130 JOHN PAUL Rouse ‘ohn provideran ternative perpetve inher bi dissin omarion tna Franke book rnpareat Made rate Mndesfr Prseting Ginsonsies i tin (Pieeon: Prineton University Pres 1978 '3P-3Although het book soot pimaily about loyee's Eton Provider sone wf aegis for dxaibng Joes vad temps to rset thinking a peocer in ewig Fite Seon was theft ere to argo or 3 claw relish betwen Joyce's te plead the apareny snp syle af Dyn He makes that argent bil ia Hewosto serupeous ays” Joye "Tae Ser 002 (985) 66-7, JENNIFER LEVINE 6 Ulysses What do we need to know in order to read Ubsses Properly? An Invimiating question, perhaps, by which to Introduce notoriously iimiating book. But reading of any kind, whether of Ulyese or af ‘oldlocks and the Three Bars, never tales place in an entArely blank ot ‘nginmind. Other dacoursesarealwaysimpliated. Unlike oldies, however, Ulyses pores the question of prior knowledge with some trgeney because fan make us fel unknowing, amd with such ‘devastating speed, and because sometines a smal Dit OF information tvalble outside the novel, or inside it bt hundreds of pages farther tn can just as quickly unravel pages of onfusion. One of the questions ‘alsed By such dificult i central to erary tudes ln Sener: what [inside the trary object? What es uti 1? Can the order ines te drawa with any certainty? My Intention is not to prolam ‘oundaies orto ctaoue between rightor proper readings, and wrong, ‘ones, but ony toindicate the Kinds of aowedge that Ulysse equity survey lie and hardly exhaustive, Iisa preface tothe Inajor focus of this esas what I Uses ‘abou, and Row can tbe read? “When T Et wrote abut Joyee'swork oon fte its publication in 1paa he argued tat eof The Ossey a both subyexe and pre- text made the modern world posible fat He might aso have said that The Odyse has a silty enablieg function for Joyce's readers: that it makes Uses possible for a modern audience. For us, now, fey as mai he le Wrench St of gal Homeric content (isthe Roman venion of ‘Oye the name ‘Ulysses sexmselirelyJoycean But ht ie sa provocation Tagine foramoment that tis seven hundred page novel alle Hie and {you wil regain a sense of asa text Brought into deliberate colon ut bags‘with a powerful predecessor. Leaving ake the question of whether hat mectng is Heroic or strc it Is obvious that even the ita cision to give cach epiade 2 name sea whale Intrpetive ‘machinery into pla. Readers of Ulyses- however much they might lisgre about what it means or what its worth have apred to refer to each episode by 2 Homeric tite (as Joyce did in cortspondence, Yet whic he chose not to use when Uses appeared in pin, ist The Litle Review berween 1918 and 920 and then a9 book In 1922). Thus the st episode r known ss “Telemachus the secon Se ‘Nestor’ the third Proteus the fourth ‘Calypso’, and soon: "Lotus Tater, “Hades, ‘Aeolus, “Lesteygonians,“Scyla and Charybdl, “Wandering Rocks, Sirens ‘Cylopr’,"Nausin’ ‘Onen f the Sun, “Circe, ‘Eumaeus, ‘hac’, and Penelope’ Further, sain by common onsen, section # (the Geet theee epaoden, focusing on Stephen Dedaluss known asthe Tlemachis, section m (the last tne) a the ‘Nostos or return Setion (the twelve middle episodes isthe Odyssey proper, displaced in tine and space ta the street of Dubin th beginning af our century: 16 June ago, tobe pres “The Homeric parallels are iessble. Granted, we donot need he osjseytotclusthat Stephen sa youngenan troubled bythe at tht he Isason and hasafather nor that Blom shaunted by memories ofthe 40m who never realy was ~ his second child, Rudy, having led only days afer his birth. Buti sharpens our sens of he potentially fal felationship between them to sce them also as. Telemachus and Odysseus. (They are not simply eat of cours. Sephen may he eat “elemachs, but he thinks hes playing Hamlet? One might argue that Ihenever does find out hes emoting on the wrong tage | Similarly, tis ‘bvious enough that Bloom is odd man out in Dublin: he doe not drinks he doesnot buy drinks for others: he does tbe (though ef suspected of doing so he Is 2 Jew (and doubly alien from his Jowishnes, for he hs chosen to become both Catholic and Protestant) nthe effusive round of greetings that punctuate the Dublin day. Bloom 's pointedly unacknowledged. Yet when we rcll that Oysscus pro slams his meas ous, nobody and thithedraws on that faclesnens for his own tactical advantage, we reir Blom's uncomfortable pce tm society and invest him with a certain power ~ the power, fr cxample, to escape the blinkered and bullish nationals In the “cyclops episode, justas Odysseus outwlted the blodthisty Cyelops ‘ike Odysseus, Blom seeks afer Knowledge, though the scale of is curls is endearingly domestic. Wonder wha ook ike oe he thinks a be feeds the cl. "Helght of a tower? No, she an jump me (9) If we know even the are bones ofthe Odyssea plot, the texture of User thickens. Certainly Mally Bloom's assignation with Blazes Boylan resonate agunst Penelope's legendary fathflnes. The ‘more detaled aur knowledge of Homes epi, the stronger the echoes with Uvsses The mote precise, to, our sense of ference. ‘Cast itor, therefore. in resorting to Homer, even By calling a chapter Penelope’ or Nestor, we ar insisting on something that Joyce himself took care o tone down by deleting chapter headings though certainly, allusions tothe Odyraey remain scattered throughout the ‘work, The reader of Use should ot insist on parallels ~ Homeric or ‘ther ~ with too much vehemence. Bloom, after al, docs not El is ‘ule's suitors In fate is careful to stay away during the hour of ultery. The nearest hing to a confronation between hn and Boylan {stheone dramatized ‘Cee’ where Bloom, asfunky ana voyeur sin- "Sruced toapplyhiseyetothe keyhole and pay with ise while is ‘ivallohandedly announcer bisimtention to jst go through hea ew timer (5.5789 Abjectly, Blom oles Vaseline sr? Orangetower..? Lkewarm water. (5 3792 3Jandasks Nay Ibring women chums to wilnees the deed and take # snapshot (15.3791"2). Far ‘Ce’! ‘Bloom, there is itense ert pleasure in betrayal ‘ts ej wildy ite, clasps hime) Show Hide! Show! Plough her! Morel Shoot (Gs.a8t5-16) The pasion hres very diferent fom the avenging fry fof Homer’ text, nd defines the role of the patearchhusband in ways {or which the epic writer would probably fel contempt. tmght even beargued tha the ask ofkiling ofthe tosis not romuch nepleted {as given over to Molly, who picks them off one by one with dismissive ‘oti the closing episode "The fst generation of Joyce's readers afirmed his tanding a8 29 artist by inating on the heros premeditation ofthe Homeric allsions (escenario by which Joyce becomes the epic hero of lis own teary DOayseey) Star Gilberts pathbreaking study, for instance, s based 09 2 set of conrexpondences which Joyce himself had provided? Each “puode is assgned se ow precise time, place. symbol, clout, body prt ierary technique and Odyssean subtest But readers tempted DY Symmetries like these should. know that Joyce give another ‘Commentatorfiend, Calo Lina rather diferent outline and with ‘nila authoil‘garente’« More cently, with Joyce's legitimacyno longer