian D u ’, "real child” or "son who rises.”
Etymologically, then, "Tom," "Tem," and "Tim” are
LIEQ’ the rising and setting sun. Second, in the
wake's annals passage (pp. 13-14), the ”initial letters
of the entries Spell M0 AT and represent . . . a Split
and scattered atom" (A §eeana Ce s , p. 258). Third,
”Tom” is also at times the Earwickers' man servant.
Therefore, time, matter (atom), and servant combine in
some way that also includes the cad.

This combination can be clarified by citing several
otherwise unrelated ideas. First there is my suggestion
of the cad as an emanation of HCE. Next, as the new
physics' defines matter (atom), "time is constitutive
of the being of atoms as vibratory patterns: matter seems
more like a sequence of events than a collection of

173

substances" (Ian Barbour. Issues in §sisnss and 1.16.11.11.31:
[Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 19657, p. 297 .

There is no real division between time and matter.
Finally, Joyce claimed his heroes to be time, river, and
mountain. HCE has already been identified with the
mountain (matter, Hill of Howth) and ALP with the

river (time's flow, Liffey River). The cad's emergence
from HCE and his self-identification as Tem-Tom are,
then, further proof that man and nature, male and
female, time and matter are but apparent polarities.
‘They are a union of which humanity has yet to learn.

In Vichian terms, man can come to know this union, or
bind, only with time's passage and the mind's modifica-
t one.

24
For a relevant discussion of Vico's interpretation
of the Cadmus-serpent story ("cad" quite possibly
relates to ”Cadmus”), see C. E. Vaughn, “Giambattista
Vico: An Eighteenth-Century Pioneer,” .th‘R '
Librarx Bulleain, 6 (Manchester, England, 1921 , 266-288.

25
L. gm, race-course: awe, house, family:
92min, home, host: also ShakSSpeare's twin Dromios.

26
E. L. Epstein has compiled an impressive list of
the a-o uses in the flake in ”Interpreting Finnegan:

W : A Half-way House." .3192: £2199. W. Noo 3
Summer 1966), 259-267.

27
O Hehir's a_§ae119_kekiegn_gives the Gaelic words
for some sections of this thunder, but I am unable to
find any logical pattern in them. Consequently, I am
”translating” the recognizable English words, which do
form a pattern.

28
A £12113 sexism. p. 62.

29
LEEEQIi: 1: 2470

30
”Pegger's Nindup” is also reminiscent of Jarl

‘Van Boother's sexual ”getting the wind up.” Finn,
.Jarl, and HCE - all father—figures - have established
patriarchies by inseminating the female themselves
rather than some other method of procreation. Relative
to this, Joyce was undoubtedly aware that the pre-
historic Peking man (1929) was not a "man” but a

174

parthenogeneflc, or androgenous, creature. Firm is not
pro-historic man: he is hifiEQIiS man.

31
For a discussion of these works, see Tindall's

a Reader; Geige, p. 98.

32
Nut's children were Osiris, the elder Horus,

Set (Typhon), Nepthya, and Isis. Joyce uses these
deities' names profusely in the Na e.

33
Using the Irish P/K Split, "anakars" becomes

”anapars,” or "Anna-equal.”

34
Joseph Campbell, The kaake a; gag: Pgimitive
kykhelggy (New York: Viking Press, 1962), p. 147.

35

"Introduction,” Neg §e1enee, p. xxxv.
36

a Reaaek'a 22199.. p. 153.
37

Joyce identified this section as being one of
children's games in his letter to Harriet Weaver, 22
November 1930 (LQEEEEB: I. 295).

38 -
Tindall's a Bfiifiglié Q2192 notes that David
Hayman's first draft edition of the flake shows the
dramatic pattern to have been added later (p. 157).

39
These questions follow the pattern of "three

times and out" used in the Prankquean Story.

40
"Deuce" may also refer to ALP, the second parent.

41
For an excellent analysis of this principle of
memory and history, see Friedrich Khmmel, ”Time as
Succession and the Problem of Duration,” in The Eaieea
T me, ed., J. T. Fraser (New York: George Braziller,
1966 , pp. 31-55. Although he makes no mention of
Vico, Kummel presents a theory with remarkable similarities
‘to the Vichian doctrine of {199339.

42
e Eagerly. snide. p- 165-

175

43

In other words, the primitive pantheons of gods.
44

A Readeg'g M, p. 1710
45

These narratives are the Kersse-Norwegian Captain
Story, "Buckley and the Russian General," and the
"Butt and Taff" skit.

46
A Skeleegn key, p. 198.

47
4mm ' e. p. 189.

48
a Sssend Ceaaus, p. xliv.

49
A m _.xKe . p. 200.

50
LEEEEEfi: III, 394, 399, 422.

51
We and 1.49.21; p- 36.

52

This idea of the medium of memory-imaging recalls
Bruno's use of memory images and seals, a process
central to his entire Hermetic system (see Frances Yates,
Giardane Bkane ang_5he Hegmetie Tgaditign). Since
Joyce used Bruno so consistently in the Wake, that very
employment seems to underscore my assertion about the
presence of a value-scale for the modes of learning in
BOOK II. -

53
W s 21951:. pp. 158-160.

54
The Egyptian terms include the following:
"Etheria Deserta" (309.9), "Nett" (Nut - great mother,
312.16), ”Sets" (312.3, 313.4), and ”Horus” (328.34).

55

Joseph Campbell. The Fem filth reassess Eases
(New York: World Publishing Co.. 1966 , p. 373.

56
Grace O'Malley was a notorious Irish woman
pirate. For particulars about her, see a Qaelie
, pp. 402-03.

176

57
A 33:42:: G_ui__de. p- 190-

58
The IE base for "head” is gapaa, cup-shaped,
cap, crest. Also, the Irish people use ”whitehead"
to refer to a favorite, as ”whitehaired boy.”

59

In a 1927 letter to Harriet Weaver, Joyce called
his work a ”square wheel.” He wrote, ”All the engines
I know are wrong. Simplicity. I am making an engine
with only one wheel. No Spokes of course. The wheel
is a perfect square. You see what I'm driving at don't
you? I am awfully solomn about it, mind you, . . .
No, it's a wheel, I tell the world. Ana, it's all
agaager (Lett , I, 251). In ”unclosing” the wheel,
the prankquean would probably be altering its shape,
perhaps to a s are. Certainly, the flake's diagram
of the female 293) correlates circles and a double
triangle to make a rhombus - one form of a square -
within the circles.

m —v-¢-I_‘.a ‘.l a.”

60
The tailor may bear some resemblance to Car-
lyle's tailor also, for Joyce twice alludes to Sartg;
Resagtaa in this chapter (314.17, 352.25). Both the
tailor and the prankquean manage to change the shape
of the social structure (Carlyle's ”Naked World"?).

61

Note Joyce's use of the Irish P/K shift here.
The prankquean is both ”p" and ”k(q).” The ballad
writer, Persse, is ”p": the tailor is “k." I believe
Joyce's purpose here is to interrelate these three
characters through the reversals implicit in their
names as well as their actions. All three are poets
or creators. All three change their societies by
their creations although the changes are not the same.

62
Olive Hart also calls the ass the narrator of
these sections (étnnstgne and,flgtifi, p. 88).
63
A m E22. p- 263-
64
m 339. E33: P0 179
65

If Shaun is moving north, his directiOn will soon
Change as he starts his journey west. See Clive Hart's
diagram of Shaun's ”orbit" in.§§;ag§a;e age fleaif, p. 117.

177

66 ~
A Won 52!. p. 258.

57
A m Esme. p. xlvi.

68
mmmwwdt' .p. 259-

69
mmmmislregitim. p. 259.

70
Wayne Shumaker discusses this poetic talent as
it relates to primitives' and children's perceptions,
- particularly in his analyses of configurational per- -
ception and of primitive animism ( Litegatage age the '
Iggatigna1,[3hglewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
19697, pp. 49-54, 75- 83).

71
There is a degree of similarity in this giant
and the sleeping giants of the Wake and William Blake's
"Albion.” It is well known that Joyce used Blake's
prophetic works in his own book.

 

72 '
Joseph Campbell, The kaeke Qg_G d: O '
.Myghglggy (New York: Viking Press, 1964), p. 487.

73
In Irish mythology, the great mother, Boann,
is also represented as a white cow.

74
It is well known that Joyce also used the world
tree, Ygdrasill, in reference to Stephen's ”ashplant”

in 2135.1-

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST THREE PHASES OF SHAUN'S RICORSQ (III.1,2,3)

In examining Book III (The Four Watches of Shaun).
it is helpful to deal with it briefly in terms of the

whole of the Wake before investigating it separately.

 

Most Joyceans accept the ntoion that the flake is a
dream, or at least that Book III is one. Hart's §§IB£EBE§
ang Magi: in Finnegan; flake includes an entire chapter
on ”dream structure." Yet, in his first words, Hart
finds it necessary to point out one of the main problems
of this structure: "Attempts to identify the Dreamer of
ginnegana,flake have met with little success."1 He goes
on to list mistakes made in identifying the dreamer and
then notes Joyce's silence about the subject.
Usually the first to give hints to his
acquaintances about abstruse difficulties
in his works, Joyce seems to have paid
little attention to this matter of the
dreamer.2 '
Hart concludes that the dreamer-narrator of the flake
is omniscient and that ”like Stephen's Artist-God,
Joyce's Dreamer has been refined out of existence."3

He believes that the flake is a serial dream of varying

levels, of dreams within dreams. But, Hart never

178

‘g—e—VM ". u)-
1.
I

179

really questions whether or not the flake is something
more, and perhaps other, than a dream.

Harriet Weaver, Joyce's benefactress and recipient
of many of his flake explications, was disturbed at the
way in which some Joyceans dealt with the idea of
Finnegan: flake as a dream. She wrote to J. S. Atherton
that the

ascription of the whole thing to a dream of
HCE seems to me nonsensical . . . My view is
that Mr. Joyce did not intend the book to be
looked on as the dream of any one character,
but that be regarded the dream form with its
shiftings and changes and chances as a con-
venient device, allowing the freest scope to
suit any material he wished -and suited to
a nightpiece.4
Joyce himself is reported to have told a friend, Dr.
O'Brien, that zinnegane_Wake was "fiabout' Finn lying
dying by the river Liffey with the history of Ireland
and the world cycling ghggagh_hia,ming.”5 Again, Miss
Weaver reported that,
In the summer of 1923 when Mr. Joyce was
staying with his family in England he told
me he wanted to write a book which should
be a kind of universal history . . . .
These comments, while they are not conclusive, do
indicate the possibility that Einnagang_flake may have
greater complexity than a dream or serial dreams in
the usual sense. Rather, they imply that Joyce used
the idea of man's unique mental activity in the various
phases of dreaming for a purpose substantially different

from mere dreaming only.

180

The idea of structure that I propose as an alter-
native to dream-proper takes as its basis the Vichian
doctrine of gigagai and then considers the factors
involved in Joyce's use of the {jaggee according to
Vico's principle. If Joyce planned an artistic demon-
stration of universal history illustrating human social
evolution revivified intermittently by gigggai, his
first problem would undoubtedly have been that of the

way in which to handle the gieggae in a fictional form.

 

Such a task must certainly have been compounded by the
new conceptions of time and matter as presented in
modern physics' principles of relativity, uncertainty,
and exclusion.7 The problem could be stated this way:
how can an author set up conditions (in narrative, point
of view, time factor, etc.) that will allow for the
greatest plasticity of language, for activity that is
mental, and for events taking place in multidimensional
time (as if on different radio frequencies)? Or, more
simply, how does one demonstrate the 2122;52 ”in action”?
One hint of an answer is found in Joyce's Large
Notebook: ”dream thoughts are wake thoughts of centuries
ago: unconscious memories: great recurrence: race
memories."8 Hart notes that Joyce had underlined the
first section, a mark usually meaning that he had used
that idea in some way. If Einnegana,flake is a universal

history, its main concern would be the modifications of

the human.mind. Man's mind, in turn, is not synonymous

181

with ”brain." Whole mind is a complex of conscious-
ness frequencies: rational thought, feeling or sensing,
imagination, memory, and other dimensions as yet
undiscovered. Imagination may be waking man's con-
nection with the reservoir of racial memories: dream

may be a different mental frequency through which to

_ ._,.1

gain access to the past. Indeed, the dream State may

 

have certain dimensional freedoms that the awake state
lacks. If one may Speak of a dream universe that has ‘
its own reality and contains revivifying elements for
humanity's awake universe, then one may entertain the
possibility that Joyce wished to demonstrate Shaun's
entrance into that universe via Lime. III.1,2, and
3 all show Shaun at varying levels of dream conscious-
ness. III.4, in contrast, suggests that Shaun may have
been able to bring his awake consciousness into the
dream state in order to extract from that dimension of
existence the revitalizing force of the past.
The dream universe is, when used imaginatively, a
source of knowledge. Wayne Shumaker writes that

in dreams even cultured Westerners regress

in some degree to the primitive perceptual
world. . . . Other characteristics of dreams
help us to understand the primitive mentality:
the vagueness of outlines, the chaotic shifts
and mixtures of settings, the ambiguous
identity of human figures, the uncomprehended
juxtaposition of events, . . . Behind the
tales and legends [Eoming from dreams7, as
behind the postulating of gods, must have
lain strong psychic pressures -an uneasy
desire to assimilate, to adjust, to kne_.

We must not, however, expect dream knowledge
to be formulated in the same way as discur-
sive knowledge.9

182

The point here is that, whether in dream or wake
consciousness, the Vichian gieggag is a way of knowing
and that Joyce's employment of it in the flake would
necessarily create the problem of finding the best way
to demonstrate that process. The condition of dreaming,
or one might say ”dream knowledge,” would provide a
means for Joyce to handle the multidimensional and
relative aSpects of man's socio-mental evolution.

Consequently, in Book III, while Shaun does really
go upon a journey, it a mental journey into the past.
The further back into history he goes, the more Shaun's
appearance takes on the form of sleep and dream. Yet,
Joyce called the phases of Shaun's journey "watches."
‘The only logical way to unify the ideas of sleeping and
watching is to understand that the further Shaun descends
into the past, the closer he comes to a ”deep conscious-
ness” in which "watching" defines a perceptual state
that is unique to this dimension of consciousness. By
the time Shaun has regressed almost to the beginning of
time,.he can explain his condition only as a dream
state in which linear time is suSpended: ”—»Dream. On
a nonday I sleep. I dreamt of a somday. Of a wonday
I shall wake" (481.7-8).

The dream form, then, provides an ordering device
for the recoursing of history in Finnegan; flake. In
fact, Joyce's attention to order is a characteristic

that is readily observable in each of his books. For

183

example, in §tephen,flezg, Joyce emphasizes Stephen's
search for an ordering device for the mental activity
involved in artistic production. In it, one reads that

Stephen did not attach himself to art in
any Spirit of youthful dillettantism but
strove to pierce to the significant heart of
everything. . . . And over all this chaos
of history and legend, of fact and supposition,
he strove to draw out a line of order to re-
duce the abysses of the past to order by a
diagram (£5. 33).

In terms of the flake, the dream state serves to ”draw
a line of order" to reduce the complications inherent
in dealing with Shaun's mental journey. With the
dream-form as an ordering device, Joyce could more
easily penetrate the "abysses of the past,” the objects
of Shaun's {199;59. Dream-form is the access to those
"wake thoughts of centuries ago.”

An ancillary point concerning dream as an effective
way to handle the giaagag in a fictional form has to
do with one of the basic principles of the doctrine of
gieggai and all of the geienza'flaaya. This concept
is the idea of language production as a way of knowing.
As Vico explained this,

To sum up, a man is properly only mind,
body, and speech, and Speech stands as it
were midway between mind and body. Hence
with regard to what is just, the certain
_began in mute times with the body. Then
when the so-called articulate languages were
invented, it advanced to ideas made certain
by Spoken formulae. And finally, when our
human reason was fully developed, it reached
its end in the true in the ideas themselves
with regard to what is just, as determined
by reason from the detailed circumstances

of the facts. This truth is a formula
devoid of any particular form, . . . (S ,1045).

 

184

The course of history is, then, embedded in man's
language. To recourse the evolution of society is,

in one sense, to walk backward upon the path of language
production until one reaches the "mute times" when ”body
language" was literal gesture. The goal, of course, is
to isolate and re-activate the force of that first
creative spontaneity that generated man's communication.
When this recourse is completed, the one who has under-
taken it kngge it because he has done it. He has "made”
knowledge of himself for himself.

In Joyce's work, he seems constantly to have been
preoccupied with the ways in which such recourses take
place. My own description of the process of {jeekae
undoubtedly makes it sound like a long and complicated
activity. However, this is not necessarily the case.
The epiphanies Joyce recorded in his notebooks and later
wove into his novels are actually demonstrations of
instantaneous gieggai. They are attempts to capture
spontaneous verbal reSponses to eXperience in the fleet-
ing moment of perception.

For example, in Skepken gene, Stephen first gets
the idea of recording epiphanies when he hears a frag-
ment of slow, almost meaningless conversation that does
nevertheless serve to communicate. Stephen describes
this epiphany as

. . . a sudden Spiritual manifestation, whether

in the vulgarity of Speech or of gesture or in
a memorable phrase of the mind itself. He

185

believed that it was for the man of letters

to record these epiphanies with extreme care,

seeing that they are the most delicate and

evanescent of moments (.831, p. 211).
Such moments trigger memory and instant reflection in
the artistic mind causing it to sweep across time in a
flash and to know in an intimate way the meaning within
the Speech, gesture, or mental phrase. Thus, the
artist's perception cuts through the glee barrier
(”There's a split in the infinitive from to have and
to have been to will be,” 271.21-24) and that of apaee
("Putting A11Space into a Notshall,” 455.29). The
artist knage the interior meaning of an experience,
having recoursed it, and is able to verbalize it, to
make art of it. The end-product of the £i£2£§9: the
knowledge gained from it, manifests itself in communica-
tion, chiefly in language production.

Even Stephen's phases in the artistic process -—

lyric, epic, and dramatic -may be discussed in terms
of the {193352, Stephen is talking about literary art.
Since he has earlier insisted that the "artistic process
followed the natural process" (§fl, p. 171),10 one may
state Stephen's proposition in more specific terms:
"writing is the embodiment of the mind in language.”11
In addition, the artistic processes of

comprehension and composition . . . are deep

operations of the mind and Spirit, concern-

ing the relations between symbols and those

complexes of perception and conception that
we call meanings.1

 

186

The intimate relationship of the “natural process” and
the ”artistic process” noted by Stephen and his words
about the three phases imply far more than mere
literary convention. They stress the fact that the

organization between literary forms and the
real-life structures of information and
communication goes deep indeed. The three-
main modes of literature recognized for
centuries - lyric, dramatic, and epic - are
viable not only because they are optional
modes in which the creative writer may
depict experience, but also because they are
the necessary ways by which all of us per-
ceive reality, depending on our momentary
point of view.1

0-:

 

——‘:_—

Stephen's explanation of the interfusion of the three
artistic phases emphasizes the idea that manls per-
ceptiOn of reality hinges upon."momentary point of
view.” Moreover, to perceive reality in a lyric, epic,
or dramatic way and to compose one's reSponse to it
according to that perceptual pattern illustrates the
artist's keen sense of the subtle, complex relationship
between symbols and meanings.

The idea of this relationship takes one back to
Vico's §gienga,flnaza. In it as well as in the works
preceding it, Vico's learning theory addressed itself
Specifically to that relationship of symbols and mean-
ings. Vico offered a philosophical-philological
'rationale for the way in which.man's first perception
of reality was lyric, the epic and dramatic dimensions
evolving as the mind developed. The giggxag, in turn,

is a further refinement of perception using reflection

187

to retrace human language production to learn how man
perceived reality in his first vigorous, imaginative
way and to learn to regenerate, hence communicate,
that vitality in contemporary times.

Consequently, in Book III of Finnegans flake, Shaun
is in one sense retracing human language production
in order to learn how the first parents perceived
reality. The climax of his quest (111.4) comes as he

watches four "dumbshows" (the first ”mute language” of

 

gesture). Each of the pantomimes takes him further
back ”past Eve and Adam's“ until he reaches the ”Fourth
position of solution. How johnny! Finest view from
horizon. Tableau final” (590.22-23). This is the
earliest stage of human experience: it is the beginning
from which, as Vico said, any study should take its
start. The "horizon view" is that of pre-man crossing
the threshold of hominization, the initial "lyric”
perception of reality. As a “watcher," Shaun is an
eyewitness to this experience: hence the artistic mode
of Finnegan: flake itself at this point is dramatic.
And the dramatic, or eyewitness, mode becomes the
ultimate learning experience in Finnegan; flake, thus
vindicating Stephen's earlier designation of it as the
supreme artistic achievement.

The climax of Book IV is Shaun's eyewitness of
the parents from John's perSpective ("How johnnyl").
That Gospeller started his book, "In the beginning was

188

the Word (1.9m). and the Word was with God, and the
Viord was God.” To this one may append Vico's explana-
tion of the word, 1m:

"Logic comes from lggae, whose first and
prOper meaning was {apa;a, fable, carried
over into Italian as favella, Speech. In
Creek the fable was also called ayekae,
myth, whence comes the Latin, m t , mute.
For Speech was born in mute times as mental
[3r Sigd7 language, which . . . existed
before vocal or articulate [language73
whence 12923 means both word and idea. . . .
Thus the first language in the first mute
times of the nations must have begun with
signs, whether gestures or physical objects,
which had natural relations to the ideas
[to be expressed7 (S , 401).

Shaun's ”watch" of the parents in their first mute

language of gesture and physical activity with

”natural relations to the ideas” is to provide him

with knowledge of the meaning of the parents, of him-

self, and of the Holy as both immanent and transcendent.
Consequently, Book III employs the dream as a

device for gaining the greatest freedom of mobility,

a necessity in demonstrating the mind in the act of

gngIaQ. In addition, the language of each book becomes

progressively more significant as a way of knowing.

The extensional and intensional prOperties of words

are increasingly more heavily laden as one approaches

111.4. Finally, the theory of learning demonstrated

in Book III is that projected by Vico in the §eieaza

Nugya: what an individual does is what he learns.

Or, by ”making” the course of human history (the parents)

 

189

in his recoursing it, Shaun comes to know its meaning.
Through the Four Watches of Shaun, Joyce shows how
this brother may now become one with Shem, his twin
who is a poet (a "see-er") unable to communicate his
sensed truth to Shaun. The twins fuse into one whole
person when Shaun learns the meaning of his giggggg.
Then, and only then, are the conditions right for
wholeness. ”Rational closure" has been put upon
"artistic intuition“14 and the result is Shem-Shaun,
humanity with a revitalized sense of place and presence
in this world.

This climax does not, however, occur rapidly.
Book III follows Shaun through three phases of his
quest before it reaches its high point in 111.4. As I
mentioned earlier, Book 11 concludes with a donkey-
like call to the Old Four to aid in some way or other
in the next action. The words following the initial
call suggest the movement of river travel: "And still
a light moves long the river” (399.31). "The way is
free” (399.33), and the goal of this “freeway” is ”to
john for a john, johnajeams, led it be!" (399.34).
I read this as an announcement that Shaun (John) will
recourse history to reach St. John's view of “In the

15

beginning." The ultimate purpose of this journey is

"johnajeams," the union of Shaun and Shem (John and

James).16

190

II a
111.1 begins with a tolling of the time. It is
midnight, according to the ass who narrates this
section. He says,

Methought as I was dropping asleep some-
part in nonland of where's please (and it was
when you and they were we) I heard at zero
hour as 'twere the peal of vixen's laughter
among midnight's chimes . . . . And as I
was jogging along in a dream as dozing I
was dawdling, . . . the hummers in their
ground all vociferated echoating: Shaun!
Shaun! Post the post! . . . And lo,
mescemed somewhat came of the noise and some-
who might amove allmurk. . . . none other
from . . . Shaun himself.

What a picture primitive! (403.18-213
4040 3'10, 33-34’ 40502-3)

It is of note that the narrator calls the setting
”nonland” and the time "zero hour." Although at the
narrative level of the Earwicker family of Chapelizod,
time is ticking on through the night, Shaun's mental
journey will take place in a "non-setting" and in a
state of suSpended time. The narrative commentary
here frees the action of Book 111 from any limitation
of space and time. Such freedom would seem a necessity
if, as Joyce explained, Shaun is to be viewed as "a
poetman traveling backwards in the night through the
events already narrated.”17
The ass-narrator states that he wishes he had the

intelligence of the four wise men whom he carries:

Had I the concordant wiseheads of Messrs

Gregory and Lyons alongside of Dr Tarpey's

and I dorsay the reverend Mr Mac Dougell's,

but 1, poor ass, am but as their fourpart
tinkler's dunkey (405.4-7).

 

191

18 and of himself

His description of his four masters
gives the reader important information about the group.
First, Matthew and Mark are designated as being "con-
cordant,” perhaps, one might surmise, in their view
of history. The ass considers these two ”alongside"
of Luke Tarpey's wisdom; therefore, one can assume
that Luke's perspective of history will run somewhat
parallel to that of Matthew and Mark. What differences
there may be in Luke's view will possibly lie in his
being a ”doctor." As always, John is the last-mentioned
of the Gospellers, the "dorsal” (”dorsay”). Signifi-
cantly, John's dorsal, or end, position places him
closest to the ”river-end” ("reverend") of history,
here, the beginning.

The ass is deprecatory of himself: "1, poor ass,

19 He also perceives himself as

am but ass ("as”)."
"their fourpart tinkler's dunkey." The word, "tinkler,"
means a traveling tinker, hence, a vagabond; and it

also refers to one who rings a small bell. "Fourpart
tinkler's" can also be read as "four particulars.”

These definitions, woven together, give one the idea

of the Old Four as travelers going with Shaun, each
telling his own particular version of history - ringing
his own bell, as it were. The ass, humbly calling
himself their “dunkey,” is actually explaining his own
role in this journey: he has a central part although

it is not overtly colorful. He is the gray key.

 

192

His function is to carry the four and to be the door-
opener, or the decoding agent, for meaning.

Earlier, I touched on the similarities between
Joyce's narrator-ass and Giordano Bruno's "Ass of

20 Frances Boldereff

negative theology or Unknowing."
has also noted such a relationship but has, it seems
to me, misinterpreted Bruno's use of the ass. She
writes:
In my Opinion the donkey accompanies the
four old men, who are Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, because submission to authority
without examination is the quality of
Asinity -the attitude of mind which formed
the ideal of the Church for its membeSs was
an ideal typified by Bruno as an Ass. 1
Using the available translations of Bruno, Miss Boldereff
links the Bruno ass with the ass-narrator of Book III,
noting ”Bruno's paradoxical use of the ass as a carrier
of the divine, allegorized in the Bible as the ass which
carries Christ into Jerusalem."22
Also bound to translations, I am nonetheless un-
willing to accept such a description of the ass-narrator
in the flake. First, the ass does not ”accompany" the
four. He conveys them. Second, Frances Yates, from
whose book on Bruno Miss Boldereff takes much of her

material, is quite clear as to the way in which Bruno
used his Ass as the hero of his L'Aging gillgnggg fig;

anan'

The mystical Nothing beyond the Cabalist
Sephiroth he symbolizes by the Ass, and this
Ass of negative theology [Iearned ignorance:

193

the negative way as the only approach to
the divine — used by Nicholas of Cusa,
Ficino, and Pseudo-Dionysiué? or Unknowing
is the strange hero of the work. In spite
of appearances, I do not think Bruno really
means to be as blasphemous as he sounds in
this. . . . [Bruno'e7 "natural Ass” is the
same as the Triumphant Beast of the Spaceie.

