Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Beckett - Dante Bruno Vico Joyce

    Uploaded by

    cycnus13
    138 views10 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    138 views10 pages

    Beckett - Dante Bruno Vico Joyce

    Uploaded by

    cycnus13

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 10
    (On Works © 1951 108 4 5. (On Endgume 106, 6 On Play uw 1 (On Murphy (to Sighle Kennedy) 113 8 Program note for Endgame 114 {2 Words about Painters 1 Geer van Velde ur 2 La Peinturedes van Velde 118 3 eintres de "Empéchement 133 4 ‘Taree Dislogues be 5 enti Hayden Homme-Peintre 146 6 “Hommage 3 Jack B. Yeats 8 n Henri Hayden 150 8 [Bram van Velde ut 8, Pour Avigdor Arikha Par IV: Human Wishes 133 Notes 1 i r Foreword Dieta is Becket’s own tide fot this miscellany of rticisin and a ‘dramatic fragment. Unpublished or published obscurely, these pieces have been available ooly in afew fortunate libraries, Tis in {enersity to scholars —on the special plea of Dr James Acheson that Samuel Beckett now permits the publication of materia) which he beltles as mere products of friendly obligation oF economic need. Since the volume is compiled for scholars who read several nguags, Becket sults tat thse ‘its tnd pieces’ be printed inthe language of composition, Like other scholars familie with Becket’ criticism, {value it more than its author does. Like other scholars oo, I believe that the miscellany harbors anesthetic, but Becket’ cite never~ theless resists a Procrustean coherence. Beckett himself observes {on Feuillerat’ ‘ordering’ of Prous). a behuifal unity of tone ‘od treatment would have, as it were embalmed the whole. To _oid embalming the whole, we should savor Becket’ morsels ia All their variety Although Beckett does noe swerve from commitment to an art ‘of questions, hesitation, explorations — its theory and practice — ‘his expression erupes in provocative articles, lisdainful fviews, reflective essays, searching leters, and rare lyrical homage. To invite continuous reading, I have grouped the ‘ateral by subject: 1) more or less formal esthetics, 2 teary -siticism, 3) ar criticism. By way of introduction, however, 1 fer to move in striter chronology: 1) Becket’ early mannered ‘nevertheless dlisceming_ perceptions; 2) commissions for 7 1. Dante... Bruno. Vico . . Joyce he danger isin the neames of identifications. The coneeption of Philosophy and Philology as apt of rigger minstrels ot of Teatro dei Polis sothing, Ike the contemplation of 4 fully folded ham-ssndvich. Giabattsta Vieo hinsef cold resist the atracivens of such eoncidence of gesture. He radon complete identification between the. philosophical tion an the empiric ilustason, thereby znnuling the olism of ach conception — hoisting the real unjustifably ear of its dimensional limits, temporligng that ‘which is catemporsl. And ow here’ am I, with my handful of dons, among which notably: « mountain the coincidence contri, the ineviabilty of eyeic evolution, system of and the prospect of seifextension inthe world of Mr yee Work in Progra. There isthe temptation to eat every poncept ike’ ass drop neck fast in la bing erat’ and make really tly jb off. Unfortunatly sud an exctide of pplication would imply distortion in one oftwo directions. Must pre wring the neck of & certain sytem n-order to sf tino a ontemporary pigea-le, oF modify the dimensions of that hole forthe stisfiction of the analogymongers? Literary iicism is no bookkeeping. Giambanista Vico was a practical roundheaded Nespaian. I es Croce to consider him ata mystic, etetally speculative, a empiri. ea surprising interpretation, secing ‘ore than three-Aifths of his Saeras Nuva scorn ith bmpiicl investigation. Croce opposes him tthe refornatve posteialisic school of Ugo Grotto, nd abeoves him fram the Beiltarian preoccupations of Hobs, Spinors, Lock, Baye and chive. All his cannot be swallowed without protest. Vico nes Providence at "ome mete sem dire of ale ele itta 9 contraria € sempre superiors ad exi fink particalari che ex wom i ‘avewano prope dei gual fini rite ft mezzi per serra fi pi ‘ampi, gli ba sempre adperati per eoeroare Temona genrszion in ‘questa terra.’ What could be more definitely wsltarinism? His treatment of the origin and funetions of poetry, language and myth, a5 will appear ater, is as far removed from the mysteal as its posible to imagine. For our immediate purpose, however, it matters litte whether we consider him at a mystic or as & scientific investigator; but there are 0 two ways about considering him as an investor. His division of the development fof human society into three ages: Theocratic, Heroic, Human (civilized), with + corresponding classification of language: Hieroglyphic (excred), Metaphorical (poetic), Philosophical (capable of abstraction and generalization), was by no means new, though ie must have appeared so to his contemporaries. He derived this convenient classiication from the Egyptians, via Herodotus: At the same time it i impossible to deny the , ‘originality with which he applied and developed its implications. is exposition of the inelutable circular progression of Society was completely new, although the germ of it was contained in Giordano Bruno's treatment of identified contaries. Buti sin Book 2, described by himself s ‘tuto il oro la ciaw matstra 41" oper’, that appears the unqualified originality of bis mind; here he evolved a theory of the origins of poetry and language, the significance of myth, and the nature of burbarie civilization that must have appeared nothing lest than an impertinent outrage agains tradition. These two aspects of Vico ‘have their reverberations, their reapplicatons — without, however, receiving the faintest expiciilustration — in Workin Progress Teis first necessary to condense the thesis of Vieo, the siemtific historian. In the beginning was the thunder: che thunder st free Religion, in its most objective and unphilosophical form — ‘dolarous animism: Religion produced Society, and the frst Social men were the cave-dwellers, taking refuge from a palsionate Nature: this primitive family ie receives its frst Impulse towards development from the arrival of terified vagabonds: admitted, they are the first slaves: growing stronger, they exact agrarian concessions, and adespotiam has evolved into 4 primitive feudalism: the eave becomes a city, and the feudal 0 system 4 democracy: the an anarchy: this correct by 2 rum to monarchy: the lst sage is a tendency Towards Imerdestrution the nats ate diprse, sod the Phoenix of Society aries out of thr ashes. To thir sbtermed socal reson coresponds a sitermed,progeson of uman Fras aecoly, uly, conveence, ple hry, abuse OF loway: and their tearate- manfeatins: Plypiemss, Senile, Cac and Alexander, Tiberi, Clg and Nero. At this point Vio applies Brno tng he tale very gpd cre tot fo say so rand proceeds from rather arbitrary dats (0 philosophical sbaracion. There in difecns ay9/Bruno) Eetween the smal pose chord nd the rls posible re, difference benwen the infinite cre andthe sag ine. The froxima and minima of parr contra ae one nd indiferent Minimal heat equals iinal call. Consequently ttansmutitions ae cular The principle (ninimom) of one orate is movement fom he rnp naxima)of one Suthen ‘There ot enly do the minima crnede with the minima, the maxima wit the maxi, tutte mina wih the tara in the sucsson of tanematons Maximal pedis {ae ofrest.-The meximan of corption ind the minim of {eveation sre tent in prince, corpo i generation. Kin all things ae lintel deni with God, the eiers toma, Monad of mona. Frum these considerations Vico troled & Science and Pilsophy of History. Te may be an msing exerci fo ae an hitral fire, sch as Scipio, and iets No.3; eof a0 ulate inporance. Wha is of timate importance the recogion tat the passage from Scipio to Caer a ineviable athe passage fom Casa to Tiber, since the lowers of eorrption n Scipio snd Case ae the seeds of walty in Car and Tiberius. Thos we have he Spectacle of «human progression that depends fo ts mover Gn indvidas and whch atte se tine independent of individuals in views of what appears to be +. preordsind {eles follows that History tnt toe considered a4 formless structure, dae encusvely t0 the achievement of individoa ages, nora possessing rely apart fom and independent of