in question, ets have bee es anaes to eval iden ‘correspondences, and more ltrs lathe way Use its ith Siscnnecin. Theres crtain pot at wb the tifa ender old back, wary of saying tat thio that ll unlock Users secret "omer offers the most obvious ey’ to Ur, ut Shakespeare and Dante a silly Bete thee Alioogh des 3 SORE deony (arcu in ‘xen ofthe Sun), Uma makes cla that ‘aces Iself within perhaps a the ead of a long eof ery — iso, and tha iistrone ts eos WHE sto be eas I fallow thatthe el reir would be extraordinary well sed in the Wester ieary tain. But fw of us can can that Lind of Inowlee education demands both mare sn es teen af he sentary than atthe begining. Happily for mow, a number of Speciale pds to Uses ave bee produced in he ner, ‘ich readet has 1 decide how often, snd when to consult such mutes, This Ia strategic chace, forthe knowlege gained by Stopping to find reference or embisha alson mut bance gaint the urge toed on. The mrativeimpets ae offers sour ‘houghotdifereatkind Oncol theaters thing aout Users that canbe read at two speeds at slow, nd st every posible combination ofthe tw, The niitonalatin yer wrk the tact that Uses has become s ‘gent tek move een than nok encountered 5a St tent the univer level meas that thers ‘Sostdeabe prone top forthe xed and er dlayed) ent ef knowledges The danger is that Uses Bela to be read as an, labora conundrum IReriry gsm pti that ca-ony be Srsed if every pees put in lace in conaectve onder, It to Fight tp to baton Gomes te ned to Know wt eveything “means In Utes shoo be reed. Joye om eer wig ey such apart ofthe itertextual newer that Uses dre on, Renders cong to Ue wih 2 nowledge of A Porat ofthe Arist ase Youn en and Dain are aa conseable advantage, When lor steps int the cig a the ‘ery beginning of Hades they oo wil ecopsiae and acknewiedge is {Glowemourers Mar Cningham an ick owe tom the ‘hort stry ‘Grace’ and Simon Deals, sill on te long slide down begun in Porta Cyeope there wl be anther rerogtion On ‘sown, the episode hardly draws attention tthe drank leering in the comer and trying 0 Inga hii wih the Caen’ dog (1248697) Bt ths drank hata mame ~ Bob Doran ~ and reader of {pe barn Howse llc nh th grey le man stp by i formidable nay and he dnugher Pll (oho might or might abe Tt ey open ea ae Bier sonar Tregrounds Dora's bee appearance eI oly tefudled by both nk and mariage. And yt though the jue tennis epee en eaten fai her he ‘Sengulng psy hat Me Deran wasalnay penal slow ITE Moneys lowest tuckpard in Dublin when b's under the ttaucne (es 33) ~ an hat Uses eres Dubliners epee ons re met iain ote cs of Stephen Dedaus forty projet history ons cheater wh snow back In Duin, ‘tery fens recalled by Mtr lego toa dying mother wear scent tbe eed of & Porat) in tater aiferent Ee thance sig out ot ere jurey to forge the uncrented ‘SSouncnce of nce, (ley, Us lcs upon the less savouty | Se ee eee ee eee eee ee See ee ee en Se ee eee ee i a aah arta ee eee ee Sae Serre renee alee or in calyp‘The kinds of knowledge I hive discussed. so far are exsentlly| ‘Merary. But there are ather words, beyond the leary, by which readers have st their couse through Uses. The rage of languages i tnd codes within which Users inscribed has a great dea todo mith Soyee's sense of himself a4 citizen Irish history, Catholicism, the ‘ele Revival popular culture, Dublin geography, and acerain slice idles Dubin ite in the yeas belore and after the turn of the | ‘century all pay tet part Rel Dubliners are writen into Uses, not slays with the benefit ofa new name, Nor docs Jayee spre himsel ‘etal of hs own fe many of ther es han laterite dean into the potato Stephen Dedalu. A great deal of what we consider to be safely inside the tional frame only makes sensei you can go outside it. For instance, if you know thatthe ancestor wove parlamentary ‘record Me Deasy quotes in'Nesor to pro uphisclaim oben tag? Irishman and a pawiot actually voted in precisely the opposite way. you realize that easy is convicting himelf out of hie own mouth (2.27660 In ‘Sirens where ony fragments from "The Coppy Boy” (sung by Ben Dolled (rr.99:-t1gx) ae given in the narativ, you ced tobe able o hear the whoesongin yur esd, and to understand te historia context out of which comes, in der tcc the sub Irones by which national nd marital betray are linked together in the lil of Use” Dubliners. Double Hetty, sudden discovery, isis regret: theseare themes that describe loom situation aswel ad perhaps Joyce's too, ‘When Joyce was asked, afer many years ofexie in Europe whether he would ever go back to trelan, hs answer was « question: Have T ever ltt 10” (1 292), Ambivalent at was, Joyec’s tle to hs ave land toits history and culture, iseverywher nhs work, Dublin was Peshaps the deepest pont af contac, and throughout the writing af ‘Utyses, hundreds of miles away on the Continent Joyse depended on ‘is aunt Josephine Murray to supply ban with vita local trivia He asked her to check for instance, “whether there are tres and of what kind) behind the Str of the Sea Churchn Sandymount visible rom the shore and also whether there at step leading down a these of It fiom Leahy’s Teac’? Toa certain extent 104 map of Dublin 5 ‘od aguidethrough Uses as Homer's Oise. wil at east decode, for the non-native reader, the insstnt placing of characters t named ssrets, buildings. and monuments® Uses describes a quntesent- ally urban world (though aot an industrial one). Most ofthe action ‘aes place public space and most ofthe ation i tak the kindof {alk that happens when men hangout together at street comers of in publicbars ifs Dublin ity map would be useful soto0 woulda Dublin ole, whove cadences are threaded into Use’ elastic English, The temptation is always there, i apte of one's mid-Atlantic (or other) blunders at lest to fry to sound Irish Perhaps this is why the marathon 1983 ish adi Broadcast of the enie book, read by local {tors can be yet another major entryway’ nto Ulysses. However, . by woicing a reading it forces choles that print Joyezan print more | than mos} allows you to suspend ‘have spoken, sofa, of thekindsof knowledge hat youcan bingo ; Ljsses Homer's epi, the Western iterary tation, Joye'serler : seek the ato aed Wa euural ili eas Dublin he Sound of Dublin speck he Ist goes on and om But Tv not yt } oniered the rer interpretive gestures by whieh Ut Kooedge thay bread int place and by which Users been given shape OF tae shpes fr, Poteet has nosing canons ent. The Caren protration occ langage allows sce more carly han wt postle under single dominot mode of rca the extent towhich stray work's stu and meaning ate determined atleast as Inuchby communes oars ar bythententions of wee This ‘renmue markedly so with yes which songaltbether things itor underakes ay seperation snd crigueo reading. At many ts pred t aghes of eat Tay ea thong CSuly wth far more wit and bumour. ‘WhatTintendberisnttodexribe th vartousscooloferiismeis 4s Uses, but to provide smebiog more general and shemate ‘ul propor ta he lal momen any ranges deco abou _ewms hat Ko ta terry objets Ue Thee inp a Hie bcm otered ha wr primal poem that real sla novel ands