Reports, Further and Such: This Time, for December

And another, for December 2011:

This one is by the incomparable Chris Murphy, who always does a wonderful job:

FW Reading Group, December 2011: 101-103

“[Soiled] Man Saved By Sillied Woman by the Waters of Babalong”

We spent a few minutes catching up as several of the members were not present at the previous meeting.  We recalled the foxhunt and the chasing of HCE from and spent a few moments going over some of the issues that appear in the text, specifically several that appear in the first half of the paragraph we continued (the Pranksquean riddle, Buckley and the Russian General, and Humpty Dumpty). We continued from the line “What fullpried paulpoison in the spy of three castles…” (101). 

The paragraph moves away from HCE, “Homo Capite Erectus” (101.12) and, instead, shifts the focus onto a woman using feminine pronouns.  We assume this woman is ALP, “zhanyzhonies” [wife, wives], “bondwoman of the man of the house” (101.32), with a “mouthless face” [a river] (101.30).  There is the thought of a letter, as the “queen’s head affrancisant [a stamp], a quiet stinking plaster zeal [glue/plaster onto an envelop]” and “prepostered or postpaid” [preposterous or an HCE imposter, Shaun the Post, delivering a letter with postage paid] (101.24-25).  There are praises of this woman throughout the remainder of this page as well as many paired words and phrases, which played into thoughts of brother battles of “cadet and prim” [younger son and first son], the hungray and anngreen [in a Leopold Bloom observation in Lestrygonians: Hungry man is angry man, but also grey and green, or the conquer Attila the Hun—grey in beard, and orphaned Anne of Green Gables] (101.35-6). 

The paragraph continues with more praise but now with Biblical and Irish Folk references on the next page. “She who shuttered [sheltered] him after his fall and waked [the Tim Finnegan fall and wake] him widowt [became a widow but also without] sparing and gave him keen [the Irish tradition of crying at the wake + Cain] and made him able [Able] and held adazillahs [Adah and Zillah, the wives of Cain and Able] to each arche [Ark] of his noes [Noah]…” and so forth (102.1-4). The aside, “(ur, uri, uria) [water, rain, gold with connotations of urine…dare I say Golden shower?] we referenced dually to the woman being a “Szpissmas” [shit-piss-ma/mom] (101.28) and an earlier reading of ALP as the stream of urine that washes vomit down the sewer drain on 64.9-22- from the November 2010 posting: 

We discussed the possibility of a character’s vomit being similar to the ash coving Pompey in regards to Leopold Bloom’s thoughts in the Lestrygonians episode of Ulysses. Bloom thinks, “Drink till they puke again like christians” (U.8.49), and we believe, like Pompey is covered in volcanic ash, so too is the pavement covered in vomit by “an overthrewer [thrower-upper]” (64). “All are washed in the blood of the Lamb” (U.8.9-11) and the idea of through dirtiness we become clean. Interestingly enough, it is the meaning of the Greek prefix para, as in parasoliloqusingly, that Bloom struggles to remember in Lestrygonians. Continuing with cleanliness coming from dirtiness, a “young reine,” we believe to be ALP, in the form of the “liffopotamus” [Liffy + Potamus, Greek for river, or hippopotamus] (64) cleans the pavement, washing “as mud as she cud be, ruinating…” [as much as she could by urinating – a stream of urine cleaning the vomit, but also cleaning as mud and cud – as mud and regurgitation]. The paragraph ends with an allusion to the end of the Anna Livia Plurabelle (FW.I.VIII) chapter and close of Book 1: “they were all night wasching the walters of, the weltering walters off. Whyte” (64) is strikingly similar to “Beside the rivering waters of, hitherandthithering waters of. Night!” (216).