thm, accoplished behind ther backs in pte of them, the work of some superior force, vriocly Known a Fat, Chance, Fortune, God. ath these views, the rsteralsic and n 1. Dante... Bruno . Vico The danger isin the neatness of identifications, The conception of Philosophy and Philology as a pair of nigger minstrels out of the Teatro de Piccoli is soothing, like the eoatemplation-of a ‘carefully folded ham-sandwich. Giambatista Vico himself could fot resist the atractivenes of such coincidence of gesture. He {nsied on complete identification between the philosophical abstraction and the empirical illustration, thereby annulling the “bsoluism of each conception — hoisting the eal unjusinably ‘ear of its dimensional limits, temporalizing that which is Gautemporal And now here am 1, with my handful of Sbstractions, among which notably: a mountain, the enincidence (Of eomtraties, the inevitability of elie evolution, a system of Poetics, and the prospect of selEextension in-the world of Mr Joyce's Workin Progen. There is che temptation to treat every “Concept like'a bass dropt neck fust in ita bung crate’, and make a really tidy job of it Unfortunately such an exactitude of “pplication would imply distortoa in one of two directions. Must, Wwe wring the neck of a certain system inorder to stuf it into a ontemporary pigeorhole, oF modify the dimensions of that pigeon hole forthe satisfaction of the dnalogytbongers? Literary Criticism is noe book-keeping. Giambatista Vico was a practical coundheaded Neapolitan, It pleases Croce to consider him asa mystic, esenialy speculative, Vieques de? empirion’. Weis, surpesing interpretation, seeing that more than thee-fifths of his Sima Nereus concerned with empirical invesigaion. Croce opposes him ro the reformative materialistic school of Ugo Grozio, and absolves him from the Luitaian preoceupations of Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Bagle and ‘Machiavelli All this cannoe be swallowed without protest. Vico defines Providence as: ‘ime mente spe diver ol lle wl sitta 9 the transcendental, Vieo rejects in favour of the rational Individuality is the concretion of universality, and. every vidual action is at the same time superindividual. The individval-and the universal cannot be considered as distinct from eich other. History, then is ot the result of Fate or Chance — in both cases the individual would be separated from his product — but the esul of a Necessity that is aot Fate, ofa Liberey that is ‘not Chance (compare Dante's ‘yoke of liberey)- ‘This force he called Divine Providence, with his tongue, one felt, very much inhis cheek. And it isto this Providence that we must trace the three institutions common to every society: Church, Marriage, Burial. This is not Bossuer's Providence, wanscendentl and ‘miraculous, but immanent and the stuff itself of human life ‘working by natural means. Humanity is its work i itself. God acts on her, butby meansof her. Humanity is divine, but no man is divine, This social and historical classification i clearly adapted by Mr Joyce asa structural convenience — or inconvenience. His Position is in no way a philosophical one. It i¢ the detached attitude of Stephen Dedlus in Porrat of the Arti... who describes Epictetus to the Master of Studies as ‘an old gentleman ‘who said thatthe soul is very like a bucketful of water.”"The lamp js more important than the lamp-lighter. By structural I do not ‘only mean a bold outward division, a bare skeleton for the housing of material. mean the endless substantial variations on these three beats, and interior interewining ofthese three themes into a decoration of arabesques — decoration and more than decoration, Part 1 is 2 mass of past shadost, corresponding therefore to Vic's frst himan institution, Religion, of to hie ‘Theocratc age, or simply to an abstraction — Birth Part isthe Tovegame ofthe children, corresponding to the second institution, “Marriage, orto the Hero age, or tan abstraction — Maturity Par 3 is passed in sleep, corresponding to the third institution, Burial, orto the Human age, orto an abstraction — Corruption. Part 4 is the day beginaing aguin, and correspond to