most eer, ha dex I hl se hese general rubric fo lmeduce and to ditinguth song nes of pprosch that Continue oad ur nto the work i ntereing ways. what would be entailed in pole reading of Uyecr and why would it ‘be proposed in the fist pce? Of cours, there ae poems 2nd there are poems, There The Oshesy, and then there Is Blake's ‘London’ ~ or ‘Stephen's litle Irie in “Acous' (7.5225) Each requies diferent kindof reading. But some Uhings ay stil be commonly assumed aboutthe genre. To ead a pice apo tase irs al ht ses language im spell ways and isnt ob taken Healy (in contat the putative tansparency of ‘scenic “obective, ordinary language) These dninctions are by seas unpeblemal. They have been pated with considerable cen the grounds tat all language figurative, and that no uterance i fie onto or nny purposes ete however, 1 il all potty i mctaphereal peblge in order highlght what many readers of ese found 9 srtng: the iberes takes with edinarysyoian ad erdnary ) sco, tense pay with lng ts metaphor eter tha narrate logit symbolan, ts deme allusiveness Consider the opening argh of Uses wth hl unexpected ‘images (the ht uetnsured hair grained and hd Hs ple va ‘het oie yet symtlcalyportestous deta (» bowl oe which a mivr and anor ly rss), andperhap most nobly, thee qutky sya: away of aeaging words within sentence that eps you pleurbly on edge the way apt ln does thnag for dierent reasons since Joyce i ot stpeled bythe pots mei Slrk (the one that fen estas he gra pose tine). He ‘eting prose undoubtedly. bt a prove tat aes unusual liberties ‘alte, be peered down the dark winding Hare and alld oat coarsely» Heaced abut and Beso rively hrc the tower, the Surrounding lnd and the awaking outa (1-11). The tal Tale’, the tangely dye gravely andthe amblvlest thre (does Malian bes each plc the eae ost a ile They tae the sentences sound not wrong s0 much foreign: One might sng tht or Joye afr Stephen Deals nF, and nde {cr any tishman, Elk es bo aie on orc aways acquied speck This complicated telionship allowed him a spec insight ino the fc that weare never at home in language, neve in ‘ur moter ong, In ptf or ef oak tei between words and thing seem irestly tral, nguae bs profoundly rca The paradoxical fore of poetry that tthe most coneved nT conventional of couse aad yet achieves an tof perfect. (Ce perf appropet, precy natura teanc. yee poe try expe that paradon tour pan, ‘Comsdr the begining a Calypenthe chapter in which Leopold oom makes is-enance.Mgnao res the ca, and then ‘Mokgnan. and then again, loudly, “Mkegos® (g6, 3, 39) pi eli ‘Mer enemies neon ale ‘ce tommgntmtatte Nerneeara icc scene Meet nee sion om ere at paneer cue aetohe ace cite Tees ‘overwhelming desire for connections the poetic model Meena abies of ongenzable terms. In this sense potc eadings-are— iene ce‘translator's path, for every word, Jt ems, i linked t other across pages and episodes in an intricate allsive network. On the ‘ther hand, such language can never simply Be take erly. Ie does ‘ot s0 much resist anaaton as demand it Thus to read Uses ava poem can be along proceso exegesis, o italic translation om the model A ‘realy is" B.A great many code can make that equation possible; most notably the Homers we have sen) the ungan (by Which ijsses' particulars are given archesypl force aad Stephen, Bloom, and Molly emerge ab the essential peychle tid and the ‘hologel Take the fet that Molly's period mart some tite st night after the evens of 16 June, If you are persuaded thet Joyee's Catholicism is deeply implicated ia his work, then Mlly docs not simply begin tomenstruate. The blod tha threatens tos the sheets ((0 Jesus walt yes that thing hs come on me 0 patience above is pouring ou of me ike the ea’ 18.104-, 1122-9) wil be intimately alle othe various consecration throughovt Dublin of Chris's blood and body’ This coincidence (along with others) elevates Molly into the missing term in the winty of Father (Blom) Son (Stephen). and oly Sprit and ies most sigaicat that, jst when Father and Son ‘come a close together a5 they wil et (Sent. each contemplating the father in both meors of the reciprocal flesh of theithisothis fe lowiaes(17.1183-4) one of them i elcldating “the mystery of an Invisible attractive person, his wile Marion (Molly) Bloom, dented by visible splendid ign lamp” (17.1177 8). ‘The deta fallin place, sometimes, ith uncanny precision I can be very satisfying to pattem Use in thie way. But todo so requires ‘continous effort of translation and a wilingncs fo bypass he more ros levels of sigaieaton. Or, tobe more promi myeel to forget {ht Bloom and Stephen are standing inthe ack prdena Bcc set, shout to take a companionable poe together. They lookup as weond or window and se the light of parafilm with oblique shade projected ona screen of llr blind supplied by Wank O'Hara window blind, curtain pole and revelving shutter manufacturer, 16 Aung strc’ (17.1173-6) Note that here the specificity of description ‘commercial not religious. Note, to, tat the momento ‘perfect unity” between Blom and Stephen reall anenlermioring in Circe’ just after Boylan and Molly's voles ae heard ‘sweetly hosel. and in lascivious unlon, and loam ~ eyes wildly dtd’ — calls out Show! ide Show! Plough her (15.3815) Blom and Stephen then gaze nto Ahemior at ella Coes What they both sereficte back them "Thefacof Willa Shakespeare beards: ri fatal paras, ctouned BY the wfeton 9 the reiterated hatack i he hal Uso) Notso mech ly Father and Holy Son a fellow cuckolds a pers flow atts to ina lem th holy teat. And yet ven n this counter reading elemestffom cron the work are picked Stand pulled together to onsruct + puradigm —in th cae rather tnoveearth-bound than spstaal and cerainky more ated to Septic tan oath buts peradip nonetles, ding nto row poetic sens ofthe work Ie AE vera of jee) ronors is ie tnt ta synchronic ed spat mapping bee on epee also, choc, Symbol and archetypal pater all beng, eset, moder of ‘Tye wich freee ceward meving lol of eerie Ba then reading Uae ioften a cse of moving backward hough he apse chek dt note echo, evs am interpretation) a mich Tard ike the eral ons othe well-wrough urn ofthe New Gc (which ig porn in ths wey for at eve generation) ‘pyect pce’ ob aken woe, appended sr a complex wait Jets tency atcha of itl organi and whore parte allco- {lst in inl Me memento ne , ‘Toread Uc wa yoo, fell ts 10 arune a 8 wil eward scrupulous attention aod tht the inti with wich you foc on 8 Shor lec inay no massa begven to every page thi very iong work. Nothing contingent or lng. Bloom's comment on Maly’ jke about Ben Dol cat hehe bse arene’ voce punning onthe at tat he bes Beso fat a barelon Bass beer) us fortjsesa ele, all morksou (133) Thief Boh dnuming ancl brag prospects How cam you ever hope to mar ft deny itrocLng verbal nctwork? then, you can art Snywhere because everything matters equally, and meaning can ‘cane en any corre On te wc teint geoeaan of aye’ Tenders adopted he ptc made snd mupet ht mos fst eadigs 1 Uiyses ll do to, for privileges the rage for order ‘ht copa whee ee ecerea er werk ole Teena Srntegy for beginning. Whe long section of