23
Miss Yates' analysis of Bruno's Spaceie gelle
QgiEié egigngenge takes up his paradoxical use of beast

forms in this work. In that strange book, Bruno fol-
lowed the Egyptian, or Hermetic, use of animal forms
to designate vices to be eXpelled;

yet animal form itself as the representative

of Bee; in :ebus is vindicated by the celes-

tial animal forms . . . . The ethical reform

drives the beasts out of heaven when these

beasts are understood as allegories of vices.

The religious reform maintains the beasts in

heaven as representative of Egypt and its

animal worship. The ”Expulsion of the Tri-

umphant Beast” thus has a double meaning:

the beast 15 expelled on one level and triumphs

on another. 4

For use in Einnegene fleke, the point here is that

the ass-narrator, if he does bear relationship to Bruno's
animal (and this is quite possible), can hardly be con-
sidered as a symbol of "submission to authority without
examination.” Rather, he is a ”key," a narrator who
constantly examines everything he perceives. And, his
perception is that of ”supernatural things . . . through
their shining in natural things."25 When this narrator
tells the reader, ”Shaun in proper person (now may all
the blueblacksliding constellations continue to shape

his changeable timetable!) stood before me" (405.9-11),

. ,;?޴Wюw

194

one has no reason to doubt his statement. The ass is
a reliable narrator. Further, as the "hub" for the Four,

his position completes the "square wheel” of Einnegene

Make,26 the quincunx that may be a structural design

at least for Book 111. When Shaun becomes the narrator

himself in 111.4, one might consider that he does not

simply take the ass's place but fuses with him to

narrate the divine “shining in natural things" at the 5

beginning of time. i E
In the ass's first conversation with Shaun (111.1),

the latter bewails his present occupation, that of a

postman carrying the much-talked-of letter. Shaun

believes he has been ridiculously miscast in this role:

How all to unwordy am 1, a mere mailman of
peace, a poor loust hastehater of the first
degree, . . . It should have been my other
with his leickname for he's the head and
I'm an everdevoting fiend of his (408.10-11,
17-18 0

Embarrassed at his disclosure of emotion, Shaun tries
to laugh it off and then immediately begins to grow
sleepy. In his foggy condition,

he stopped short in looking up up upfrom

his tide shackled wrists through the ghost

of an ocean's, the wieds of pansiful
heathvens of joepeter's gaseytotum [Jupiter's
gaze-at-all, or omniscient viefi? as they

are telling not but were and will be, all
told, scruting foreback into the fargone-
ahead to feel out what age in years tropical,
ecclesiastic, civil or sidereal (infernal,
sacred, secular, astraI? he might find by the
sirious [Dog Stag? pointstand of Charley's
Wain [Sharles' Wain a the Dipper, or Urea
Meje; the Great Bear, containing seven stars,
two of which are stars pointing toward the
Nbrth Sta;7'(426.18—25).

195

While Shaun gazes at the sky, “the dreamskhwindel
necklassoed him" (426.27), or the possibility of his
dreams catches him up: and ”like a flask of lightning
over he careened . . . by the mightyfine weight of
his barrel . . . and rolled buoyantly backwards in
less than a twinkling" (426.29-35).

without having intended to do so, Shaun has em-
barked abruptly on his mission to the past. His
intention, if he were to travel at all, has been to set I
off on foot. However, his plans change as he floats
off rapidly on the river, salmon-like, against the
current. By now, such a change in human affairs in
the fleke should not be surprising, at least to the
reader of Vico. In the Seienze flggge, Vico pointed
out repeatedly how man's intended ego-centered actions
have been turned to good by divine providence working
in natural ways through man himself (Sfl, 1108). Shaun's
immediate plans altered, he vanishes from sight: and
there is an auctioneer's call as he leaves, "Gaogaogaone!
Tapaa!" (427.9). Shaun is going-going-gone to "Pa,"
to find the meaning of the father.

To the ass-narrator, Shaun's disappearance seems
a symbolic death, the snuffing out of a light. Although
”the stellas were shinings” (427.10) and the whole
earth seems vividly "strewed aromatose" (427.11), there
is a sense of diminishment about this leavetaking:

”And the lamp went out as it couldn't keep on

196

burning, yep, the 1mp wnt out for it couldn't stay
alight" (427.15—16). The next speech amplifies

this sense of bleakness: it is the dark before the
dawn.‘ Shaun's night journey is necessary if that
dawn is to break. It appears that Shem may also be
on the river's edge watching Shaun disappear, for his
voice sounds occasionally in the farewell call.

Well, (how dire do we thee hours when
thylike fades!) [Shaun's fading light re-
calls man's finiteness, his limited hours
on earth? all's dall and youllow and it
is to bedowern that thou art passing hence,
mine bruder, able Shaun, [It is as a gift,
a dower, that Shaun takes his journey,
becomes a surrogate Ableg7 . . . ere the
morning of light calms our hardest throes,
beyond cods' cradle [Eource of procreation:
history's beginning? and porpoise plain,

. . . (427.17-21).

The First Watch (111.1) ends with words of encourage-
ment to the vanished Shaun. His "night" as he descends
into the past will be the means through which the dawn,
the parents' vindication, may be assured. The nar-
rator seems to know that Shaun's quest will take him
into close proximity to the Old Four, the "elders” who
will later question him.

Our people here in Samoanesia will not be
after forgetting you and the elders luking
and marking the jornies, chalkin up drizzle
in drizzle out on the four bare mats.

(Luke, Mark, John, Matthew - the "fore-
bearers27' You would be thinking in your
thoughts how the deepings did it all begin
[Fdeep," as a noun : extent of space or
time? and how you would be scrimmaging through
your scruples to collar a hold of an imper-
fection being committled [Psorim" = a cotton
material: ”collar" 3 also a material:

197

"scruple," derived from L. a stone:

"committled" a committed + committal

burial: to find "material" proof of

man's "imperfection" in the “testament

of the rocks" the buried past? (428.2-7).
With Shaun go all the hopes for the future. Although
he does not yet know it, Shaun is to become a "savior"

as he recourses the path of human history.

111. 2: The Temptatign gf Shagg: Eggcentricity egg
, "Bagbgrigg g; Reflectien"

The Skeleten Key calls this chapter of Book 111
an "amusing and easy-to-read" section.27 The chapter
is composed almost entirely of Shaun's windy sermon
to his sister, Issy, and her twenty-eight girlfriends.
If one likes bombast, the passage could conceivably
be called "amusing" although the extreme to which Joyce
carries it tends to diminish its amusement-quotient.
If the purpose of Shaun's lengthy Speech were amuse-
ment only, it could hardly justify its existence. How-
ever, viewed as a part of the most fully-drawn gicggsg
of Einnegene flake, the chapter takes on subtleties of
meaning that could be overlooked in "easy-reading it.
Basically, the narrative line of this section is
simply that of Shaun's meeting the girls, of his
sermonizing them ed neneeem, and of his leavetaking
after several false starts. As such, the chapter
appears to have little continuity with that which pre-
cedes or follows it. Yet, Joyce's letter to Harriet

Weaver, 8 August 1928, indicates an important religious

 

198

significance here.28 EXplaining pages 470-471, Joyce
wrote,

The Maronite (Roman Catholic) liturgy, the
language of which is Syrian is at the back
of it. On Good Friday the body of Jesus is
unscrewed from the cross, placed in a sheet
and carried to the sepulchre while girls
dressed in white throw flowers at it and a
great deal of incense is used. The Maronite
ritual is used in Mount Lebanon. Ad departs
like Osiris the body of the young god being
pelted and incensed. He is seen as already
a Yesterday (Gestern, Guesturning [7 turning?
back his glance amid wails of 'Today!' from
To Morrow (to-maronite's wail etc.). The
apostrophe bafiances the hyphen Guesturn's,
To-maronites. 9

The religious motif and the idea of Shaun's being
a "yesterday” both help to establish the meaning and
function of 111.2. If to these concepts one adds
Vico's principle of the ”barbarism of reflection,”
the chapter becomes a most critical point in Shaun's
xi;e;ee. It demonstrates the ever-present danger of
distorting the recourse of history by the misuse of
reflection.

To explain this statement fully, one must begin
with the ass's introductory remarks about Shaun as
the chapter opens.

Jaunty Jaun, as I was shortly before that
made aware, next halted to fetch a breath,
the first cothurminous leg of his nightstride
being pulled through, . . . a matter of
maybe nine score or so barrelhours distance
off as truly he merited to do. He was
there . . . amply altered for the brighter,
though still the graven image of his squarer

self as he was used to be, . . . (429.1-3,
8-10, 13-14).

M

199

The ass calls Shaun "jaunty" here, and this word re-
flects the fact that Shaun is going on a journey, a
"jaunt." The transformation of Shaun's name to "Jaun"
also emphasizes his attitude and bearing; he is now
very self-satisfied and has a jaunty air of superiortiy.
In addition, Shaun becomes a kind of second-rate Don
Juan in this passage. While parading himself before the
girls and "jawing" at them, Shaun nonetheless refuses

to become a man of action sexually. This "Jaun" is

 

but a mask and a farcical one at that. By the time
Shaun has finished his interminable series of goodbyes,
the girls are eager to have him go. The ass may be
Speaking with tongue in cheek in stating that Shaun is
becoming ”the most purely human being that ever was
called man, loving all up and down the whole creation”
(431.10-12).

The "purely human being" that Shaun is changing
into is really a distorted image, his swelling vision
of himself. Shaun has gone just far enough in his
journey to see himself as a savior. But, he has not
in any sense set aside his ego. In fact, the importance
given him has fed his preoccupation with himself. Con-
sequently, Shaun takes on the role of an ethical or
moral guide for the twenty-nine girls. At the same
time, he is quite happy to excite the girls sexually
‘without any intention of satisfying their desires. He

preaches abnormal chastity at the expense of normal

 

200

responses to feelings. He is, in fact, intellectualizing
love and passion, preaching the same kind of distortion
of human values as that castigated in William Blake's
same: We.”

Following the ass's brief commentary on Shaun's
appearance, the traveler walks on and meets his sister
and her friends. How and when, or even whether, he
has climbed out of his barrel conveying him to the past

is relatively unimportant. It is significant only

“ ‘o--‘ -‘r Vat *j.‘

that Shaun is on the move. When the girls greet him
enthusiastically, however, Shaun turns temporarily from
his journey. His ego is quite naturally inflated by
the ‘

praise of goodwill girls on their best

beehiviour who all they were girls all

rushing sowarmly for the post as buzzy

as sie could bie to read his kisshands,

kittering all about, rushing and making

a tremendous girlsfuss over him pellmale,

. . . (430.19-22).
The bee allusions here are of great importance (”bee-
hiviour,” "sowarmly,” "buzzy," "bie") because they are
part of an important motif in the flefie, one that reaches
its high point at the end of Book 111. This motif,
stressing the female-as-bee, is one of the most sig-
nificant and consistent patterns in the Wake: but I
have found no mention of it in other Weke analyses.
Since the bee motif is a major concern of this study,
it is important to point out here that Joyce was very

knowledgeable regarding the subject of bees.

—__4

201

Jche's detailed knowledge of the bee society
dates back to 1903. Ellmann records Joyce's attempt
in that year to collaborate with Francis Skeffington
in the publication of a weekly newspaper to be called
Ihe,§e§;in. In the planning process, the young men
chose a Mr. Gillies, then editor of the _;;§h Bee-Ree r,
as their business manager. Their scheme failed for
lack of funds, and to raise some money Joyce offered
to translate Maurice Maeterlinck's Le Xie gee abeillee
for Gillies. The editor was in favor of neither such a
venture nor of Maeterlinck's apiarian treatise.31 Ell-
mann also notes a comment Joyce made to Padriac Colum
in 1903 about Maeterlinck. Apparently, Joyce held the
French author in some reSpect since he linked his name
with that of Ibsen.32 This incident, together with the
translation offer, indicates that from his youth Joyce
had a continuing interest in the bee society.

To return to Shaun, the girls' swarming attention
is too much for him. He begins a sermon of admonitions
to the girls, claiming as his ecclesiastical authority
one ”Father Mike, P. P. my orational dominican and
confessor doctor" (432.7).33 Shaun explains that "I
am giving youth now again in words of style byaway of
offertory hisand mikeadvice" (432.17-19). (He goes on
to list a multitude of prohibited activities, many of
them having to do with sex, and urges that the girls

practice an ascetic life which will be rewarded in

202

the next world (433.3).

This lengthy sermon prohibiting all natural re-
lationships would have little point were it not that
it illustrates dramatically the Vichian "barbarism of
reflection" mentioned above. Vico used this term to
designate the greamst threat to human progress, that
insidious decayer of societies, nations, and civiliza-

tions: sterile intellectualism. Vico's first men

‘——-_-.-.

were scarcely human in their "barbarism of the senses."

 

They were victims of themselves, swayed by the violent
extremes of the passions. With the modifications of
the-human mind and human progress toward philosophic
wisdom, this sense-barbarism was held in check by
reason as a balance for the passions. Even after having
attained full rational powers, human societies hold
within the fabric of their structures the possibility
of their own destruction. This danger is the Opposite
of sensual barbarism; it is total reliance on reason
that has had removed from it any feeling, intuition,
or imagination. Vico wrote of men's
misbegotten subtleties of malicious wits
that have turned them into beasts made more
inhuman by the barbarism of reflection than
the first men had been made by the barbarism
of sense. For the latter diaplayed a gener-
ous savagery, against which one could defend

oneself or take flight or be on one's guard:

but the former, with a base savagery, under
soft words and embraces, plots against life

and fortune of friends and intimates (SM,
1106).

‘While Shaun's sermon may not seem a "base savagery"

203

that would equal Vico's barbarism of reflection, it is
nonetheless an example of it. He is praying upon the
credulity of his sister and her friends in order to

feed his own ego, an action devoid of feeling for others.
It is all the more threatening because Shaun exhibits
this barbarism within a religious context.

To clarify this "barbarism of reflection," it is :

 

helpful to review the purpose of the ricerse. Caponigri

‘3‘:-

writes that the rieerse I
lifts the time-form of the life of man to
a higher stage of ideality by putting it
in reflective, or ideal, possession of
principles and sources of power and strength
which it had previously possessed only on a
spontaneous basis. In this way, there
accrues to spirit by 'ricogsi' an authentic
increment of wisdom, . . . 4
The giegzeg is therefore a "return" in the sense that
the early Spontaneous creative power is regenerated in
its idea, not its form. "The time-form of the nation
is advanced toward its own ideality, not by an abstract
gesture of the detached intellect, but by an ideal
penetration of its own historical character and in-

35 In other words, [ieggeg is not possible

tegrity."
through intellectualism alone. The recoursing mind,
reaching back to capture the spirit of an earlier time,
must integrate "sense and intellect, image and idea at
once."36 Only £9331 mind can successfully recourse and
retrieve the idea embedded in time past. For Vico,

to behave as if reason, or intellect, were autonomous,

was to be guilty of "barbarism of reflection.” He

204

could call such sterile intellectualism by that name
with justification: for when intellect is divorced
from feeling, human values are lost and human sensi-
tivity is renounced.

To apply this principle to Shaun, one has only to
recall that he has constantly been his brother's opposite.
Shem is the poet, the seer who lives sensitively and
intuitively. Shaun is the watcher, the post, who lives
methodically and rationally. The ultimate purpose of
the great gieegee_of Book 111 is to effect the union of
intuition and reason, feeling and knowing, heart and
head. Like Blake's prOphetic work, the gicerse is to
bring about a marriage of heaven and hell. However, the
union alone is not the end-product: it is the necessary
condition for a transformation, an evolutionary change
of state. If the gieegee is to "work its progress,“
the union of Shem and Shaun will also be their trans-
formation into a new man, hence a new level of human
progress.

In 111.2, Shaun is not yet aware of this impending
change. He knows he has been sent, messiah-like, on a
journey and that he has a message to deliver. He has
a vague sense of his brother's proximity, for he tells
the girls that when he leaves them he will send them
a comforter, "Dave the Dancekerl, a squamous runaway
and a dear old man pal of mine too" (462.17-18).37

He has, however, not yet reached the point at which

 

205

feelings are equal to intellect. His reason tells
him he has a messianic role to play, and his reason
dictates his role-playing. Thus, he preaches. His
message demonstrates a "barbarism of reflection"
because it attempts to legislate ethics on the basis
of a prudential insurance plan. To deny the senses
in favor of reason as a means of gaining next-world
glory is doubly barbarous. First, it fragments the
integrity of Spirit thus making an authentic ricorsg
impossible. Second, it lowers religious faith to a
market-place ethics in which one bargains for the best
deal.

Viewed as a Vichian "barbarism of reflection,"
Shaun's activity as Jaun in 111.2 is his greatest
danger, or temptation, in his recourse of history.
Attempting to force the moment of illumination by
playing the role of messiah before he has grown into
it naturally, Shaun unknowingly risks the entire quest.
Simultaneously, the gig egucis pattern turns to bitter
parody and an implicit condemnation of any and all
religious institutions guilty of reflective barbarism
that perverts man's faith.

If it would appear that Shaun has totally ruined
his chances for a fruitful ' rs , there are moments
in 111.2 that redeem the Situation. For example, as
Shaun finishes the first part of his sermon, he

exclaims to Issy,

 

206

Poof! There's puff for he, begor, and

planxty of it, . . . If my jaws must

brass away like the due drops on my lay.

And the topnoted delivery you'd expected

be me invoice! . . . What I'm wondering

to myself whose for there's a strong

tendency, to put it mildly, by making me

the medium. I feel Spirts of itchery

outching out from all over me and only

for the sludgehummer's force in my hand to

hold them the darkens alone knows what'll

who'll be saying of next (439.15-25).
His rhetoric does not seem natural even to Shaun.
He confides to Issy that he feels himself at times to
be a "medium" complete with "Spirits of witchery" and,
"out-ching," a reversed X Chine, or geek Q; Changes.
Although he may be trying to impress Issy with the idea
that his words are inSpired, Shaun is actually anticipa-
ting his condition in the next stage of his journey.
Then, he does in fact become the medium at a seance.
1n the present instance, his lapse into a conversational
tone gives hepe that the omniscience he pretends is
only a stage through which Shaun will pass. His change
in attitude, although brief, again calls to mind Vico's
repeated statement that man's particular and often
selfish ends have always been turned, in natural ways,
to serve wider ends "to preserve the human race upon
this earth" (éfl, 1108). During 111.2, there are several
such brief glimpses of Shaun's greater service to the
parents, these moments being quickly obscured by his
switch back to self-preoccupation.

Despite his occasional lapses from the grand

m" '1'". F ' '_._r' I." ' 0 a

207

manner, Shaun's behavior throughout 111.2 continues to
be in turn expansive, then prudish. He tells his
sister that he would like nothing better than to stay
with her, never venturing from home (449-451). Con-
tradicting himself, he immediately Speaks of his journey,
"historically the most glorious mission, secret or
profound" (452.17-18). He goes on to eXplain his quest:
The Vico road goes round and round to meet
where terms begin. Still onappealed to by
the cycles and unapalled by the recoursers
we feel all serene, never you fret, as
regards our dutiful cask (452.21-24).
This explanation is of great significance in clarify-
ing the nature of Shaun's journey and of Joyce's
interpretation of the Vichian ricegse as well.

The word, "term," is at first ambiguous in the
statement above. It has most often been read as "end":
the Vico road meets where the end begins, or circles
endlessly. However, "term" also means "word," and
Vico's scientific method is 221191991221: an investiga-
tion of gagge. Therefore, the first sentence may also
be read as follows: the Vico road goes round and round
(backward in concentric circles) to meet the point
‘where negge begin (where pre-man became man). Such a
reading of the "rounds" as concentric is justified by
the knowledge of Joyce's use of Dante's Diyine Cgmedy

‘with its concentric rings of hell.38

"Terms" read as
"words" has a bearing on the word "onappealed" in the

sentence following. Dissection of "onappealed"

208

produces the following parts: "on“ = proceeding, in
progress, in contact with: "appeal" = taking a case
from a lower to a higher court, review of the argument
(words) on account of an alleged misjustice. It is
helpful to repeat the words of Vico's translators here
when they analyzed the term {icerse, or recourse.

A ricerse does not, like the recurrence of
a cosmic cycle, merely repeat the eggse.
It is a historical, not a purely natural,
process, and it has the sense of a retrial . ;
or appeal. Since the historical cgree
has not received justice, it must, as it
were, appeal to a higher court for the
rehearing of its case.

 

Such a reading of ”onappealed" shifts the meaning of
Shaun's statement. It may be read as follows: Still
proceeding toward an appeal (quest for a review) by
means of the cycles ("round and round") and unapalled
by the potential hazards of {jeegei ("recoursers," the
descent into the inferno of history), I feel serene
in my task (also, cask or barrel, mode of travel).
Such a reading of Shaun's comment seems more consistent
with the nature of his journey, and with the Vichian
:ieegee as well, than the conventional interpretation
of simplistic cyclic-history. And, the relatedness
of the key words reinforces the legitimacy of such a
reading.

If this were not enough to show Shaun's growing
understanding of the nature of his quest, his next

words add even more evidence. He says he is very proud,

209

for 'tis a grand thing (superb!) to be
going to meet a king, not an everynight
king, by gannies, but the overking of
Hither-on-Thither Erin himself, pardee,
I'm saying. Before there was patch at
all on Ireland there lived a lord at
Lucan. We only wish everyone was as

sure of anything in this watery world

as we are of everything in the newlywet
fellow that's bomd to fOIIOWo o s 0 Tall
mother that. And tell her tell her old
one. 'Twill amuse her (452.25-33). F‘

 

Here is a flash of intuition from Shaun, showing that

-._

he is actually beginning his transformation although I
it is far from complete. He senses that he is on his
way to meet the "overking," the first-father who is

"40 Shaun

apparently equated with the "lord at Lucan.
also senses that as a result of this confrontation

there will be a "newlywet" (newly born: also newly wed)
fellow emerging. Shaun can only guess at the satis—
faction his mother will have in the knowledge that her
Spouse will finally be accorded his position of honor

and that the next generation is to take up the challenge
of progress.

After this brief but penetrating insight into the
nature of his mission, Shaun lapses back into his
messiah-role. DeSpite Issy's passionate words to him,
Shaun proceeds to say a mass and to promise future joys
that Issy would gladly exchange for present pleasures.

In the midst of this, the girls begin the "Maronite
ritual." Shaun is no longer really a part of their
present. His impact as a male and as a savior diminishes,

and they prepare him for burial in Osiris-fashion. As

210

Joyce wrote in his letter, "He is seen as already a
Yesterday (Gestern, Guesterning‘Z? turning? back his
glance amid wails of 'Today!' from To Morrow (to-
maronite's wail etc.)." The text of the Wake handles
this as “Guestern's lothlied answering to—maronite's
wail” (470.13-14).

As a "Yesterday" Shaun no longer has any vital
meaning for the young girls who would just as soon be
rid of him. In his confusion he makes several false
starts at flying -trying a god-like ascent. Then
he accidentally stamps himself like a letter and tumbles
back into his barrel to continue his travel. As he
goes through these antics, he says,

I'm going. I know I am. (I could bet I am.
Somewhere I must get far away from Ban-
bashore, where I am. . . . Solo, solone,
solong! . . . Here's me take off . . . .
Sorry! . . . [The narrator then describefi7
But the strangest thing happened. . . . he
gummalicked the stickyback Side and stamped
the oval badge of belief to his agnelows
brow . . . topped a lipple on to the off
and, . . . was quickly lost to sight . . .
(469.5-7, 21-24: 470.22, 29-30: 471.10,
27-28).
Stamped, sealed, but not yet delivered, Shaun seems
-to become that which he has carried. He is a living
letter sending himself back to find the moment at
‘which ”terms" began.

The ass-narrator steps forward to call encourage-

ment to Shaun:

Brave footsore Haun! Work your progress!
Hold to! Now! Win out, ye divil ye! The

211

silent cock shall crow at last. The west
shall shake the east awake. Walk while ye
have the night for morn, lightbreakfastbringer,
morroweth whereon every past Shall full fost
sleep. Amain (473.21-25).
First called Jaun, Shaun now becomes Haun, a further
indication of the changes taking place in him. The
ass calls him a "divil," a term prior to this time
reserved for Shem and other "luciferants."41 This

epithet may mean that Shaun is beginning to combine

anew..- -9 “in."

some of his brother's qualities since this is a necesdty

 

if the brothers are to unite to become the new father-
figure. The "Silent cock" is an allusion both to the
morning and probably to the sex organ of the father,
suggesting that, if Shaun's :ieegee is successful,
procreation and progress will continue in the new
generation. The "west" recalls the action of the first
father immediately after the fall (first thunder word):

the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly

sends an unquiring one well to the west

in quest of his tumptytumtoes: and

their upturnpikepointandplace is at the

knock out in the park where oranges have

been laid to rust upon the green . .

(3. 20-233 see also Chapter III, p. 102

of this study).
Initially an "unquiring one," Shaun (the "head,"
reason) has been sent ”west" which in this case is
not death but the beginning of history. His findings
‘will indeed ”shake the east awake": cause the morning
to break in several senses. And, as 111.3 begins,
when Shaun is asked if he knows where he is, he answers,

"This same prehistoric barrow 'tis, the orangery"

212

(477.36). The first father's directive is to be
carried out point for point. The orangery, "where
oranges have been laid to rust upon the green," is the
refuse heap of history where the father lies awaiting
exoneration.
III Se 1 terr

I noted earlier that 111.2 was the most dangerous
part of the journey for Shaun because he fell prey

to the temptation of what Vico called the "barbarism

wm—u—ah -'

of reflection." rHis "salvation" from that trap came
about through the girls' rejection of him as a ”Yester-
day." Already a part of the past himself, Since he
has traveled into it, Shaun is forced by Issy and her
friends to continue his quest.

The dangers of the present chapter are imminent
not so much for Shaun as they are for the reader.
There is the possibility that this chapter may be
misread and misinterpreted as the revelation of the
parents. First, its length is impressive - or depres-
sive to some readers. There appears to be little
reason for such length unless one views the chapter
as the climax of Shaun's "watches." However, if there
is any illumination in this section, it is not for
Shaun because he is in a trance-like sleep throughout
all of it. Read according to the now—traditional
interpretation of Einnegene'fleke, this chapter seems

to lack purpose and appears as well to depart from the

213

pattern the reader has come to expect. W. Y. Tindall,
who insists on labeling the four parts of the Wake

as representations of Vico's "four ages," cannot fit
this chapter into the format. He writes,

Since this chapter represents Vico's human
age, the abundance of reversals . . . is
curious: for since the device of reversals
appears most often in fourth chapters, we
whave come to connect it with renewal. . . .
Maybe the reversal here is a promise of
renewal in the next chapter, which reverses
that promise.

Curious too is the inordinate length of
the present chapter, . . . This age, Joyce's
particular province, is the one in which he
was the most and least at home. Perhaps
the abstraction of humanity . . . detained
him. It takes time and Space to pin the
unpinnable down.4

Such conclusions seem to be based on rather forced
attempts to find continuity and meaning that have not
emerged naturally. This is the third leg of Shaun's
trip into history: it is not by any stretch of the
imagination "Vico's human age" only. The length of
the chapter must certainly be justified by more logical
reasons than those usually offered if the reader is to
accept it. However, the use of the Vichian doctrine
of {leggee in reading this section helps to justify
the chapter, to explain its meaning, and to give
direction to its purpose.