Vico's Providence, or tan abstaction — Generation. Mr Joyce does not take birth for granted, as Vico seems to have done. So much forthe dry bones. The ceasciousoes that there isa great deal of the unborn infant inthe lifeless ecegenarian, and a gest deal of| ‘oth in the man a che apogee of his ife's curve, removes all the iff interexclusiveness that is often the danger in. neat n construction. Corruption is not excluded from Part 1 nor maturity from Part 3. The four ‘lovedroyd curdinal’ are presented on the same plane — ‘is element curdinal numen and his enement curdinal marrying and his epulent curdinl weisswasch and his eminent curdinal Kay o! Kay!” There are numerous references to Vico's four human institutions — Providence counting as one! ‘A good clap, a fore wedding, a bad wake, tell hells well: their weatherings and thee marryings and their buryings and their natural sletion' ‘the lightning look, the birding ery, awe from the grave, everlowing on ou times “by four hands of forethought the frst babe of reconcilement is lai in its last cradle of hume sweet hume.” ‘Apart from this emphasis on the tangible conveniences ‘common to Humanity, we find frequent expressions of Vico insistence on the inevitable character of every progression — oF retrogression: “The Vico road goes round to meet where terms begin. Still onappeaied wo by. the eyeles and enappalled by the ecoursets, we fel all serene, never you fret, 38 regards our datyful cask... before there was a man tal in Ireland there wwas 2 lord at Lucan. We only wish everyone was as sure of anything in this watery world as we are of everything in the nevslywer fellow that's bound to follow... "The effertresh- ppinted livy in beautfcrepose upon the silence ofthe dead from Pharoph the next fist down to ramescheckles the last bust thing. "In fac, under the close eyes of the inspectors the traits featuring the chiaroscuro conlesce, their contrarietes eliminated, in one stable somebody similarly as by the providential warring of heartshaker with howscbresker and of dramdrinker against freethinker our social something bowls along bumpily, experiencing a jlting series of prearranged disappointments, down the long lane of (’s as. semper as oxhousehumper) generations, more generations and sill more generations’ — this Insta case of Mr Joyce's rare subjectvism. Ina word, heres all hhumanity circling with fatal monotony about the Providential fualerum — the ‘convoy wheeling encireuling abound the ‘gigantig’slifetre’. Enough bas been sai, ofa least enough has been suggested, to show bow Vieo is substantially present inthe Workin Praren, Passing to the Vico of the Poctics we hope to establish an even more striking, if less direct, relationship. View rejected the three popular interpretations of the poetic 2B spirit, which considered poctry a cther an ingenious popular expression of pilosophizal conceptions, or an amusing social diversion, or an exact science within the research of everyone in possession ofthe recipe. Poetry, he sys, was born of exo, Gughterof ignorance. The fit men had to create mater bythe force oftheir imagination, and "poet means ‘crestor. Poetry Was the frst operation ofthe human mind, and without fe ought could nor exis. Barbarians, ineapabie of analysis and abstraction, rust use their fanasy to explain what their reasons cannot comprehend. Before articulation comes song, before abrract terms, metaphors. The figurative character ofthe odes poetry rust be regarded, not a sophisiesed coneconery, but 28 evidence of «poverty-stricken vocabulary and of «disability 10 Schieve abstraction. Pory is exentilly the antithesis of “Metaphysics: Metaphysics purge the mind of the senses and cultivate the dsembodiment of the sic tnd feeing and animate the insninate; Metaphysis are most perfoct when mos concered with univers; Pty, wh most Concerned with particu. Pot a the sens, philosophers the intligence of bumanity- Considering the Scholases’ axiom: ‘wee ® elintleo che prima ran a nel sna, i follows that poetry is a prime condon of philosophy and civization, The Primitive animistic movement was a manifestation ofthe forma pote del spirit His treatment