vercoding txt may Temuie opaque ingle page © pararph, ov even afew Ins can [emcrueeneugh ofa Sense tht oes wok tat ert hee 10 exp us going, wba‘oF all the genres, the novels most resistant to definition ~ perhaps boctise it aways “novel, or new, lays a challenge to canon forms, In this sense, Uyees may be the mos pial novel in world ltrature, However, tis also posible wo speak of i as novelistic im more conventional rense, a8 the Kind of writing Virginia Woolf Celebrates in ‘Me Bennet and Mrs Brown’ “All novel she 4, ‘deal with characte, and tis to expees character thatthe form of the novels, so climsy,verbore and undramat, 50 rich, elastic, and live, hasbeen evolved Indeed t would be impossible to speak of tyses without referring to ts characters,t9 what they do, and tthe ‘densely desribed society they ina. "The presence of suman Sigure ina landscape is iresisible. The viewers eyes swerve toward tad make contac here, st. Similarly Tor readers of Uj, the force of character i compelling, though ‘lyse doesnot ‘pve them tow in quite the straghtorward way Wwe Init expect Helpful formulation like he sid or ‘she though are Usually absent. OBigue and even confusing stibutions abound. At these ne, tls ta great dealmore has we te used to eating. It ‘doesnot aver its gaze whem Bloom picks histoes and sells his fingers (jy.148o 9p I fellows bi into the toilet and tracks dhe motions of is body and his mind with unembarrased ease, Something new and easy, No gat hurry, Keep t= i (4501-2). The phases apply three ‘ways itseems:to the story Bloom reads while sitingon the ‘ckstol totloon’sown sense of his bodily functions, ad also tothemarative’s lngid pleasure in letng the words themselves cme out. My point Ive sm merely that Uses braces the borders of propriety. More than that team give te nterna ie of character withamextacedinry Sense of intimacy. Indeed, I any bterarycaterphrase stl clogs to Ulyses ils ‘stream of concioumesy However, you do not need to Drivilege that technique hich, in any cise, i beter termed ‘ntrior Inonologue’) to ee that reading charctr s 2 potent method for ‘ending yes Inthe opening episodes, fr instance once you realize ‘hatch of what happensis happening inside Stephen's head [ike the ‘Oxford scene (1.16575) oF the visit to Aunt Sars (370-104), whole hunks ef the novel become avaliable. Instead of unnerving 2nd frustrating shits fom one kind of language to another even from one Story to another you recognize that you ae tracking 2nd in action tnd respond accordingly “pecs anateresting section to look at inthis ght Ifyou think ofthe sx preceding chapters ar mechani that give you aces Character ~ to Stephen Dedalis and Leopold Bloom in pariclar ~ ‘Aeolus is mmedaely striking because it seems to cur its back on tbthf them. To great exten the progressive filing in of looms and Stephen's perspectives is what makes the early sections of Ulyses Ineligible: You hang onto them: you listen fr their voices abd they lend you through the thicket of language. tn ‘Aeolus’ that thicket i Specially foreground. Set largely in a nevespaper ofc, an filed ‘rh alk about talk, the chapter is saturated wit the languages of Thetorcandof wind -an ironical los on Dublin’ hot it. The sounds “i vAcolus” are issient to, asthe machinery of urban life drowns fut individual voices. The epsode begins: sete Nebo pr wansslowed, nt change, sated fr sain hnpacenan Day Corse Rahn renee aieson et snd upper Rainey Sindyenut Gree, atin, ingen snd ‘Ssiyamne Tower, Hal's Cox the re Dubin aed Tray ‘ompuny enh led thew erence ep eh pre cngig ging dobledecke an singled moval tom th alas he dwn ine, ied pore “ar Paes a) ‘To come upon such an opening expecially after the iatnacy of ‘vas nasunnerting a suddenly lcoveringin the midst of anoby orig cy that you haves your pie, ht heres one speak for you nd noone whose lngurge you understand Blom oes urn papain bythe ied sort section (7267) and Stephen some at hero) butasthe alk nthe newspaper ficeswtsarund them, fda tbe apalied beadinesrepeteiy tude eters aowed Mra statu ag the gue inthe lnc, However, eventhough ‘Blom and tepankepadg fm view nd subsquent hapes Icy wll dos even more) the svelte of character eas IF Blan saben! fors god bal ofthe pode (759-96 ad Stephen aca no come atl bara thrugh (7508 bop 0 pay ‘Mtn to her Ytes in Aol To ter ens and ext. To other burst otal md cber ences Later chapters of Uses wilprovide more sustained access to minor characters by speaking in their town language (or example, erty MacDowell in "Nausicaa and the fourly loquacious of Cyclops’) in ‘Acoli’ the presentation i tl Aramatie and external, but the construction of character Ie makes postibles remarkably subtle. One ofthe eects of reading Ujrrsit {hat the oly foreign city ceases tobe quite so foreign and heal that sores about separates out into distinctly heard and comprehended ‘One ofthe voices heard in ‘Aealis' J.J, Malloy. He is by 90 means central to Uses nor to this episode, Nevertheless, you tack ‘im trough thi chapter yu will ave a god rete of he investment Jn character that moves Uj along, The minute be enters the sent ‘loom provides 2 running commentary oa his part and pretent situation. (And, ofcourse, in atypically novestlecompllston, the ‘mere fact that Bloom deer 20, az if compelled to notice and to “understand, adds vo our construction of his character at well Hes not ‘ole cetain kindof novels, for whom the smallest detail of ress fr gesture can summon up 2 whole fester) ‘levees fellow at the Junior bar he used tobe. Decline, poor chap. Tht hectic fash spells fins.» What's in the wind, 1 wonder. Maney worry’ (.292-¢) ‘When we use Bloom's minkstory a6 the magnet that picks up subsequent flerence to OMolly, the dram being played out merges J. -O'Melloy has come tothe newspaper oficer with single purpose in mind: to ask Myles Crawford fra loan, Characteristcally for User the actual requen ir never given in the text nor i the smotvestate, canny beinfered frm Crawford's negative, Dut no particularly expe, answer, and ftom O'Molloys carefully orcher tested slenes = Mulla bon, Jack’ says Crawford, Yi up to hee. Te been through the hoop myself. Sory, Jack” (7996-8) Crawford's embarrassment at being asked and a intending fo ay m0 may well explain his histinic reaction to Blom, who interrupt the tite te by making his own requestor rater, Mr Keyes theta merchant wants ‘jst 4 htle pull" in exchange for renewing his suvertscment, Crawford’ ejection s loudly colour and in sharp fontrast to his careful treatment of Molloy: be cam kiss ny tive. He can hiss my royal Ith arse Any tine he Hikes, fel him’ (7981, 990-2) ‘Once this scene of roquest and reection i played out, O'Malloy’s previous invisibility becomes perceptible. Consider hls etry int the Scene. He will nt be drawn into conversation, even by the Wart sweleome of his ,2Bo- 90) After minimal courtesies ‘responds with silent shake ofthe head to Dedals' reting (7290) fallsto react to someone's 'You'e looking extra" except perversely, by “ooking Hastead towards the inner door and asking Is the eto [niyles Crawford] tbe sen?” (7296-8). Learning that Crawford