Report from the March 2012 Meeting

pp. 110-111

We picked up at the top of p.110. “Here…” we are advised by another lawyer type narrator to “…let a few artifacts fend in their own favour” (110.01), one of which we explored in this meeting – “About that original hen” (110.22) who is said to be “Belinda of the Dorans” (111.05). But right away, this narrator’s introduction to these “artifacts” read as artificial or arti-fiction more than anything capable of fending in its own favor. This narrator’s introduction appears influenced by folklore and myth, and eventually collapses into a form of paradoxical double-talk filled with qualifiers which lead to no clear meaning:

“The river felt she wanted salt [From: Story of Confucious, Master Kung by Carl Crow (1940)]. That was just when Brien [Brian Boru, First High King of Ireland (10^th century) and founder of the Brien dynasty] came in. The country asked for bearspaw for dindin! [Story of Confucious, Master Kung + dinner] And boundin aboundin it got it surly. We who live in heaven [the gods?], we of the clover kingdom [Ireland? Or China—the “Flowery Kingdom”], we middlesins [Milesian – Mythological inhabitants of Ireland who conquered the Tuatha Dé Danann + middle-sin (i.e. Purgatory)] people have often watched the sky overreaching land” (110.01-06).

As the paragraph continues there are several allusions to Irish writers and historians. Joyce inserts himself here with a reference to his 1907 critical writing, “Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages” [from Critical Writings, a text that also creates a narrative for Irish pre-history]. The reference to this text is created by Joyce combining Saint” and “Sage into “Our isle of Sainge” (110.06).  However Sainge could also be J.M. “Sainge” [Synge], whose earlier works, like “Riders to the Sea,” focused on Irish-Gaelic peasants on the Aran Islands. There is also a “stern chuckler” [Laurence Sterne] and a reference to “Mayhappy” [Trinity College Dublin historian/classicist/mentor to Oscar Wilde, and famed Dublin-curmudgeon [perhaps a play on “happy”], John Pentland Mahaffy], whose one-liner “in Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs” appears later in the paragraph as “where the possible was the impossible and the improbable the inevitable” (110.06-07; 110.11-12).

            There are also, as we discovered, none-Irish literary references as well—particularly to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”: “me ken or no me ken Zot is the Quiztune” [Zot is German for obscene, Dutch for Fool, Albanian for God, Hebrew for That. + …to be or not to be, that is the question…]; Hamlet’s lady-friend, Ophilia, also appears in the “Drainophilias” [maybe Drown Ophilia, or maybe Joyce prophesizing a “love of Drain-o”]. There is also Voltaire, or from Christian scripture a reference to the “vaal [Veil] of tares [tears]” (110.09-15), Pha, child of Apollo, who rode the Chariot of Fire, “Phaiton parks his car” (110.10), Aristotle, “Harrystotalies [Ar-ee-stot-uh-lees] and the vivle [Bible]” (110.17). With reference to all these forms of writing, the paragraph ends by unweaving any discernible information in a somewhat clear prose of double-talk, suggesting all of these texts may be infinitely interpretable [as with ALPs letter] because:

“…nobody after having grubbed up a lock of cwold cworn [cold corn] aboove his subject […] will go out of his way to applaud him on the [unbiased] back of his remark for utterly impossible as are all these events they are probably as like those which may have taken place as any others which never took person at all are ever likely to be” (110.16-21).

The paragraph concludes with “Ahahn!” which, likewise, cannot fend for itself as Joyce presents it in this paragraph. It may be read as “Ahem” as with someone clearing their throat, “Amen” as with the close of a Christian prayer, “Aha!” as with Eureka; Ahab, in reference to nautical and water references from the paragraph, or “A hen” or “a hahn” [German for  rooster] which leads us to our next paragraph, “About that original hen.” (110.21-22).