The paragraph again, however, takes a turn. We began to discover Queen Victoria allusions within the passage. There are two explicit references to a queen/quean in the section (101.24, 102.10). In the context of a fallen man, we discussed Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert: Victoria’s long mourning—“she gave him keen” (102.2) and the rumors of her “finicking here and funckin there” “straddl[ing]” the stable-boy, John Brown, “Equerry” [horsestables]: the rumors of Victoria as a “louisequean” [French slang for “whore” + queen] (102.9-14). The “circusfix” of life—birth, love, and death—happen, in a Christian sense, here, with the “Tinktink[ing]” of churchbells on “Equerry Egon” [Basque for Christmas Day – Egueri Egun]: and for the one on the crucifix, begin again.  Yet, the contents of the “piecebag” (“pawns, prelates [bishops], and pookas [Irish folklore goblin who spoils the harvest + also the Rook in chess]” are “pelotting” [plotting] “to crush the slander’s head” (102.15-7), or bring down the person who ruined HCE’s reputation. 

All of these issues resonate within the next paragraph. “Notre Dame de la Ville” [Our Lady of the City] (102.18-19) will plead for HCE. We are affirmed “her name is A.L.P. And you’ll agree. She must be she” (102.23-4). There is reference to the rainbow girls “Poppy Narancy, Giallia, Chlora, Marinka, Anileen, Parme” – which, translated into various languages create the spectrum of visible light – the “rainbow huemoures” in order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet (102.25-7).  But life’s circus “Tifftiff today, kissykissy tonay and agelong pine tomauranna” (102.28-9) can often be a curse: as Eve is “Crippled-with-Children” but must “speak up for” Adam, “Dropping-with-Sweat?” (102.29-30), forced to labor.

A poem follows conflating the Book of Genesis with the curse of marriage. It also appears to take a counter tone to the praises of the woman from the earlier passages. The poem begins with a reference to Arthur Guinness [Genesis] who leased the land for the Guinness Brewery for 9000 years “Sold him her lease of ninenineninetee, / Tresses undresses so dyedyedaintee” [999-year-lease was a British common law agreement for “life” but typically restricted to 99 years, in Guinness’s case, it is truly a lifetime lease]. But the buyer, here, may be experiencing some remorse: Goo, [Fool]… gulped it all / Hoo was the C.O.D.? / Bum! 

The remorse comes in the form of the allusion the poem draws upon, that is, it is fashioned after the song “At Trinity Church I met my doom” about a man who thinks his new wife is rich—“Cash in the bank of course she’d plenty / and I like a lamb believed it all / I was an M-U-G (Drum!) , but ends up crippling him with poverty (102.33-5). The poem continues with a reference to “Island Bridge” [Islandbridge in Phoenix Park where the Liffey River becomes tidal] (103.1), presumably referencing ALPs next encounter with “The Fin” (103.3) of The Wake, HCE. The poem ends with a regretful “That’s what she’s done for wee! / Woe!” (103.3-7), as in, she has only caused ruin. This, however, cannot be taken seriously, as, within the poem, is a reference to the woman who translated Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man into Swedish and signed an International Protest against the pirating of Joyce’s Ulysses, Ebbe Attaboom (Attabom, attabom, attabombomboom! [yet, we also discussed how this sounds very much like something from Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”] (103.2-3).

The final paragraph seems to return to praises of the power of ALP as a stand in for all women.  She has the power to cure any “Nomad” [Noman (Odysseus)/Everyman] (103.8) as with the reference to “Naaman” who, in the Bible, is said to be cured of Leprosy when bathing in the “Jordan” river in Palestine (103.8-9). The song itself seems to be someone “taken our sheet upon her stones” [taking a shit upon her story] (103.9).  It seems as though the singer of the song is aware that “we list [live], as she bibs us [a mother placing a bib on a baby feed it], by the waters of babalong [baba – in baby sounds + Babylon]” (103.10-11) – that the manchild needs his motherly/wifely mate to cure him of his ills – A solid [or soiled] man, once again, saved by his sillied woman.  

The episode ended. We opted not to venture into Book I.5 without the rest of the group – to turn a new chapter in a new year! We wished each other respective happy holidays. Enjoyed a few merry drinks, a lot of laughs, and shared a lively discussion on why we read Joyce. We hope to see you all again in January. 

