Book 1.IV pp. 93-97
We began with the paragraph “And so it all ended” (93.22) …and
still we decided to stay at St. Stephen’s anyway.
Micro & Macro in
Finnegans Wake’s September Meeting
We believe this “end” is possibly the end of the trial of
Festy King. Discussion now begins about “The Letter! The Litter!” [ALPs letter
exonerating HCE, litter, as in trash, rot, garbage, but also “litter” as in the
offspring of domesticated animals] (93.24), which is further distinguished with
“And the soother the bitther!” [the sooner the better – a note writ by Irish
children to the post / and also the role of ALP & the letter – to sooth the
court, to sooth the husband, yet allowing ALP to remain bitter].
The letter may be an analogy of the style of the Wake itself
and/or an extension to Joyce (who appears throughout p.93) - “Borrowing a word
and begging the question and stealing tinder [fire or thunder] and slipping
like soap” (93.25-7), in an extension to the charges from the previous
paragraph “having murdered all the English [language] he knew” (93.2). Joyce
appears in the form of “showing off the blink patch to his britgits” (93.4-5), “I
am the Sullivan” [súil – Irish for eye, possibly one eyed man “súil un” Yes, “Sullivan” means “one-eyed” or
“dark-eyed.” (JP)] (93.30). Indeed,
there are also numerous allusions to Joyce’s entire catalogue throughout page
93-94. “Gash from a burner!” (93.11) “thatjolly old molly [Molly Bloom?] bit or
that bored saunter [Leopold Bloom’s sausage girl inspired saunter in
Lotus-Eaters]” (93.34-5) “Timm Finn again’s” [Finnegans Wake] (93.35), Tom
Mallon [Thomas Malone Chandler from “A Little Cloud” in Dubliners] (94.2) “evelyns”
[“Eveline” ] (94.28).
The bottom of page 93 also features song titles and lines
that seem to introduce nicely the twin concepts being explored in the aftermath
of the trial – issues of the state and issues of the home – achieved through
the “dark Rasa Lane a sigh and a weep” [an allusion to the James Clarence
Magnam poem – Dark Rosaleen, “do not
sigh / do not weep”] where Dark Rosaleen is a personification of Ireland ala
Cathleen niHoulihan awaiting aid from the Pope and Spanish “…wine from the
royal Pope, … And Spanish ale shall
give you hope”. The second song, Thomas More’s “Lesbia hath a Beaming Eye” (93.27-8)
a love song to the beloved, Nora. [from “Lesbia” Oh, my Nora Creina, dear, My gentle, bashful Nora Creina, Beauty lies
In many eyes, But Love in yours, my Nora Creina]. Indeed, “The solid man [being]
saved by his sillied woman” (94.3) here seems to read into the micro story of a
family [HCE+ALP or Joyce+Nora] as well as the larger history of all things
everywhere.
We return to the letter itself. “Wind broke it. Wave bore
it. Reed wrote of it. Syce ran with it. Hand tore it and wild went war. Hen
trieved it and plight pledged peace.” (94.4-6) The tone which seems very Waste
Land-ish, Campbell notes is form of an “A B C’s conundrum for children” (A was
an apple pie, B bought it, C caught it… [which ends with the same question that
ends the paragraph] What was it?” (Skeleton Key 87, FW 94.20)].
[Waste Land?, ABC’s?, same thing]
What is “it” is indeed a complex question when attributed to
the questions the letter begs “It was life but was it fair? It was free but was
it art?” (94.9-10). Whatever its’ answer are, when “read” it is capable of
making “ma [ALP] make merry [or make ma marry, possibly elope as with the
reference to Gretna Green, Scotland] and sissy [Issy] so shy and rubbed some
shine off Shem and put some shame into Shaun.” (94.10-12). [Question
that wasn’t asked, but I am posing in re-reading? Who is talking here? It seems
as though the narrator is kin with HCE/ALP and their children. Referring to
“Ma” and “sissy” as though they are our mother and sister. Are we as reader (or
the narrator here), the inheritors/children of this All-family’s? (We noted
that these lines recall Gerty McDowell and the language of girls’ magazines and
books. Possibly it’s someone in the family, or someone in the family assuming
the language of a young girl, or stuff written for young girls. JP)].
“Una [famine] and Ita [thirst] spill famine with drought”
(94.12, this along with the reference to the Danaides [from the Aeneid, the 50 daughters punished with
thirst for the murder of their grooms] and the commandement to “furchte fruchte”
[fear fruit] (94.14) reverberate back to the finding of the letter. “Hen
[re]trieved it” (94.7) and “finfin funfun” (94.19) bring us back to Kate (Tiptip!)