In recoursing the past, there is certainly a
point at which the facts of history will collide with
history-according-to-the-historians. That collision

is what this chapter is about. Almost at random, one

"x . "- .V--

‘w-—-

214

may read critical material on recorded history and may
learn that ”history as her is harped" (486.06) by
history writers is often an embellishment of fact

43 111.3 brings Shaun to this

and/or wishful thinking.
critical point in history: the altering and corrupting
of man's true fables (ye;e,na;retig), as Vico explained
it (SE, 905). It is for this reason that the Old Four 1
take over the action of the chapter. They have been,

each in his own way, the alterers and distorters of

 

history. I do not believe that this fact of altera-
tion necessarily is a condemnation of the Old Four or
of their distortions which have been, in their own
time, exhibitions of man's progress in imaginative
creativity. The point is that Shaun must go beyond
distorted, or prettied-up, history if he is to perform
his gieezeg successfully. This confrontation with
history's interior decorators is necessary in terms of
both the principle of [leggeg and the narrative of

As the chapter begins, Shaun is lying in a trance-
like state. This does not mean that he has stopped
traveling. Rather, it suggests that the medium of
travel has Shifted directly to the mind. Shaun is
transforming into a mental traveler. It appears that
‘he has not oriented himself to this change and is

unhappy about his condition.

215

Lowly, longly, a wail went forth. Pure
Yawn lay low. On the mead of the hillock
lay, heartsoul dormant mid shadowed land-
shape, . . . His dream monologue was over,
of cause, but his drama parapolylogic had
YBt to m, affaCto o a a Yam in a semi-
swoon lay awailing and (hooh!) what helpings
of honeyful swoothead (phew!), . . . .
(474.1-5, 11-12).

Shaun is now called ”Yawn” to emphasize his sleep-like

condition and "pure" may reflect his messiah-role in

_..-1_-1 3.1-. .11

the preceding chapter. It is quite true, of course,
that Shaun bee purified himself to some extent in
getting this far into the past. His trance condition
implies he has opened himself to an investigation of
consciousness, and this implies a certain amount of
ego-purging.

Shaun lies on the "mead of the hillock." This
could mean a meadow or a little hill, but the term
"honeyful" suggests that "mead” may also refer to the
fermented drink make of honey, water, yeast, and malt.
The addition of this meaning would explain how Shaun
became ”dormant" and why he is ”wailing" intermittently.
Like Coleridge's visionary, Shaun has "drunk the milk
of paradise" as he traveled and is in a drunken stupor.44
The words ”mead" and ”honeyful" also develop further
the bee motif pointed out earlier.

The idea of Shaun's being in a semi-intoxicated
trance raises several important questions about the

gieezee. One might at first ask whether, if Shaun
' has tippled and toppled as his father did, anything

216

he might say or do while in this condition would be
of value. If the £129£§Q is an act of the conscious
mind, must not that mind be clear? The question here
is really one of authorial choice: by what means
can a philosophical principle best be demonstrated
artistically? The problem involves the details of
“practical" :ieegee and of the manner of presenting
those details believably. Joyce needed to shift
Shaun's medium of travel from the physical to the
mental in a convincing way. Certainly the idea of
Shaun's imbibing annnna-drink would carry with it the
association of a Special kind of inebriation other
than simple drunkenness.

In this shift from physical to mental travel,
there are further ramifications. It is commonly
accepted that much of this chapter is a seance. Shaun
himself becomes the megigm through which the past may
be reached. Again, using Vico's conception of learning
(what one does is what one learns), it becomes clear
that, if Shaun becomes the medium, he literally becomes
the message. In order to keen the revelations of the
next chapter, Shaun must first unknowingly gg the
revealing. In this chapter, his doing (the message's
coming through him) is not revelatory to him, however,
because he is here e311 the medium. His words are
revealing to the Old Four, and in this sense the

chapter belongs to them. But, because Shaun has been

217

the medium in 111.3, he will be able to know and to
narrate the message in 111.4. "Shaun d," as Joyce
called 111.4, is all Shaun's. His revelation will
illuminate the entire narrative of Figaegans Weke.
There is yet another point regarding the ricorSQ

and the mental state. This is the question of the
practical employment of ric rs , aside from the tech-
nical problems Joyce encountered in portraying it.
Exactly how does the individual, the group, or the
nation "do" :ieegei? Vico condemned sterile intel-
lectualism as reflective barbarism; consequently,
the {leggee is not intellect alone. Neither will
intuition alone produce gieegeg, for the "barbarism
of sense" is impossible in the fully-evolved reflect-
ing mind. In the fleke, Shem is not capable of ricgrsg
by himself because, ironically, he is "in his bardic
memory low" (172.28). He relies too heavily upon feel-
ing, or intuition, and so cannot make adequate use of
reflection. The £122£§Q is, then, an act of tgte;
mind - thinking and feeling, reflection and Spontaneity.
It is a

genuine principle of ideality, a process . . .

of the human Spirit toward its own ideality.

The Spirit in history retreats only to .

advance: it is like a great hound Circling

to pick up the trace which it has lost for

the moment. . . . The universal is indeed

its term, but it comes to this term only

by a movement back upon the whole of its

concrete eXperience. . . . (The ricorsg?
is the greatest Spiritual effort. . . .

218
It is Criticism in its purest, that is its
most concrete, and historical form.45
I suggest that "practical” :iegrsg, such as Shaun

is to enact in 111.4, was envisioned by Joyce as a
mental act similar to that which today is called the
expansion of consciousness. In other terms, the
£122:fl2.i3 the critical exploration of man's inner t-
Space.46 If such a suggestion seems improbable, there

is considerable evidence to support the theory that }

 

Joyce was dealing with exactly such a conception.
First, it is well-known that Joyce was at one
time interested in Theosophy and that he knew the works
of Madame Blavatsky. Joyceans tend to treat this infor-
mation lightly - and with some reason. ‘Stanislaus
Joyce claimed that his brother became disenchanted with
the movement while still a young man.47 The brother's
statement removes the unpleasant task of trying to
defend any Theosophist interests Joyce may have had.
Devotees of the supernatural have seldom been con-
sidered people to be taken seriously.48
Second, Joyce's preoccupation with Bruno of Nola
should point out that the author had a more than
passing interest in Hermeticism. Only recently has
there been any really careful attention to Hermetic
aspects in Joyce's work.49 Up to this time, the vast

amount of Hermetic and Cabalistic material in Ulyssee

and Finnegene flake has been explained away somewhat

219

superficially, suggesting the need for a more thorough
study of Hermeticism and of Bruno. Joyce's interest

in Bruno lay, according to Joyceans, only in the latter's
doctrine of the coincidence of contraries. But, Joyce's
use of Bruno is far more extensive than this single

50 Even this Brunian doctrine of contraries

principle.
has never been elucidated completely or properly in
relation to the Wake.

Third, Clive Hart has found a profusion of Indian

 

and Oriental mystic terms and principles in Finnegene
Wake, and he bases a good deal of his analysis on his

51 But,

belief that Joyce used them as central themes.
Hart does not appear to See a connection between Joyce's
use of such ideas and the fact that these Indian and
Zen principles have as their goal the eXpansion of
consciousness.

Fourth, Joyce's interest in psychic phenomena and

parapsychology has never been investigated thoroughly

if at all. Atherton's The Beeke e; the Wake lists

 

Joyce's use of Sir Oliver Lodge's book, geymggg, g;
£112 and Qee§h_(l916), together with several details
from this little classic of psychic literature.52
Atherton also notes Joyce's use of Sir Arthur Conan

Doyle's The Histery g; Spiritualism and The gene Q;

gig; (p. 247). The fleke uses a number of names found
in Doyle's Hietegy e; SpiritualiSm. For example, in

111.3 one of the gOSpellers mentions "the gander of

220

Hayden” (in Doyle's work) and then asks Shaun, "Would
you kin a young stepschuler of psychical chirography
[Balmistry7, the name of Keven, . . 7" (482.16-18).
And, another of the Old Four comments on some type
of writing that may emanate from another dimension:

He is cured by faith who is sick of

fate. The prouts who will invent a

writing there ultimately is the poeta,

still more learned, who discovered

the raiding there originally. That's

the point of eschatology our book of

kills [Book of Kell§7 reaches for now

in soandso many counterpoint words.

What can't be coded can be decoded if

an ear aye sieze what no eye ere

grieved for (482.30-36).
Both Lodge and Doyle were among the founders of the
British Psychical Society and were psychic investiga-
tors of reknown in addition to their other accomplish-
ment 8 0

Another Significant detail concerning psychism

is Joyce's meeting with Eileen Garrett, perhaps the
world's most highly reSpected living medium. There
is no mention of this meeting in the biographies
of Joyce, but Mrs. Garrett touches upon it briefly
in her autobiography, Meny Vgices.53 After having
been told about Joyce by her fellow Irishmen, Gogarty,
Yeats, and James Stephens, Mrs. Garrett finally met
him in Paris. She writes that

my desire, when I knew Joyce, was to get

him to talk of the activity of the uncon-

scious, for his conversation, as well as

his book, Ulysses, suggested great know-
ledge of its deep stream . . . .

 

221

wisheg7 to understand hie methgd e:
W into. the Leee _en__c solone, a
process I hoped would give answers to
my doggts about the verity of my own

work.
Obviously, Mrs. Garrett did not doubt at all that
Joyce had access to some mental operation similar to

her own abilities to communicate at varying levels Of

6"

consciousness. Her only question pertained to the way

43.112"?

in which Joyce entered the "deep conscious." She has

' ‘6'

also commented,
I have never made up my mind if 1 ever

knew the real Joyce. With such a man it

was difficult to say who was Joyce. 1

would say that he was a mystic who lived

his own kind of life. . . . Gogarty

agreed with me Egat he had many levels

of personality.

Fifth, the seance-form itself of 111.3 Opens the

possibility of Joyce's desire to dramatize somehow
the expansion of consciousness. The seance portion of
Shaun's zieegee suggests the possibility, then, that
in the mid-twenties Joyce had anticipated and had put
into some kind of use mental activities that today are
in but eXperimental stages. And, Joyce was anticipated
in this use of mind by Vico, who called the mental act
a [leggee and treated it in philosophical terms. Shaun.
lying on the ”mead," has become the medium through
which history and history writers will meet. The
message is to the historians through Shaun, and by
this ”doing” Shaun will be able to "know" the meaning

of his own confrontation with the first parents in

222

their genesis. In shifting from physical to mental
travel for Shaun, Joyce has added greater dimension
to the concept of {leggei in Fingegags Weke.

The first lines have eXplained that Shaun's
"dream monologue was over, of cause." This may refer
to Shaun's own particular "dream of fair women" in
111.2. Certainly, he has just finished a lengthy
monologue-sermon to the girls. And, this eXperience a
has apparently been the "cause" of his having arrived ‘
at this hillock and of his present condition. If
111.2 was the cause, then the "affact" is yet to be:
the ”drama parapolylogic.” I am not sure whether this
term refers to the drama of the present chapter
(”parapsychologic") or to the four dumbshows of 111.4.

These pantomimes will be indeed "parapolylogic":

they will be ”beyond logic" ("paralogic"); they will

Show "many logics" ("polylogic"); and they will be

"parabolic," parables or allegories. Perhaps this term

is intended as a definition of the drama in each

chapter.56

Almost immediately, Shaun is visited by "three
kings of three suits and a crowner" (474.18-19).

These are the "senators four" (474.21): Matthew, Mark,
and Luke as a trio (theirs are the Synoptic GOSpelS)
and John as the "crowner."57 They climb toward Shaun,
traversing climes of Old times gone by
Of the days not worth remembering: . . .

having a sevenply sweat of night blues
moist upon them (474.22—24; 475.1).

223

"Night blues" eXplains something of their nature and
purpose. According to the Dyers' Chart, night blue is
a color in the basic, or fuchsine, class. The word,
"fuchsine,” contains the G. Egghe, fox, a term Joyce

employs regularly throughout the Wake in connection

 

with the church ("Old Fox Goodman" rings the church
bells: elsewhere, "Fuchs Gudman"). Therefore, the
Old Four may have come here for purposes of religious
dogma or church history.

Following the ”night blues" sentence, there are
listed seven Strange words (amplifying the "sevenply
sweat"?) that, as Tindall notes, have an odd sequence
and appear to be gibberish.58 The balance of the
paragraph builds on the allusions in these words,
using a mixture of meteor, rainbow, nebula, comet,
asteroid, and parts of the human body. These terms
all aid in a description of Shaun. The seven words,
or the basis for them, can be found in the standard
star chart listed in an unabridged dictionary. The
words' derivations also contain a list of animals and
the like in relation to the constellations that are
included. This type of multi-leveled linguistic
description Of Shaun foreshadows the seance to come
through the astral-astrological allusions of the words.

The next paragraph eXplains in its very first

words what is to take place in this episode.

224

Those four claymen clomb together to

hold their sworn starchamber quiry on

him. For he was ever their quarrel, the

way they would see themselves, . . .

(475.18-20)
"Starchamber" is a word rich in meaning for this
chapter. Historically, the Star Chamber was an
ancient, English high court which sat without the
intervention of a jury. Its members were the king's
Privy Council plus several additional judges. The
Star Chamber's Special jurisdiction was based on
encroachments of the crown, and it had power to use
mere rumor as evidence and to call witnesses as well.
It could even apply torture. Understandably, it was
abolished in 1641 during the Long Parliament. The
Old Four are planning to have a Star Chamber court
to try Shaun, and they will be literally "on him“ as
‘well because "he was ever their quarrel." "Quarrel"
means a square as well as an argument. In 11.4,
the Old Four had framed (made a "quarrel" or Square
enclosing) the action of Tristan and Iseult. Now,
Shaun-as-history becomes the frame for the Old Four,
”the way they would see themselves." Recorded history
‘will confront "true history” to learn whether the
record is, as they hope, synonymous with the truth
of the past. But it must be remembered that this
Star Chamber will allow rumor as evidence. It is a

foregone conclusion that the truth of the parents

will not be found here because rumor has been the

‘3

225

destructive force for the father and mother at every
turn. If the Weke itself has not stressed this enough,
Vico's axiom states the dangers of rumor:

Because of the indefinite nature of the

human mind, wherever it is lost in ignor-
ance man makes himself the measure of all

things.

This axiom eXplains those two common
human traits, on the one hand that rumor
grows in its course, on the other that
rumor is deflated by presence [6f the
thing itself? (5 , 120, 121).

Consequently, 111.3 seems to announce, in the
beginning, that it will not offer the authentic
revelation of the parents because they will not be
present to deflate the rumor allowable by this "court.”
They will be present only as voices communicated through
Shaun. The historians will hear simply what they want
to hear. The true "drama parapolylogic" is yet to
come. I

It is evident that the Old Four will direct the
action of this chapter. Matthew is "deputising for
gossipocracy" (476.4) and has the aid of the "star-
menagerie, Marcus Lyons and Lucas Metcalfe Tarpey and
‘the mack that never forgave the ass that lurked behind
him, Jonny na Hossaleen" (476.25-28).59 Shaun's role
is to be that of a "satrap . . . coaching his pre-
ferred constellations in faith and doctrine" (476.22-25).
In.a word, Shaun is a secondary official in the

‘proceedings, and his purpose is to coach (both "teach"

{and "carry," as in a coach) the "star men." The ass,

226

"the odd trick of the pack, trump and no friend of

carrots“ (476.17),60 will remain close to the action.

AS narrator, he has, however, stepped back a pace from
his angle of focus in the earlier chapters. The
point of view in this section approximates the dramatic,
and the ass will not Speak directly until the very end
of this chapter.

The conversation of the Old Four finally partially

awakens Shaun who asks, "-Y?" The immediate answer

is, ”-Before YOu!" (477.31-32). In its alphabetic
context, "y" follows "u"; however this is the past,
and Shaun must get used to such reversals. He is
agreeable when asked to "name yur historical grouns"
(477.35) and answers that this mound on which he lies
”amengst the pOppies" (the papas: 476.20) is "-This
same historic barrow 'tis, the orangery" (477.36).
'The Old Four are instantly excited. They inquire,
"-Are you in your fatherick, lonely one?" (478.28).
11f this hill is the carrier of the fathers ("father-
rick"), the Old Four are eager to learn its secrets.
Shaun confirms their belief, "-The same. Three
15ersons. Have you seen my darling only one? I am
esohohold!" (478.29-30). This midden heap is indeed
t:he resting place of the three father figures: Finn

IdnCE, and now, Shaun himself. Shaun's question refers

t:1: the female, the "darling one" with whom the male

ITrust unite for renewed progress.62 When Shaun shivers with

227

cold (also, being "old": restrained - "hold"). one

of the Four scolds, "—»What are you shevering about,
ultramontane, like a houn? Is there cold on ye,
doraphobian?" (478.31-32). 'The statement contains
another bee allusion because "doraphobia," an aversion
to or fear of hide or fur, also contains AS ggge,
meaning a drone. Shaun's reSponse, however, indicates
no Single fear. He answers, "-The woods of fogloot"
(478.34), which he repeats later as "The wolves of
Fochlut!" (479.13): and this term finally evolves to
"That folklore's straight from the ass his mouth"
(480.6-7). The evolution is significant: from veg-
atable to animal to man. And, this evolved ”folklore"
is apparently what the Old Four want. These tales
would be the initial fables as they appeared in

their first "divine" form, or straight from the "ass's
mouth." (The ass is the conveyor of the divine through-
out the fleke.

Shaun seems to understand the desire of the Old
Four, for he tries to explain his condition that has
placed him in proximity to the first fables of man.
”Dream. Ona nonday I sleep. I dreamt of a somday.

Of a wonday I shall wake" (481.78). One of the
interrogators excitedly glosses his remark:
—-I have your tristich now: it recurs
in three times the same differently. . . :

comming nown from the aSphalt to the con-
crete, from the human historic brute,

228

Finnsen Faynean, . . . to this same

vulganized hillsir from yours, Mr

Tupling Toun . . . would he reoccur

Ad Horam, as old Romeo Rogers, . . .

we Speak of Gun, the farther. And in

the locative. Bap! Bap! (481.10-19)-
The father is to be the main subject for investigation
during this seance. The Old Four - particularly the
first three since I believe John Speaks less Often63 -
want to compare their conceptions of any or all forms
Of the father with the view of him through Shaun. As
I noted earlier, the possibility for their getting at
true history will be remote because they will allow
rumor to be a witness in this "court.”

To start the seance-proper, Luke, the doctor,
applies a magical talisman, a T-square, to Shaun's
head and then places it inverted over his heart. He
then asks Shaun to tell what he hears, reminding the
medium that he had better give good answers because.
he could be "very largely substituted . . . by a
complementary character" (487.2-3), perhaps referring
to Shem. Shaun tries to please his questioners and
recalls some of his childhood thoughts as they seem
to apply to his present state:

A few times, so to shape, I chanced to be
stretching, in the shadow as I thought,

the liferight out of myself in my ericulous
imaginating. . . . and I swear my gots how
that I'm not meself at all, no jolly fear,
when I realize bimiselves how becomingly

1 to be going to become (487.15-19).

Misunderstanding Shaun's reference to his "becoming,"

229

his impending union with Shem, the questioners reply
angrily, "-+O, is that the way with you, you craythur?
In the becoming was the weared, wontnat! . . . The
voice is the voice of jokeup, I fear" (487.20-22).
They now think that Shaun may really be Shem in which
case they will not accept anything he says.

Shaun's defense of his identity is a long state-
ment (487-489)that underscores the growing ambivalence
in his feelings about himself and his brother. His
words indicate that he has a better understanding of
his interrelationship with Shem (488.4-12). For once,
Shaun seems to want to justify his brother and his
importance. Shem is a "penman," a letter writer;
and Shaun is a "post," letter-carrier,64 although
"1 never dramped of brebeing a postman but 1 mean in
ostralian someplace, mults deeply belubdead" (488.19-20).65
He goes on to explain,

1 am no scholar but I loved that man who
has africot lupps with the moonshane in
his profile, my shemblable! My freer!

-AS you sing it it's a study. That
letter to one's other, that nevggperfect
everplanned? (489.26-28, 33-34)

The Old Four are momentarily impressed with Shaun's
rhapsodic words about his brother. However, they
quickly dismiss Shaun's "nonday diary, this allnights
newseryreel" (489.35) by reminding him that "In this

wireless age anyowl rooster can peck up bostooms"

(489.36; 490.1). Any "night bird" can get Boston on

230

his radio,67 or should be able to "peck up” (extract
the truth from) the "boss' tomb" (the father's burial
mound: history).

The seance finally gets underway when ALP Speaks
.through Shaun, retelling her version of HCE'S Phoenix
Park episode. She minimizes the entire thing. But,
her words do not convince the Old Four of HCE'S innocence.
They interrupt her to point out that the father is busy
with sexual conquests and that the wife "only chits-
chats in her Spanking bee bonetry" (494.24-25). Again,
the bee motif appears, associated closely with the
female.

After hearing the mother's voice, the Old Four
demand that Shaun evoke HCE himself, "if so be you
may identify yourself with the him in you, . . . The
seeker from the swayed, the beesabouties from the
parent swarm" (496.25, 32-33). The seeker, Shaun,
will please separate himself from the mother's Spirit
("the swayed" since ALP favors HCE). In other words,
Shaun is to remove the busy-bee mother from the
communication line and contact the father68 so that
he may talk.69

Instead of evoking the father directly, Shaun
attempts to relay the father's Story by means of the
voice of history reenacting the past events. There is
a reprise of 1.1 with all of its chaotic activity.

Shaun also tries to Speak in defense of the father,

231

but this only makes for further confusion. There is
the sound Of furious battles as history moves deeper
into the primitive past. Above the noise of conflict
there sounds an intermittent "zinzin. Zinzin"

(pp. 500-01), the theme of "sin.” The sounds continue
,to grow louder, more intense. Finally, under the
increasing pressures of such communicating, Shaun the

medium blows a tube. The sound ceases abruptly:

SILENCE

Act drop. Stand by. Blinders. Curtain
up. Juice, please! FootS! (501.6-7)

The Old Four immediately go into action to re-

adjust their medium of communication with the past.
The stage directions imply that, since Shaun's
circuitry has been unable to carry the primitive
sounds of man's first era, the investigators will try
to reach it by another route. The tone Shifts instantly
from that of the first age Of man to that of civil
times. The Old Four will begin with Shaun's own era
and will try to move back in time gradually rather than
attempting to evoke the deep past directly.

A truce to demobbed swarwords. Clear the

line, priority call! Sybil! Better that

or this? Sybil Head this end! Better

that way? Follow the baby Spot. Yes.

Very good now. We are again in the

magnetic field (501.13-15).
On this side of "SILENCE" all events will be told

exactly as Shaun has always understood them. If there

232

might have been any Opportunity for him to learn
anything in the activity just completed, that chance
is now gone. The information that the Old Four will
evoke through Shaun will only reinforce their own
accounts of history. They have strict control over
all further communication at this seance; the "Sybil,“
or oracle, is in their pay.
AS the seance starts again, the interrogators
establish their location. Are they still in the
dump-burial ground? Yes, Shaun's astral voice replies,
"-Simply awful the dirt. An evernasty ashtray"
(503.7). This phrase is reminiscent of the last
thunder word because it approximates the term "ever—
lasting ash tree," Yggdrasill. This world-tree symbol
from Norse mythology will provide the angle of approach
”towards the ouragan of Spaces" (504.14), the origin
of Species. This Norse tree is also a convenient
symbol because the Old Four can combine it with the
Genesis tree and can point out the idea of the female
as the initial sinner:
woman't seeleib such a fashionaping
sathinous dress out of that exquisite
creation and her leaves, my darling
dearest, sinsinsinning since the night
of time . . . . And encircle him circuly.
Evovae! (508.8-10, 13).

The male is deemed weak since he was so easily trapped

by the Circe-like (”encircle circuly") female. To

emphasize this, there is the cry, "Evovae!” The word

233

combines ”ova,” egg, with "Evoe," the shout of the
Greek bacchanals, as well as "Eve."

The Four probe further, asking "what science has
to say” (505.27) about the first parents. Shaun
answers, "Upfellbowm" (505.29).' The Apfelbaum
(G. apple tree) caused the "up-fell-down." He goes
on to explain that this action "remounts to the sense
arrest" (505.31). Man's first "sin” was, then, para-
doxically the act that released him from the prison
of the senses, or in other words, that initiated human
evolution toward what Vico called "philOSOphic wisdom.”
This is a story with which the Old Four are familiar,
and they question Shaun closely, ”Were you there when
they lagged um through the coombe?" (506.11-12). Their
question sounds the bee motif once again (the honey
"coombe"). Shaun answers, ”psalmtimes it grauwS on
me to ramble, ramble, ramble" (506.13514). Yes, this
is the reason he is on his quest. The "harping" of
history is, however, beginning to follow a format so
familiar to the Old Four that it would seem to pre-
clude the necessity of Shaun's journey.

In the conversation following, there are echoes
of the Russian general story, the prankquean, Kersse
the tailor, Wellington, and other episodes already
related in the fleke. In each, emphasis is placed on
the female-as-sinner whenever it is possible to bend

the story that way. This stress is particularly

234

pleasing to the historians. They ask eagerly, "SO
lent she him ear to burrow his manhood (or so it
appierce) and borrow his namas?" (512.23-25). The
information coming through Shaun seems to confirm their
suSpicions about the origin of Sin. Impatiently, they
demand,

as briefly as you can, . . . how these

funeral games, which have been pouring

over us through homer's kerryer pidgeons,

massacreedoed as the holiname rally

round took place (515.22-25).
In other words, the Old Four believe they are receiv-
ing the full truth about human history (via "homer's
kerryer pidgeons”), and they wish to learn the process
by which this "pure truth" was transformed into church
dogma, mass and creed. That the fables they are hear-
ing are an; true fables - at least, according to the
Vichian definition - is underscored by Joyce's use of
the name of Homer. Vico repeatedly stressed the fact
that Homer received the true narratives in altered
and corrupted form (SE, 401, 808, 814, 815, 905).
The passage also suggests that the truth has been
corrupted with the passage of time in its combining
both ”mass" and "creed" in a ”massacre."

Regardless of the truth quotient of the message,

Shaun continues to tell the Old Four what they want
to hear: history as they have recorded it. They
bombard him with questions until Shaun finally grows

tired of this third degree. When the historians ask

235

him about one of his answers, Shaun retorts, "Are
you to have all the pleasure quizzing on me? I
didn't say it aloud, Sir. I have something inside
Of me talking to myself" (522.25-26). The old men
Scold him for his impertinence and suggest that, if
he thinks they don't understand him, he should have
himself "psychoanolized." Angrily, Shaun answers,
"I can psoakoonaloose myself any time I want . . .
without your interferences or any other pigeonstealer”
(522.32-36). His reference to pigeons, in context
with "homer's kerryer pidgeons,” may indicate that
Shaun is aware of the distorted history now being
accepted as fact. When the Four clamor for an example
of his self-paychoanalysis, several inner voices issue
forth from Shaun with particularly Significant state-
ments.

The first voice asks,

-Have you ever weflected, wepowtew, that
the evil what though it was willed might
nevewtheless lead somehow on to good toward
the genewality? (523.2-4).

This statement is a reiteration of Vico's principle
that even though humanity wills selfish and limited
purposes for itself, divine providence working in
natural ways turns those purposes, or ends, into a
general good (éfl, 1108). The liSping, child-like
‘voice is Speaking truth, although that truth is not

recognized by the GOSpellers.