In anticipation of our first meeting of 2012...Some Reports

Excuse us while we catch up...

November 2011

pp. 98-101

As we move towards the end of the chapter, we are preoccupied once again with gossip and history, with naming and origin.  All of Dublin is abuzz -- "Dub's ear wag in every pub of all the citta!" -- and "Wires hummed"; "Mush spread"; "Cracklings cricked"; "Aerials buzzed."  The line between history and gossip is blurry, and the world hums with noise:  "We were lowquacks did we not tacit turn" (loquacious about the lowest topics; quacking away; certainly not taking a taciturn turn).  One of the interesting things about this section is the presence of technologies of communication; we've noted the ways Joyce shifts back and forth between the past, the present, and the future in terms of history, of literature, of empire, and here multiple modes of media exist simultaneously:  "Morse nuisance noised."  This may be anticipating a more "primitive" mode of communication:  ALP's letter, which seems to be foreshadowed here:  "an inkedup name and title, inscribed in the national cursives, accelerated, regressive, filiform, turrered, and envenomoloped in piggotry."

This lettristic language does not refer specifically to ALP's letter, but rather to something telling the story of the Viking past of Ireland:  there are multiple references to the earliest families, but even the earliest families had themselves to be invaders and/or exiles at one point or another.  (Could the "nailing up" of the "inked up name and title" be a reference to Luther, and thus to HCE's Protestantism, another thing that makes him a suspicious figure?)  The letter is from a poison pen -- "envenomoloped" -- and has within it a Parnell reference too, "Piggot," the man who crafted the forgeries meant to bring Parnell down.  Yet there is "no pentecostal jest about it":  the man who is the subject of scrutiny and suspicion is a "skilful learned wise cunning knowledgeable clear profound" leader.  HCE has as his background the Scandinavian warriors who overran Ireland, he is an emblem of the blending moves of history, and he will be "wresterected."  

Page 100 refers to moments in Anglo-Irish history, a theme we spent quite a bit of time on from the point of view of literary history in thinking about Gawain, as well as the hybridization of language and literatures.  Page 101, however, moves into "intimologies" -- the intimate knowledge brought about by the family and its history.  The opening of the paragraph on page 101 -- "Do tell us all about" -- echoes the gossip from the page before, but also prefigures the ALP chapter (chapter 8), when the washerwomen call for the story to be told.  Women are part of gossip and part of war, and bring their own version of knowledge; family shame parallels national shame:  "Every schoolfilly of sevenscore moons or more who know her intimologies and every colleen bawl aroof and every red flammelwaving warwife and widowpeace upon Dublin Wall for ever knows as yayas is yayas how it was Buckleyself...who struck and the Russian generals, da! da!, instead of Buckley who was caddishly struck by him when be herselves."  The story of Buckley and the Russian General is combined with the life cycle of women (girls to wives to widows), and the story of HCE and the cad is brought together with that of ALP, herself.

Report from the October Meeting

Book I.IV, pp. 97-98 (moving right along)

         


We picked up on page 97 where four judges seem to be recounting and mapping HCE’s history. There is a list of towns in County Meath (Humfries Chase, Mullinahob, Peacockstown, Raystown, Horlockstown, Tankardstown, Cheeverstown, Loughlinstown, and Nutstown) as well as references to hunting and Christmas, which calls to mind the assassination of Thomas a Becket. This seems to suggest that HCE is the quarry. Joyce references “Fitz Urse’s basset beaters,” connecting the hunting imagery of a basset hound flushing game with Reginald FitzUrse, one of the knights sent to confront Thomas a Becket before his assassination. Joyce also refers to “pointing” and “bayers,” furthering the hunting scene. The towns in County Meath are traced in a “loup,” which calls to mind a fox, which is presumably the quarry/HCE.
            Josh adds that he did some investigating into the root of "veneral," which we were thinking of in terms of both venerate and venereal; he found that it could also have roots in "venare," or "hunting," as well as "venus," connoting sexual gratification.  Given what's going on with all the fox hunting business, veneral could have something to do with hunting, veneration, VD, venus, sex, pursuit, all the rest of it.