Yes, what about that original hen? [“hen” or “sin”]. We start with a reminder of T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland,” “April is the cruelest month.” In this paragraph we find that after the rot and waste of “Midwinter” comes the “Premver” [Primavera or Spring] and the “promise of a pril [April – the cruelest month]” (110.23), or the promise of the renewal of life. Whether this renewal is part of “life’s old sahatsong [sad song / sweet song / shat-shit song] we are left unsure.  We discussed whether this section may refer back to the hen’s [biddies – slang for domestic fowl (79.30)] found at Kate Strong trash-heap of “rotten witchawubbles” (79.30-31), here in the form of a “cold fowl behaviourising strangely” [a hen behaves strangely, a hen strangely rising] atop the “fatal midden [a dungheap] […] its limon […] fragments of orangepeel, the last remains of an outdoor meal […] and raw raw reeraw puteteurs [raw potatoes] (110.25-111.01)] to possibly plucks the letter from the trash-heap.

The son of a “strandlooper” [a beach bird], appears to have “trouved” [found or taken] this artifact in the form of “the Ardagh chalice” [a two-handed Irish metal cup from early Christian-time found by a child in a potato field in Ardagh, Co. Limerick, in 1868]. This child, “keepy little Kevin” (110.32) may be a Shaun character (Kevin Porter, Book III) due to Kevin’s proximity to jute (110.26) (Mutt and Jute, Book I—pp.16-18). “Keepy little Kevin” however, could also stand in as 18 year old Kevin Barry, the first post-Easter Rebellion Irish Republican executed by the British government (in 1920), who kept his secrets through torture until his execution.  Here is an excerpt from “The Ballad of Kevin Barry”:

British soldiers tortured Barry
Just because he would not tell

The names of his brave comrades
And other things they wished to know
"Turn informer or we'll kill you"
Kevin Barry answered "No"

This Kevin, the narrator seems to insinuate, may have served his own self interests.  It appears as though the narrator presents the possibility that Kevin usurped this “patchpurple” [flowerly, ornate writing] (111.02) artifact from another child, “an iceclad shiverer” (110.24). Kevin saw (or found) in the artifact “a motive for future saintity [sanity or Saint-hood] and by euchring [tricks (or the Eucharist)]” this other “heily innocent and beachwalker”  child, [Holy-innocent or wholly innocent beachwalker] (110.33-35) with“pious clamour” as Kevin was trying to “wheedle” (110.36) raw potatoes out of Now Sealand.  The “massacre” appears like another brother battle: “a dual [twin concepts] a duel [a battle] to die [death] to day [new dawn – life], goddam and biggod [a curse (or giant dam) and a Big God (the giant-hero HCE?), sticks and stanks [material for dams, more painful than words], of most of the Jacobiters [a series of conflicts with the ambition to restore the (usurped?) Stuart dynasty into the British monarchy” (111.02-04).  

The narrator does not delve further into the discussion of Kevin, but instead returns for now on page 111 to a discussion of “the hen” or “the bird” from the previous page. “The bird in the case was Belinda [Belinda / Biddie?] of the Doran’s,” (111.05-06), who won  “Terziis [third] prize with Serni medal [silver – generally for second place] (111.06). HCE appears in the form of the contest or expo: “Cheepalizzy’s Hane [possibly hen (female) or haan (male), Dutch for rooster] Exposition” (111.06-07). Furthermore, the new matter at hand appears to be “what she was scratching [looking for] at the hour of klokking twelve [hour o’clock-ing twelve + clucking] looked for all this zogzag [whole-wide] world like a goodishsized sheet of letterpaper originating by transhipt from Boston (Mass.)” (111.07-11).

The contents of this letter do not appear to be all that interesting – it appears as a letter written about home. “Dear whom” does not give any information as to whom the letter is addressed to, though “it proceded to mention Maggy [who is Maggy?] well & allathome’s [all at home’s] health well” (111.10-11).  There is indirect mention of a wedding “some born gentleman with a beautiful present of wedding cakes for dear thankyou Chriesty” (111.13-14), and mention of a “grand funferall” [funeral - fun-for-all] for “poor Father Michael” (111.14-15), followed by general talk of “how are you Maggy & hopes soon to hear well & must not close it with fondest to the twoinns [twins – Shem & Shaun] with four crosskisses [xoxoxoxo] for holy paul [Paul - the letter writer in the Bible], holey corner [HCE?], holipoli [the many + holy city], whollyisland [?]” followed by a “pee ess [postscript-P.S.]” (111.16-18).