236

A seCOnd voice points out that the father

may have been (one is reluctant to use
the passive voiced) may be been as much
sinned against as Sinnlng, for if we look
at it verbally perhaps there is no true
noun in active naure where every bally
being . . . is becoming in its owntown
eyeballs (523.8-12).

 

Among other things, the statement points up the relative
nature of language, the limits of verbal communication,
and the fact that truth is all but impossible of
expression in the context of relativity. Sin is
usually called so depending on the perSpective of the
person making the judgment. Words have been the
weapons used against the father, and the voice plays
with words to demonstrate both their potentialities
and their limitations.

A third voice emanates from Shaun, asking about
the entire seance up to this point. What if, after
this ”tour of bibel" (523.32), the evidence discloses
that the father has simply acted and reacted naturally
has behaved like a man? And what if the same natural
action is true of the female? Then, "were these
anglers or angelers coexistent and compresent with or
without their EEILiEE ggig?" (526.11-12). The question
is Open to a number Of interpretations. I read it as
an inquiry about the relationship of man and the
divine. Are the first parents considered to have been
alone of this earth during their first period of time

as humans? Must one not posit the immanent presence

237

Of the divine, a ”third something or someone?" If
such an idea may be entertained, then what is the
relationship of man tO that eegeigm ggig? '

The Old Four misunderstand the question and
interpret the three entities as "Shem and Shaun and
the Shame that sunders em" (526.14), the "shame"
probably being a reference to Issy. The sins of the
fathers are repeated in the children. One of the Old
Four makes a Speech condemning all women. In reSponse,
Issy's voice issues from Shaun, playing the role of
temptress. The Old Four break in to say that they
are after the male, really, and had better adopt new
methods of inquiry, those of a ”brandnew braintrust"
(529.5). They will, then, attempt to intellectualize
their seance for greater efficiency. This decision,
which recalls Vico's "barbarism of reflection," dooms
the seance to further failure.

Now Streamlined, the seance takes on the form of
a radio program with Spot announcements. Kate is
called as a witness, and she reluctantly comments on
the father. Then, the father himself is called upon
to Speak.70

The remainder of the seance is given over almost
entirely to the father's defense of himself.71 With
great eloquence and feeling, the father recounts his
courtship Of and mating with the female. He goes on,

‘to list the benevolent things he has accomplished:

238

he has initiated education, built a city, cared for
the poor, and so on (541-546). His trial, he claims,
resulted Twhen 1 stabmarooned jack and maturin”
(549.22), or when he attacked the religious establish-
ment. He goes on to explain that he has always been
a good husband, and he cites numerous instances to
prove the truth of his words.

It is doubtful whether the Old Four believe any-
thing the father has said. In a sense, it is not
really important to know whether or not they believe
the voice. The seance has functioned to turn Shaun
into a living letter, or message, synonymous with the
written one he carries. In this chapter Shaun geee
what he will leegn in 111.4. The information imparted
through Shaun has not benefited him; it has been
directed toward the Old Four. Here, Shaun has been the
medium for the message. In the final leg of his gieggee,
he will become one with the message as he views the
truth of history playing itself out before him. The
Old Four will also be present with Shaun for this
drama, but their function will be different from their
present one.

The ass-narrator has the last word in this chapter.
It is not much.more than a bray: "Mattahah! Marahah!
Luahah! Joahanahanahana!” (554.10). The ass may
possibly be laughing at the Old Four, deriding them

for their failure to make truth come to them on their

239

terms. But if the ass is laughing at the men, his
laughter takes on additional meaning when he says
John's name. The "~hanahanahana“ adds to ”John“
the Jewish name, "Hannah," meaning "grace." The
name, "John," itself means "Jah is gracious.” The
donkey's last bray foreshadows the epiphany that
Shaun is to experience in 111.4: the illumination

of that grace in John's dumbshow of the first parents.

240

NOTES FOR CHAPTER IV

1
Warsaw intimate. p- 78-
2
Sttuetgge and fleti_, p. 81.
3
Streetgte eng_Mgttf, p. 83.
4
The Begge et the Wake, p. 17.
5

Adeline Glasheen, "Out of My Census,” The
Anglyet, 17 (1959), 23. Italics mine.

6
The EQQES at tte nge, p. 17.

7

In Sttgeture eng.Metif, Hart points out that
Joyce ”was particularly concerned to reproduce

relativity and the uncertainty principle" in the
Wage (p. 65). Others have also noted Joyce's use
of modern science.

a .
Wand 149.121.. p- 93.

9
Literateze egg the Irretignal, p. 119.

10
See also, James Joyce, The Critice; Wtittnge,

ed., Ellsworth Mason and Richard Ellmann (New York:
Viking Press, 1959), p. 145.

11
James Moffett, A Student-Cegtered tenggege
Ante Qtttieeltm, (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1968),
p. 280

12
Sttdent- entered Ctrrieuleg, p. 68.

13
Student-Jessica e Wes. p. 502.

14
Ernest Becker, Angel in,é;me£. (New Ybrkt
(George Braziller, 1969), p. 42.

241

15
See 0 Hehir's ; Gaetic Lexieen for his discus-
sion of the name "Shaun" as "John," p. 406.

16
A geelig gexigen also explains "Shem" as
"James," p. 408.
17
Letter , I, 214.
18
A Gaelie Lezieen also gives a thorough eXplana-
tion of the "four masters" and their names, pp. 383-85.
19
As noted earlier, "ass” is ON for "god.”
20
EEBDQ.QDQ the Hermette Trad't' , p. 259.
21

Frances M. Boldereff, Hetmes tg Hts egg T th
(Woodward, Pa.: Classic Non-Fiction Library, 1968 ,
p. 690

22
mummm ,p.70.

23
Bruno and the Hermetis Tradition. pp. 260. 261.

Italics mine.

24 .

Bruno and the Hermetic Miriam pp. 222-223.
25

gtgng egg tge Heteetie T ad't' , p. 260.
26

Joyce wrote of the nge as a ”Square wheel"
(LQEEQKEJ I: 251):

27
W Ker. p. 270.

28
Joyce had earlier written that Shaun's journey
follows the stations of the cross (Lettete, 1, 214).

29
LEEEEEQ: 1: 253-

242

30

Blake's ngvetee gt,He;1 is an even more
appropriate comparison.

31
gm JQZQe, pa 1460

32
gemee,ngee, p. 140.

33
This "Father Mike" may be an allusion to
ALP'S first lover, "Michael Arklow" (203.18).

34
Ties egg Idea, p. 136.

35
Time end Idea, p. 136.

36
m m 15:22.10. 135.

37
"Dave" suggests that Shem may somehow function
as David to Shaun's ”Shaunathaun" (462.8).

38 .
For references to Joyce's use of Dante, see

Atherton's Tee EQQK§,§§.£h§.E§E§: pp. 79—82, 208,
244, 251, 289.

39
Introduction, Neg S 'e , p. xliii.

40

This "lord of Lucan" remains one of the yet-
unidentified names in the Wake. Vico's reference
to "Lucanian oxen" - elephants - may possibly have
some bearing on an identification (§3, 96). Bio-
logically, the elephant is thought to have a very
significant place in the evolutionary line that was
to lead to the emergence of man.

41
For Joyce's comments on "luciferants," see
his letter mentioning ”lucifer types" among his
acquaintances (tettete, I, 262).

42
A Reedet's geige, p. 256.

243

43
Herbert Muller's ghe yeee Q; the P makes
this important point, particularly in its d scussion
of Greek history. ShakeSpeare's EEQLLBS gag Cteseige
is an equally apprOpriate commentary on the difference
between history and history-writing. The play strips
the Trojan War of all its glamour.

44
Coleridge, whose Speaker in "Kubla Khan" had
”drunk the milk of paradise," was a student of both
Bruno and Vico. Joyce noted this information in his
1903 review of J. Lewis McIntyre'S Gigrdeng Bragg

(The WW it' s, p. 134).

45
Time egg Idee, pp. 138, 136.

46
The terms "expansion of consciousness" and
”inner Space" are much used ones in contemporary bio-
chemistry, psychology, and the like. Robert De Ropp's
The Master Game: Pathways te Higger Coesciousness
Be ' £h§.D£uQ Eateriegce (New York: Delacorte Press,
1968 is exemplary of current works on the subject.

47
In Jemee J ce, Ellmann mentions Joyce's interest

in TheOSOphy (p. 103 . Stanislaus Joyce tells, in
My Btgther's Keeper (New York: Viking Press, 1958),
p. 140, of his brother's disenchantment with the
organization. However, Stanislaus has not proved to
be an infallible reporter of his brother's ideas.
Hart points out that Joyce used a great deal of

material from Madame Blavatsky's tats Unvetleg and
Them let—t ers (W c u and limit. p- 49).
48

On the other hand, among Theosophists are
such prominent figures as Thomas Edison, the French
astronomer Flammarian, Abner Doubleday, Piet
Mondrian, and Maurice Maeterlinck, whose works Joyce
used very significantly in the Wak .

49
In contrast to Boldereff's abstruse work on
Joyce and Bruno, Hegmee,te His Sen Ttgtg, Jackson 1.

Cope's " lyseee: Joyce's Kabbalah," Jamee geyee
, 7, NO. 2 (Winter 1970), 93-113, is an

excellent work.

50
An unpublished graduate study on Joyce and
Bruno, Ronald Koch, "Giordano Bruno and Einnegene_flege:

244

A New Look at Shaun's Objection to the 'Nolanus
Theory'," Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
is indicative of the kind of Bruno-Joyce research
yielding valuable information for both literature
and philOSOphy.

51
In particular, see pp. 96-104 for Hart's
eXplanation of Joyce's use of the mystic word "AUM"

52

The EQQE§.§E tee flake, p. 262. Atherton
mistakenly calls Alta Piper the "chief medium" of
Lodge's experiences. While Lodge did refer to Miss
Piper as A.L.P. in his writings, she was the daughter
and secretary for Lodge's medium, Mrs. Lenore Evalina
Simonds Piper of Boston. This great Boston medium
received a number Of messages for members of the
British Psychical Society -Lodge, Frederick Myers,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Others. These messages
were duly recorded by her daughter, Alta, and -like
ALP'S letter from Boston in the Wage -were sent to
England. (David C. Knight, ed., Tee_§§£ geeget [New
York: Grosset and Dunlap, 19627, pp. 74-76, 94.)

53 A
Mrs. Garrett gives a wealth of information
about psychic study among such peOple as Yeats, Lodge,
James Stephens, Alastair Crowley, and others. She
also mentions the Irish Survival League, a Spiritualist
group including the peOple noted above. Jche was
familiar with this group.

54
Eileen Garrett, che; Vgiees (New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1968). p. 62: italics mine. Mrs.
Garrett also comments, in a letter to me, about her
sense of Joyce's proximity to "deep consciousness.”

55
From a letter written by Mrs. Garrett to me,

56
Tindall reads "parapolylogic" as ”paraplegic"
(Reeget'e Ggide, p. 253). This definition does not
seem tO have any meaning in the context of the passage,
however.

57
"Crowner” means "coroner" in England, but on
the Isle of Man it is the chief constable.

245

58
A Reaget's Guige, p. 257.

59 .
"na Hossaleen" a Gael. "of the little asses”

(A 9331.19. 1:931:91}. PO 254)-

60
Among other things, the description contains a
play on the name "Patridk"and perhaps "carrots" (Tarot?).

61
The "Y-U" conversation could also refer to a
turn, or "Y,” in the road to the past. This shift
in directions is also "before U" (here, "you" is
Shaun). It is in front Of him.

62
In the mystical number system of the Kabbalah
(Sephiroth), the female is the O with which the male
(1) must unite to form the decade. Shaun may simply
be referring to the female, in this case, probably
Issy.

63
The four Speakers are difficult to distinguish.
Mark's Speeches are usually quite harsh, and Luke's
often have a Dutch accent. Matthew's Speeches are
fairly normal in tone. I cannot characterize John's
Speeches as having any consistently unique qualities.

64
The epithets used in connection with Shem and
Shaun have derivations indicating their polarity.
The IR root of "pen” (Shem the penman) is pet, to fly.
Conversely, "post" (Shaun the post) is from L. peeitue,
to set or fix firmly.

65
According to Clive Hart's theory, Shaun's quest

takes him around the world in an equatorial route

that sends him through Australia (pp. 116-128). I
find the "ost-" (bone), combining with "someplace,
mults deeply belubded,” to indicate as well a place

of "dead bones" (the past), an equally consistent
reading of the line in terms of its context.

66
The term ”lupps" could be derived from L. 12235,
wolf. This, in turn, would relate to the earlier
"wolves of Fuchlut," folklore, fables, and would point
back to Shem, maker of fables.

246

67
The famous letter of ALP in the Weke is

supposedly from Boston.

68
"Beesabouties" contains "abou-," meaning
"father,” therefore ”bees' father.”

69
"Swarm" - AS, literally, "that which hums":

Skt. to sound, a voice. The "parent swarm" could
here mean the father's voice.

70
Tindall, in A EEEQQELE Guide, points out that,
in this seance, Shaun becomes the ghost of his own
father (p. 271). Such a condition closely approxi-
mates Stephen's theory of Heatet in Ulyssee.

71
Joyce originally called this defense of the

father "Haveth Childers Everywhere."

CHAPTER V

SHAUN'S REVELATION:
THE GREAT EPIPHANY OF FINNEGANS WAKE (111.4)

The fourth watch of Shaun, 111.4, is the high

point of Book III and, I believe, of the entire Wake.

 

This book, which Joyce referred to as "Shaun the Post,”
was one of the earliest sections written. Joyce
started working on it in March, 1924, and by November,
1925, had almost completed it.1 Although he revised
Shaun a, b, and c in 1928, it appears that Shaun d was
not included in that re-writing. In August, 1925,
while he was working on Shaun d, Joyce voiced some con-
cern about this passage in a letter to Harriet Weaver:
1 know that Ad ought to be about roads,

all about dawn and roads, and go along

repeating that to myself all day as I

stumble along the roads hoping it will

dawn on me how to Show up them roads SS

as everybody'll know as how roads etc.

Joyce's preoccupation with roads in Shaun d is
understandable. 111.1,2, and 3 have all concerned
themselves with Shaun's quest: his preparation, leave-
taking, temptations along the way, and the changing

modes of travel. In 111.4 Shaun's journey to find

the genesis of the first parents must be completed

247

248

before dawn breaks. Having traveled backward in his-
tory until his mode of travel has become totally
mental, Shaun has first been the "medium” for com-
munication with an earlier age. Now he moves even
further back, stepping through the door of his own
consciousness, as it were, and reaching that primary
age of man, the age that Vico labled so apprOpriately
"poetic wisdom.”

I have earlier mentioned the fact that many
analyses of this chapter ignore Joyce's reference to
it as ”Shaun d." It has been treated in a variety of
ways, none of which deal with the son at all, much
less considering him as the central figure narrating
the passage{3 In contrast, the present study focuses
on Shaun as central character and narrator. Clive
Hart also believes Shaun to be_the narrator of 111.4,
although his interpretation of this section is not
based on the Vichian principle of tieetee. Hart
writes that

Joyce always spoke of 111.4 as 'Shaun d'

- a title for which more justification is
needed than the trivial fact that Shaun
appears in a few places in it as an infant
in a cot. The explanation of the title
seems, in fact, to lie in the identity of
the narrator. We owe chapters 111.1 and
111.2 (and possibly also 111.3) to Johnny's
loquacious ASS, but the Ass is clearly not
reSponsible for 111.4. In this case the
narrator is almost certainly Shaun himself.4

I would go one step further in describing Shaun's

function in 111.4. Not only is Shaun the narrator.

249

He is the key figure, the one whose ultimate per-
ception of the "true narrative" of history (the mute
mythee) brings the resolution in the Wete, or makes
possible the resolution.

111.3 has just concluded with the ass-narrator's
braying the names of the Old Four. As 111.4 begins,
it appears that Shaun's stepping through the doorway
of his consciousness has reversed the psychic, or
mental, conditions of the principal characters. Shaun
wakens from his trance or perhaps is able to bring
his awake consciousness into this greater dimension
of awareness, and the Old Four seem to Sink into the
trance condition. It is as if Shaun has stepped through
a looking-glass and has, by this action, simultaneously
brought about a reversal of his earlier condition.
This expanded ”inner Space” into which Shaun has passed
does nothing to distort the dream-form theory earlier
discussed in relation to the structure governing all
of Book 111.5 It simply means that Shaun has reached
the deepest level of human history -the view from
the ”horizon,” or the threshold of minimal conscious-
ness, one might say. This level is also the deepest,
or ”delta,“ stage of sleep. Paradoxically, this depth
is also the evidence of Shaun's attainment of the
highest dimension of consciousness: "cosmic conscious-

6

ness.” While he is in this state, Shaun will employ

the Old Four in somewhat the same way that they have

250

used him in the previous chapter. At least, his
conversations with them will serve as dialectical
analyses of the four mute pantomimes he is to watch.

Although the Old Four are now in a trance-sleep,
it seems that they are the first to Speak as the
chapter begins: "What was thaas? Fog was whaas? Too
mult sleepth. Let sleepth”' (555.1-2). Certainly,
these four short sentences beginning the chapter
appear to be the words of the sleepy old men. The
clear Speech following seems to be that of Shaun, now
the narrative voice that is to control the dialogue.
"But really new whenabouts? Expatiate then how much
times we live in. Yes?" (555.3-4). If the first
lines are those of the old men wondering what has
happened and perhaps what their "aas" ("ass," ON god)
has had to do with the change in their condition,
Shaun answers them with a question. Has there not
been a "whenabout," a reversal of time - Of the ”now?”
Then Shaun asks the GOSpellerS to recite the formula
for one's attaining this level of history: "how much
times we live in.” The formula he requires is that of
Space and time, "how much" (quantity, Space) multiplied
by "we live in" (time).

It appears that the Old Four are unable to give
the formula; therefore Shaun answers his own question:

So, nat by night by nought by naket, in
those good old lousy days gone by, the days

251

Shall we say? of Whom Shall we say?

While kinderwardens minded their twins-

bed, there now they stood, the sycomores,

all four of them, in their quartan agues,

the majorchy, the minorchy, the everso and

the fermentarian with their ballyhooric

blowreaper, . . . Follow me beeline and

you're bumblin, esker, newcsle, saggard,

crumlin. And listening (555.5-15).
Shaun's formula is ”nat (not = zero) by (multiplied?
divided by?) night by nought (zero) by naket (naked).”
There are several ways to read the formula. It con-
tains the ideas of night (night journey, dream, dark
night Of the soul), nakedness (the first human beings?),
and negation or absence (zero). Exactly how do these
ingredients work to produce the "good old lousy days
gone by"? Perhaps the condition of nothingness is
multiplied, or intensified, by the night journey.
This night quest, in turn, may be divided by negation
("nought")--the cancelling out of first one pseudo-
answer to the question Of the parents after another.
By negative mathematics one eventually reaches the
first human condition. In a sense, such a formula
would be an apprOpriate one for IiSQEfii in that the
recoursing mind, as it descends into the night of the
past, must by-pass all history that masquerades as
the true beginning. At any rate, Shaun seems certain
that this formula is a fruitful one for reaching the
beginning Of human time when "kinderwarden minded

their twinsbed" (555.7).

If the Old Four have earlier demonstrated some

252

power over history, they are no longer able to do so.
Immobile, these ”sycomores" (sycamores + sycophants:
trees and tale tellers) now stand "in their quartan
agues."7

Shaun calls the old men "majorchy, minorchy,
everso and fermentarian."8 The first two terms con-
tain allusions to the male sex organ (Gr. rchis,
testicle), implying a close relationship between
Matthew and Mark although the first is dominant, or
major. Luke's term, "everso," contains "verso," the

9 as well as the notion of

left-hand page of a book
unchanging (”ever so”). This "unchanging" factor
separates Luke somewhat from Matthew and Mark, whose
terms imply at least quantitative differences. John

is "fermentarian," a term appearing to relate generally
to fermentation. Specifically, a fermentarian was a
prozymite, one who celebrated the Eucharist with
leavened bread.10 Perhaps the most significant dif—
ference between John's term and the other three is

that his term suggests movement, activity, or action
not contained in the other terms. Having named the

old men, Shaun tells them to follow his "beeline," a
term once more stressing the continuing of the bee
motif that is now to take on greater importance. Shaun
goes on to point out how the Old Four have behaved in

relation to each twin, the sons appearing here as tiny

children. He accuses the Four of favoring "Kevin Mary"

253

(555.16), himself, over "badbrat Jerry Godolphing"
(555.20), Shem.11
It may be that the Old Four are, metaphorically,
in the sixth period of their quartan ague, for Shaun
goes on to Speak of six "nights," each one handled in
a separate paragraph. Each "night" reviews important
scenes or characters that have already appeared in the
Wake. These six paragraphs seem almost to be written as
though for a poetic commentary accompanying a travelogue
or film of some sort. It would appear, from the intro-
ductory reference to night in each, that Shaun is some-
how applying his formula of Space and time to the events
that are passing once more in review. These six "nights"
may bear some resemblence to the six days of creation
in Genesis. The re-creation of history, by means of
tieezee, could possibly be thought of as a Six-night
project. In other words, if creation took six days
mythically, it would entail the use of six nights to
recourse it. The Six "nights" are as follows:
"night by silentsailing night . . . (556.
1-23). This paragraph is a portrait of the
daughter, Issy, seen particularly as a
"child of tree, like some losthappy leaf,
0 a s” (556.19). ISObel 13 Of primary
importance, for she is to become the new
wife-figure when the dawn breaks.
"nowth upon nacht, while in his tumbril
Wachtman Haveiook seequeerscenes . . .
(556.23-24).1 This paragraph focuses
upon the male. The "tumbri1"13 suggests
that "Wachtman Havelook“ could be HCE, or

it might refer to Shaun himself, now
engaged in investigating the beginning of

254

conciousness. The male's ”looking" and
"seeing queer scenes" also recalls the
Observational activities of Jarl van
Hoother watching from his lighthouse-
castle as well as the gossip about HCE'S
voyeurism.

"wan fine night and the next fine night

and the last fine night . . ." (556.31-
557.12). This third night emphasizes man's
humanness, his finite ("fine night") con-
dition. The paragraph begins with the
"three times and out" formula used in the
prankquean story and elsewhere in the Weke.
"Kothereen the SlOp" (Kate; 556.32) wakens
one night, hears a sound, and goes to
investigate it. To her surprise, she finds
the father "sliving over the sawdust lobby
. . . in his honeymoon trim, holding up

his fingerhals, with the clooky in his
fistball, . . ." (557.8-10). His eyes
caution silence, and Kate complies. Tindall
points out the similarity of "clooky" to

an earlier line: the father's "cluekey to
a worldroom beyond the room whorld."14
However, the earlier statement is made in
reference to the father's "bauchSpeech in
backwords, or . . . tristurned initials"
(100.28-29). Tindall reads "clooky" as

the father's sex organ. This may well be
the case. However, the important element
in this paragraph is the scene's earthiness.
It emphasizes man as "fine-night" and is
much less lyric than the first two para-
graphs 0

"each and every juridical sessions night,

. . .” (557.13-20). This scene is even
more earthy than the third. It retells the
trial with great stress upon the sexual
aSpects of the father's alleged crime. The
paragraph manages to combine sex language
with courtroom jargon.

”niece by nice by neat by natty, . . .”
(558.21-25). Approximations of "night,"
these words introduce a paragraph in which
the twenty-nine girls have a ”ripping time"
(558.23) with Shaun. The frolic does not,
however, communicate Simple joy. The scene
points up one of the paradoxes of the

human condition: the girls' violent fun
takes place because "they were never happier,

255
huhu, than when they were miserable, haha"
(558.25).
”in their bed of trial, on the bolster of
hardship, by the glimmer of memory, under
coverlets of cowardice, . . ." (558.26-31).
Here is the real trial: the marriage bed
is indeed to be the scene of the pantomimes
to follow. Although in this sixth scene
the parents are in bed together, there is
neither action nor a Show of desire. This
is a still-life picture: the camera has
stOpped at one frame and moves no further.
The father's "mace of might" is mortified"
while the mother's ”beautifell hung up on
a nail” (558.28-29).

As I read these six "nights," they function as a
type of calendar, although there is no fixed chrono-
logy in their sequence. Fingegens Wake has, after all,
been taking place during Easter Week. Shaun is count-
ing Off six nights to Show that the narrative has
reached the last night (the parents' "bed of trial”)
before the dawn of Easter Sunday. Since, as the
narrator, he is counting off the nights, Shaun does so
by listing peOple or events that have some Special
meaning for him. At the same time, the reader becomes
aware that Shaun has taken over the control of this
chapter's action. Although his rtcetse has not yet
produced the illumination he seeks, Shaun knows where
he is and knows as well what time it is. This "week
of wakes” (608.30) will soon be over now that Shaun
has managed to work his way back to humanity's begin-
ning. His "count-down" of the six nights leading up

to this particular Situation emphasizes Shaun's

256

understanding of the importance Of the immediate
activity.

AS Shaun is describing the sixth "night," his
words are interrupted by "A cry off" (558.32). There
follow several questions about the location of the
present scene: "Where are we at all? and whenabouts
in the name of space?" (558.33). These questions may
be asked by the Old Four, but the words are not pre-
faced by the dash that Joyce employed as the signal
of a direct quotation. In this chapter, the deepest
level of sleep, history, and consciousness, it is
difficult to tell who is Speaking. Even the narrative
voice is usually distant and objective in tone. If
the old men are the inquirers here, their question
would be a natural one since Shaun's step into man's
deepest past has taken him -and the Old Four as
well -"behind" history as they have known it.

The answer to these questions comes in the form
of stage directions. These directions are preparatory
to the first of the four dumbshows that will make up
the balance of the chapter.

House of the cederbalm of mead. Garth
of Fyon. Scene and property plot. Stage-
manager's prompt. Interior of dwelling on
outskirts of city. Groove two. Chamber
scene. Boxed. Ordinary bed room set.
Salmonpapered walls. Back, empty Irish
grate, Adam's mantel, . . . Bed for two
with strawberry bedSpread, . . . Chair
for one. Woman's garments on chair.

Man's trousers with crossbelt braces,
collar on bedknob. . . . Lighted lamp

257

without globe, . . . eventuals, man's gummy
article, pink.
A Time.
Act: dumbshow.
Closeup. Leads (558.35-36; 559.1-16).
The first words of the description advance the bee
motif that I have been pointing out. "Cedar" is here
not only the cedar tree but also one who surrenders
or cedes the "-balm of mead," the honey drink men-
tioned so often in the flete. Because the four dumb-
shows will illustrate four versions of the parents'
sex act, it is possible that the bee motif will also
relate somehow to their sexual activities. The house
in which the scenes are to take place is, then, the
setting in which a "ceder" will surrender a "balm
Of mead” or honey.

The walls of the house are "salmonpapered," a
term reminding the reader of Finn, the "hooky salmon"
of humanity's first state. The bedSpread is "straw-
berry," another term linking this couple with the
first parents and with their creation of the family:
"two's behind their lettice leap and three's among
the strubbely beds" (20.24—25). The mention of
"chair" in relation to the woman's clothing may at
first seem insignificant. However, one could read
this as F. egei; (flesh) in which case the description
hints of the female-temptress motif that has sounded
throughout the Wete.