            The idea of a fox hunt is very British, and so this tradition is being turned against HCE. He is made into folklore in this passage as an elusive fox. This idea is furthered later on page 97 where Joyce writes, “Vainly violence, virulence and vituperation sought wellnigh utterly to attax and abridge, to derail and deponitfy, to enrate and inroad, to ongoad and unhume the great shipping mogul and underlinen overlord.” The alliterative verse could be viewed as a nod to “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” which also features a hunting scene. It was also observed at the meeting that Sir Gawain was given a garter and founded the order of the Knights of the Garter, thus making him an “underlinen overlord.”

            The alliterative verse closes the paragraph and alludes to undoing logic and beheading, which fits with HCE as a fox being ripped apart by the hunting dogs.

            It is also worth noting a reference earlier on the page to four chambers of a cow’s stomach: rumer, reticule, onasum and abomasum, which can be taken to stand for rumor, ridicule, onanism, and abomination, all references to HCE’s crime.

            The following paragraph brings a misspelling: “hesitency” for “hesitancy,” which is a reference to HCE as well as to the forged letters intended to implicate Parnell. Followed by “tatterytail,” it would appear that a tattletale/informant is leading the chase of HCE, with a reference to Humpty Dumpty (“humponadimply”) pointing to HCE.

            At this point, the hunting metaphor ends and Scotland Yard takes over with detective work. Joyce writes that, “He had lain violent hands on himself…lain down, all in, fagged out, with equally melancholy death,” alluding to masturbation or suicide, or perhaps autoerotic asphyxiation. A nod to Oscar Wilde (“wildewide was quiet”) recalls HCE’s scandal, and the fox is now either shot or HCE has been indicted as Joyce writes, “Big when the bang…a report: silence,” with report either referring to a report from the detectives or the report of a hunting rifle.

            HCE flees again with Shem and Shaun either aiding him or somehow in pursuit. “This country of exile, sloughed off, sidleshomed …” leading us to believe that HCE has shaken off his ties to Ireland and returned home to Sidlesham. However, it soon becomes apparent that HCE is hiding in an Asian country with Muslim influences, where he both pays and irritates the belly dancers.

            Meanwhile, “wires hummed,” giving the impression that HCE’s whereabouts are known, probably to Scotland Yard. There are more Wilde references as well as discussion of forms of communication: “Chirpings crossed. An infamous private ailment… Jams jarred…Mush spread” alludes to the various methods of communication used to exchange information about a scandal and is a reminder of ALP’s earlier letter as a means of communication. Names are being exchanged in pubs and throughout Dublin, likely leading authorities to HCE or spreading rumors as to his whereabouts. 

Report from the September 2011 Meeting

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). 

Report from the August-ish Meeting

So we tried to squeeze a meeting into August and kinda didn't make it. Still counts as the last meeting of the summer as long as it's pre-Labor Day, though, right?


Pages Covered: 90-93 (PQ got kind of excited because we're only 10 pages away from the end of the chapter. The more clear-eyed folks in the group pointed out this would probably take six meetings to cover.)


Page 90 was rough going. Lots of pieces and work to try to figure out how they all fit together. We are still in the midst of the trial of the Festy King, and have just finished the testimony by the W. P. We decided that perhaps the paragraph ending with the whore thunderword ("Bladyughfoulmoecklenburgwhurawhorascorastrumpapornanennykocksapastippatappatupperstrippuckputtanach, eh?") should be a bit chaotic, because the thunderword restarts the Viconian cycle and begins again an age of gods. This long paragraph has many instances of falls, and then the following has many instances of dawning, so we ran with that.