While the contents of the P.S. do not appear to be clear, as the talk transitions to locust who eat everything but a sign (maybe one of the plagues on Egypt?), and the taking of tea “tache of tch” (111.20) it appears as though “The stain” of “the overcautelousness [overcautiousness] of the masterpilker [bilker – a cheat, but also Ibsen’s The Master Builder, or the stains of a masterbator] here, as usual, signing the page away” (111.20-21), “marked it off on the spout [spot + spur] of the moment as a genuine relique of ancient Irish pleasant pottery of that lydialike [ladylike] languishing class known as a hurry-me-o’er-the-hazy [a note to self].

            “Why then how?” (111.25).

            It appears we have only more questions that we hope you will help us to answer 

Report from the February 2012 Meeting

February meeting

106-108

We continued making our way through the list of names for ALP's "mamafesta."  We returned to an idea that has come up in the past:  what does the story look like when told from the woman's point of view?  How is the female writing/rewriting different?  With ALP's letter, it is woman's writing that saves the day, and here ALP overwrites the epic/history/legend we have already been through.  

A few titles that leapt out to us:  I'm the Stitch in the Backside You'd be Nought Without Mom, He Perssed Me Here with the Ardour of a Tonnoburkes, The Mimic of Meg Neg and the Mackeys, The Suspended Sentence, Fine's Fault Was No Felon, His is the House that Malt Made, A Tree is Quick and Stone is White So is My Washing Done by Night.  There are a number of titles that include the ALP/HCE initial letter combination.  Several titles, such as The Mimic.. and The Suspended Sentence refer to the Wake itself.  Fine's Fault and The House that Malt Made refer to the fall of HCE, including his appearance as Mr. Porter, another one of his avatars.  A Tree is Quick and Stone is White… could refer to the two myths of Daphne, turned into a tree to elude Apollo and whose leaves came to serve as crowns, and Niobe, turned to stone by the deaths of her children (7 girls and 7 boys).  As Adeline Glasheen points out, too, the tree/stone combination refers also to Shem and Shaun and life and death; the washing hearkens us forward to ALP and the washerwomen at the end of Book I.

The end of the list of titles is actually completely straightforward, almost as though ALP is tired of all this monkeying around and wants some good common sense to reign in the story of her husband and his indictment:  First and Last Only True Account all about the Honorary Mirsu Earwicker, L.S.D. (pounds shillings pence), and the Snake (Nuggets!) by a Woman of the World who only can Tell Naked Truths about a Dear Man and all his Conspirators how they all Tried to Fall him Putting it all around Lucalizod about Privates Earwicker and a Pair of Sloppy Sluts plainly Showing all the Unmentionability falsely Accusing about the Raincoats.  This is straightforward, slangy, irritable, and serves as the wife's riposte to the gossip about her husband, while also taking his side ("first and last only true account," "naked truths," "dear man," "conspirators," "tried to fall him," "putting it all around," "falsely accusing").  It also conveys the idea that the crime is sexual:  naked truths, sloppy sluts, raincoats (condoms).  

[America (the West) also figures somewhat prominently:  Thonderbalt Captain Smeth and La Belle Sauvage Pocahonteuse (the French for "shame" making its way in there), The Last of the Fingallians.  It reminded us of Donne:  O my America!]

The insertion of the commonsense approach at the end of the list struck us as a kind of puncturing:  no longer about epic or grand narrative.  This is a wife with a particular perspective ("a woman of the world"), not a collective looking for a scapegoat.  This is a defense.  Then the voice/tone shifts again, in response to the mamafesta --

With "the proteiform graph" and the "polyhedron of scripture" on page 107, the book becomes almost three-dimensional; it exists in multiple kinds of spaces, prewriting, prehistory, then beyond the time when "naif alphabetters would have written it down".  The forms of writing are shifting, hybrid, fluid:  "proteiform," "ambidextrous," "his (or her)."  And if we want to find sex here, we will:  "To the hardily cruising entomophilust then it has shown a very sexmosaic of nymphosis in which the eternal chimerahunter…bewilderblissed by their night effluvia with guns like drums and fondlers like forceps persequestellates his vanessas from flore to flore."  The "vanessas" are a reference to Swift's love, as is "stella," and it would seem that the "chimerahunter" is pursuing sexual desire from flower to flower (for deflowering?).  But this might also be a general comment on misreading, or overriding:  as Wordsworth writes in "Simon Lee," "It is no tale/but should you think/perhaps a tale you'll make it."