After the stage, or cinematic, directions have

258

been given, the time and action are listed next.
Although it seems to go unnoticed, the word "dumbshow"
is suggestive of this drama's being a "dump Show."
Ever since the first father's disappearance, the
other characters have been trying to find the male's
hiding place, his burial Spot. Shaun's quest has
finally brought him to the "prehistoric barrow 'tis,
the Orangery," or dump. At last, the "dump" will
"Show" its secret. Shaun is to "watch" this Show four
times before his learning experience is complete.
Each of the four pantomimes is designated as
the view of one of the four GOSpellerS. A Reeder'e
ggige explains this relationship in the following way:
These four "seneschals" (566.8) . . . are
now observant bedposts: . . . Telling the
gOSpel truth about what goes on in the
bedroom, they tell it in gOSpel order:
Matt's view first (559.22); Mark's second
(564.2): Luke's third (582.30): and JOhn'S
a poor fourth (590.23).15
It is not inconsistent with the text of the gene to
consider the Old Four as bedposts, at least at one
level of interpretation. 1 have already suggested
that they have reversed conditions with Shaun after
their unsuccessful seance. If they are now in a
trance-state, they would be immobile watchers, or
"posts," as Shaun has been "Shaun the Post" up to this
point. Now, 111.4 is Shaun's revelation. The "dump
Show" is all his, and the GOSpellerS are there pri-

marily as observers. What commentary they do make is

259

quite different in nature from their earlier state-
ments. The Old Four are integral to each of the four
shows (Since each Show takes its tone from the person-
ality of its reSpective GOSpeller), but their "gOSpel
truth" is not the "true narrative" that Shaun seeks.
He has traced history far back "behind" the GOSpel
writers. At least the first three are no longer
reliable historians, if indeed they ever were.
Historically, the three SynOptic GOSpels (Matthew,

Mark, and Luke) are overt pieces of prOpaganda. They
are apt examples of the distortion process of history,
such as that of which Vico wrote in explaining the
fables received by Homer. Although in Vico's science
he did not take up biblical historic documents, these
sacred works exhibit the same distortion and alteration
Of form that Vico found in Homer. Concerning the
SynOptic books,

during the period of the final writing Of

the GOSpels the message of Jesus and the

incidents Of his life were the basis of

oral Christian testimony and instruction,

given according to the necessities of

time, place, and circumstances. These

factors tended to determine the "form"

of the testimony and instruction, and

the "forms" tended by use to become perm-

anent. When at last the GOSpels were

written, the material put on record was

that which had already undergone this

modification, rather than direct trans-

cripts of the original.1
Although Vico may not have recognized this principle

of distortion in the SynOptic GOSpels (at least, he

260

did not point it out), it is almost a certainty that

17 In 111.4, the Synoptic Gos-

Joyce recognized it.
pellers are face to face with the truth of man, with
the ye;e,neggetie that they themselves did not know
even in their own time. Therefore, while each scene
gravitates around the ”position" of each GOSpel
writer in turn, the writer is not "telling" the story.
The dumbShows are apparently attributed to each of
the GOSpel writers in the sense that each Show re-
flects the style and content choices of the related
author. Although they may Speak about each Show as
they watch it, at least three of the four men are
experiencing the true "Show" for the first time.

JOhn's case is quite different. Hardly a "poor
fourth," he is the GOSpeller through whom the truth
of the parents is to manifest itself. In the flete,
John is always behind the other three authors. And,
he is always the one who has the ass in tow. Earlier,
1 pointed out the similarities between Joyce's ass-
narrator and the Brunian ass of negative theology.
Conveyer of the divine, the ass symbolizes humility
and purity resulting from its proximity to the holy.
Although Eeke scholars have not often stressed the
close relationship between John and the ass, a tie
both literal and figurative, Joyce's constant emphasis
of it should mark its importance. Of the four

GOSpellers, John is the one who has an authentic

261

"line" on the truth of man.

Reference to the biblical book ascribed to John
explains how his GOSpel differs from the first three.
The GOSpel of John

has a unique quality: historical fact is
blended in it with religious interpretation,
vivid dramatic narrative, and profound
theology, all fused into a literary unity.
This difference from the other three or
S noptic GOSpels was early recognized.
bou§7A.D. 200 Clement of Alexandria
said: "Last of all John, perceiving that
the bodily literal facts had been set
forth in the other gOSpels, with the inSpira-
tion of the Spirit, composed a Spiritual
GOSpel."18
JOhn's GOSpel differs, then, from the first three
because it is, in the purest sense, the result of
IIQQIEQ- John, traditionally considered the author
Of the Book of Revelations also, performed exactly
the act of mind that Vico was to outline and name
in his Sciegza Nugya centuries later. The GOSpel
of John may be called "criticism in its purest, that
is, its most concrete, and historical, form."19
Retracing the records of the earlier GOSpel writers,
JOhn worked his way past their alterations of detail
and reached a perSpective -a level of consciousness-
in which he could lift from the seedbed of time the
idea imprisoned within historical particularities.
The SynOptic GOSpels recorded the facts as its authors
had received them through stories and testimonials.

It would not be inappropriate to say that the first

262

three GOSpels make up the basic mythee of Christ and
. that JOhn's GOSpel extracted from that welter of
material the Spirit of the Christian ethee. Having
first discovered and then released the idea by means
Of total mind, sense and intellect, JOhn went on to
fuse time and idea, history and Spirit, "into a
literary unity.” By virtue of its unity and its

essential truth, the GOSpel of John exemplifies art
that is sacred.19

It is little wonder that Joyce should have
chosen “John's view" as the "Show" revealing the truth
of the parents in Einnegene Wete. The shortest of
the dumbshows, JOhn's is precisely the "Finest view
from horizon” (590.23). This epiphany will take place,
however, only after the other three Shows have been
seen.

The first three pantomimes of the flete are inter-
related, the second seeming to grow out of the first
and so on. In regard to the historical GOSpels, the
relatedness of the three books is somewhat different.
In point.of time, Mark's GOSpel was written first.
Matthew's, the second historically, was placed first
eventually because it was the most comprehensive.

‘Both Matthew and Luke borrowed heavily from Mark's
book and apparently used another source, now lost,
called ”Q" (gnelle, source).21 In addition, Matthew

used a number of Old Testament passages in putting

263

together his version of the life of Christ. Finnegene
gene uses the traditional order of the GOSpels,
however, for its pantomimes; therefore Mark's Show
grows out of Matthew's.

The initial dumbshow opens to reveal the bedroom
of the first parents, who appear to be scarcely human.

Man with nightcap, in bed, fore. Woman,
with curlpins, hind. Discovered. Side
point of view. First position of harmony.
Say! Eh? Ha! Check action. Matt. Male
partly masking female. Man looking round,
beastly expression, fishy eyes, . . .
Woman,sitting, looks at ceiling, haggish
expression, peaky nose, . . . (559.20-27).

If, deSpite their civilized nightcap and curlpins,

the pair seems more bestial than human, this appearance
changes as soon as the action begins. The moment

after there is the direction, "Closeup. Play}
(559.29), a child's cry sounds from the distance.
Swiftly, the female leaves the bed to attend her

young, the male following close behind.

Most analyses of this scene deal primarily with
the interrupted intercourse. The script directions
are "Callboy. Cry off. Tabler. Her move" (559.30).
These words describe the action exactly. But, an
interpretation of this action as little more than
interrupted sexual activity leaves out an important
aSpect of the scene: the female's choosing to stop

the sex act to answer the call and the male's follow-

ing her are signs Of human action. At what point did

264

half-man become human? He crossed the threshold of
hominization with his first “social gesture": gene
eeieee concern for his young.22 Significantly, it
is the female who takes the lead, her action in this
instance certainly not that of a temptress.

The action blacks out, and the stage directions
call for a quick change of scenery. A spotlight turns
to shine upon the primal dwelling place of the parents.
It is as yet only a skeleton structure:

The old humburgh looks a thing incomplete
so. It is so. On its dead. But it will
pawn up a fine head of porter when it is
finished. In the quicktime. The castle
arkwright put in a chequered staircase
certainly. It has only one square step,
to be steady. Yet notwithstumbling are
they stalemating backgammoner supstairs
by skips and trestles tiltOp double corner.
Whist while and game (560.7-12).

The game motif here is exemplary of the many uses of
games throughout this "play" of man. While it has
meaning, I believe that this motif is of secondary
importance to another aSpect of the passage. The fact
that this home of man, this basic social unit of

the family, is but in the first stage of construction
is of greater significance. The chief artificer
("arkwright") has built into this structure a costly
way up ("chequered staircase"). The parents will find
progress an expensive process, for the price of every

advance will be misunderstanding and alienation.

Presently, the staircase has "only one square step":

265

marriage, one of Vico's three basic institutions that
preserve human sociality in the world.23
The other two Vichian institutions, religion and
burial, are mentiOned in the next words:
What scenic artist! It is ideal residence
for realtar. By hims ingang tilt tinkt a
tunning bell. . . . How hominous his house,
haunt it? Yesses indead it be. Nogen, of
imperial measure, in begraved beneadher.
Here are his naggins poured, his alladim
lamps. Around the bloombiered, booty with
the bedst. For them whom he have fordone
make we newly thankful! (560.13-21).
The house takes on the appearance of a place of wor-
ship with its "re-altar,” its hymns ("hims"), and
bell. Religion, another Vichian social principle,
enters the scene: and the third - burial, or hope -
is next. As man's house grows more civilized
("hominous"), there is ever greater emphasis on burial
because man is increasingly more aware of his finite-
ness and of his need for hope. The words in this
passage echo of death and burial: "indead it be,"
begraved beneadher," the "bloombiered."24 The words
also contain characters from folklore and legend:
Alladin —-”alladim lamps," Bluebeard -"bloombiered,"
"Beauty and the Beast" -"booty with the bedst."
Presumably, these tales of magic and phantasy add the
primitive notions of the supernatural surrounding the
idea of death and of religion as well. More important,

the final word of ”new" thanks for these first parents

"whom hahave fordone" underscores the idea of their

266

value despite the limitations of finiteness.

A.more direct Speaking voice, perhaps Shaun's,
breaks the tone of objectivity to comment on these
"Porters," the family under observation.25 Viewed
from the ”first position of harmony," the parents
"are very nice people, . . . A so united family
pateramater is not more existing on papel or off of
it" (560.23, 28-29). Shaun is favorably impressed by
this view of the family. Their solidarity surpasses
any other in written history (on paper or off), and
the unity is a natural one needing no ecclesiastical
law (papal) to legislate it. "YOu can ken that they
come of a rarely old family. . . . I think I begin
to divine so much" (560.32-35). This family of the
Vichian first men is one of harmony, and it is possible
to perceive them only by recoursing human history to
the earliest stage of human awareness. Shaun is
watching the truth behind, or beyond, the GOSpels.

If he is beginning to "divine" something about the
parents' meaning, he is demonstrating an uncharacter-
istic (for him) use of intuition.

The narrative shifts back to the Show and follows
the parents as they go:h:to look at their sleeping
children. The passage is obviously a type of dialogue
between the father and mother as they predict the
future of the children. But this dialogue is not

direct conversation by the characters themselves.

267

The Speeches are written in paragraph form in which
the Speaker changes several times within a single unit.
Such a form requires that the reader recognize a mode
of communication other than direct statements from

the characters who are, after all, acting out a dumb-
show. 1 read this section as the narrator's supplying
the dialogue for the pantomime. Whether this narrative
voice is Shaun's or Matthew's (acting as a medium)

I am unable to tell. At least, according to the
structure of the passage, it is not the parents them-
selves who Speak directly.

Another factor that would exclude the parents as
speakers concerns the information given in the dialogue-
narration. The Speaking voice has knowledge of what
the future holds for the children. Logically, the
only characters who could tell the future reliably
would be those who have come back into the past from
the future via liQQESQ- Here again, this detail
would point to Shaun, who has journeyed all the way
back from his own present, and perhaps to the Old Four
as mediums. In dealing with 111.4, scholars have had
great difficulty in offering credible explanations
of this section because they assume that this is the
”real," or present-day, couple waking in their bedroom
at Chapelizod.26

To read this part of 111.4 as a switch to the

present or as a momentary awaking of the dreamer27

268

is to add confusion to an already complicated passage.
My own reading of this chapter agrees in part with
that of Hart who writes that "far from representing
the waking state, this chapter takes place at the

"28 My only change in such

deepest level of dreaming.
a Statement would be the substitution of "ricorso"
for"dreaming." Shaun's "awake“ condition at this

point within the dream-form of Book 111 is a necessity
if "Shaun d" is to be considered as his revelation.
Joyce's structure of this passage, his name for it
(Shaun d), the information revealed by the Speaker, and
the action leading up to this climactic chapter all
point up the importance of Shaun's wakefulness. He

is watching the first family's mute pantomime, and his
commentary suggests that he is really seeing imagina-
tively and creatively for the first time. Again,

Shaun is able to add information relative to the
family's future because he has come from the future.
The questions and answers in the narrative accompanying
the pantomimes have greater relevance to the entire
action of Book 111 if one reads them as conversation
supplying the truth that the "gOSpel truth" has not
contained. Any suggestion of narrative shifts to the
present seems unreasonable in terms of the chapter's
function. Finally, there is little or no texual
evidence for considering that the chapter contains

such a Shift.

269

If one reads the commentary on the dumbshow in
the manner suggested above, it becomes much easier
to follow. Divested of the notion that the parents
themselves are Speaking, the passage is less confusing.
For example, the watchers are looking at the parents
Observing their sleeping sons, or to use Shaun's
earlier words, "watching the watched watching"
(509.2-3). The narrative voice says,

And since we are talking amnessly [5f
Shaun's "am-ness" or identity? of brukaleOp
crazedledaze, who does in sleeproom number
twobis? The twobirds. Holy policeman, O,
I see! Of what age are your birdies? They
are to come of twinning age SO soon as they
may be born to eldering like those olders
while they are living under chairs. [The
twins are as yet unborn as Shem and Shaung7
. . . Frank KevinHZShaug7 . . . will blare
some knight when he will take his dane's
pledges and quit our ingletears, . . . to
wend him to Amorica to quest for a cashy
job. [Shaun will grow up to take a "night
quest" to the west: Amorica is America
(west of Ireland) + emet, love, therefore,
a journey of love: and will look for the
hidden mystery of the parents ("cashy" =
cache)? (562.16-20, 23, 29-31).

In reference to the other twin, "Jerry Jehu" (Shem:
563.7), the narrator explains that this future "penman"
will suffer injustices, perhaps. But "in the ink

of his sweat he will find it yet” (563.19-20). In

other words, Shem will be fulfilled as a poet eventually.
After all, "you may never know in the preterite all
perhaps that you would not believe that you ever

even saw to be about to" (563.21-22). The past pet ee

cannot give one the whole story of man. Its usefulness

270

grows in prOportion to one's being able to recourse
it from the vantage point of the present. If the
future of this twin seems bleak (”Blake tribes bleak
while through life's unblest he rodes backs of
bannars” 563.13-14), it need not remain so. "Weeping
Shouldst not thou be when man falls but that divine
scheming ever adoring be” (563.32-34). The various
”falls" in the Wete are then necessary adjuncts of
progress, and they epiphanize the "divine scheming" -
perhaps a scheming akin to that of the Vichian con-
ception of divine providence which uses man's selfish
intentions to wider service.

The first dumbshow fades out as the narrator
comments, "the hour ofpassings sembles quick with
quelled. Adieu, soft adieu, for these nice presents,
kerryjevin. Still tosorrow" (563.36-37). This mute
drama of history, in passing before the watchers, Shows
the resemblance ("sembles") of the living and the

dead.29

"These nice presents" (this pleasing "present"
of the past: this nice presentation) reveal the male
and female as parents who care about their young even
to the exclusion of their own desires. But there is
more to see. The Show must go on "tosorrow." There
can be no lingering behind in this cradle of humanity
(carriage-heaven a "kerryjevin") in which the male

twins lie awaiting birth. Bestial though the characters

may appear, they are nonetheless the inhabitants of

271

Eden. .Matthew's "position of harmony" is the mythic
earthly paradise lost when man became conscious of
self. HOwever, there can be no remaining in this
state Of "harmony": for, like Blake's Thel, to be
unwilling to risk experience(”tosorrow") would be to
fall back into oblivion, or nothingness.

With the second pantomine, Mark's view of history,
the tone changes abruptly to indicate that "tosorrow"
has come;

Jeminy, what is the view which now takes

up a second position of discordance, tell

it please? Mark! YOu notice it in that

rere way because the male entail partially

eclipses the femecovert. It is so called

for its discord the meseedo (564.1-4).
The first word of the narrator foreshadows the mis-
understanding, trouble, and violence of this dumbshow.
The initial Show had been one of "harmony" concluding
with "kerryjevin": the unborn twins were in unity,
their names intertwining. "Jeminy" (gemini) stresses
the separateness and Opposition not simply of the
twins but of all the characters to appear in this Show.
The "second position" of human history illustrates
the "dis-cording” process: the evolution of self-
consciousness which cut man's umbilical cord, severing
him from an essential union with his world. "Discord"
is the natural result of perceiving things in a sub-

ject-object relationship.

Because this second dumbshow demonstrates the

272

emergence of egocentrism, the female is to be sub-
servient to the male throughout the play. The position
of the couple emphasizes this: "the male entail
partially eclipses the femecovert." The female will
also become the temptress-type. The longest of the
four dumbshows, Mark's version of history is vulgar

in its tone, angry in much of its action, and perverted
in its perception of humanity, particularly the female.
Above all, it concerns itself with the many polarities
confronting man as the modification of the human mind
continues. Whether the growth of polarities is
progress or regress is the important question under-
lying Mark's view.

There may possibly be only one good thing to be
said for this Show: it is not the last view of the
parents. In fact, the narrator calls it the middle
action ("meseedo" a mesio, middle + "do"). If my
reading of this word is valid, it stresses the pos-
sibility that Joyce treats the Synoptic GOSpel trio
separately from John. Mark's version of the parents
stands as the mythic midpoint between "harmony"
(Matthew) and "concord" (Luke). If this is the case,
then in the flefie the Synoptic GOSpels are "distorted
fables" or "corrupted" versions of history in the
sense that they have had the idea, or Spirit, within
them layered over with additions and changes.

Certainly, a legitimate question to ask about

273

this distasteful middle Show is why Joyce should have
written it as Mark's view. The simple fact that Mark
stands second in biblical order would hardly be suf-
ficient reason. A close examination of the elements
of Mark's GOSpel reveals some details that might help
to answer the question.

Although, as I noted earlier, Mark's GOSpel was
written first historically, it leaves out a number
of the best-loved stories about Christ's life. Mark
does not tell of Christ's birth at all but begins his
GOSpel with the start of Christ's ministry. In addition,
the entire book of Mark is noteably lacking in any
female characters of good repute. The only woman upon
whom Mark Spends many words is Salome, whose dancing
cost JOhn the Baptist his head. While Matthew mentions
that episode in Six very brief sentences, Mark takes
up twelve fairly lengthy verses to give the details
of the event. Other women mentioned in the book
include the Syrophenician woman's daughter whom Christ
rid Of ”unclean Spirits": Mary Magdalene who, although
the first to see the risen Christ, had earlier had
six devils cast out of her: and two other women, one
with a mite and the other with myrrh, who gave their
goods to Christ. Without trying to subject Mark's
book to psychoanalysis, one can recognize that his
GOSpel lacks the warmth of Matthew's and the

objectivity of Luke's.

274

Other details about Mark and his GOSpel include
the fact that Mark was called Peter's interpreter,
meaning that he is thought to have received his infor-
mation directly from Peter. The tone of Mark's
GOSpel is often brusque, perhaps a reflection of
Peter's personality as well as his own. Mark himself
was something of a troublemaker and was the cause of
a fair amount of concern to his mentor, Paul. Perhaps
details such as these in Mark's life and in his book
provided Joyce with the basis for his relating Mark
to “discord" in this second dumbshow of 111.4.

This play Opens with a description of "Finn his
park" (564.8), the location of the father's alleged
indiscretion. The topography, it becomes clear, is
that of the father's lower anatomy:

The strait road down the center (see relief
map) bisexes the park which is said to be
the largest Of his kind in the world. On
the right prominence confronts you the
handsome vinesregent's lodge while, turning
to the other supreme piece of cheeks,
exactly Opposite, you are confounded by the
equally handsom chief sacristary's office
(564.10—15).
This initial description stresses the idea of opposi-
tions, and human polarities are indeed the major
concern of this show. The park is an Ominous place
deSpite further pastoral description:
Talkingtree and sinningstone stay on
either hand. Historical leavesdrOppings
may also be garnered up from sir Shamus
Swiftpatrick, . . . How familiar it is

to see all these interesting advenements
with one snaked's eyes! (564.30-34).

275

"The entire scene will be viewed with "one's naked

eyes" which are Simultaneously "snake eyes." Mark's

point of view will pick out the conflicts and the

treacheries of humanity. This pantomime is there-

fore to demonstrate the reverse side of the "harmony"

present in Matthew's view.

Mark himself, who seems to be offering commentary
even though he is in some type of trance-state, adds

to the general atmOSphere of perversion with his

words to Shaun:

Whervolk dorst ttou begin to tremble by
our moving pictures at this moment when
1 am to place my hand of our true friend-
ship upon thy knee to mark well what I
say? . . . YOu are tremblotting, you
retchad, like a verry jerry! . . . What
boyazhness! Sole shadow Shows. Tis jest
jibberweek's joke (565.6-10, 13-14).

This over-familiarity and casual attitude toward the

show are both distasteful and discouraging to Shaun,

who is trying to find the truth. When Shaun eXpresses

concern about that which he watches, the alternate

Speaking voice says, "Sonly all in your imagination,
dim. Poor little brittle magic nation, dim of mind"

(565.29-30). The Speech offers an eXplanation for

the chaotic conditions that Shaun views. They are
governed by an imagination that is "dim of mind."
This is a diSparaging statement to make about the

mind's imaging powers, eSpecially here at the dawn

of history at which time, as Vico said, the first humans,

276

without the power of ratiocination, were
all robust sense and vigorous imagina-
tion. . . [They were poet§7, a faculty
born with these senses and imaginations):
born of their ignorance of causes, for
ignorance, the mother of wonder, made
everything wonderful to men who were
ignorant of everything. Their poetry
was at first divine, . . . (éfl, 375).

According to Vico, it was the very strength of human

imagination that made possible man's progress toward

"philosophic wisdom." Mark's jibe at the "magic

nation" (imagination) attempts to minimize precisely
the attribute that energized human development.30

To denigrate imagination as it has manifested itself
in the first men is to reject the power of that primary

mental act's significance as the central agency of

the mind's modifications.

As the scene and the commentary continue, it
becomes clear that to approach the beginnings of
history from Mark's perSpective, the "second position

Of discordance," is to prohibit one's reading the

truth of man. Although it may be necessary to view

the seamy side of humanity, Mark's version of the

first parents preoccupies itself totally with the

mere physical details of man's beginning. It makes

little effort to extract the idea, or spirit, from
the time-prOperties of the scene.
A second weakness of this perSpective is its

over-emphasis upon law in contrast to its conSpicuouS

lack of human warmth and feeling. What might be

277

called a law motif is introduced with the description
of the Show as a royal court that is in "half morn-
ing“ (566.7). It features the main characters of the
Wete as members of that court.

The four seneschals with their palfry to
be there now, all balaaming in their
sellabouts and sharpening their penisills.
The boufeither soakersoon . . . . The
swabsister Katya . . . . Those twelve chief
barons . . . . The maidbrides all, . . .
The dame dowager to stay kneeled how she
is, as first mutherer with cord in coil.
The two princes of the tower royal, daul-
phin and deevlin, to lie how they are
without to see. The infant Isabella from
her coign to do obeisance toward the
duffgerent as first futherer with drawn
brand. Then the court to come into full
mogning. Herein see ye fail not (566.
7-50

The Old Four, the fanily's manservant Sackerson (also

31 Kate, the trial jury, and the

the constable),
twenty-eight school girls are all in this stop—motion
picture. The mother is caught in a kneeling position
apprOpriate to her as the "first murderer" of humanity.
If the mother's "cord" is the umbilical cord, the
descriptive words imply that she has already strangled
her young as they were born, either figuratively or
literally. The sons are rendered equally helpless

and are never to see the truth of the father. The
daughter, from her vantage point ("coign"), is to

Obey the "ruler of the litter" ("duffgerent": duff =

humus, litter + gerent = one who rules or carries on).

This ”duffgerent" is the father, who seemingly has

278

incestuous designs upon the daughter. If Matthew's
version of the parents was too innocuous, Mark's
version is altogether iniquitous. Each is an extreme
version of humanity that cancels out the other.
Shaun's response to this court section is one

of horror: "0 Sire! So be accident occur is not
going to commence!" (566.29-3). An inhabitant of
the future, he knows what ills lie in store for the
father if the old suSpicions are given birth. "How
shagsome all and beastful!" (566.33) Shaun says: and
Mark retorts, "What do you Show on?" (566.33). Shaun
is not forced to go on ("Show on") looking at the
Show, Mark points out. He could turn away now and
take back to the present this pitiful picture of human
weakness. But the son is determined to see the entire
Show:

I Show because I must see before my mis-

fortune so a stark pointing pole. Lord

of ladders, what for lungitube! Can

you read the legend hereon? 1 am hather

of the missed. Areed! To the dunobelisk

via the rock . . . (566.33-36: 567.1).
Shaun perceives the father's sex organ as a column
upon which is written the history of man. The "verst
legend" upon this phallic column identifies either
the father or the son (perhaps both) as "heather of
the mist" or a Pascalian "thinking reed." "Hather"

also combines "father" and the Egyptian goddess of

life, mirth, and social joy, "Hathor," who was

279

pictured as a woman with a cow's head because the cow
was sacred to her.32 Whether as father-Hathor, reed,
or rock, the father is something other than simply
the male parent. In this court scene, the father is
law itself towering over the other figures, perhaps
as a threat.
The Show next turns into a banquet, a festival,

and a replaying of HCE's activities simultaneously.
The brawl elicits from one of the watchers the comment
that this scene is "Some wholetime in hot town tonight!"
(570.7-8). The mention of time ("Wholetime,” "tonight“)
brings a reply, seemingly from Shaun, reminding the
other watchers of the time-differential in what they
are viewing and what actually is. He says,

-YOu do not have heard? It stays in book

of that which is. 1 have heard anyone

tell it jesterday . . . how one should

come on morrow here but it is never that

one today. [Hark repliesz7' Well but

remind to think, you were yesterday Ys

Morganas war and that it is always to-

morrow in toth's tother's place. Amen

(5700 8-13 ) a
This is the past: it cannot be recovered in its first
form nor relived. Shaun is struggling to keep his
sense of time clear, for only as he is able to do so
can he maintain the necessary distance from these
sordid details. Mark's answer reminds him of the
way in which Shaun himself has broken down the barriers

of past and present in.order to arrive at this "his-

toric barrow.”

280

"True! True! Vouchsafe me more soundpicture!"
(570.14). Shaun has need of a really valid kind of
scene, one that is "sound" in its reasoning and pre-
Sentation even though it remains a dumbshow, or
pantomime. At this request, the scene shifts to "the
humber one of sairey's place" (570.29-30), the female
in a Sarah-role. When this shift to "somewhere on
the present" (570.26), or some other area of this
particular present (also "omnipresent"), takes place,
the tone becomes temporarily gentle. The mother
briefly plays the part of the "skillmistress" (571.7),
teaching her children to read her language of "Elm,
bay, this way . . ." (57.17).33 Her "Speech" momen-
tarily subdues the violent tone of the drama: and when
the commentary verbalizes the mother's Silent gestures,
"I am soso sorry about all in my saarasplace" (571.
23-24), even the father figure seems to become quiet.
Like Sarah, this female may have found it necessary
to dupe the father for the son's sake. Even so, such
an action is an expression of concern, or care, for
the children who make up the generations to come.