The top of the page has a number of references to China, specifically the move from kingship or empire to republic. While previous conversations have pointed out anti-imperial or anti-British moments in the Wake, here a case could be made that the transition to republic, to democracy, actually signals the chaos at the end of the age of man: the thunderword is leading us into a new age of gods, but we have the chaos of the fall right before that. This is all in the context of the final questioning of the W. P., and as we saw last time his certainty is open to question: "Let there be fight? And there was. Foght." This is a genesis moment, but it's struggle not light. And it's not a statement, it's a question. And it ends with an expression of disgust? resignation? vulgarity?: "Fuck."


Fall: "from the king's head to the republican's arms...evinxed from flagfall"; "In the middle of the garth, then? That they mushn't toucht it" -- the first phrase points to the man/chaos/god ricorso moment, but we also have a number of references to Adam and Eve and the Christian fall -- which might account for the whore thunderword, too: "That he was when he was not eluding from the whole of the woman." Here women are a figure of corruption -- although this changes in a page or two (maybe) when the monthly girls show up with Issy.


HCE and his sons, and the theme of betrayal as part of the fall of the father, are all here too: "during the effrays round fatherthyme's beckside" (Buckley and the Russian General), as well as Camellus and Gemellus in the middle of the paragraph.


But the king tries to reclaim his position, and the man goes through another resurrection, in the next paragraph (pages 90-92). Beginning with "Meirdreach an Oincuish" -- shite and onions, but also more words for whores and harlots -- a "new complexion was put upon the matter when...the senior king of all, Pegger Festy...declared in a loudburst of poesy...he did not fire a stone either before or after he was born down and up to that time." Festy declares his innocence, using poetry rather than law and rejecting the testimony of the "eyebold earbig noseknaving gutthroat." This is the re-emergence of the king and a return to an earlier age: poetry precedes law, and we talked a bit about the relationships among law, language, and history. What does it mean for a culture to finally write down its laws? For law and language to be linked? Is law then fixed? Or does it remain infinitely interpretable? This was sparked by the abcedarianism of the passage: "ach bad clap," "Oo! Ah!," "Augs and ohrs," "amreeta beaker coddling doom."


We return to the land of youth: "Tyre-nan-Og," but also Tierney, sounding like tyranny. Tyranny of the King? Or tyranny of those who judge him? Potential for tyranny in the face of chaos, righting the excesses of too much democracy? Festy confronts his judges, "the four of Masterers." As he mounts his defense, he works himself up into his phoenix moment -- not the shame of Phoenix Park but the rising again: he is a "jackabox" at the "dorming of the mawn" -- the dawn of man, the dawning of the morn, a new age. And this is HCE as well: "his exchequered career he up," and it's Finnegan with his whisky: "the inexousthausthible wassailhorn tot of iskybaush the hailth uyp the wailth of the endknown abgod of fire" -- wassailing, drinking to health and wealth, the inexhaustible house (could be Mr. Porter and his pub?), but also the god of fire, at the beginning, from the beginning (ab), unknown but also not really knowing where it will end.


Finally the audience breaks out into laughter and yelling: "the whole audience perseguired and pursuited him...outbroke much yellachters in the heall...the testifighter reluctingly, but with ever so ladylike indecorum, joined. (Ha! Ha!)." This "hilariohoot" sparks a a reflection about the intersecting "duadestinies" of Festy and W. P. This prompts the entrance of Issy and the monthly girls as well as Shem and Shaun -- HCE's children have arrived at the trial of the king. The beginning of the paragraph talks about the reconciliation of polarities: "equals of opposites" -- which turns into talking about men and women, perhaps Joyce's best example of the reconciliation of polarities: "hunundher," "Heruponhim". The end of the paragraph performs in a bodily/erotic way the joining of opposites: "the wild wishwish of her sheeshea melted most musically mid the dark deepdeep of his shayshaun." We laughed at the dirtiness of the passage, but looking back at it now you realize the language is quite lovely.