iin is inner sanctum” he sols oa desk and begs to look through a fle. In eet be lapses into sence and iavisity unt the editor reappears ven then, he docs not deign to respond to Ned Lambert's ‘whispered remark (7366). and only breaks ito speech and motion ater 2 det greeting from Cravefor: day Ales 11. @°Moloy sd tng he pages Be Rll sippy ack onthe fe oe) He comes to fe with Crawford's entrance ke am actor who steals the scene (otherwise fll of noisy bombast by the sheer quietness of his festures-but kan actor for whom only prt ofthe audience mates Fe plays very deliberately to stephen and Crawford and to ther oa. He murmurs, be oes his garetts slety’, he speaks ‘gently’ he ‘murmurs agun, he says ‘qe’ and then agnn, “im quit mockery’, “smiling pally’. For 2 moment he speaks eagerly’, but otberwise he ‘eps acool control over himself, ‘moulding his words ashe performs ‘role He poised alert forthe moment when he mus cll Crawford tside and pore the question. Even then, he throws it of i an afterthought. To Stephen: 1 hope you wil liv toe pulshed. My, one moment "He wea nt the ner fice sing the done behind him. (7907-8) ‘When he comes out the question wil have been asked. We her only the anew, which uliome but negative, and O'Malloy wastes no {ume upon it", J.0°Mollo pulled ong face and walked onsently” (7.1000), As Before, others attempt to draw him in, but he wil have one o ae sys Protein McHugh er Stephen's parable of the pam ‘Moses and te promised lind. We gave him hit ls, he added 03 Ont. 1.0 Moly sens weary sidelng glance towards the statue and hel is peace (063) ‘The construction of seorld in which characters ‘ell’ lve 850a C) pS sme have argued. But O'Molloy’s pointed recognition of im ‘“evenscegint, performance prefigures what Stephen wil Decome: a dense in Ujses that even a marginal characte ike O'My has hi ‘own complicated et of tives id gstres to move through ~ ki of allt that we can reconstruct and dance along with even it the revealing inne spetch that characteris Bloom or Stephen. 0 frst reading, “Aeolus” sce to pull the rag out fom under th rovelisic table so carefully set im the preceding chapters, ever Tereadng intensifies your verse of being there’ and ofthat voyeuristic lamin ovhard convertion hat pe he ye incidence, perp Tt he ile drama Beng payed out between 44. OMolly and his fellow Dubliners repeats the larger drama of tocil mobility of class and money, chat ankmatesthe gent as whole, tn hat erally entangle Stephen in logic The interesting thing shout 16 June 190g is tit for Stephen atleast things might sil go ithe way, He might yet become the artist even theauthorof Uys, ‘ually suggests that has sen fllow loner, nd hat is wn afl, Sylsh tadger: and aot particularly succesful. Dramatically, 00, ‘Molly's telativesllencen‘Aeols echoes Stephen's inthe opening pages of Upases and draws yet another thread between them. The Paradigm thickens timely ceminder that while poetic and novelitic Fesings are separable in theory, they ae not neces a0 practi eer eee) mene inept ip dete niet rin esa Bimje eatrene ane, k le tn yet i uron paar aegis eee a Sade set «pce of tpi rab am sitcom tty Toop feet alo eames pecan es oy ea eee et a= spi wings spac, esta Upc nro eee a eee eee ee ers ‘Sin mi Th non ch ee ‘od ase ne Une by ach et fr tenon ae eee peter Toney arta Tra mba of ways oa of wich a eee eee era ee a ee a bly paras) Undermines with sich inventiveness. The various tntertextualnet~ work at play in Acalus gesture toward this Burrng of borders. The ‘Omen of the Sun, to which 1 shall ten shortly, offers an even more lnorite example, You may also recall lors at in ‘Calypso' whose ‘niko’ seemed to announce an esseaalypoetc projet. But consider the complications, Mrkrgnana Grek version (Mek) of Noman version (Mercuri) ofa Greck god (eres. Translation upon Iratalition, and curiously circular the pure place of eign rom which the poetic allusion dra ts force ot ute as stable as one might think nor as pure, Instead what we have xa web of reference ols hone of which clearly privileged, anda putative tex (Mr) which Ielf'a commentary. This perspective on “Mrkrgnao’ announces a rather diferent projec. 2 text ina theme or subject on which ene speaks a'satement on Uuhlch one dilate (OED) never autonomous, never Fally complet in self butalways awaiting reader speaker who willl tout into if Wis nat sarkedly a tis point of symbiosis witha reader that Uses fakes on its contemporary form as text. Without ever naming you tliecily Ujoes i constantly addressing you ats reader. Theres m0 {rand opening to ane reader, in Dor Que. Thee is mo ‘Reader | matted hin’, 8 Jane Eyre But jst a you tend to forget _youhavea body unt some partofi malfunctions what ould possibly Ibake a nove more obvious tots owner than a cold?) Ube, 0 fll toments of congestion and unease, foregrounds you ab the reader inp the tex It the reading activity appropiate to poems and novels—fndced, to writing ofall inde ~ har been knowing or understanding the one “rently atached to textes ‘pay’ The choice felling Fist fal it Invokes «particular Kind of fesdom within constraints a when you night speak f the play ofa hinge or of cogs ina whet the focus being, to the interreatonship between moving pars in a machine rater than onthe sableand separate identity ofany one pat. Iemakesa great ‘eal of sense to think of Uses in motion, fs elements nowable aly {ngelation to cach other, One of themort relentless and yet exhilarating, ‘ffs ofthe Book he way the verbal ground Keps shifting under {you Many senders have argued tht Use makes major beak with ‘selin the middle eplode Wandering Hock-t could als be argued ‘that the experiments with style of the second balf~ powerfully anti- aesimeic~ are present fom the Beginning. And vice-versa: that the ort obviously subversive pede (ke ‘Oxen of the Sun) ‘he commen to pot of view, character, an prnsaking mimes begun with “Telemachus” Ether way” however. thee i sctnwlgnen ht hy et ott ieng “To speak of payin this sense, with alls attendant notons machinery and construction, iscleary a provocation toany sence of ‘Merary work san organi entity, and in parla tothe notion ikea natural orgasim a work Ike Uses wl evince in each of asthe same inevitable ogi that mlvate la a whole. (Th Assumpdonsafe central to the pocic mod! of Use) Ise Telaionship of parts to whee, af mizwcosm to mucocomm, ‘derstood a asymmetrical and contradictory. This mos strikingly the ease tn the extraordinary sits that take place between (and Sometnes within) piaodes. There sre ceraily clement that Be he ‘whole thing together: the relteation of allusions, themes, mothe Persktence of named characters, the chronolopial sequence of ‘Pade taeda in Dalia bury how hemos ol Sine 19g, unter the following morning. But ‘play’ responds tothe ‘ountervaling sense tat the esos donot 0 mck share» common Ifeas work together in contradiction. You might ote here tat textual readings tend to place the difclies of Uses at the centre of thee Account, bd to ake them part of he solution ether han the problem to be explained (aay). Play isnot eeely be tes-system. The ext mus be played, ikea