At first, the mother seems to have re-established
harmony in Mark's "position of discordance." There is
the pronouncement, "Live well! [Anna Liyia Pluratelte7'
Iniivdluaritzas! Tone!” (572.15). Then, just as the
drama seems near conclusion, there is a cry of discord:

"Cant ear! Her dorters ofe? Whofe? Her eskmenO

281

daughters hOpe? WhOpe? Ellme, elmme, elskmestoon!
Soon!” (572.16-17). This is the verbal pattern of
the "washers at the ford," whose conversation con-
cluded 1.8, the Anna Livia Plurabelle section. As
that chapter ended without any revelation of the
mother's meaning, so these words echo the same con-
fusion. The female is not to escape careful scrutiny
in this version of history. Who are her daughters?
What of elm and stone? The questions demand an
answer "Soon!" Further, these questions must be
”individualized." Without delay, the scene shifts
once more and presents a play within a play as a
concrete example of what the female and her Spouse
are "really" like.

The play begins in the manner of a court case:
”Let us consider. The procurator Interrogarius
Mealterum presends us this prOposer" (572.18-20).
The "procurator" bears a distinguished Roman name

34 and his story is to be

meaning, "Ask me another,“
a type of game. This game teat-case is a "proposer"
that is "pre-sended": in other words, it is a con-
trivance with a point of view that may be slanted
somehow since it is sent before, or prior to, something
else.

The play of Honuphrius (HCE7), Anita (ALP?) and
their entourage (572.19-576.9) includes almost every

form of perversion and debauchery of which humanity

282

is capable. The fact that it is couched in legal
terms and style amplifies the idea of law without
human concern. This play fractures every unwritten
ethical law of man. It is a case-study of corruption,
a clinical explanation of what happens when human
beings use each other as things, disregarding human
feelings. This version of the parents' story dips
to the lowest level of exploitation to which man can
sink and still be accounted man. The girls in the
park, the young men, the trial and jury - all are
distorted by lust into grotesque caricatures of them-
selves. Of this "inner" play, Tindall has written,

Recoiling in horror from man's humanity

to man, we laugh: for this amorous con-

fusion is what Rggkin, . . . called the

grotesque, o a a

Following this play, there is a long prayer

addressed to the "PrOSpector projector and boomooster
giant builder of all causeways" (576.18-19). The
prayer asks that the parents be aided in their condition

down their laddercase of nightwatch

service and bring them at suntime flush

with the nethermost gangrung of their

stepchildren, guide them through the

labyrinth of their samilikes and the

alteregoases of their pseudoselves,

hedge them bothways from all roamers

whose ways are ligious, from loss of

bearings deliver them: . . . (576.30-35).
The present action's "being the only wise in a muck's

world to lOOk on itself from beforehand" (576.22-23),

those who experience the IiQQEEQ pray that the parents

283

may ultimately live their lives fruitfully.

Once more in this second dumbshow, the father
and mother are described as they lie in their bed,
and the commentary takes up the questions of the
direction their lives are to take. "Which route
are they going? . . . They're coming terug their
diamond wedding tour" (578.29, 32-33). Mark's ver-
sion of history then lists a series of commandments
that Should attend man's “tour" of life and concludes
these laws with the words, "Now their laws assist
them and ease their fall!" (579.26). The emphasis
is once more upon law and carries with it an implicit
stress on law-breaking, the major concern of this
dumbshow. Every act in this long play has been para-
doxical in its emphasis on law and its illustration
of ways in which.man has immediately broken his own
commandments.

As if to underscore the "fall" that seems built
into the structure of history, the entire story of
HCE'S "Sin" is played once more. Its results seem
to unman the father, switching him suddenly to a
position inferior to the dominating female, the
"hemale man all unbracing to omniwomen" (581.18).
This symbolic castration of the father, divesting him
Of any real power, seems to be the message that
recorded history will reflect: for the Old Four are

present in the Show as observers of this exchange of

284

power. The three children are also present to watch
the parents as the father's sex organ becomes a "mono-
myth.” Mark's view of history seems to center in the
“one-dimensional truth" ("monomyth") of male sexuality,
and if this is the case, that truth is ineffectual.
The commentary reads,
When they were all there now, matinmarked
for lookin on [Ehe Old Foug7. At the
carryfour with awlus plawshus, their happy-
ass cloudious! [Ehe ase7 And then and too
the trivials!‘[Ftriv-", the three childrefi?
And their bivouac! [Fbi-", the couple7 And
his monomyth! (581.21-24).

Mark's final word about the whole play is "Ah
ho!" (581.24). The remark features the a-O combination
running throughout the Wete and here seems to signify
Mark's judgment as "beginning and end." The next
words seem to be those of Shaun who replies, "Say no
more about it! I'm sorry. 1 saw. I'm sorry! I'm
sorry to say I saw!" (581.24-25).

If this were the son's final response to history,
the entire liQQIEQ would yield nothing. But, there
is one thing still to be said about the father to
redeem him even after this defamatory drama: ”Yet he
begottom" (582.1). Despite the sins of which the
father may be held guilty, he has nonetheless been a
procreator of a new generation. This act in itself
is deserving of thanks from all of those who proceed

from him (582.2-12). Regardless of humanity's failures,

it is possible to see how man has managed to survive

285

those failures —-his "testcase" (582.12).

We have had to have them whether we'll
like it or not. They'll have to have us
now we're on theirSpot. Scant hOpe theirs
or ours to escape life's high carnage of
semperidentity by subsisting peasemeal upon
variables. Bloody certainly have we got
to see to it ere smellful demise surprends
uS on this concrete that down the gullies
of the eras we may catch ourselves looking
forward to what will in no time be staring
you larrikins on the postface in that
multimirror megaron of returningties, 36
whirled without end to end (582.13-21).

The final judgment of history, as shown in Mark's
version, concludes with a surprising vindication of
the parents and a Simultaneous condemnation Of Mark's
limited historic perSpective. In one sense Mark's
play has actually been a dramatization of the prank-
quean's "porterpease" question: "Why do I am alook
alike a poss of porterpease?" All of the details of
the parents' errors have been thrown into one dumbshow,
like so many "pease." One does not escape life's
”carnage" by trying to live upon such "variables/
vegetables.” According to the commentary, it is not
this mulligan stew of "peasemeal" facts that gives
history its meaning. Rather, it is the larger pattern
Of events that form the correSpondenceS from one
generation to the next, and it is in this greater
pattern that the truth of man lies. As the commentary
points out, this kind of vision -one that can pro-
ject itself toward the great patterns of the future

and that can recognize their meaning in the instant

286
that they become "the past" -is a necessity if
humanity is to prevail. The final judgment, then,
of Mark's duhbshow of ”discordance" is one that rejects
the content of Mark's play because it demonstrates
only the "short view” of historic data. Mark's ver-
sion Of history lacks the comprehensive perSpective
of an authentic view of humanity across time. Such
a view is historic myOpia: truth lies beyond it.

With Mark's dumbshow over, the third pantomime
begins immediately. This is Luke's view: "Third
position of Concord! Excellent view from front.
Sidome. Female imperfectly masking male" (582.29-31).
This Show seems to reinstate the "harmony" even
though the male is partly masked tythe female.

The word "concord” itself suggests a coordinate

. relationship: but the positions of the parents demon-
strate an “imperfect" subordination. If this iS
"concord,” it can only be called so because the male
has surrendered any powers he previously held.

That the father is now incapable of satisfactory
sexual relations and has become a buffoon becomes
clearer as Luke's dumbshow progresses. The female
finds his efforts ludicrous even in the midst of
their love play: ”She had to kick a laugh. At her
old stick-in-the-block” (583.26-27).

This show is understandably very eXplicit in

its demonstration of the physical. It is Luke's

287

view: and because historically Luke was a physician,
his point of view is that of a medical man. The

GOSpel of Luke itself is characterized by its attention
to the human qualities of the people whose actions

he recorded. Luke's account of Christ's birth, his
early years, and his ministry reads like a human
interest story.

In the third dumbshow, the "concord" is somehow
less than satisfying because the characters are, as
in Mark's Show, simply no more than human. Matthew's
view had at least Shown the parents' concern for their
young. Even Mark's view had ended with a reminder that
the father had, after all, begotten the children and
that the mother had a Sarah-like concern for her young.
Luke's view, in contrast, shows the couple engaged in
intercourse that is futile: it becomes an act that
goes on interminably like a long horse race, whose
language it imitates at one point (583.5-13).

The troubling thing about Luke's view is the
sterile monotony of this meaningless sexual activity
which is completely predetermined.

Humperfeldt and Anunska, wedded now
evermore in annastomoses by a ground
plan of the placehunter, . . . Totumvir
and esquimeena, who shall SO separate
fetters to new desire, repeals an act
of union to unite in bonds of schismancy
(585.22-26).

The parents' action is now, or has been, set according

to a ”ground plan." They are "wedded” by anastomosis

288

that, if it has any possible historical meaning,

places the female ("anna~") in the time-line Of great
leaders (-to Moses"). The father, in this wedding,

has coupled with, and disappeared within, "esquimeena,"
a female with "esquire" added to her identity. Further,
whoever might try to separate these "fetters" runs the
risk of bringing a union that is even more destructive
to the man ("schismepcy").

The tired sex act continues as "the dapplegray
dawn drags nearing nigh for to wake all droners that
drowse in Dublin" (585.20-21). Here, the bee motif
reappears in the word, "droners," a hint of the father's
drone-like impotence. The cock crows announcing the
approach of dawn. This night is nearly ended, both
for the dumbshow and for the watchers who have re-
coursed history to see it. This "dream parapolylogic“
has been a latter-day midsummer night's dream, but
what Shaun has seen thus far cannot be counted as a
useful or successful £199£§2o He has only seen the
same old play about the father and mother, and he
knew that story by heart before he ever started his
quest.

The cozk's crow finally signals the end of the
parents' intercourse.

Withdraw your member. Closure. This
chamber stands abjourned. . . . Humbo.
lock your kekkle up! Anny, blow your

wickle out! Tuck away the tablesheet!
YOu never wet the tea. And you may go

289

rightoway back to your Aunty Dilluvia,

Humprey, after that! (585.26-33).
This kind of sex act offers no hOpe for the future:
the inquiry into history can only end in adjournment
and renunciation ("abjourned" = adjourn + abjure).
If an earlier Optimism has declared that the "silent
cock shall crow at last" (473.22), defeat is implicit
in the command that the father must lock up his in-
effective "kekkle." The male is ordered to return to
the antediluvian age, the mythic time of corruption
before the flood: he is considered a failure in the
present Situation. His sterility is not, however, due
to old age or to the lack of a desire to plant his
seed. As Tindall explains,

Some have taken this remark ["YOu never

wet the teat? . . . to mean Earwicker's

failure as a lover. Nothing of the kind

. . . in this Malthusian context 1585.1;7

failure to wet the tea means no more

that the prevention Of fegtility by a

malthuSlan rubber . . . .
To this suggestion I would add that Luke's view
(woman dominant) supports the idea that the mother
has forced the father to use such means of birth
control. Unlike Matthew's dumbshOw, Luke's play
indicates that neither the male nor the female is
willing to assume the role of a concerned parent.
The "tablesheet" of the marriage bed, which should
simultaneously be the tablecloth for the banquet of
history,38 might just as well be put away. When

the male becomes nothing more than a "Humbo" (Jumbo,

290

elephant, circus animal) and a "Humprey" (a drone,
the ”prey" of a "hummer" or female bee), he has lost
any semblence of meaning and dignity as a father.

The sex act over, there follows a list of "rules"
-for the inhabitants of such a world. These regulations
are depressive, presenting a bleak picture of humanity.
According to them, man should live and die without
bothering others with his presence:

Retire to rest without first misturbing
your neighbors, mankind of baffling descrip-
tions. Others are as tired of themselves
as you are. Let each one learn to bore
himself (585.34-36).

After the listing of these ”house rules," the
old story of the father, the past indiscretion. and
the trial echo once more (588-589). It appears that
the father cannot be separated from the sins attached
to his name even though the mother subsumes his
identity and virility within her own image. Luke's
view lables the father: "They know him, the cove
enanter, by rote at least, for a chameleon at last,
in his true falseheaven colours" (590.7-8).

Narrator-Shaun, as the principal watcher, finally
seems to be convinced that this much-told story is
the only message that he can take back to the present
time. He appears ready to agree that the father has
been "chogfulled to beacsate on earn as in hiving,

of foxold conningnesses" (590.13-15). The father

has, since the beginning of time, been objectified

291

or "shuffled to the backseat on earth as in heaven."
The word, "beacsate,“ alsoadds to the bee-motif
(Gael. teee, bee). In terms of the hive ("hiving").
the father has always been secondary: he has been
"bee-sated,” little more than a drone at the mercy
of the fox-cunning of others. Simultaneously, such
a destiny has brought about the father's "fossilized
understanding” ("foxold conningnesses") of life.
Only one question seems left for Shaun to ask.
He wonders, "Who, hey honey,39 for all values of his
latters, . . . was the formast of the firm?" (590.14-16).
For the sake of the father's "latters" (his children),
ladders, and letters -all of the "values," all of
the connotations of that word -i *is imperative to
know the real identity of the firmest of the "firm,"
the "formast" of the form. "Formast" also approximates
"foreman" and is almost identical with "foremast,"
the mast closest to the bow (front) of a ship. The
terms used in the question imply that this person
who is sought is one of importance, one in a superior
position, and one near the beginning or bow of time.
In an effort to pinpoint the identity of this
"formast," the Speaking-voice lists the three Synoptic
versions of the father as they have appeared in the
dumbshows. "At folkmood hailed"(590.l6): this is
Matthew's version of the initial harmony of the

parents. "[A7t part farwailed" (590.16): Mark's

292

view of discordance has illustrated a second view
revealing the polarities of human existence.
"[A7chmwladed concloud" (590.16-17): the third

view is Luke's in which the parents attained a union
(the u's of "accumulated" become w's, "double-you's").
But in this third view, the concord is gained on the
female's terms ("concloud" —-a cloud was the mother's
first abode).40 As the father is presented in these
three views of history, he can apparently be identified
only as "Nuah-Nuah, Nebob of Nephilim" (590.17). He
is a fragmented, or hyphenated, "Noah" and a minor
Official of the Nephilim, the race of Sinful giants
during Noah's time.

There is more to this title than a "second-rate
Noah," however. "Nuah-Nuah" is a reversed "Haun-
Haun," a doubling of one of the alternate names for
Shaun during his IiSQISQ- If Shaun transformed to
"Haun" as he neared the deepest level of history, it
is not inconsistent to assume that his name could
match that of the father. That the father's name is
hyphenated in turn suggests the fragmentation of the
male into two —-the twin sons. It could also point
to the reverse as well: the necessary union of the
sons if humanity is to work its progress. Additionally,
this nabob is something more than a mere petty official.
He is a "Nebob," or a new ruler (Neo + nabob: also,

Gael. nee, new). Since the term "nabob" was used

293

in past years to designate one who had returned from
the Orient to Europe with great wealth and is still
used today to describe a rich man, the father's title
is consequently open to other than denigrating mean-
ings only.

Shaun's next words suggest that he recognizes
the many implications of the father's title. "After
all what followed for apprenticesake?" (590.17-18).
Is he to understand that this neo-nabob father suffered
troubles and indignities because he gee a new man, an
apprentice? Even more, have the father's miseries
taken place for the son's sake, the child himself an

41 who can learn only from his recoursing

apprentice
of history? The answer to Shaun'squestion is not
forthcoming, however, because the "now nighs nearing

as the yetst hies hin" (590.18-19). The dawn is

about to break. Shaun's own "now“ is returning even

as the first father's "now" ("yetst" = G. jetet)
prepares to Sink back into the past.

Shaun's riegrse is still incomplete. He has
ambivalent feelings about the shows he has seen:
"Jeebies, . . . that was an ill man! Jawboose, . . .
this is for true a sweetish mand!" (590.19-20).42
1f Matthew's and Mark's dumbshows left a bad impression
of the father, Luke's Show of "concord" has stripped

the father of his manliness and power, leaving the

impression of an insipid weakling.

294

However, the three Synoptic versions of man are
not the only ones available to Shaun. There is still
John's view, and it suddenly comes to Shaun that
"Jumbluffer, bagdad, sir, yond would be a for once
over our all honoured christmastyde easteredman"
(590.21-22). While this description has been defined

«43

as "Jesus-H.C.E. Himself, the words suggest a far

more complex meaning. It is obvious that "Christ"

and "easter" add the idea of the holy to the epithet
for the first father. However, to turn HCE into a
Christ-figure at this point in the Wete -and at this
level of history -seems both inconsistent and facile.
Analysis of the term reveals "Christmast-" as a
logical parallel for the word, ”formast," used only

a few lines above. If, as noted, a "formast" is the
mast (pole, post) closest to the bow of a ship, then
"Christmast-" is the mast closest to the divine. In
terms of these words, one might say that "Shaun the
fleet? has found his model. Accordingly, Shaun is
suddenly cognizant of the first father's proximity to
the holy deSpite the father's comic appearance. Also,
if the father is a "Christmast-" who is also "tyde,"
the latter term may mean that this particular human
”mast" has yet to be unfurled, is still "tied.”
Further, divested of the "t," the term becomes "-yde,"
perhaps "eyed" or "ide(s)." The word, "ide," adds

yet other dimensions to the whole term: the idea of

295

time (ides a certain day of the ancient Roman calendar)
and the notion of another culture, the Roman. The
entire epithet therefore contains allusions to at
least three cultures, or kinds of men —-Christians,
Romans, and Indians ("redman"). The father, according
to the analysis of these words, is identified as a
universal, archetypal father of all humanity. Finally,
if he is an "easter-redman," he is also an "easter-
egg-man": one who rises again in a new person to
search for, find, and impregnate the egg-bearing female,
thus insuring humanity's preservation and progress.
Although the fourth dumbshow is very brief,
John's view contains the revelation that the son has
been seeking. This pantomime is the
Fourth position of solution. How johnny!
Finest view from horizon. Tableau final.
Two me see. Male and female unmask we
hem. Begum by gunne! Who now broothes
oldbrawn. Dawn! The nape of his name-
Shielder's scalp. Halp! After having
drummed all he dun. Hun! Worked out to
an inch Of his core. More! Ring down.
While the queenbee he staggerhorned
blesses her bliss for to feel her funny-
man's functions. Tag. Rumbling.
Tiers, tiers and tiers. Rounds (590.
23-30).
John's dumbshow is both the "finest" view and the
"Finn-est" -the final, authentic one. It is the
last "tableau“44 that Shaun is to see before he
returns to his own present. It is the view that

provides humanity with hOpe for the future, or in

direct terms of the Wake's narrative, provides the

296

learning eXperience that unites the sons. Two figures
are seen joined as one ("me see" - L. is e , blend,
join). While the other three tableaus have diSplayed
one figure masking the other in some way, in John's
Show the male and female are finally "unmasked."
John's version of the parents is to reveal all, keep-
ing-nothing masked or hidden from the watchers.

To the question, "Who now broothes (races)45
oldbrawn?" the answer is simply, "Dawn!" Time itself,
that can ravage man, is simultaneously man's ultimate
vindication. To recourse history is to discover
humanity's meaning and value as it reveals itself only
with time's passage. The meaning of the "unmasked"
parents lies, first, in their undeniable equality as
they unite in the sex act. Further, the parents'
meaning is clarified by an identification that leaves
no question about their worth or their relationship
to each other.

This identification begins with a reference to
the father that includes one of the mother's roles in
their partnership: "The nape of his nameshielder's
scalp. Halp!" "Naps," the neck joint, is linked
etymologically to AS ae , the tOp of a hill: and
"hill" in turn recalls the fact that HCE is a mountain
as well as a father. In like manner, "Scalp" is related

to Dan. ekete, husk, shell of a pea: and "pea" points

297

up the recurring question Of the female, "Why do I
am alook alike a pose of porter pease" ("pease" -
plural of pea: Indo-Germanic root: pig), Using the
Vichian philological method, one can now read the
sentence etymologically as follows: the "summit" of
the father-mountain is "scalp," the mother, who has
constantly shielded his name, who has in another
Situation questioned him about her own identity,

and who —-as the very name suggests —-is a part of
the male's protective covering. To underscore this
linguistic anastomosis, "Halp!“ joins together the
"H" of HCE with ALP. The father's initial occupies
the capital position, but it has value as a word only
when it is completed by the mother's initials. And,
the word "Halp" itself is indivisible.

The next sentence establishes the father's close
relationship to the thunder whose voice has sounded
ten times throughout the Wage as a signal of a ticerSQ:
"After having drummed all he dun." These words seem
to stress the male's sexual activity primarily. In
such terms, the "Hun!" following the sentence brands
the father as a primitive barbarian. HOwever, “dun"
grows out of ME QBDELDQ: a loud noise, and ON gene,
to thunder. Additionally, ”drum" derives from MDu
ttgmme, a drum: and the Dutch word is a cognate of
OHG tttmme, pipe or trumpet. Consequently, a second

reading Of this sentence adds the idea of the male's

298

first having "drummed" —-or "piped" (which recalls the
"cad with a pipe") -and then having thundered. To
underscore the thunder interpretation, the "Hun!”
is a superimposition of the father's first initial,
"H," on the "dun" (thunder). "Hun" may also contain
a hint Of the purpose of this creative din that has
energized human progress: AS heals and ME ten; both
mean “honey." Shaun's earlier question, ”Who, hey
(ME spelling of "high") honey, . . . was the formast
of the firm?" gains greater meaning when the bee
motif is found in "Hun!" As the creation of honey is
the "high" calling of the bee, so man's work in progress
is constantly a creative act and is perhaps most
apprOpriately exemplified in his sexual "drumming."
Early man Spent himself and his imaginative
energies of "poetic wisdom" in satisfying his needs.
Each step in his progress brought about a thunder, a
recourse of his past in which he could begin to under-
stand his Own creations after he had made them.
Humanity's triumph is the continuing process of coming
to know its own "honey" —-of recognizing that deSpite
temporary setbacks there is always to be found, in
recoursing the past, that "etill in the REEL ie_1ett
e lune Qfi,gelgfl (164.20). The meaning of man's pro-
gress, his "honey," becomes available to him when he
has learned to "wreathe the bowl to rid the bowel"

(612.24-25). "Philosophic wisdom" enables man to

299

perceive greater dimension in his creativity. Riegrsi
give him access to the truth of his earlier "making,“
and he can learn how his primary "drumming" is his
art, his poet's "wreath" transforming a "bowel" of
once-meaningless sexual activity into a ”golden bowl"
of beauty both felt and known. In working himself
"out to an inch Of his core" and even more, man makes
his own meaning and then later learns the identity
Of that "core" (L. egg, heart, soul, mind, judgment).
Joyce's use of the Vichian ticersg is most clearly
demonstrated in this final tableau in which Shaun
learns, having recoursed the father's history to its
genesis, what man has wrought. When the son has
experienced the idea, or Spirit, of man's first creative
act -and when he knows what has generated it -he
will be ready to return to the present of his own dawn-
world. "Ring down." The curtain may now prepare to
fall Since the son has finally approached the truth of
man.
The bee motif that has been running throughout
the gate now reaches its climax in this last brief
dumbshow: "While the queenbee he staggerhorned blesses
her bliss for to feel her funnyman's functions." The
allusion to the female as a queen bee and the idea of
her "blessing her bliss" seem at first to be contra-
dictory if one knows the mating ritual of the honey bee.

Joyce gig,know it: and because he knew the details

300

of the queen bee's nuptial flight so well, it is
important to examine this statement carefully. To do
so, it is necessary to examine the source of Joyce's
bee-knowledge, Maurice Maeterlinck's 22$ Lite Qt tee
ages

Maeterlinck's study of the bee is more poetry
and philosophical Speculation than scientific record,
although it is sound in its data. He writes of the
"almost perfect but pitiless" society of the hive
in which the individual is subsumed into the "republic,
and the republic in its turn invariably sacrificed
to the abstract and immortal city of the future."47
Although Maeterlinck finds the bee culture efficient
in Operation, he rejects the ideaof applying such a
social Structure to humanity (p. 24). The very
thrift, devotion to the hive, and cooperation that are
admirable in bees would become truly a "nightmare" of
history if man were to imitate them.

The energizing agent of bee society Maeterlinck
calls the "Spirit of the hive" (pp. 26, 27, et. e;.).
This "Spirit" is more powerful than the queen bee,
for it determines all of her movements as well as
those of the other bees. It is this ”Spirit" that
orders the solidarity within the hive, although outside
those walls the bees exhibit no care for each other.

The only way to eXplain such strange lack of concern,

Maeterlinck goes on, is to point out that the bees'

301

only care is for the "cult of the future, . . . They
give their love to what lies ahead of them: we be-
stow ours on what is around" (p. 69).

For purposes of Wage analysis, the most Sig-
nificant passage in this contemplative study of the bee
is Maeterlinck's account of the queen bee's nuptial
flight. Before the queen mates, she is able to lay
eggs, but these produce only males. In other words,
until she has been impregnated by the male, the queen
bee's destiny is fixed. In turn, the fate of the
hive is also determined: there can be no progress of
the Species without the union Of male and female. It
is only after this union that the queen bee is able to
produce drones and workers, thus insuring not only the
perpetuation of the species but its evolution as well.48

The marriage of the queen bee is a strange one,
alien to human understanding. Maeterlinck's descrip-
tion of it, so vivid that it must have lingered in
Joyce's memory from as early as 1903, is of considerable
importance to the "queenbee" sentence in John's dumb-
show. He writes,

She soars to a height, a luminous zone,
that other bees attain at no period of
their life. Far away, caressing their
idleness in the midst of the flowers, the
males have beheld the apparition, have
breathed the magnetic perfume that spreads
from group to group till every apiary near
is instinct with it. Immediately crowds
collect, and follow her into the sea Of

gladness, whose limpid boundaries ever
recede. She, drunk with her wings,

302

obeying the magnificent law of the race
that chooses her lover, enacts that the
strongest alone shall attain her in the
solitude of the ether, she rises still:
and, for the first time in her life, the
blue morning air rushes into her stigmata,
singing its song, like the blood of heaven,
in the myriad tubes of the tracheal sacs,
nourished on Space, that fill the center
of her body. . . . She rises still: and
already the ill-assorted troop below are
dwindling and falling aSunder. The
feeble, infirm, the aged, unwelcome, ill-
fed, . . . these renounce the pursuit and
disappear in the void. . . . She summons
her wings for one final effort: and now
the chosen of incomprehensible forces has
reached her, has seized her, and bounding
aloft with united impetus, the ascending
Spiral of their intertwined flight whirls
for one second in the hostile madness of
love.

Most creatures have a vague belief that
a very precarious hazard, a kind of trans-
parent membrane, divides death from love:
. . . Here this idea, whose memory lingers
still over the kisses of man, is realized
in its primal Simplicity. No sooner has
the union been accomplished than the male's
abdomen Opens, the organ detaches itself,
dragging with it the mass of the entrails:
the wings relax, and as though struck by
lightning, the emptied body turns and
turns on itself and sinks into the abyss.