Chris adds:
All that sexy language we discussed on the bottom of p. 92 -
(youthsy, beautsy, hee's her chap and shey'll tell memmas when she gays whom) till the wild wishwish of her sheeshea melted most musically mid the dark deepdeep of his shayshaun - i had that in my notes as "games" but did not remember what I referenced games too - so i doublechecked my notes, and the language comes from one of Joyce's notebooks under "London Street Games" - from "finwake.com" p. 92

London Street Games 54: (a skipping chant) 'Little Mary Anne who lives up stairs, With high legged boots and a feather in her hat -- That's the way she meets her chap --'.

London Street Games 29: (a chant) 'I'll tell Ma when I get home That the boys won't leave me alone. They pull my hair and break my comb, I'll tell Ma when I get home'.

So, I think this adds more to the notion of childhood innocence (Issy's or any of the young girls) under the threat of sexual desire (sheyshaun - Shem and Shaun competing for their affection?). 


He's right, of course.  Here's PQ again:


So all this romancing, "innamorate...in shining aminglement," has totally distracted the "four justicers": Untius, Muncius, Punchus, and Pylax. We struggled a bit with the last part we worked on, page 93, ll. 1-21, but we came around to thinking it was not only about Shem the Penman but also Joyce himself (Shem of course being an avatar for JJ). He has "murdered all the English he knew" (a reference to the Phoenix Park murders but also to the Wake), "geshing it like gush gash from a burner" (guessing, and also Gas from a Burner), "How dare he!," "You and your gift of your gaft of your garbage abaht our Farvver!". The monthly girls are here, as are the brothers -- "twofromthirty advocatesses," Esau. Shem's special brand of writing -- using shit -- is here too, which plays into the JJ allusions too: "he shat in (zoo)," "like the muddy goalbind who he was (dun)." Of course there is shame in all of this: the trial, the writing, the family -- and so the paragraph ends with seven words for shame.


We left with the letter on the dungheap, and look forward to the entrance of ALP.

Report from the July 2011 Meeting

Pages Covered: 87-89

We did not get very far, but this was a raucous and productive meeting.

As Chris noted last month, Shem and Shaun are here in the shape of the Festy King and the W. P., respectively, with the latter as the accuser. Picking up with the trial of the Festy King, we talked about how the event devolves into spectacle: "The litigants...local congsmen and donalds, kings of the arans and the dalkeys, kings of mud and tory...were egged on by their supporters" (87.24-27). We have traditional authority figures of the Irish past, as well as areas of Ireland represented, but we also have groundlings yelling "Exhibit his relics!" (87.32).

The past of Irish kings is also joined with Roman and Christian history, and the reference to relics and the possible scapegoat/transgressive figure of the Festy King might allude to Christ, too: "crossexanimation of the casehardened testis that when and where that knife of knifes the treepartied ambush was laid" (87.34-36). This is another figure associated with resurrection -- "animation" -- and there a number of reference to the trinity here. And also phalluses. Phallii?

On pages 88-89 we noted a lot of references to Middle Europe, especially to Hungary, and we spent rather a lot of time trying to figure that one out. Hungary, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was obviously important in the years leading up to World War One, and Finnegans Wake bears many traces of that conflagration in its concern with the cycles of European history and its violence. We've talked before about this from a Viconian perspective, but we also connected it to the movements over East and West that Joyce makes throughout the book: Hungary is a crossroads. Hungary is also important for Bloom in Ulysses: it is the birthplace of Rudolph Virag (here's a great article from the Irish Times on that one).

As Chris noted last month, W. P. is an "eye, ear, nose, and throat witness." This shows up again in how for him "the audible-visible-gnosible-edible world existed," and he is "cognitively conatively cogitabundantly sure...because living, loving, breathing and sleeping morphomelosophopancreates" (88.6-9). The W. P. is certain, in all the ways one can be certain, through dreams and knowledge and forms and creation and four of the five senses -- but interestingly touch is missing. He has secret knowledge, yes, but the sense experience of touch seems to be absent. Can this witness be trusted? How much of what he claims is his creation, his imagination?