ofthe origin of language procs slong similar lines, Hlre again he fejected the materiale and transcendental views the one declaring that language was nothing but » polite Ind conventional symbolism, the other, ia desperation, describing it as a fit from the Gods. As before, Vieo i the ‘atonalist, avare of the satu and inevitable growth of language: In is frst dumb form, language was gesture fa man wine to say “se, he pointe wo the sea. With the spread of ‘nimis this genre wat replaced by the word: ‘Neprune. He direts our attention tothe fat that every need of lie, natural ‘moral and economic, has ts vera expression in one or othe of the 30,000 Greck divinities. ‘This is Homer's “anguage ofthe Gods Is evolution throu poetry ta highly vile veil, ich io abstract and tecnial terms, was a itl fortuitous asthe evolution of society itself. Words have thei progeetsions at tell 15 social phases. Forest-cabin-illagecityacademy’ sone rough ” al Peery is all passion, progression. Another: ‘nountain-plain-iverbank’. And every ‘word expands with psychological inevitability. Take the Latin word: ‘Le. Lex = Crop of acorns. Tree that produces acorns. To gather. He that gathers the water Gathering together of peoples, public as- sembly. Lex = Law. Legere = To gather together eters into word, tread. “The oot of any word whatsoever can be rice back o see pre nga! symbol. Ths car tnt tsb the er on the prt produced be Type-ames, Ie the eis mind over again, The eid extendt the eames of the Sint fiir chjecs nbn wrange cps in whch he conto of ome tnalogy. The fist ee, sable oconeive the bac Sen of ‘poeta hr’ sumed very her fer the fit hero, every post Aer the fs pot, Recognising ti cst of desing 2 dumber of individual bythe nas of tele prcatypes, we ean Caplan vais casi tod mythological netics Hermes the prota peothe Egyptian inventor so for Ram, the great Invitees the Gres hero so fr Homer.‘ Vico asers the spntncy of language and denies the dualism Of pty and lange Stills psy the foundation of Sreing. When langage conisted of geste, the spolen and tien were ental Hieoplyphic, or sacred language, 8 be Sas wer matte etin of penst yine Srpreion of poled tought, tthe conten nec of Drmitive peoples Convenience only begins wo serie at afar Thor advance stage of cilia, i the fom f lpia, Here Vic, imply tc, igus ren wring snd direct exprsn. ncach dct expresso, fem snd contest re inseparable, Example ae the medal the Mile Age, which tore ison até were me estnony 0 he bene er convenonl ipa writing an the Bags fo vn dy. ‘As wth Per Languages vith Myth Mt coring Vio is et an alegre expeson of gnc ‘ins (Cont, Baty ors deraive fom parila people, a 4s for instance the Hebrews or Fgyptians, nor yet the work of isolated poets, but an historical statement of fact, of actual contemporary’ phenomens, actual inthe sense that they were created out of necessity by primitive minds, and firmly believed. Allegory implies a threefold intellectual operation: the construction of a message of general significance, the preparation of a fabulous form, and an exercise of considerable technical dificulty in uniting the two, an operation totally beyond the reach ofthe primitive mind. Moreover, if we consider the myth a being essentially allegorical, we are not obliged to accept the form in which iti east asa statement of fact. But we know that the actual eretors of these myths gave fll credence to their face value. Jove was no symbol he was terbly real I was precisely their’ ‘supericial metaphorical character that made them intelligible to people incapable of receiving anything more abstract chan the plain record of objectivity Such is a painful exposition of Vico's dynamic treatment of Language, Poetry and Myth. He may still appear as a mystic to some: if 0, a mystic that rejects the transcendental in every shape and form’ as 2 facor in human development, and whose Providence is not divine enough todo without the cooperation of Humanity. ‘On turning tothe Wark in Progren we find thatthe mirrors not so.convex. Here is direct expression — pages and pages oft. And if you don’t understand it, Ladies and Gentlemen, itis because you are too decadent to receive