The same idea that, before, in partheno-
genesis, sacrificed the future of the hive
to the unwonted multiplication Of males,
now sacrifices the male to the future of
the hive. . . .

[The queen bee? descends from the azure
heights and returns to the hive, trailing
behind her, like an oriflamme, the unfolded
entrails of her lover (pp. 123, 124, 128,
132-133, 137-138).

Maeterlinck's words are reminiscent of several passages
in the Wete, particularly the last portion of Anna
Livia's monologue in which she says,

My great blue bedroom the air so quiet,
scarce a cloud. In peace and Silence.

303

I could have stayed up there for always

only‘éfione-ly," alonez7} It's some-

thing fails us. First we feel. Then we

fa11.(627.9-11).

The nuptial flight of the bee provides a basic
analogy -keeping in mind the limits of analogy —-
for the meaning of man and of his relationship to
the holy. By this I do not mean to propose that the
sexual union of the bees is analogous to that of the
first human beings pg;_§g: nor do I suggest that this
is the implication of the flakg's bee motif that
reaches its high point during John's view of history.
To the contrary, the analogical references are far
more subtle and far more meaningful in their application
to the first parents.
Unlike the distorted "fable" of Aphrodite Urania,

the goddess of midsummer who would first mate with a
male and them emasculate him,49 the castration of the
male bee is a willing self-sacrifice of the one for
the many, for the future of the hive. As the male
dies in giving up his procreative organs, so, in a
very real sense, he gains greater life in becoming a
part of the queen bee. Indeed, he is equipped by
nature to give this vital part of himself without
struggle once he has gained the height attained by
.the female. AS Maeterlinck eXplains, the bee's sex
organ is structured so that he can use it only in

Space. "A prolonged flight must first expand his

304

two great tracheal sacs: these enormous receptacles
being gorged on air will throw back the lower part
of the abdomen, and permit exsertion of the organ."
The father's flight ends in his fall, but his
essential function —-creation -— lives on in the
queen bee who "having within her an inexhaustible
male" now "begins her veritable life" (pp. 129-130).
In Finnegans flake the female has constantly been
identified with rivers and trees: the creative flow
of time as it is manifested in the living earth. In
terms of an analogy to the queen bee, the mother—
earth's "riverrun" would be paradoxically non-progres-
sive unless it were impregnated with the creative
Sperm of the father - the immanent Spirit of the holy.
If the queen bee "blesses her bliss for to feel her
funnyman's functions," this bliss is the event of the
Spirit's entering the body of the earth not momen-
tarily but permanently as an "inexhaustible male"
principle of creativity. The sexual union of the
mother and father revealed to Shaun in John's Show is
no tragic and brutal castration of the male. Rather,
it is a union of male and female, Spirit and time,
in which the father extends (and intends) his creative
powers as a perpetual impregnation not by depositing
his semen once only but by placing his semen-bearing
organs permanently within the mother.

This unique sexual union, then, offers a key for

305

the son to use in unlocking the mystery of the parents.
Shaun has, like the searchers in each of Joyce's
earlier books, been questing for a father. His search
has taken him, via 'c rso, to time's beginning. Here
at the horizon-line of human consciousness he learns
that to know the father is to recognize his creative
presence in the fecundity of the mother, the earth.
Whether man can ever know more about the father, can
transcend himself to discover another dimension of the
parent, is unanswerable. At the stage of evolution of
Shaun's own time, it is sufficient to know that the
father permeates and makes extraordinary every aSpect
of this otherwise very ordinary world.50

J. S. Atherton has written that Joyce "trans-
ferred the reSponsibility for Original Sin to God,"
that creation of the world was itself the first Sin,
and that the father —-enraged and stuttering in guilt-
ridden thunder -stands between his children and the
serenely virtuous mother.51 To the contrary, creation
is the father's great act of generosity, and he has
freely given his creative apparatus to the mother-
world in order that the future of their children may
be assured. If man is presently able to know the

father only through the mother, the Wake has much

 

earlier prOphesied that the future may hold greater
knowledge of the mother and father - river and mountain,

tree and stone:

306

Yed he med leave to many a door of
Oxmanswold for so witness his chambered
cairn a cloudletlitter Silent that are
at browse up hill and down coombe . . .
a theory none too rectiline of the evolua-
tion of the rocks unto some of the living.
Olivers lambs we do call them, skatterlings
of stones, and they shall be gathered unto
him, . . . hwen, . . . he skall wake from
earth sleep, haught crested elmer, . . .
the Wulverulverlord (protect us!) his
mighty horn skall roll, orland, roll
(73.28-36: 74.1-5).
Shaun has seen that "mighty horn" in action as the first
father "staggerhorned" the queenbee-mother. He has
likewise seen that creative horn disengage itself from
the father, and he has watched the mother's ”bliss"
in receiving it as a part of her own body.

'This union is, then, the "true narrative" buried
in the dump of history under the ”corrupted fables"
of the father's sins and the mother's supposed role
as a temptress. The genesis of human consciousness,
Shaun has seen, lies in the free choice to lose one-
self in an other, to "fall" into an other. This is a
loss of self that is simultaneously a realization of
self in wider dimensions. Not surprisingly, such an
idea recalls the words of the old historians as they
calmed the giant, Finn, much earlier in the Wake.
They explained to him,

Poppypap's a paSSport out. And honey is
the holiest thing ever was, hive, comb
and earwax, the food for glory, (mind
you keep the pot or your nectar cup may
yield too light!) (25.5-8).

Shaun's :icgrSQ has brought him as close as it

307

is possible to come to the integral meaning of the

parents and of the "Spirit of the hive.” If there is

any ”message" that Shaun can now take back to his own

present age to revitalize and enrich that present, it

must surely be very similar to the following restate-

ment of a Vichian idea:

I do not know my own essence, just as I do
not know that of any other natural being.
However, it is from this giving up of self-
knowledge that there Springs forth the

impulse

to range over the world of nations,

attempting to reach an adequate adjustment
of research, productive of historical
knowledge, to the pragmatic creative energy
of the humanitas, or civilization, through
the entire Spectrum of its degrees, from
the darkest and most turbidly coarse, to
the most elevated and enlightened.

The last of
At its very end,
to punctuate the
"Rumbling." The

immanent and yet

the four dumbshows draws to a close.
there is a "tag," one final note
authenticity of John's view:

thunder sounds from the distance —-

transcendent -to give its blessing

upon all that John's Show has revealed to those who

have watched and have seen. Then, it is time for

Shaun to return,

Dantesque "tiers, tiers and tiers" of history.

retracing his path on the concentric,
53

He has gone to the very bottom of the "litter," has

witnessed the signature of the divine written upon

the face of humanity's beginning, and has now the

freedom to return, following the path of those "Rounds,"

to the light of his own day.

308

Like Joyce's Stephen Dedalus, Shaun has "doubled
backwards into the past of humanity and caught glimpses
of emergent art as one might have a vision of the
pleisiosauros emerging from his ocean of slime" (g3,
p. 33). Also like Stephen, he has drawn out a "line
of order, to reduce the abysses of the past to order
by a diagram" (§§, p. 33). Like Stephen, Shaun has
extracted the meaning from "this chaos of history and
legend, fact and supposition, . . ." (éfi. p. 33). As
a result of Shaun's ric rs , the dawn of the new day
(Book IV) will begin with a revitalized "diagram" for
humanity: "A hand from the cloud emerges, holding a
chart expanded" (593.19). Shaun's quest has also
united him with his brother, Shem: and Shem-Shaun will
cross the evolutionary threshold to become the father-
figure of the new day. "After the night of the carry-
ing of the word of Nuahs (Shaun) and the night of
making Mehs (Shem) to cuddle up in a coddlepot"
(593.21-23), the sons are at last one as they look to
the future, having learned the truth of the past by
recoursing it.

Vico summed up his science of humanity by con-
cluding that "man is prOperly only mind, body, and
Speech, and Speech stands as it were midway between
mind and body" (SE, 1045). In like manner, John's
dumbshow in Einngggng flake has mutely said that in

the beginning of human time there was the lgggg:

309

the mental intentionality giving a form and a meaning
to man's eXperience. While the Spirit within the
first human "words" was not known by the primitive
makers who acted according to their "robust" imagina-
tions, it was nonetheless present in seminal form.

And, as Shaun has learned, that Spirit was good. Hav-
ing recoursed history to that moment at which he could
witness the force of that initial creative Spontaneity,
Shaun -modern man in search of himself through his
antecedents -has transformed from a "watcher" to a
"seer" as well. As the Egkg explains, "a successive
generation has been in the deep deep deeps of Deeper-
eras" (595.28). In these "deeper eras" the son has
found justification for the parents. He has come to
know the parents' meaning as a finite incarnation of
infinite love and concern: and in making this discovery,
he has re-established his own sense of presence, or
place, in the world.

Man's "work in progress" is always involved with
the process of becoming: in Finnegang flgkg the
Vichian gi§g£§Q_functions as a basic method of that
process. It has recently been written, perhaps most
appropriately, by an Italian professor of theoretical
philOSOphy, that

Joyce's Homeric novel is not the novel
of a single author, but is that of an
epoch, since (as Vico said apropos of

Homer) Joyce represents a whole age,
an age in which mankind must mg; be

310

reborn, in the sense of ecurrin , but
must be born as authentic humanity in~
tentionally directed toward truth. . . .
The attainment of consciousness by man,
in order that he may truly become a man,
is not a recurrence of the great forest
primeval of Earth. Man will have to
shoulder the burden of the present,and
future of this planet, will have to
Spiritualize the physical, arboreal, and
animal nature surrounding him: he will
have to transform his dwellings and cities
into his own substance and future.

What man is to become will depend upon his ever-
present choice between a surrender to despair (a
wake) or the penetration of greater dimensions of
consciousness (a self-regenerating wakefulness). In
Fignegansflgkg, Joyce's use of the Vichian doctrine
of :icgrsg illustrates his choice of the latter
alternative as the only one in which life and art may'

fully express themselves.

311
NOTES FOR CHAPTER V

l
ggmgg ngce pp. 802-803.

2
EttGES, I, 2320

3

See my discussion of the narrator of this section
in "Thunder-Ricgrsi #9 and 10," Chapter III of the
present study.

4
Structure gag M tif, p. 88.

5
See Chapter IV of this study.

6
The Master Game, p. 51.

7
"Quartan ague" -an intermittent fever that

returns every fourth day with two day's intermission
between the days of illness. In terms of the Wake's
progress, the Old Four may be immobile because they
are in the "fourth day," or last phase, of the present
journey. Or, they may be motionless because the
"fourth day" of the stages in Shaun's quest has arrived
and they are in a state of "intermission" prior to the
new day's dawn.

8'

According to Dr. Edmund Epstein, one referenCe
for "fermentarian" is the Balearic Islands: Majorca,
Minorca, Ibiza, and Formentara.

9

The "verso" is the opposite page from the
"recto," a term used in medicine as well as in book
making. Medically, "recto-" refers to the rectum.
Since Matthew and Mark have names that in this instance
relate to the male sex organ, there may be some Simi-
lar meaning to Luke's "everso," but I do not know
what to make of it. '

10
The Greek Christians were censured for this
practice.

312

11

"Jerry Godolphing" -"Jerry” is the Gael.
diminutive of Diagmaid and means "angelic.” The
dolphin was a common figure in heraldry and early
Christian art. It symbolized diligence, love, or
swiftness. If Shem is "God's angelic dolphin," and
if the Old Four have ignored him in favor of Shaun
(Kevin Mary = Gael. "comely birth" + "Mary"), they are
guilty of rejecting one aspect of manifested holiness.

12
"Seequeerscenes" may have a Latin reference
also. Segg' = perfect tense of L. sec , to cut, injure,
divide, Operate on, pass through, decide: scaena —
stage, limelight, public life, outward appearance,
pretext. There are many etymological combinations
here for meanings that could relate to the father.

13
"Tumbril" - a cart: a flat-bottomed boat: an
instrument of torture: from F. tomber, to fall, upset,
dance, L. tumeg, to dance, and G. gummeln, to turn
around. Any and all of these terms could also refer

to the father in one way or another throughout the Wake.

l4

Tindall, A Readeg's Guide, p. 287.
15

A_Reage;'s Guide, p. 285.
16

Hggpeg'g Biple Di t' ar , ed. Madeleine S.
Miller and J. Lane Miller (New York: Harper and Row,
1961), p. 234.

17
Joyce's eXpertise as a biblical scholar is well-
known. Atherton's $32 Eggke e; LEE Wake devotes all
of Part III (pp. 169-233) to a discussion of Joyce's
use of the Bible and other sacred books.

18
Hagper's Bible Dictignary, p. 342.

19
Caponigri, Time egg Idea, p. 136.

20
Concerning the idea of great art's being sacred,
it is important to reiterate Atherton's comment about
Joyce and the Weke. In The figgke_e§ LBS Wake he notes,
"One of the certain facts about Einnegege Wake is the
high and earnest sense of dedication with which Joyce

313

wrote it. He saw himself as the Vates, the poet and
prophet, and his work as the sacred book of a new
religion . . . . [If his book? could only be written
down correctly it would have a power of its own"

(p. 14). While I do not agree that Joyce viewed the
Weke as a new religion, I am convinced that he intended
it as a sacred work, a myghgs, from whose artistic
substance could be extracted the ethos for future
generations. Such an idea would also be consistent
with Vico's "genetic theory" of poetry.

 

21
Hegpeg'e Bible Dictio ar , p. 403.

22

Concern, or care (Serge), is the "basic con-
stitutive phenomenon of human existence," according
to Martin Heidegger, Being egg Time (New York: Harper
and Row, 1962), p. 370. Recently, a similarity in the
thought of Vico and Heidegger has been pointed out by
James Edie, "Vico and Existential PhilOSOphy," An
Internatigns1.52m298ium: p. 487. This similarity has
also been noted by Herbert Read, "Vico and the Genetic
Theory of Poetry," _n Igterpatiggal S osium, p. 596.
The line from Heidegger back to Vico (although almost
surely the modern philOSOpher was not aware of it) may
be traced through Husserl, Brentano, Hegel (with
reservations), Goethe, and Kant. »This cannot be called
a line of direct influence, certainly. But, there is
a great deal of scholarly evidence for a "pervasive”
influence of Vichian thought upon EurOpe although Vico
himself remained obscure.

23
For Vico, religion was the first social institu-
tion, followed by marriage and the burial of the dead.
The Wake seems, here at least, to place marriage first.

24
"Bloombierd" alludes also to the hero of
Ulysses, Leopold Bloom. There are several possible
connections for "Bloom" and ”bier" in terms of that
novel.

25

There are differences of opinion as to the
identity of the Porters and the meaning of their name.
The only reference I have found that seems to relate
closely enough to this passage to warrant attention is
Mark's record of one of Christ's parables (Mk.l3:
34-37). This parable has other key terms in it that
are also important in the third book of the Wake:
watch, Sleeping, cock-crowing, morning. But.if this

314

biblical reference is integral to Shaun's "Porter"
Speech, I cannot explain why it Should appear in
Matthew's Show.

26

See §_Ske;etgp Key, pp. 325-338, and A Secgpd
Ce u , pp. liii-lvi, as examples.

27
For a discussion of the dreamer's waking, see

Sggggtuge and M t'f, pp. 83-84.

28
Structure and Motif, p. 84.

 

29
The theme of the relationship between the living
and the dead is one of the themes of Joyce's Short
story, "The Dead."

30

In reference to Vico‘s axioms about imagination
and "poetic wisdom" as the primary agent of human
evolution, Herbert Read has made an important statement.
He writes that the riCQ;SQ places Vico's concept of
"poetic wisdom" (imagination) in line with the "Greek
association of memory with inSpiration," with "Ernest
Schachtel's modern theory of inSpiration," and with
"Jung's hypothesis of the collective unconscious as a
depository of archetypal forms available to the creative
artist" (pp. 595-596). Read also points out the
relationship of Vico's idea with that of Heidegger,
for whom "poetry is essentially an act of perception
or, . . . an establishment of being by means of the
word" (p. 596). Read concludes that "Vico is probably
the most unacknowledged source of ideas in the history
of philOSOphy" (p. 597).

31
See A Seegpg Census, pp. 166-168, for some ideas
about the Weke's man servant.

32

Finnegans Weke uses the cow motif repeatedly and
in this use, at least, shows a close continuity with
the cow-female-mother complex in Pgrtrait and Ulysses.
For an authoritative discussion of the cow in Portra't,
see Stuart Curran, "'Bous Stephanoumenos': Joyce's
Sacred Cow," Jemeg ngee Quargerly, 6, No. 2 (Winter
1969), 163-170. Also, as noted earlier, the Irish
Great Mother was Boann, a white cow.

315

33

In the flake, there are countless allusions to
trees in connection with the mother-figure. It is
She who teaches the children their ABC's: "Elm, bay,
this way." The image of the "tree of knowledge"
(ézbggee §cientiaggm) has a long history, and Vico also
used it as a way of illustrating the divisions and
evolution of "poetic wisdom” (éfl, 367). Giorgio
Tagliacozzo points out that Vico's use of the tree
image ”is a Specific confirmation of his acquaintance
with the tradition of the 'arbores scientiarum' or,
in any case, with the use of the tree image by Bacon
. . ." ("Epilogue," _g International Symposium, p. 600).
In turn, Frances Yates has shown the influence of the
Hermetic movement and its use of memory on Bacon,
Descartes, and Leibnitz - all of whom had profound
influences upon Vico's thinking (222 eye g; Memory
(Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 19687, pp. 368-369,
370-375). Miss Yates has also drawn a direct line from
Geordano Bruno and his Hermeticism to Bacon and others
in gigggeng Bragg egg LEE Hermetic Tradition. Bruno
is well-known to have.used such mnemonic devices as
the tree and the mystic seal in the various memory
systems of his magus philosophy.

Joyce's use of Bruno in the Wake suggests that
Joyce recognized in Bruno and Vico similarities of
great importance. Historian William Salomone has
written about »
some possible relation between Brunian
philosophy and Vichian thought. One wonders
whether, by some chance, Vico may have been
"eXposed" to Bruno's dialogue 2e 1' igfinito
ggivegeo ee mgpdi. Some fruitful analogies,
we believe, could be drawn between Bruno's
cosmologic ideas in that work and Vico's
historical conceptualizations. In his
ggmmengg st ic , II, 24-25 (no. 807).
Nicolini touches upon the question of a
possible exposure of Vico to Bruno's work,
. . . ("Pluralism and Universality in Vico's
Sgienz? Nugve," en Integnatigna; S osium,
p. 530 .

Finally, Tagliacozzo reinforces this connection between

Vico and Bruno when he writes that
Vico's fley Sc'e ce, in Spite of its unsur-
passed originality, seems to have some roots
in common with the tradition of the "art of
memory" (and hence of the "arpgres scieg-
tiarum"), particularly in its seventeenth
century stage, . . . Such a remote connection
is confirmed by Antonio Corsano (”Vice e 1e,
ggegizigne e et'ca" in the symposium
Qmeggig e Vicg zgaples, 19887) and by the

316

picture placed by Vico in the New Sciepce

as a frontiSpiece . . . (an Intergatigpai
W. p. 599)-

While the present study does not take up the
connection between Vico and Bruno, that idea has
obvious ramifications for this paper. Joyce's use
of the two Italian thinkers and his regular connection
of the mother and the tree-image constitutes a stong
argument for his recognition, in both men, of a belief
in the unity of know1edge. Such an argument would,
in turn, stress Joyce's concern in the Wake with the
demonstration of a like unity. Finally, the connec-
tion of Bruno, Vico, the "tree of knowledge," and
Joyce's fusion of the mother and tree images all lend
credence to my argument that Joyce uses the Vichian
rigorsg as a way of knowing rather than Simply the
fourth part of a "cycle. "

34
This explanation of the word was given to me
by Dr. Edmund Epstein.

35
A Reager's Guide, p. 292.

36

In Strugtgre egg M tif, Hart explains this
passage as Joyce's "little scientific joke" resulting
from his reading of modern physics -the idea that a
"long straight view in front, circling the four-
dimensional hyperSphere of a re-entrant universe,
might theoretically give a man a sight of himself
from behind" (p. 90). Such a reading may have value,
but an interpretation of the passage in terms of the
Vichian ricgrsg -and the patterns of meaning revealed
by gigggeg -seems more consistent with the context
of the passage.

37
A Reager's Guige, p. 295.

38
It is commonly accepted that the Wake concerns
a dinner, a "missing meal" as A Second Census puts
it (p. lix). Throughout the book there is repeated
mention of this banquet and the would-be banqueters.

39
The word "honey" combines with "hiving" in the
sentence discuSsed above to stress the bee motif once
more.

317

40

In her final monologue, Anna Livia Speaks of
her "great blue bedroom" from which she came "down
out of me mother" (627.8-9). Earlier, there is the
suggestion that she is in some way related to the new
moon (202.26-27). In addition, the daughter, Issy,
appears as "Nuvoletta," the little cloud girl and
daughter of "Mrs Moonan" (157-159).

41
"Apprentice" -from L. a rendere, to lay
hold of. Here, the son-apprentice must "lay hold of"
the truth of the father by means of ricgrsg.

42
"Sweetish mand" -This term could possibly
allude to Pastor Manders in Ibsen's thsts. He is
representative of conventional morality. Joyce's
admiration for Ibsen is well-known. Manders is
"sweetish": however, I do not think he is "Swedish."

43
A Reader'g Ggide, p. 297.

44~
: "Tableau final" quite possibly has some relation
to "Call boy. Cry off. Tabler. Her move" (559.30),
the interruption of the parents' sex act in the first
dumbshow. If Matthew's view revealed an incompleted
act, one that had to be "tabled" because of the
mother's concern for her child, John's view will not

be a replaying of this interruption in the final
"tableau."

45
The meaning of "broothes" as "races" comes from
the verb "broose," a Scot. term for a race at rural
weddings to be first in reaching the bridegroom's
111m after the ceremony. Joyce's Spelling of it may
combine "broose" and "breathe."

46 .
Nobel Prize winner Maeterlinck wrote Tee Life
9; $22 See in 1901, and this work is still the most
widely read account of the bee society (New York:
Mentor, 1954). The honey bee is the most written-
about insect in the world. Among ancient peoples,
the Babylonian, Inca, East Indian, Greek, Roman and,
Norse are representative of those cultures that
elevated the honey bee to a position of prominence.
Honey was used in sacrificial rituals and waS\the
basic ingredient of mead, a drink with sacred prop-
erties in many instances. Maeterlinck's study was
the first book-length treatise on.bees, but his

318

introductory comments include mention of a chapter in
Tee I se t, by Michelet, an author whose name Joyce
uses throughout the Wake coupled with that of Quinet.
Atherton and Glasheen have both noted Joyce's addition
of "Maeterlinck" ("smetterling") in the following
passage from the Wake:
The Gracehoper who, though blind as

batflea, yet knew, not a leetle beetle,

his good smetterling of entymology aSped

nissunitimost lous nor licens but promptly

tossed himself in the vico, phthin and

phthir, on top of his buzzer, . . .

(41703-6).

47
Lite Q: the Bee, p. 23. All subsequent quotations
from this work will be noted by page number in the
text of this study.

48

Maeterlinck points out that, deSpite the usual

beliefs to the contrary, there is progress in the bee
SOCietY (p. 53).

49
For a discussion of this ritual, see The Greek

flxlhs. pp- 71-72-

50
In James J ce, Ellmann writes that the "initial
and determining act of judgment in his [Joyce'e7 work
is the justification of the commonplace. . . . Joyce's
discovery, so humanistic that he would have been
embarrassed to disclose it out of context, was that
the ordinary is extraordinary" (p. 3).

51
The ngke e; ghe Weke, p. 31

52
Antonio Corsano, "Vico and Mathematics," £2
Igtegnatignai Sympgsium, p. 435n. The statement is
taken from Isaiah Berlin, ”The PhilOSOphical Ideas of
G. B, Vico," 5;; egg Ideas i3 Eighteenth-Century Itaiy
(Rome: ggigigni gi Stgria e Letteratura, 1960). p. 173.

53
The geeks e; the Weke has a fairly comprehensive
discussion of Joyce's use of Dante in the W ke, (pp.
79-82). Glauco Cambon, "Vico and Dart-e," All Internatiopa;
Sympgeigm, pp. 15-28, points out Vico's affinity for
Dante "whom he sees as a new Homer, as the singer of
Italy's 'barbarous age,' to illustrate his theory of

319

recourses and of barbaric or 'heroic' ages as the
prime seedbed of great poetry" (p. 17).

S4

Enzo Paci, "Vico and Cassirer," An Internatiggai
mm. pp. 472-473.

CONCLUSION

Tinnegene EEEE represents the culmination of
James Joyce's aesthetic-philOSOphical deveIOpment.

It snythesizes and demonstrates ideas of fictional
art with which Joyce had been experimenting from his
earliest works. But, because this demonstration is

a departure from traditional form, readers have
misread and misunderstood the fleke. Further, Joyce
claimed that the fleke was founded upon Vico's Scienza
Nggye, a work thought to be a philosophy of history
based on "cyclic recurrence." Because Vico's science
seemed to be dated and rather facile in thought deSpite
its stylistic intricacy, fieke readers have seldom
followed Joyce's instruction to read the Seienze
Nggye in relation to Einnegene fleke.

In this dissertation I proposed to examine the
Operation of the gieggeg in Einnegeneifleke,by a re-
assessment of that principle as it appears in Vico's
Seienze Huey; and then by an application of my find-
ings to the flake.

An introductory overview of fleke criticism from
1928 to 1969 revealed that the Eeke has never been

thoroughly analyzed from a Vichian perSpective. 'Wake

320

321

scholarship concerning the Scienza Nggye appears to
stem almost exclusively from Samuel Beckett's essay
on Vico and Joyce in 1928. While later critics have
discussed Vico's work in somewhat greater detail, they
Seem to have shared the same basic presuppositions

in their analyses: that Vico's work is a philOSOphy
of cyclic history in the manner of Spengler and

Toynbee and that the Wake, following Vico's conclusions,

 

is non-progressive and repetitive in theme as well as
form.

To re-Open the Vico question properly, the present
study analyzed the Scienza uggye with particular emphasis
on Vico's doctrine of ricgrsi. The principal aid to
this analysis was A. Robert Caponigri's Time egg Tgee:
IDS Tee; g; Histgry in Giambattista Zieg, a study held
in high esteem by Vico translators Thomas G. Bergin
and Max H. Fisch, by Herbert Read, and others.
Caponigri's explanation of the ricgrsg divests it Of
the notion of any material recurrence and detaches it
from Croce's use Of it as evidence for a circularity
of Spirit. Instead, Caponigri views the concept of
gieggei in terms of Vico's principle of evolution:
the modifications of the human mind. The ricgrsg is
a principle of progress in which the nation or culture
advances in "ideality" by a reflective descent into
its own past to rediscover the initial force of its

primal, Spontaneous creativity, its "poetic wisdom."

322

The zieggeg is, then, an important concept in
Vico's theory of knowledge. Viewing learning as a
dynamic process, Vico explained that humanity is
self-creative. Without knowing the nature Or mean-
ing of their actions, men have created the "world of
nations,” guided by an immanent divine providence.
After the ”making" process, man at length recourses
his history to find the meaning of what he has made.
This recourse is the basis of the "knowing" process.
And because, as Vico wrote, Speech stands midway
between mind.and body, man's words provide a means
for recoursing that history. Vico's philological
method in the Sgienza ungye concerns the study Of
words as one way to trace human creativity back to
the Springs of its first poetic force. Combining the
Vichian philology with the doctrine of gieggeg, the
flake also employs this method to Show how the "Vico
road goes round and round to meet where terms begin."