Over the course of the trial we come to doubt W. P.: "Whether he was practically sure...? Pediculously so. Certified? As cad could be. Be lying!...But, of course, he could call himself Tem, too, if he had time to? You butt he could anytom" (88). "Any Tom" -- any Tom, Dick, or Harry -- could call himself creator (Tem being the creator in the Book of the Dead), and Tom would also be Thomas the doubting apostle, who established certainty for himself by touching...something the W. P. cannot do.

A number of characters appear at the trial: Shem and Shaun, "the two childspies," "two dreamyums in one dromium," "a duel of lentils? Peacisely" are here, also in the form of Jacob and Esau the warring brothers. The Four Old Men are here to judge too: "Lindendelly, coke, or skillies spell me gart" (Londonderry/Ulster, Cork/Munster, Skerries/Leinster, Gort/Connacht). We have "Rooskayman kamerade? Sooner Gallwegian" -- the Russian General and the Norwegian Captain. Even Vico shows up: "It was corso in cursu on coarser again." All of these point to HCE and those judging him. We ask "Quare hircum?" -- "Why the goat?" -- again pointing to HCE/Festy King as scapegoat...and there is no answer. We ended on another question at the bottom of page 89: "Which was meant in a shirt of two shifts macoghamade or up Finn, threehatted ladder? That a head in thighs under a bush at the sunface would bait a serpent to a millrace through the heather." McHugh notes that these are Ogham ciphers listed in The Secret Languages of Ireland -- a text of the past, but also reminding us that the Wake is a cipher. We have the two shifts -- Shem and Shaun -- Finn MacCool/Tim Finnegan up the ladder, which is also a trinity, as is the "head in thighs under a bush" -- another phallus, rising, and tempting in a lapsarian fashion.

For homework: here's some stuff about Ogham.

June 2011 Meeting: Festy King!

Notes for the June 2011 Meeting
Pages covered 85-87.

Meeting was short today. Little did we know that the Irish Times features Wednesday Night Quizzo (Bar Trivia) 8pm-11pm (our meeting was 7pm-9pm). In related news, Team Qui Sta Troia (86) was right in the mix until the final round – 80s television series – which did us in!

Starting with the paragraph “But to return to the atlantic and Phenitia Proper” (85.20).

We are introduced in this opening line to the confusion that will ensue in Festy King’s trial. Are we to turn to the Atlantic, to move west, to emigrate to the New World, or are to return to Phoenicia Proper, east, to past civilization, the ancient world? We are warned that “little headway, if any, [will be] made in solving the wasnottobe crime conundrum” (85.21-2). It is here that we are introduced to the Festy King, “a child of Maam,” (85.22-3), who allegedly operates under the “elois [alias] Crowbar…Meleky” as well as anagrams to these names “Tykingfest and Rabworc” (86.7-8; 13). If it is at all possible, we are told that Festy King comes from a family “honourably associated with the tar and feather industries” (85.23-4). Honor from ridicule? It seems Joyce is setting up a dynamic of extremes that contradict, confuse, or distort meaning in this courtroom. Or in another sense, we will be presiding over two very different ideas of events that have happened between accuser and accused, two “equinoxious points of view” [equinox + noxious], (85.29) where “one fellow’s fetch being the other follow’s person” [one fellow’s fish being another fellow’s poison] (29-30).

Festy King is on trial, it seems, for reasons: “flying cushats out of his ouveralls [stealing coal] and making fesses immodst his forces on the field” [making faces/feces (like the Russian General) amidst his forces on the field] (29-31). He is on trial soaked in alcohol “methylated” (31-2). And he appears in court already “Karikature[d]” (33): as “ambrosiaurealised” [Ambrosius Aurelianus – a general who led the Roman-Britians against Saxon invaders in the 5th century]. But his garb, we discussed, also harkens to that of false saviors, like those in Kersse’s Korduroy Karikature [KKK]. Leaders of a blind and ignorant form of justice, we speculated whether or not Joyce had seen the 1915 D.W. Griffith film Birth of a Nation and/or its follow-up film Intolerance. [Prankquean says: probably! But John McCourt would know.]