And so "we must grope on" in a "kitchernott darkness," where a "multiplicity of personalities inflicted on the documents or document and some prevision of virtual crime or crimes might be made by anyone unwary enough before any suitable occasion for it or them had so far managed to happen along."  We inflict multiple readings through prevision, unwary, seeing what we want to see in anticipation of what we think we'll find -- while at the same time refusing to see contrarieties except as elements to be smoothed out, eliminated.  The sheer explicitness of the end of the mamafesta would seem to render interpretation unnecessary, and yet…

As we continue, we encounter "a jolting series of prearranged disappointments, down the long lane of (it's as semper as oxhousehumper!) generations, more generations, and still more generations."  Genre disappoints by not living up to our expectations, and so do our parents.  It's as simple, and as semper (always) as ABC, or aleph beth gimel (the ideograms for the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet).  

We are interrupted by an interlocutor at the bottom of page 107/top of page 108 who would ask "who in hallhagal wrote the durn thing anyhow?…by the use of quill or style…interrupted by visit of seer to scribe or of scribe to site…laden with the loot of learning?"  Was this written the same way anything else would be written?  Were there scribes and seers?  Is it learned?  These questions are deferred:  "Now, patience; and remember patience is a great thing."  Could be advice to readers of the Wake itself: we need patience as we return again and again to "this radiooscillating epiepistle."

At the bottom of page 108, in response to "the loot of learning" -- the stealing of stories, plagiarist's booty -- our interlocutor addresses "naysayers."  To say that the page "cannot ever have been a penproduct of a man or woman" is an "unlookedfor conclusion leaped at" -- again, we are accused of misinterpreting, when really it is the author who is "constitutionally incapable of misappropriating the spoken words of others" by using quotation marks.  Even the signifier of accuracy -- quotation marks -- is a kind of stealing (and a joke at Joyce, who always refused to use them).  Anything that makes its way into the text is evidence of the inevitability of literary symbiosis (to use David Cowart's term), and it's all there for the taking.

Report from the January 2012 Meeting

Thanks to Jen for the January report!                  

We picked up on page 104 with the start of ALP’s “mamafesta.” The passage begins with a parody of The Lord’s Prayer in which the words have been feminized (“In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the Bringer of Plurabilities, haloed be her eve…”), but could been seen to become unfeminized by the end of the passage (“…unhemmed as it is uneven!). This brief prelude to the mamafesta includes the phrase “her rill be run,” referring perhaps to ripples and waves in a river. This connection between ALP and the river worked well with the last river reference on page 103, which says, “…we have taken our sheet upon her stones…”. With this in mind, it seems like the descriptors “Allmaziful,” “Everliving,” and “haloed” indicate that, though she is dumped on and beaten about a bit, ALP, like the river, keeps running on.

In discussing plurabilities, we noted that the mamafesta could be read as a monotheistic prayer to plurabilities. Additionally, it points out the plurability of husband and wife, as well as global and cosmic plurabilities. We also discussed the plurability of the gospels: the same story told over and over again, with varying details each time.  Plurability could also be read as the constant dance of compromise and sacrifice between a husband and wife, which relates to “Amoury Treestam and Icy Siseule.” This can be read in a few different ways—as a reference to Tristan and Isolde, as a reference to the husband as the tree and the wife icily cutting him down, or as a reference to an amorous husband’s advances and his icy wife. (Si seule is also French for ‘if only.’) This “cutting down” of the husband almost seems like one of the compromises or sacrifices between husband and wife, as, according to the reference from page 103 (“…we have taken our sheet upon her stones…”) it seems that the husband has probably behaved unjustly toward the wife as well.

We spent some time discussing the word “Mosthighest,” used in describing the mamafesta, and trying to decide what “Mosthighest” was referring to. ALP’s story itself seemed to be the answer. The first in the very long series of italicized phrases and statements is “Augusta Angustissimost,” which means most highest.

A little later on page 104, Joyce writes, “Ik dik dopedope et tu mihimihi.” “Ik dope” means to baptize, presumably in a river, and “mihimihi” means ‘me,’ continuing with the river imagery and its relation to ALP.