(79.27), who retrieves the “loveletter lostfully hers” (80.14-5). Indeed, the
fear of fruit here creates becomes the “rotten witchawubbles, festering
rubbages” (79.30-1) where Kate finds the letter. It appears the letter will tell how not only
about HCE and ALP but also the beginnings and ends of civilization begins “framm Sin fromm Son,
acity arose” (94.18) – (but also with lots of fruit, acidity arose –
acid reflux?]. But will Joyce “tell me, tell me, tell me” what is in the
letter? (94.19)? Not yet. But he will foreshadow Book I.8, mirroring the shape
and opening of the section. Alpha to
Omega here (94.21-2) and Omega to Alpha on I.8 (196.1-4).
Four judges appear here, but they are somewhat in the
background over viewing the others, “s[i]tting [up in] their judges chambers”
(94.24-5), possibly in the Four Courts building along the Liffey “Kay Wall”
[quayside] (95.14). The Four here appear to be North, South, East, and West [North Mister (95.5), southside (95.9), Solan[u]s - the east wind (94.27), and the west (95.20)
as well as the four provinces of Ireland [used her , mused her, licksed her and
cuddled (96.16-7): Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connacht].
It appears they are discussing a case over drinks, the law
room becomes the bar room, both being public houses in one form or
another. They sit “around their old
traditional tables” [both law – tablets
of Moses, and a table at a bar] “druly dry” [drearily dry – as in sober, both
in mind and drink] and discuss the case of Festy King and/or Hyacinth O’Donnell
“Festives and highajinks” “Accor[d]ing to the king’s [evidence]” (94.28-9). It sounds like “Singabob” remembers the events he describes—as if
he were there—but it also sounds like a bard remembering the tale—which he would know not from direct
experience but from tradition and inspiration. Much was made of this being like
the Cyclops chapter of Ulysses and
the relationship between law, word, and history, with reference to order and
civilization being the organization of words/tales/rules. JP)
Discussions between the, now drinking foursome, “The four of
them and thank court now there were no more of them” (94.31-2) [from the song
“One More Drink for the Four of Us! “Glory be to God that there are no more of
us / For one of us could drink it all alone”] + “ginabawdy meadabawdy”
(95.7 italics for emphasis) “mountain dew” [illegal whiskey] (95.25) and
“Belcher’s brew” [cheap beer] (95.26).
The discussion breaks down, seemingly, after references to the War of
Roses. “Do I mind? I mind the gush off the mon like Ballybock manure works on a
tradewinds day” (95.2-3). It stinks! Gases and smells proliferate the
paragraph. Smells and noses. The first “I” narration in a while begins. This
“I” sounds much like the narrator in the “Cyclops” episode of Ulysses (or any stage Irish character),
with his cries of “Gob,” (95.13; 18) his “sez I”s (95.18) and thick textual
accent. This “I” tells a “putting out” (95.24) story featuring a “redheaded
girl” (95.20) their “Fine feelplay” (95.21). Micro meets macro again here in two forms: The
atomization of HCE into [two parts hydrogen, three parts Cerium – H2 C
E3] is also the spread of HCE across the universe [rearranging it to
3eH2c is the speed of light in a vacuum]. Secondly, in the form of the conquest: sexual
and colonial, as the next paragraph begins.
This initial story of this sexual encounter, however, falls
to rumoury [memory + rumor] (96.7) in the setting of the “fourbottle men”. The
story of sexual conquest, through the “analists” “anschluss” (95.27-28) becomes
one of colonial annexation, a debate over “whosebefore and his whereafters and
how she was lost away away in the fern and how he was founded deap on deep in
anear…” (95.29-30). The four begin “contradrinking [contradicting] (96.3)
themselves” through excessive drinking over the conquest of woman/land, this
time, in Milton’s Park (96.10) Paradise/Eden/Patriarchy in general? The four fight,
calling each other liars, not excusing the other (96.18-19) but eventually,
shankahand (96.23) and have another drink “schenkusmore” (96.24) [schenk uns
mehr, German for “pour another drink” and also a reference to An Seanchas Mor, The Great Register,
corpus of early Irish law].
Vico came up in reference to the OOOOOOOO (96.22). We
discussed how Vico’s philosophy suggests that while each cycle is the same,
different civilizations reach different points of the cycle at different times.
This brings an interesting point introduced by the next narrator.
We ended
with discussion on estate laws, playing possum, some slight blasphemy, and the
promise of a chase in the next meeting. See you then! View! (97.2).
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