On 86, we hear more allegations coming from the Crown (86.7) about the the history of the Festy King. He is alleged to also have “impersonat[ed] a climbing boy [chimney sweep]” by “rubb[ing] some pixes of any luvial peatsmoor o’er his face” [possibly a subtle reverberation of Shem writing on his body in later episode or going in blackface as the actors in Birth of a Nation] in order to “disguis[e] himself” (86.10-11) and sell an unlicenced “pedigree pig” at the “middlewhite fair in Mudford on a Thoorsday” [robbing “Peeler” to pay “Polee”?] (86.10-15). We discussed why a pig would be involved. Possibly, we discussed, it was a Joyce allusion to the pig [the old sow] that eats her farrow from Portrait of the Artist (206) as here, the pig is seen eating “some of the door[way]” and “a whole side of his (the animal’s) sty…in order to pay off…six doubloons fifteen arrerars of his, the villian’s…rent (FW 86.26-31).

What ensues is referred to as “Remarkable evidence” (86.32), though this does not seem to make much sense in context of what was alleged against Festy King, by “a plain clothes priest W.P.” (34). *In Joyce’s Scribbledehobble notebook, the term “Remarkable evidence” falls under the section title “Eumeus.” What becomes interesting with this note, is that the episode Eumeus in Ulysses is an episode Enda Duffy refers to in The Subaltern Ulysses as a “garrulous narrative” of “hidden identities, doubts, and failures of language” (176) and also a “police interrogation” (181). Within this section of Finnegans Wake, this reading of Eumeus from the notebook seems appropriate. It does appear that the brothers Shem and Shaun are present in these characters, that is Festy King and W.P., one acting as accuser, the other as accused.

Within the group, we discussed scholarly interpretations on the Festy King – who is he – what is happening within the new trial. Campbell’s Skeleton Key suggests that the Festy King is a stand-in for Shaun, Swartzlander suggests Festy King is a Shem figure (after reading the article Artie submitted to the members of the bar room, I agree that Swartzlander’s argument in “Multiple Meaning and Misunderstanding: The Mistrail of Festy King” to be much stronger, a more compelling and logical argument).
We are confronted with the failure of this trial when we are introduced to W.P. He is an “eye, ear, nose, and throat witness” (86.32-33) [possible allusion to Gogarty + Medical Square + reverberation from Meleky (Malachi “Buck” Mulligan)]. What this witness lacks, however, sensually is touch [whether that is “feeling” in an empathic context or in a courtroom sense, tangible evidence. He appears impolite in court, having to be “cautioned against yawning while being grilled [questioned]” (86.36-87.1) before smiling (87.1). Allusions to war, insurrection and treason follow. W.P. remembers the “filth [Fifth] of November” (87.4) or Guy Fawkes Night, the gunpowder plot that attempted to destroy the British House of Lords and an allusion to Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade “theirs not to reason why” (87.10). W.P. also gives testimony against Hyacinth O’Donnell “described in the calendar as a mixer and wordpainter” [HCE?] (87.12-3) suggesting O’Donnell “sought…to sack, sock, stab and slaughter singlehanded another two of the old kings” (87.15-6). Regardless, it seems W.P.’s testimony is counter to the charges levied against Festy King and are more in line with the fighting between the brothers, Shem and Shuan “because they could not say meace, (mute and daft) meathe. (87.23-4). We tried to remember the story of the fox and grapes and the ant and grasshopper [“creepfoxed andt grousuppers” (86.22-3)] but could not remember entirely the significance if any to this section.

This is when Quizzo started at the Irish Times, and we concluded our meeting.

Could Joyce, in the coming section, be commenting on the future with the polarbeeber hair (87.22) [Justin Bieber’s haircut originating in the Arctic-Polar North that is Canada] or the P.C. Robort (86.7) [Microsoft PC Robots] that will consume modern culture? We will find out more in just a few days when the fun at Finnegans Wake continues!