musical sore Without the performance its only Blick marks on 4 white page, Bu hea one might alo ask: "Wht ae you playing at?” Pay ienever entirely faithful: Potentllyat eat, ts kind of ting ith or fingering ofthe text~ nt paying it de respect, Ceaily the notion of pay insubverive,prticlry to heather of intentions nd meaning Ifthe ei not natural organism, ike one then ts Suthorloet his old sats as Godlike crestor. Play lo anarchic however. Is impulse is ot inert. Tt does not simpy sek to ethrone the wrt a oder to pt the reader ine place, ‘Toplay isnt ony to perform but aloo enjoy, totakeludic please {the ext and with (cannot stress ennugh how sheery funny Ube an be) At he same tne, a anyone who Knows children will conti, plays ntensely serious work, What sat stake noting ess cl nile ig ee ene ie ees Hee pie en a epee eee eae =o ee ee Se a ae pone ear pe eee par ea eee Fe eee Es ee a eee eres ie es ae eee Secret pees eer oe ae ere are seep eared ere ora ee ey oss So eee 4 Dery noe ee Seay ae ae ae Se sae pe Gee =e ee eee os a eee eae ay Seen Fe espera et ss crac ee ae iene eee sea saschs— hearted (14 80} "The man that was come nto the house'(e.182} named athe traveller Leopold (i4126 child Leopl (14.160) Si Leopold! (4.16970 each sighting caught up na viscous ingucty” that makes fe incompatible with the one that precedes or fellows. “And sir Leopold that was the podlest guest tht ever sat in scholar hall and that was the meekest man and the kindest that ever lad Jnusbandly hand under hen and that was the very truest Knight ofthe ‘world one that ever did minion service to lady gentle’ (44 183-5) becomes, afer various transformation, ‘Clmer explaining hinder "Young Hoasthar’ (Stephen) at's hubbub of Phenomenon’ (4.430 and ‘eop, Bloom of Crawford’ journal siting soug vith 3 covey of ‘wags (14 904-5) Later he stands accused sts talfr tis ind Ive} trembled Tor the security a his four percents. [A dluder of fathers.» [A] ensor ofmorals avery pelican i his pey, who did not Sruple oblivious ofthe tes of nstre, to attempt intercourse witha female domestic drawn frm the lost strata of sock” (4910-23). The indicument goes on He isa his best an exotic ree ‘which, when rooted intsmative orient, trove and flourished but, ‘Eanspunted to 2 cme more temperate, its rots have lost theit quondam vigour while the self that comes away from ii tagnant, Acid and inoperative (14 93740). But then, ‘No longer is Leopold that sad agent of publicity and holder of 2 modest substance in the funds. Hel young Leopold... That young Sigreof then Is see, precociously manly. walking. tothe highschool, his bookstchel on him tandoterise’(r4r041-7) And sot goes, in constant ux, until the dea si” invited to have a drinkin Burke's (Yous jn uz?) asks fow‘oger cordial’ ands described by amedley of woes in terms that ‘asthma Hamlet's murdered and heartsck father. (The conversion recalls a beesting for which Dixon, one ofthe medical students, had tected him) ‘Got «pectoral trauma, ch, Dix? Pos fact. Gat bet be boomblebee whenever he wus setin sleepin in her bit geten (1gxg72-3) Between the brackets of putrateh and baby. he Is documented as Jew, self-employed, father of Billy, and Bereaved Ieend no fake, old man eo. Vel. that ant a sheeny niches, ve I ilgemishamishinnah-- [T]he Bloom aif. loo? Cages ads Photos ppl by all ha’ gorgeous... Pold ve! Dal ums Blab Iigapash exytears cor fren Padney as took off In lack bag?” (4154-56) The ast sighting is posed ar a question (porsbly Stephen's ‘Whisper who the sooty hell's the Johnny in te black i (14.1573) The answer given no more conclave, not only Teenie Was Ror nappopratly he atin ba abo Jecnune I ens him wth wail Godin single ambivalent Sn Ms Sioned gut the ight and even now tat day st when he bal comet judge the wold by Bre" (11575-7) Who Jee Gowerase) he’ who shal judge the wld? Surely not "hat Ioan idee that was the meskes ma and the Kindest hat ever Mit huandly hand under ben have quoted at pret engi ores pculariesofthispode iy the me you reach One of the Su you are more than halfway tough tes. You might ven be inured tthe ck of consistent Nile even base style frm which the writing dresses and to Which returas Sl tis episode wpe the sae very considerably fr Wits trom one ste to autbr at a daconcering pace. Every onyraphortwoanew vis makes el beard ndings and more fara inRaking Hs formal prenecpatins (he growth of = Merry wan) wih te sequence of events {have oid, ior textual tering wa vwever“Onen ofthe Sut hasan been expaned in terms shingy opened to the of ex. Not eigen has alo ten te ep tat readers have been most key to ress and 10 Theis temptation sto argu tht he formal obsess of Oxen heute bilan adaped to R bject mater: Month By month In the womb fotos develops to maturity. Century by century. ‘lang ina murky Chaos (or what could Be more opaque tha he Shion and Latnate contractions a he opening pages) theses of nls prose move ever forward Into the present. The metaphors profoundly eran sgeting ta the development of weg ike Teqesotion snd bith fa human being snd imply Cat che ogc of Upon sary and inexorably tua ‘ne of the most rarkable documents in Joye etic, party becuse is author was Mins a tinguished pct, party because i ww the lat thing he wrote before apn Sto schizophrenia and ‘lence snd partly bent it prs Ks hypothesis of perfect mime form with such inexorable and unreleved pansion © A. M. Klis tou coy, The Once of he Su For ic, eve the number of iit secon, othe numeri onion of words beatence Sp (gut eral) t the hidden amber of embryoogeal and‘volutionary Ife Other readers have been more temperate, bt Ks’ passion spaksto something important in Uljaes the shee ower ofits will to order ~ o eater the seductive force with which i invites readers to pursue correspondences, cuinidences metaphors of all kinds Inthe case of ‘Orem ofthe Son the analogy between language and biology can be so persuasive that what might otherwise seem ‘rrati i taken to confirm and even to refine the paradigm, Ths, for Instance, tuart Gilbert takes care of certain deviations fom set, lterary chronology with the asurane thatthe growth of an embryo not uniform either that an ee, for example, ‘may develop out at teem The question remains of coutse whether the identifeation of particular styles with particular stage of foal development does not Push the concept of imitative fom over the brink, nto absurdity. AS Another of Joye's early readers pute Hor what organ caso, If ny. must Lyly represent the forturin the third mont, and Goldsmith in the sixth? And what's Bunyan to Mre Purefoy, or Mrs Parelay to Junie?” “Oxen of the Sun’ clearly bravura performance of some kind Perhaps what it represents though not so mich a story (whether bolopiclorliterary)asa moment ofextlarationand power onthe part ofits author. in his reading ofthe episode the argument shift fom » Poetic fascination with metaphor tos novelist focus on point of view, ‘on the site of uteanceiyou wil hat organics he pstice of styles Inoasteaght ine with sl athe end: the pont above and beyond all the others thats both culmination and a point of erigins. Anthony ‘Burgess speaks witha ello verste’s admiration when he says that of all the episodes in pst his the one he would most like to have writen: I san author's chapter 2 dazling and authortatve display of what English ean do. Moreover, tsa fulment of every author's tgotistial deste not merely oad o English Iteature but to enclose What sactully there’"But he adds~and tsa significant ‘but its 2 pity that Stephen and Bloom have to get let in the process of slorfying an ar thats supposed tobe thei servant." Writings the siteof mastery and servitude: s‘Oxen ofthe Sun’ then a misconcived rab at power as Burgess implies, ora much more deliberate challenge {0 whats ‘supposed’ tobe? If Jeyce is rewriting in the longline of Ierary history to show that he can more than dol, that he canbe Author Authors, why ae the imitations so uneven? Some sees ear the master-mimic’s touch: the Switesn acount ofthe rsh bli a gl hina shop (14.578-450) Mullan ae Ronse ana Sabena yee (coy tng In het] Seroing ech {eon for cna ee yt weting (0473898), Ober parodies ares omni. Te Dickenson moment fr nance Patewed a witout the fiverway dys thal ming {i'te babi ser Dickens ov hen you sah well he oursfin pup Son nerode (p02 Cay the adage Wrgig «psp of oy te diy that rns the mug voce ot tis ep tm tele of inary that Siti ips a tae ru heen ea in Si) pace fain Bu iyo opt frp on etait some pol ta Soyer wart ge the prodigy he {sored oad tht ih Chap aemburaning pec ‘tert ending onto had doenot nec eet subir the apoee = her then a suhral(8ly tore) ptt view, oon cpio Gosly prt) ree Iie tte scovldge tt omething Sarin happeing totbereaicp betwen ingen the rtd ais perape- "0 represen Th culver sng tings a erro tre breton tharos teas Mega “aly” imo's rela of textual pene and ntl. Kauringsmeiing aout he sage of compton fr the chapter ‘nfl ime ope soe wae kw en he Crgnds hemes toned tc he Recs cn of prseexeps ram Mander o Ratna Sunbury A Hitoy 2 ena Ps Ryn le ce if ltnded poles one rule mimi Nay, dso he tong parapophchnged ‘tom 2 ly slgt copy of Tact somtng tach cle 0 stich A textual ceading affaned tthe decetring phy of [guage caer ian nts ed an lec canty bt smoving pert ote ext macy Mae spect a nena Soran metapor atop hat tiene ke Ms Pury or Hey wom har her Seay temporary speed nnd pincer he nbora Chk te eta) Ian ao amore td acon ~ rst Terr by a brevocble ge tw the trace the word tress Farha, butyl for Us the stent gin col to pth varus nglge inte pce ops + andes box ofcomplicating and destabiling presures Faced with he gaps between ‘ach style and the one that fllons, you make abridge by appealing to Titrary history. But every tie you recall a pe-texts new gap opens up thistimebeteen the ination (which soften deliberately and ‘eps you ata distance} and the original it nvokes (hich draws you in, by memory, to an entre Sctonal world) But since the degre of parodi distortion changes at every tur, every new qustaton makes you lose your footing ina new way. The episode is further complicated ‘because not anly the Joyerantext shits ground ~2odoes each pretext invoked by memary asit imciberadiferent distance tothe reader and to the fitonal word. "Pepys! language, or example might sce the sponiancous expression of realty, rendering words transparent and the reader invsble. “Swift postions you in quite «diferent way. demanding your intervention 4s decoder It makes obvious that the ‘eltonship between words and meaning is not direct ~ that the story ites of Lord Huey, faemer Nichols andthe gelded bull requires imterpreation. Reading ‘Oxen of the Sun” you ae in Kaleidoscope space where every ‘Shake ofthe writing eretes a now caster of relationships between language and its origins, language and. ts reference language and st interpreter, Thave suggested tat the episade plays an interesting ge with its ‘own authority It plays, 100, with the pent of clone toward which every new parody seems to move asthe ine literary history comes forward into the present Play x distinguished fom work becuse itis energy expended forts own sake. There no slteror motive. No pay ois expected. In this sense atleast reading ‘xen of the Sun a oly be playful, for meaning (the hermeneutic pay-off} and closure (he plots reward) are both promised and denied. Things certainly seem roc intligibleas you progress toward the present but you do not ‘simply move out of the murk of early time isto a nal clarity. At 8 ‘certain point ~fonlcally after th tterance ofthe Weed =the writing "reverts toopacty The ast pagesareamong the mos dificultin lyase (Obviously the verbal confusion matches the increasing drunkenness of Stephen and his fends. But the claim of mimesis dos not ensine the ‘main question: why’ plot history tht returns to mutky chaos? ‘The inal pages play on the reader's seas fan ending the cll osu for those inthe pub i heard through the uous blend of voies. ‘Keep a watch on the clock. Chuckingout tie Fen to Ghosingtime, gents... Tle, gents Time all. Night. Night (ua.nasany 147%. 1534 1544 1961-3) The ast paragraph a fen announces the apoeaypae: even now tha day Isat hand Vane e shall come Ho judge the world by ie - UU mplerentar “Sripuurae = thatthe sriptures might be fale 14 3576-7) The hot fpoeling diatribe that follows pls out all the stops, invoking the Frophetc entrance o jh (Matthew +7:9-#1}-the Bod ofthe Lam [feelation 7 nq and 5:6-8), and the inal gathering in of sinners that Inarks the Duy of Judgement ip iscoming! Washed nthe Hn ofthe ah Came om you wining, ili boegarlingexitences! Cae on, you dp gone blloeked, [ecleboned: hoghied,psnutrained,weneieyed ourhshes Come ft Alsandet 3 Chit Dowie, has my nate, tha’ ake 1 logy ‘ot al hs plant iam rca each toVadvotck, The Del tt oe {Time bumshow He's the grandest thing yet and dont you forge Me ‘Shout vation King Soe ieasto 8) ut his 2 mock aposlypee, The cond coming is uel came ‘Sued the revel a We si. An wie the ial Yeas be Boo o Revlon proms he qunchingo Bs bythe word God the Dubner inlgence tok ba ute aoter effet ceting i not bo muck fled thrust foward in Hs opaque try nts nl gesture these movesaway rom Stephen nd Bloom. ‘tue elnng porpaph says very ie boat them (ence by Stugotng hat lou th och fo ph cod coming at {hen hs Brel sine gst thet) They dinppea nt ome fers ier inthe sent. coper when Sep, aptounced 2 the son an wring ipl het han roe the age [towed by om fish pong comming redandcoolteine ‘sds isfy raz Sonething has happened st Wesand for’ Suton, bt ater "Oxtn of he Suna ‘Ge chooses reve Stuttn fst inthe other se pl Ue oenvlng Sioom, Maly and Dylan), the Cul moment Between man and sromman are et ier Fe Slows you gto heaton sous Son's masoci fanosy ince and Mls pra reps In Penclope And as for is epreussons on the args, 0 ed tenween husband and il tat readers coatinue to argu over wht $meas Moly ring Soom his breskast in be the next morning nest mem (sont have mos) hse has raed be lessonand is restored to domestic happiness? Or dest rather mean that, ike so any of he fellow Dubliners in Uses, she has misconstrued the ‘words ofanotherand hard only what she wasreidy ta hea‘breakast inbed' (18.2) instead of loom’s'rx'aukegg (17. 