Having presented an alternate explanation for
Vico's doctrine of r' rs', my study next offered a
narrative outline of Tippegene‘fleke to Show basic
evidence of progress in Joyce's "universal history."
With the idea of material recurrence detached from
it, the Eeke's narrative reveals the presence of
progress as man evolves greater consciousness and
greater control of his self-created world.

The examination of gieggei in the‘Wake began

323

with my Chapter III concerning the ten thunder words.
Vico had used the idea of thunder to explain man's
emergence to consciousness and to illustrate the
Operation Of "poetic wisdom." In the Teke, Joyce
amplifies the thunder image, using it a total of ten
times to signify important phases in humanity's
evolving consciousness. The first thunder Shows the
concomitant sense Of separation with the emergence of
human consciousness. This feeling of loss or frag-
mentation in turn gives rise to man's search for
himself -the quest for his "tumptytumtoes" or his
genesis. In Finnegans W ke, to be human is to feel
incomplete, to feel oneself a stranger in one's own
world. The thunders all sound as noises introducing
man's new or heightened dimension of awareness of
himself as a maker and, following that, a knower.
When the tenth thunder sounds, the making and knowing
process in the fleke has reached a degree of complexity
that calls for a transformation in the fictional
presentation Of it. The tenth thunder, although called
perfect, is nevertheless an imperfect means for
illustrating the subtleties of gieggeg. From this
point on, the Weke focuses on internal aSpectS Of
Shaun's mental recourse of history in his four watches.
Shaun's gicogsg (Book III) made up the principal
argument Of my study because the gicgreg reaches its

climax here. Beginning as a postman traveling backward

324

in time, Shaun descends through the actions already
narrated. In his quest for the father (Spirit), he

is accompanied by the four GOSpellers and their ass
since the works of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

are the western world's verbal basis for Christian
belief. TO reach the deepest level of history, how-
ever, Shaun must go past, or behind, these four if he
is to get at the meaning of the parents. While all
of Book III has a sleep or dream aSpect to it, III.3
is completely taken up with a seance, suggesting that,
in the fleke at least, the riggrsg involves a level of
consciousness empirically unexplainable. Joyce's
extensive use Of paranormal elements in III.3 as

well as in III.4 hints that he himself may have found
some access to ”deep consciousness," a level of aware-
ness available tO all but experienced by relatively
few peOple.

In the dumbshows of III.4 the present study found
the great epiphany of Finnegane fleke. After watching
the three shows ascribed to Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
the Synoptic GOSpellers, Shaun becomes a "see-er" as
he participates in the final pantomime, John's Show.
Although it is the shortest, John's view of the first
parents from the horizon line Of consciousness is
revelatory of truth. It is the "finest" Show and the
most authentic, the ”Finnest." Shaun "makes" his

understanding of this Show by filling in the blanks:

325

by explaining to himself what he sees. The result

of this process is knowledge. He learns that male

and female -father and mother, Spirit and nature -
have become one through an act Of generous sacrifice
on the part of the male. Mother-nature without
father-Spirit would be non-productive. Further, if
nature were the only parent directly available to

man, that Situation would reduce man's quest for the
father to absurdity. Man's search would be forever
frustrated by the total Objectivity of the Spirit.
With the father's (Spirit's) loving sacrifice not
simply of his seminal fluid but of his entire repro-
ductive system, the mother's (nature's) perpetual
impregnation is the constant revelation of their mean-
ing and of their legacy to their Children. The finite
world is filled with infinite Spirit as an ever-
present ideal Of potential or becoming. When this
fact is known, every ordinary detail Of life becomes
extraordinary.

Through his gieggeg, Shaun "makes" truth and
finally "knows" it as both thought and felt, both
head and heart. With the resolution of these Opposi-
tions, Shaun has completed his night journey into
history. His ricggsg has made possible the dawn of
a new day, an Easter morning of renewed vitality for
man in his work in progress.

From this re-assessment of Vico's doctrine of

326

{ieggei and its application in Figgegans fleke, I have
arrived at the following conclusions:
1. Vico's doctrine of gicgrsi Operates in
Tinnegene fleke as an act Of mind through which man
gains authentic knowledge of what he himself has made.
History, when probed by means of ric rs , gives evidence
both of the idea working in time and of human progress.
2. Joyce's use of the gicgrsg as a method for
and a symbol of human progress points out that Tiggegene

nge can no longer be considered a circular, or cyclic,

history in either theme or form. In the Wake humanity

 

Spirals forward, through a paradoxical return upon
itself, toward greater consciousness, hence greater
control of its evolution. In physical demonstration of
this process, Fingegans fleke cuts Off in the middle

of a sentence on the last page and sends the reader
back to its beginning to extract the idea embedded in
time.

3. The fleke's use of ricgrsi leads to a considera-
tion of Vichian philology. The Teke's flexibility of
language allows the reader to become a co-creator of
the work as he makes meaning in terms of his own era
and sensibilities. Next, the fleke becomes an experience
in "practical" gieggeg. The reader extracts the idea
from the multiplicity of detail and at last knows it
precisely because he has made it for himself. When

language is understood as a dynamic process, the

327

possibilities for man's making and knowing are limited
only by his level Of consciousness.

4. Joyce's use of the gieggeg suggests that in
Finnegens fleke he was attempting a creation of more
magnitude than a philOSOphical system. If "philosophic
wisdom" accrues to itself greater dimension by its
recourse of mythic "poetic wisdom," then the supreme
aSpiration of art would be to create the seedbed for

wisdom: a new mythology. Out of such a mytggs,

“I” "‘ ""'" ”tut——

future generations would make their own EEDQQ by
recoursing their history to that poetic source. This
process leading to "philosophic wisdom" would be a
natural, organic one evolving with the passage of time
and the modifications of the mind. Certainly Stephen
Dedalus prophesied such myth creation when he vowed

to "encounter for the millionth time the reality of
eXperience," to effect his own ' rs , in order to
make the "uncreated conscience" of his race.

This study has shown that Vico's Sciegee Nggye
offers heretofore unnoticed possibilities for aid in
reading the fleke. It has realized that the term,
"Vichian influence," is applicable tO Jche's work
only within a carefully defined context because Joyce
assimilated, reshaped, and synthesized ideas from
many sources. However, this study has also kept in
mind Jche's dictum that a study of Vico would help

in understanding his book. The re-assessment of

328

Vico's doctrine of ricorsi has illuminated a number
of aSpects of the fleke. With the use of the Scienza
NuQva as a means of access to it, Finnegans Wake
study crosses the threshold of a new and fruitful

critical dimension.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources - Joyce

Joyce, James. The Critical Writings. Ed. Ellsworth
Mason and Richard Ellmann. New York: Viking
Press, 1959.

. Finnegans Wake. New YOrk: Viking Press,
1960.

 

. Letters. 3 vols. Ed. Stuart Gilbert and
Richard Ellmann. New York: Viking Press, 1966.

 

. Stephen Hero. Ed. Theodore Spencer. New
YOrk: New Directions, 1963.

 

Primary Sources - Vico

Vico, Giambattista. The Autobiography g; Giambattista
Vico. Trans. Max Harold Fisch and Thomas Goddard
Bergin. Ithaca, N.Y.: Great Seal Books, 1963.

. The New Science Q; giambattista Vico. Trans.
Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch.
Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1968.

 

 

. g3 The Study Methods 9: Our Times (Qe nostri).
Trans. Elio Gianturco. Indianapolis: Library of
Liberal Arts, 1965.

\\

\\ Secondary Sources

Atherton, J. S. The Books e; the Wake. New York:
Viking Press, 1960.

 

Barbour, Ian. Issues ip Science and Religion. Engle-
wood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966.

Becker, Ernest. Aggei in Armor. New York: George
Braziller, 1969.

329

330

. The Strugtugc g; Eyii: fig Essay 9g t e
UgificatiQn g; the Sciences 93 Meg. New York:
George Braziller, 1968.

Beckett, Samuel. "Dante . . . Bruno, Vico . . .
Joyce." Our Exagmination Round His Factification
for Incamination g; Work ig Progress. New York:
New Directions, 1962, pp. 3-22.

Benstock, Bernard. Joyce-Again's Wake. Seattle,
University of Washington Press, 1964.

Boldereff, Frances M. Hermes pg His Son Thoth.
Woodward, Pa.: Classic Non-Fiction Library, 1968.

Brion, Marcel. "The Idea of Time in the Work of James
Joyce." Our Exaqmination iound His Rectification
for Incaminatign g: Work ig Progress. New York:
New Directions, 1962, pp. 25-33.

Budgen, Frank. "James Joyce's Wgrk ig Progress and Old
Norse Poetry." Our Exagminatign Round His
Factificatign for Incamination g: Work ig Progress.
New York: New Directions, 1962, pp. 37-46.

 

Cambon, Glauco. "Vico and Dante." Giambattista Mico:
Ag International Symposium. Ed. Giorgio Taglia-
cozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins Press, 1969, pp. 15-28.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With é Thousand Faces.
New YOrk: World Publishing Co., 1966.

. The Masks g; God: Occidental Mythology.
New York: Viking Press, 1964.

. The Masks g; ng: Primitive Mythology.
New York: Viking Press, 1962.

Campbell, Joseph, and Henry Morton Robinson. 5
Skeleton Key pg Finnegans Wake. New York:
Viking Press, 1961.

Caponigri, A. Robert. Time and Idea: The Theory gg
History ig Giambattista Vico. London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, Ltd, 1953.

 

Child, Arthur. "Making and Knowing in Hobbes, Vico,
and Dewey." University 9; California Publications
i3 Philosophy, 16, No. 13 (1953), 271-310.

COpe, Jackson I. "Ulysses: Joyce's Habbalah." James
Joyce Quarterly, 7, No. 2 (Winter 1970), 93-113.

331

Corsano, Antonio. "Vico and Mathematics.“ Giambattista
Vicg: hh Ihternational Symposium. Ed. Giorgio
Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore:

Johns Hopkins Press, 1969, pp. 525-437.

Cotroneo, Girolamo. "A Renaissance Source of the
Scienza NuQva." Giambattista Vich' hh International

 

 

Sympgsium. Ed. Giorgio Tagliacozzo and Hayden V.
White. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1969,
pp. 51-59.

Croce, Benedetto. Aesthetics. New York: Modern
Library, 1966.

Curran, Stuart. "'Bous Stephanoumenos': Joyce's
Sacred Cow." James Joyce Quarterly, 6, No. 2
(Winter 1969), 163-170.

DeMas, Enrico. "Vico and Italian Thought.” Giam-
battista Vicg: hh International Symposium. Ed.
Giorgio Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins Press, 1969, pp. 147-164.

DeMauro, Tullio. "Giambattista Vico: From Rhetoric
to Linguistic Historicism." Giambattista Vico:
hh Internatignai Sympgsium. Ed. Giorgio Tagliacozzo
and Hayden V. White. Baltimore: Johns HOpkins
Press, 1969, pp. 279-295.

De ROpp, Robert. The Mester Game: Pathways he Higher

Cghscigushess Beyghg the Drug Exherience. New
York: Delacorte Press, 1968.

Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History: The Myhh g; the
Eyterhai Retugh. New York: Harper & Row, 1959.

Ellmann, Richard. James Joyce. New York: Viking Press,
1959.

Epstein, Edmund L. "Interpreting Finnegans Wake: A
Half-Way House." James ngce Quarterly, 3, NO. 3
(Summer 1966), 259-267.

Fisch, lax H. "Vico and Pragmatism." Giambattiste

Vicg: eh Internationai Symposium. Baltimore:
Johns HOpkins Press, 1969, pp. 401-424.

 

Eitzmorris, Thomas J. "Vico Adamant and Some Pillars
of Salt." Cathgiic W rld, 156 (1943), 568-577.

Eraser, Sir James. The New Gglden Bough. Ed. Theodor
H. Gaster. New York: The New American Library,
1964.

332

Garrett, Eileen. Other Vgiees. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons, 1968.

Glasheen, Adeline. "Out of My Census." The Analyst,
17 (1960), 23.

. h Secgnd Census he Finnegans Wake. Evanston,
Illinois: Northwestern Univ. Press, 1963.

Goldman, Robert. The Joyce Paradox. London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1966.

Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. New York: George
Braziller, Inc., 1957.

Hampshire, Stuart. "Vico and the Contemporary PhilOSOphy
of Language." Giambattista Vico: hh International
Symposium. Ed. Giorgio Tagliacozzo and Hayden V.
White. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1969,
pp. 475-481 0

Harper's Bible Dictionary. Ed. Madeleine S. Miller
and J. Lane Miller. New YOrk: Harper and Row,
1961.

Hart, Clive. Structure and Motif ih Finnegans Wake.
Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press,
1962.

Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. New York: Harper
and Row, 1962.

Higginson, Fred H. Review of 5 Wake Digest. James
Joyce Quarterly, 6, NO. 3 (Spring, 1969), 276-278.

Joyce, Stanislaus. hy Brother's Keeper. New York:
Viking Press, 1958.

Kaufmann, Walter. Critighe g: Relioigh and Philosophy.
New YOrk: Anchor Books, 1961.

Knight, David C. The ESP Reader. New York: Grosset
and Dunlap, 1969.

Koch, Ronald. "Giordano Bruno and Eihhegehs Wake: A
New Look at Shaun's Objection to the 'Nolanus
Theory.'" Unpublished graduate study, Southern
Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, 1970.

KUmmel, Friedrich. "Time as Succession and the
Problem Of Duration." Vgices 9; Time. Ed. J. T.
Eraser. New YOrk: George Braziller, Inc., 1966.

333

Litz, A. Walton. The Art 9: James Joyce. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1964.

Lovejoy, Arthur 0. The Great Chain 9: Beihg. New
York: Harper-Row, 1960.

Maeterlinck, Maurice. The Life 9: t e Bee. New York:
Plentor, 19540

McGreevy, Thomas. "The Catholic Element in Work in
Progress." Our Exagmination Round His Factifigg-
tion er Incamination g: Work Th Egooreee. New
York: New Directions, 1962, pp. 119-127.

 

Moffett, James A. h Student—Centered Langhage Aghe
Curriculum. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1968.

 

Morley, Patricia A. "Fish Symbolism in Chapter Seven
of Finnegans Wake: The Hidden Defence of Shem
the Penman." James Joyce Quarterly, 6, No. 3
(Spring 1969), 267-270.

 

O Hehir, Brendan. h Gaelic Lexicon for Pinnegans Wake.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

Paci, Enzo. "Vico and Cassirer." Gambattista Vico:
Ah Thternational Symposium. Ed. Giorgio
Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore:
Johns HOpkins Press, 1969, pp. 497-515.

 

Piovani, Pietro. "Vico Without Hegel." Giambattista
Vico: hh International Sympgsium. Ed. Giorgio
Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore:

Johns Hopkins Press, 1969, pp. 103-123.

Read, Herbert. "Vico and the Genetic Theory of Poetry."
Giambattista Vico: 5h Thternational Symposium.
Ed. Giorgio Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1969, pp. 591-

 

597.
Salomone, A. William. "Pluralism and Universality in
Vico's Scienza Nuova." Giambattista Vico: Ah

 

 

International Symposium. Ed. Giorgio Tagliacozzo
and Hayden V. White. Baltimore: Johns HOpkinS
Press, 1969, pp. 517-541.

 

Shumaker, Wayne. Literature and the Irrational.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J." Prentice—Hall, 1960.

 

 

Tagliacozzo, Giorgio. "Epilogue." Giambattista Vico:
53 International Symposium. Ed. Giorgio
Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore:
Johns HOpkins Press, 1969, pp. 599-613.

 

334

Tindall, William YOrk. James ngce: His Way _£
Interpreting the MQdern World. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950.

. h Reader's Guide Te Finnegens Wake. New
York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969.

Vaughn, C. E. "Giambattista Vico: An Eighteenth
Century Pioneer." John Ryland's Library
Bulletin, 6 (Manchester, England, 1921),
266-288.

White, Hayden V. "What Is Living and What Is Dead
in Croce's Criticism of Vico." Giambattista
Vico: Ah International Symposium. Ed. Giorgio
Tagliacozzo and Hayden V. White. Baltimore:
Johns HOpkins Press, 1969, pp. 379-389.

Willey, Basil. The Eighteenth Century Background.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1962.

Wilson, Edmund. "The Dream of H. C. Earwicker."
The Wound and the Bey. New York: Oxford
Univ. Press, 1965.

. The Shores 9; Ligh . New York: Random
House, 19520

Yates, Frances. The Art 9: Memory. Chicago: Univ.
of Chicago Press, 1966.

. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition.
Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1964.

Special References For Einnegans Wake

Bonheim, Helmut. h Lexicon g: the German ih Finnegens
Wake. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1967.

Christiani, Dounia Bunis. Scandinavian Elements 9:
Finnegans Wake. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern
University Press, 1965.

Cohn, Alan, and Richard M. Kain. "Supplemental
JJ’ Checklist, 1962." James Joyce Quarterly,
1, NO. 2 (Winter 1964), 15-22.

Cohn, Alan. "Supplemental JIIChecklist,
1964." James Joyce anrterly, 3, No. 1 (Fall
1965), 50-61.

335

"Supplemental JJ Checklist, 1960-61."
James Joyce Quarterly, 3, NO. 2 (Winter 1966),
141-153 0

"Supplementary JJ Checklist, 1959. James
Joyce Quarteriy, 3, No. 3 (Spring 1966), 196-204.

. "Supplemental JJ Checklist, 1966." James
ngce Quarterly, 5, No. 1 (Fall 1967), 53-66.

. "Supplemental JJ Checklist, 1967." James
ngce Quarterly, 6, NO. 3 (Spring 1969), 242-261.

"Supplemental JJ Checklist, 1968." James
Jo ce Quarteriy, 7, No. 3 (Spring, 1970), 229-250.

Deming, Robert. h Bibliography 9: James Joyce Studies.
Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press,
1964.

Hart, Clive. h Canordance he Finnegans Wake.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1963.

Kain, Richard M. "Addenda to Deming Bibliography."
James Joyce Quarterly, 3, No. 2 (Winter 1966),
154-159.

Skeat, Walter W. A Concise Etymological Dictionary.
New York: Capricorn Books, 1963.

Other Reference Materials

Adams, Robert M. James Joyce: Common Sense and
Beyond. New York: Random House, 1966.

Anderson, Chester G. James ngce ahd His World.
New York: Viking Press, 1967.

Atherton, J. S. "A Few More Books at the Wake."
James ngce Quarterly, 2, No. 3 (Spring 1965),
142-149

Barrere, Albert, Ed. 5 Dictionary g; Slang, Jargon
and Capt. London: Ballantyne Press, 1890.

Bates, Ronald. "The Feast is a Flyday." James Joyce
Quarterly. 2, NO. 3 (Spring 1965), 174-187.

Begnal, Michael H. "The Fables of Finnegans Wake."
James ngce Quarterly, 6, No. 4 (Summer 1969),
357-3670

336

"The Prankquean in Finnegans Wake." James“
ngce Quarterly, 1, NO. 3 (Spring 1964), 14-18.

Benjamin, Cornelius. "Ideas of Time in the History of
Philosophy." The Epices g; Time. Ed. J. T.
Fraser. New York: George Braziller, 1966, pp.
3-300

Blamires, Harry. The Bloomsday Book. London:
Methuen, 1966.

Bonheim, Helmut. Joyce's Benefictions. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1964.

Brandon, S. G. F. "Time and the Destiny of Man." The
Voices g: Time. Ed. J. T. Fraser. New York:
George Braziller, 1966, pp. 140-157.

Budgen, Frank. James Joyce and the Making g; Ulysses.
Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press,
1960.

Burgess, Anthony. Rngyce. New York: Ballantine
Books, 1966.

Capek, Milic. "Time in Relativity Theory: Arguments
for a Philosophy of Becoming." The Vgices g;
Time. Ed. J. T. Fraser. New York: George
Braziller, 1966, pp. 434-454.

Christiani, Dounia. "H. C. Earwicker the Ostman."

James ngce Quarterly, 2, NO. 3 (Spring 1965).
150-157 0

Cohen, John. Subjective Time." The Voicee 9; Time.
Ed. J. T. Fraser. New York: George Braziller,

Cohn, Alan M. "Rosenbach, Copinger, and Sylvia Beach
in Pinhegans Wake," PMLA, 77, No. 3 (June 1962),
342‘3440

Colum, Mary, and Padriac. Our Friehd James Joyce.
New YOrk: Doubleday, 1958.

Connolly, Thomas. ngce's Pgrtrait: Criticisms and
Critighes. New YOrk: Appleton-Century-Crofts,
1962.

Cope, Jackson 1. "From Egyptian Rubbish-heaps to
Finhegahs Wake." James Soyce Quarterly, 3, No. 3
(Spring 1966), 166-170.

337

Costa de Beauregard, Olivier. "Time in Relativity:
Arguments for a Philosophy of Being." The Voices
gfi Time. Ed. J. T. Eraser. New York: George
Braziller, 1966, pp. 417-433.

Dalton, Jack. "Hardest Crux." James Joyce Quarterly,

Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Symbols ih Society. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1968.

Eliot, T. S. After Strange Gods. New York: Harcourt
Brace, 1934.

Epstein, E. L, "Tom and Tim." James Joyce Qharterly,
6, No. 2 (Winter 1969), 158-162.

Feeney, William J. "Ulysses and the Phoenix Park
Murder." James Joyce Quarterly, 1, No. 4
(Summer 1964), 56-58

Ferkiss, Victor. Technological Man: The Myth and the
Reality. New York: George Braziller, 1969.

Fleming, Rudd. "Quidditas in the Tragi-Comedy of Joyce."
Portgeits QT eh Artist. Ed. William E. Morris
and Clifford A. Nault, Jr. New YOrk: Odyssey
Press, 1962, pp. 168-178.

Francoeur, Robert. PerSpectives ih Evolution. Balti-
more: Helicon Press, 1965.

Fraser, J. T. "The Study of Time." The Voices 9: Time.
Ed. J. T. Fraser. New YOrk: George Braziller,
1966, pp. 582-594.

Freund, Giselle and V. B. Carleton. James Joyce ih
Paris: His Final Years. New York: Harcourt,
Brace & World, Inc., 1965.

Gilbert, Stuart. James Joyce's Ulysses. New York:
vintage Books, 1952.

Gillet, Louis. Clayhggk for James Joyce. Trans.
Georges Markow-Totevy. New York: Abelard-
Schuman, 1958.

Goldberg, S. L.* James Joyce. New York: Grove Press,
Inc., 1962.

Gorman, Herbert. James Joyce. New York: Rinehart,
1948.

338

Gougaud, Dom Louis, O.S.D. Gaelic Pioneers Qi
Christianity. Dublin: n.p., 1923.

Gregory, Lady (Augusta). ngs egg Fighting Men: The
Stgry g: the Tuatha he Danaan and g; the Fianna
Qi Irelahd. London: John Murray, 1904.

Guitton, Jean. Mag ih Time. Notre Dame: University
of Notre Dame Press, 1966.

Harrison, Henry. Surnames ih the United Kingdom.
London: n.p., 1918.

Hayman, David. ngce eh Mallarme. 2 Vols. Paris:
Les Lettres Modernes, 1956.

Henseler, Donna L. "'Harpsdischord,' The Formal
Principle of HCE, ALP, and The Cad." James Joyce
Quarterly, 6, No. 1 (Fall 1968), 53-68.

Hoffman, Frederick J. Freudianism and the Literary
Mind. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press, 1957.

Joyce, P W. h SQcial Histhy g; Ireland. 3 Vols.
Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, Ltd., 1913.

Kain, Richard M. Fabulous Voyager. New York:
Viking Press, 1966.

Kumar, Shiv K. Bergson and the Stream 9: Consciousness
Novel. New York: New York University Press,
1963.

Langer, Susanne K. Mind: An Essay Qh Human Feeling.
Vol. I. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1967.

Leavis, F, R. The Great Tradition. London: George
W, Stewart, Publisher, n.d.

Levin, Harry. James Joyce: A Critical Introduction.
New York: New Directions, 1960.

lagalaner, Marvin, and Richard M. Kain. Joyce:
the Man, the Work, the Reputation. New York:
New YOrk University Press, 1956.

Manuel, Frank E. The Prophets 9: Paris. Cambridge,
Mass.: Princeton University Press, 1962.

Mathews, F. X. "Festy King in Finnegans Wake." James
Joyce Quarterly, 6, No. 2 (Winter 1969), 154-157.

339

May, Rollo. Love and Will. New York: W. W. Norton
& Co., 1969.

McLuhan, H. M. "Joyce, Aquinas, and the Poetic
Process." Joyce's Portrait. Ed. Thomas E.
Connolly. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,
1962, pp. 249-265.

Meyerhoff, Hans. Time ih Literature. Berkeley:
University Of California Press, 1960.

 

 

Montgomery, Niall. "The Pervigilium Phoenicis."
New Mexicg Quarterly Review, 23 (Winter 1953),
437-472.

Moran, Patrick, D.D. Irish Saints ih Great Britain.
Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1879.

Morris, William E. and Clifford A. Nault, Jr.
Portraits 9: eh Artist. New York: Odyssey
Press, 1962.

Noon, William T., S.J. Joyce and Aquinas. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1957.

Obler, P. C. "Joyce's Numerology." James Joyce
Reviey, 3, Nos. 1-2 (February 1959), 53-56.

O'Brien, Darcy. The Conscience 9: James Joyce.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968.

O Hehir, Brendan. "Anna Livia Plurabelle's Gaelic
Ancestry." James Joyce Quarterly, 2, NO. 3
(Spring 1965), 158-166.

Parr, Mary. James Joyce: The Poetry 9; Conscience.
Milwaukee: Inland Press, 1961.

Power, Arthur. "Conversations With Joyce." Jamee
Joyce Quarterly, 3, NO. 1 (Fall 1965), 41-49.

Robinson, Henry Morton. "Hardest Crux Ever." A
James Joyge miscellany. 2nd Series. Carbondale,
Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press,
1959, pp. 195-207.

Ryf, Robert. A New Approach 29 Joyce. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1964.

Staley, Thomas F., Ed. James Joyce Today: Essays Qh
the Majgr Works. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1966.

340

Staples, Hugh. "Joyce and Cryptology: Some Specula-
tions." James Joyce Quarterly, 2, No. 3
(Spring 1965), 167-173.

Stewart, J. I. M. "Joyce." Eight Modern Writers.
Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1963, pp. 422-483.

Strong, L. A. G. The Sacred River: eh Approach he
James Joyce. New York: Pellegrini & Cudahy,
1951.

Sullivan, J. W. N. Three Men Discuss Relativity.
New YOrk: Alfred KnOpf, 1926.

Sultan, Stanley. The Argument 9: Ulysses. Columbus,
Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1964.

Tindall, William YOrk. h Reader's Guide Tg James
ngce. New York: Noonday Press, 1959.

von Franz, M.-L. "Time and Synchronicity in Analytic
Psychology." The Voices g: Time. Ed. J. T.
Fraser. New York: George Braziller, 1966, pp.

 

218-232.

Vittorini, Domenico. "Giambattista Vico and Reality:
An Evaluation of he Nostri Temporis Studiorum
Ratione (1708)." Modern Language Quarterly,

 

13 (1952), 90-98.

Whitrow, G. J. "Time and the Universe." The Voices
9: Time. Ed. J. T. Fraser. New York: George
Braziller, 1966, pp. 564-581.