it You are not satisfied unless orm is so. strictly divorced from content that you can comprehend the one almost without bothering to read the other “The rapid skimming’and absorption ofthe scant cream of sense is ‘made possible by what | may calla continuous proces of copious intellectual salvation. The form that is an arbitrary” and independent phenomenon can fll no higher function than that of stimulus for a tertiary or quarary conditioned reflex of dribbling comprehension. When Miss Rebecca West clears her decks fora sorrowful deprecation of the Naristie element in Me Joyce by the purchase of 3 ats, one feels that she might very well ‘wear her bib at all het intllecusl banquets, or alternatively, assert a more noteworthy control over her salivary gland than Is possible for Monsieur Pavlov's unfortunate dogs. The ttl ofthis book is a good example of form carrying a strict inner 6 determination, It sd be poo apie heal alley of cerca igen and ay agente some» den neear fos Jott proving toa the Ques Hal, pinging ir toning gh pane ngs tht have not yet Ben Ife at ef stoce. Mr Joye ara word oy toy on the tabjre Veto conc sly oneal ee oe the poptlogal cnet of ey document ro thee sgl of the Enelopng fcr theses chommstatating Be pst at harmfl ""And ane Who i as et bs i tat the act feminine caring ae hte i the in cr that the {eine on sage tn tea, tee a ae tae ony lite tte re? Or that one may Berard rom thecther’ Orth bat nay be onsite uaa? Ot thaceah may be kn up trmsnd comida om he oaks? Here frm content, conten orm. You capi ha hi selfs owen a Engh, Kis oe wine al es ot Devendra ett only tobe ead escola st thd need (a ie wong i noe stings at femting (A fst hat has bec pel by th einnt Erngish elt and hocan whore werk in comple poston wo Mr Joye’) When the sae cx, the wore go {Wren of Ame vu) When he se cing, the ends dance. Tak te pstage the of Shar por “Tosi op loves jong fr Il wt ir bach cop hampogoe imming doe fen hr pep of ie ese ght ‘aera oa ny moybrested und while my psi oir ‘Faig wisdom are ping ber bale Tavera et ou Sea) ‘by the bumper um! of my. por ot soaggleots fcldbwwel new prove mane hae you ing Tongs ny bole bos, Down. The lnguge rk The ery wo are ud and elcrescn. ow en ve gully this fone ce gan wieut wich eco peo snare hese with forever ng he sre of he form 3 Deco the om wa Se Angstine puta onthe ta of Word wh hit ides Dante as ‘Dome er inlets over, tod Vt te hind, ol eb is ‘end? sogens sync pein, When, an Tatars ray en, He mean oming etc td ud’ Hcpivnas uns tof wton, Poa ” “apprchension’ isthe most satifictory English word. Stephen bw Lynch “Tempo orsathe etc mage st luminously apprehended as selfbounded and selfcontsined upon the immeasurable background of space or tme which snot YYou apprehend its whelenes’ There is one point to make clr the Beauty of Workin Praren is not presented i space alone, Site deg prteso pend ont ty 48 on its audit There a temporal as wel a spatal unit Sofas. Site al ro the qua, and ie becomes obvious why i is a inadequate to speak of reading’ Work in Prager ash would be exravagine to spk. of “apprehending the work ofthe late Mr Nat Gould, Mr Joyce has letophistcated language. And ici worthwhile searing hat ‘io language is so sophisticated. English. eis abstracted to _Beathe Take the word ‘doab' i gves Ray any Senous ‘iggestion of hesitancy, of the aoesity for choice, of sate iron, When he Geman Ze das and, ee legree, the Tllan ‘Gubiare. Mr Joyce recognize how inadequate “ou wo express a state of extreme uncertain, and replaces it by in swosome twimins” Nor he by any means the fi to recognize the importance of treating words as smething more than mere polite symbels. Shakespeare wes ft, greasy ‘words to express corruption ‘Dullrshouldst thou be than the at ‘weed hat rots itself in death on Lethe whar?. We hear the ooze squelching all through Dickens's description of the ‘Thames in rat Epcos. i ring tht ou fo oe s+ qintssential extraction of language and painting and gesture, Shthall the inviable cy of teal nareulaton Here isthe Savage economy of bicroglyphis. Here words are notte polite contortions of 20Gh centiry printer’ ink. They ae alive. They ‘low ther