2388-9) murmured ashe sip into seep? In'Oxen ofthe Sun’ the question of meaning even more radaly a Issue because its not simply a ar of leaving certain events out ofthe natatve Rather, the very pessbilty of making something present Tanguage is subverted — comically so, for instance inthe account of the bull of ireland and his seduction of every aid, wife bess and widow’ andthe end fo he tory] was thatthe men of te and. made whey {afl ede henstves nd ther bundles obtener stall mans ‘ec. manne yrs sprang eel fave pea the ches inte ‘wind. pt ber head etweee wind aod water weighed anchor, ported fet Ini, fan up the oly Rape ave tee tine the, let he bli ta, shed of hee bumbon a putt cf eve he mai of Aerie (463940) ‘There is such sheer exuberance in the writing: but to what effect? Instead of each addtional phrase enhancing the mimeti- power of language 2s ech additonal brash stroke on a canvas might increase your illusion of ‘the rea). che accumulation of phrases i such that language self sree, and meaning (ue the thing “ut there’ that language point) recedes nto the hackround. Before they even get ‘utaf the harbour themen of ireland capsize afullea of words, You may or may not agree with Burgess ruta judgement that it i pity ‘that stephen and Blom have o get lost inthe proces of glorying st rt that is supposed to be thei servant: he is aeverteless right to sce tht the expected hierarchy between words and tional word has been overturned. Closing ime la “Oxen ofthe Sun’ dscloees the loud and empty shetorie of salvation ~a twist on the biblical Ejah wo learns that God's rule is established in asi sal voice” (Kings, 1:12). Perhaps, afer A Portrait ofthe Artist, Joyce no longer ses himseis a kind of God, aloo, detached from his handiwork poring hisfingerals and capable of reveling the world in all its meaning ‘The ‘author’ that seems to speak in “Oxen of the Sun’ is siangely ‘unauthoritative ~ not so much a Joyce who parodies the pat to rocaim his superiority, as aJoyee who involves the reader In the Aiea of language, and who is bimsl, ke his characters and his Feaders,dapersed in language. Roland Bares's account of textuaity tnd its strategy of quotation is most appropriate to this episode. A Iwulivalent text, he tes, ancy out ts basic upon fit subverts the ppeniton between te ‘nai are gue, texters fs Mesto oii, tery propery, i detroys the vee which ould fivethetent Re(organi)uney-Formalvaene sa tangresion owner > ‘oxen of the Sun’ speaks forthe texs/tses in a mumbe of ways I plas om the themes of lsure and disclosure but tthe end ofthe line Feveal very it, shifting te attention (nd that ot reader} rom the Signed eo thesignfr. Weare refused that moment of clear vision, '3s {hough fice to face’, promised by Revelation, The episode tries out syle after syle, discarding ech in turn never allowing one to take nore than temporary precedence over anther and keeping seeders, Sivays, off Bilance. And because tere is no singe language that yrovidesandwuthorizs a meaning tether one ofthe voices the past or the voice Joyce standing above his ration) meaning canonly be Felton, produced inthe spaces between languages ~ in ther pay. Most pointedly, howeves, by its Lnpertinent manhanding of othe tering (impertinent inthe double sense: oth check and, variously, Inappropriate or inacursts). “Owen of ube Sun’ Wansgesss the principle of ownership on which both poetic and novelite readings Upend. The one amumes tha ll the ements in trary work — however complex and paradoxical ~ ultimately cohee in a formal and ‘hort unity tha he reader must diseover. The oer (in some ways tonlya more particular version of the fist assumes thatthe piveged_ fying fore the human voice and individual peycology- To read Utes as a novel sto asa every ture, "who speaks” and, beyond that “what do these words say about the one who “owns” them?” To ead Ulyses aa tent sto be nota te perverse and foc instead on the places where connections come wartuck and the weaving ays because it specie at sch poms that the playfulness ofthe text Implctes the reader and allows sell to be seen ‘One the Sun ke Uses, a contested trai on which poet, novelist, and textual readings stake thei claims. 1 fers ambious {nswets to questions of formal nd thematic unity. (umn, linguistic,and aesthetic life are all subsumed under an organic metaphor of {growth and birth) I sheds its laleidoscopic light on Stephen and Bloom 2 key moment in her (anveiting search fo each othe, and witha ran, strobe ight intensity that smalteneously illuminates and distorts, speeds up and slows down, it embeds them ina sharply ‘observed Social world (arto the fun ofthe pide recognising the Players behind the rhetorical veils) R also turns on isl ke Penelope's web, to unravel those sions orginal, suthorty, and authorship, and to josle thore pices of ienity, upon which “Literture’ traditionally ress, 1 "Use order and my, Dia 75 (Noverber 1923) 8-3 pt. CH 1 268-71, 2 Hugh Reooer makes a sinior pot in is Uys (ation: Johns Hopkins Unies res, een 298) p. 38 aed oa extra sy sberpon and veal of Sayce's work, Renner stay ofl of ins 2 James y's Ups (Lando: Faber 1930) 4 Fore reading eat wks centrally with Lin's shams, see Richard lmann Ups the ify (Landon: Faber, 193) 5 See for example Wii M,Schate,Joerond Shere’ A Std nthe Meo Uae Ne Hen: Ya Univers Press) and Mar) 7 eyo, er and ant Th Siping mean Pion rnin : University Pre 98) i 6 seul etree work Weldon Thornton's Also in “Uys i (Chapel Universty of Nore Cain Pres.) See also Don i ier, “jeer” Annee (Brey: Unvesty af Calera Pese 198) (Bath werk, ofcourse ao retro contents Cs 24 of this ome deal with Some ofthe most important comets a y's wort, Posed dated 5 aruary 1930 from Tete (ters F135) mann ‘ports tht Joyce hed ake fo he mame lemon i ner card ‘Bont two eae (i 785 Se for example lve Har and 120 Knuth, A Topgraphicl Gl so James Jee ‘Uae Cleese: A Wake Newltes Pee 1973) and Sick Mery, dees Dubin A Walking Cueto “lp (ua Wolthound Pres, 1988) 4 fora very wef secant of Dublin nglsh, se Anthony Burge, prc: Aa trot othe Langue of Jame Soe (Landon: Ande Dewac, 297) Impala ch, The Dublin Sound 10 The want i Gao de Angels. whose cme ced by Shiney ‘ocr, nae by Fe Se nook many tr’ a Pha Sey, ey "Umer Pty Years lager indian Univers Pres wrk ab 1 The dees Ue oss fr taster and the eights that thet IMbours an provide, have been billy explivd by Pet Senn ee thet a Joes Bsus says Ring ot rant Ian Paul Rigorne (tore Jb Hoping Uiversty Pre 08a) ta Robert yl "Miracle a lice ike glance at Joye’ we fs ‘Shari mage Staley “Ue fly Yar 7 1 Calla any 1 (london Hogarth Pres, 966) 34 1 tera conde presentation the nto of text ee Rolin Barthes, Pron rk to fet in Inge Muse Test, e8. Septem Heh (Glasgow Calinontans 197) BP. 55-€4. 15 ere and Nov, Gamay 1943) 2-48 1 dames ge ys. p93 Vp mary tevin Somes lo etl Itradction (Landon: aber, 19 rev cd 160} 9.95 18 edge (New Ter: Neron, 968 p36: Plein Bai Here ‘mcr Eero foams Joye fr he Oia Rae (Uandoo: aber, 1985) vy See) Atherton, Qnen fhe Su inive Hat and Dav Hayman, tn Uj Cia rays (ere Uniery of airs Pres, Sad ps ao $2: Richard Moward ew Yok: Hill and Wang, 974k 4-5