The references to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert continue when Joyce writes, “Groans of a Britoness,” and “From Victrolia Nuancee to Allbart Noahnsy.” We noted that two reservoirs of the Nile are named for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and that Queen Victoria was indeed Queen of the Nile, perhaps in the same way that ALP may be called Queen of the Liffey. This ties in with a reference to Cleopatra made on page 104: “Cleopater’s Needlework.” Cleopatra’s Needle is located in London. Cleopatra and Victoria also share the distinction of being ruling foreigners—a link shared with Napoleon and Hitler as well. The connection between Cleopatra and Victoria deepens after considering their somewhat gnarled family trees, both of which were founded on some amount of incest. We noted that incest is a crime that was considered permissible amongst royals but not so among common people. If HCE’s crime was incest, he was sinning above his station in life. However, this depends on the version of the story, because in some versions, he is the Festy King. In such versions, we could assume that incest wouldn’t be criminal.  The plurability of HCE’s story and its various iterations are somewhat analogous to the gospels in this way.

The parenthetical statement made on page 104 refers to the husband as “some such nonoun,” which would be read alternately as ‘no one,’ ‘not known,’ or ‘nothing.’ The parentheses end with the statement “He Never Has the Hour,” which refers to the incident in the park, where by asking for the time, HCE incriminated himself. A bit earlier on the page, HCE is called to mind with “Hoebegunne the Hebrewer Hit Waterman the Brayned.” As waterman, HCE would draw water from the river, his wife.

                  

The sentence, “Peter Peopler Picked a Plot to Pitch his Poppolin,” is a reference to Ireland itself—a plot of land was selected where the poor were to be sent. “Peter Peopler” may also be a phallic reference, especially when paired with “Pitch his Poppolin.” Following this play on Peter Piper and leading into the previously mentioned parenthetical statement, Joyce writes, “An Apology for a Big,” which is suggestive, given its placement beside “Peter Peopler.” The parentheses are followed with “Ought We To Visit Him?” which might be read in a variety of ways, but one way is certainly very suggestive of Peter Peopler’s popularity.

                 

This passage was also replete with references to fabric and needlework: “unhemmed,” “uneven,” “poppolin” (or poplin), and “needlework.” This brings to mind the idea of the Fates, spinning and weaving, as well as Penelope unraveling her shroud in order to continue her story. The tie to Penelope is especially significant given ALP’s prominence in this passage.

                  

At the top of age 105, Joyce writes, “To Plenge Me High He Waives Chiltern on Friends,” and we noted several different meanings here. The French word pleine means full, or pregnant. Reading “plenge” as “pledge” instead, it could be interpreted as marriage, like taking the “plunge,” or “plenge” could be taken to mean “plunge,” which could relate either to marriage or to sex. Or to both.

                  

Another river reference appears later on page 105 with “He’s my O’Jerusalem and I’m his Po,” with the Po being a river in Tuscany. The use of the apostrophe in ‘O’Jerusalem’ makes it seem like an Irish surname. ‘O Jerusalem’ is a hymn, so the sentence could be reread to say “He’s my hymn (or him), and I’m his river.”

                  

“The Man That Made His Mother in the Marlborry Train” refers both to Jesus Christ, who made his mother famous with his conception and birth, as well as Confucius, who was born in a cave called the Hollow Mulberry Tree. This sets up another East-West contrast.

                  

Going back to page 104, we begin to see versions of ALP as a girl. Joyce writes, “Arcs in His Ceiling Flee Chinx on the Flur,” which reminds us of the rainbow girls.  In Spanish, a rainbow is called el arco iris, and the sky is called el cielo. Additionally, the use of the word ‘arc’ reminds us of Noah’s ark. This statement appears right beside the “Waterman” reference. We also noted that a rainbow has a start and an end, much like stories or alphabets, and specifically alpha and omega. We found out that apparently the Chinese have no record of the deluge, which pits an Eastern version of Noah’s story against our Western tradition—yet another plurability.

                  

Finally, we discussed the different references to and images of cows and milk in this passage. These ideas were reminiscent of Stephen Dedalus’s evolution from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to Ulysses, from baby Tuckoo and the milk cow in Portrait to the milkwoman who appears in the Telemachus episode of Ulysses. 

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).