way ont the page, and low and blaze and fade nd isappear. “Brawn is my name and broad is mj natre and I've brit on my brow and als right with every feature and Tl brane this bird or Brown Bes bung’s gone bundy.” This is Brawn blowing witha light gust through the tees or Brawn passing with the sunset. Boose the wind inthe tes means a lite to you a8 the evening prospect fom the Piazale Michelangiclo — though ‘you accept them both bosuse your nonacceprnce would be of no significance, ths litle adventure of Brawn means hothing t9 {You = and you donot acpi, eventhough he also your non: acceptance is of no sigicance. HL. C, Farwiger, 00 is nt ‘Content to be mentioned like a shllig-shocker villain, and then Stopped uot the exigencies ofthe narrative require tha he be Sat refered to. He continues to suggest himself fra coupe of Pages, by means of repeated permutation on his “normative Fete, aif to say: This all about me, H.C. Earwigger: dont forget this is all about me! This inner elemental waity and Comuption of expression imparts 2 furious restlessness t0 the fort, which is admirably suited to the purgstoral aspect of the work. ‘There is an endless verbal germination, maturation, putrsfaction, the cyclic dynamism of the itermediate. This Peduction of various expressive media wo thei primitive economic Cireetness, and the fusion of these primal essences into an Sssimilated medium for the exterioration of thought, is pure ‘Vion, and Vieo, applied to the problem of style. But Vico is reflected more explicitly than by a distillation of disparate poetic Fngredients into a symthetical syrup. We notice that there ile for no attempt at subjctiviem oF abstraction, no attempt at metaphysical generalization. We are presented with a statement (Of the particular. Is the old myth: eh girl onthe dir tracky the fhwo Washerwomen on the banks of the river. And there is Considerable animism: the mountain ‘ibhearing\, the iver ping her old doudheen (See the beautifl passage begining: Fist she Tet ber hair fall down and ie fussed.) We have Type-tames: Isolde — any beautiful girl: Earwigger — Guinnesss Brewery, the Wellington monument, che Phoenix Park, anything that ‘occupies an extremely comfortable postion between the to Stools. Anna Livia herself, mother of Dublin but no more the ‘only mother than Zoroaster was the only oriental stargazer. “Tcems of times and happy returns. The same anew. Ordovico oF viricordo, Anna was, Livia is, Plarabelle’s to be. Northmen’s thing made Southfolk’s place, but howmultyplurators made ‘eachone in person.’ Basta! Vico and Bruno are here, and more Substantially chan would appear fram this swift survey of the (question. For the benet of those who enjoy. « parenthetical heer, we would draw.attention tothe fact that when Mr Joyce's ‘early pamphlet The Diy of Rabblonent appeared, the local philosophers were thrown info a state of some bewilderment by a Feferene inthe first line “The Nola’. They finally suceeded in identifying this mysterious individual with one ofthe obseurer * a L tncient ris kings In the preset work he appears frequen as ‘trowne & Noli, the sume of» very vematlabe Dublin Boolaler and Station. “To justify our il, we must move North, ‘Sie fume {Areal gron il’. Ben lip oes ios ‘entor ton ¢ pi wi” andthe “sil. today” lteety alent det Shen the Mem’ ete a Considerable ireunstanil salary. They bth ew how worn out and tiveadbare was the convenonal langue of cong literary rticer, both rete an approximation to a niera language. I Egih'is ot yt so dfn pole nec lan a ine Mil gt stone jie nel tits positon in raion t ther Earoptn languages ts reat extet that of mediaeat Latin othe Tain des Dane Ait no adopt the vulgar ot of any kindof oe ingot nor ot of any determinnon taser the espero of Tsan a i fra as frm of spolen Tain. On resdng his De Vlg luni we ate stk by hi compete freon fea te intlerance. He stacks the works Poradowniane, ‘Naw ingen ccc atin ta a ais dln Sekt xe bk, ution rt ca propan egret, det ‘naernom lotion, Nor to, ei maa tpt ete Whe he cone to ctanne the des he nde Toc apsimam «fe oman erp ba ae retain bi aid it alare ud anes quam edo pus Tascmoram." His conson i ta the ernpon ommmon tall the daesakes it inpossibleto sel one ether than another as an adequate literary form, ad that he who would wnt inthe vulgar at asemble the pret cements rm exch inet ‘and consrvct»sytbei lanunge that sould les Possesy more than 4 circumscribed Toe interes wich Pressly what he dil. He did not wrt ia Flerentin ay mote than in Neapolitan He wrote a valgarthat ul he been spoken by a ical Tain who had assimilated what was best see dec his coum: tr wh in ft wan rainy ok spoken nor everhad teen. Which dose ofthe apa abjeeon that might be mae gst this ative paral beween Dane and Me Joyce in the question of lnguage, ve thats et Dante ‘rote What was being spoken inthe sree of his own town, whereas no ereture in heen or earth ve spoke teenage of 30 Work in Pras. ssn oa ha nna phere mt bcp oping sr 00 foe Beran" Tmeesiea frome Cal bespoke the Ieage ofthe Dine Comey. Were nin wp ha Beker pute vs Latte fmol ch eo edgy Lange undc, bys Lat Eatecttsoof Paton spd ch ally ato be a by he eer Mme etm me a hs ‘Satou dames forthe sve dacs ot “tina rage an fh eins mad ft gi esd fect: Smoking stv pipet the proceso Leer uk istaveurte arn the slg resins Dare ott te adn oe ac find to wel made cps in the ‘Cnc one to the callectve mod of th mms seins we ry pacd by a faire to dicover noc n the concise tnd Dicirry and win quay ate ving fs Bate the formal structure ray Mr Joyce after years pte and inspired labours ‘Qu ao declan pre on win oS tna pas gia dea rip milepost alt ke ado ‘eso eon pra per an ciel pasare Za saa, tat lesen, ets al epost are. Fb ei gi tol tv polar, er ana he der li, fae eens Jere wn mre And the ae or Me Joyce, biog fn wor: ‘Qeeo (ormal innovate ar ee ano, se une, i gale sng or Pet rammtr ear la rhe nn te ari peo ste ac aw nos lash, ete shoul pul dwn crt bis eyes and lag behind the ps, 1 taza in tei eer by edo ein Dae Curios mise speking of the origin of ngage, when ejects the authonky of Genes that Eve was the sf pea, tvhen she addresed the Serpent. His Incedlicy is amusing Soom paar am gam bana gv i, prs om o te, feminapofice’- Bat before Eve was bor, he {himas were given names by Adam the man who rst sd 00 toa goo Moreover i xpi sted tat the coe of ‘ues wos let ene to Ada, s0 that there isnot he lightest Biblical authority forthe oneption of anguage adr gi of God, any mote than there te any intel autor for u Pees eee 4 ee cete ee of f j conceiving that we are indebted forthe ‘Concert tothe individual ho used to buy paine for Giorgione) ‘We know very litle abot the immediate reception accorded to Dante's mighty vindication of the ‘vulgar’, but we ean form our ‘own opinions when, two centuries later, we find Castiglione splting more than a few hairs conceming the respective advantages of Latin and Ialin, and Poliriano writing the dllest ‘of dull Latin Elegies to justify his existence asthe author of Or! and the ‘Stance. We may also compare, if we think it worth while, the storm of ecclesiastical abuse raised by Mr Joyce's work, and the treatment thatthe Divine Comedy must cersinly have received from the same source. His Contemporary Holiness ‘might have swallowed the crucifixion of Yo soma Give’, and all it stond for, but he could scarcely have looked with favour on the spectacle of thre of is immediate predecessors plunged head. foremost in the fery stone of Malebolg, nor yet the identfation Of the Papacy in the mystical procession of Terrestrial Paradise with a putzna sila’. The De Monaria was burnt publicly under Pope Giovanni XXII atthe instigation of Cardinal Beltrando and the bones ofits author would have suffered th same fate but for the interference ofan influential man of letets, Pino della Toss Another point of comparison is the preoccupation with the sigificance of numbers. The death of Beatrice inspired nothing less than a highly complicated poem dealing with the importance of the number 3 inher lie. Dante never cessed tobe obsessed by this number. ‘Thus the poem is divided into three Cantiche, each ‘composed of 33 Cant ad writen in terza rima, Why, Mr Joyce ‘seems to say, should there be four legs toa table, and four to a hhorse,and-four seagons and four Gospels and four Provinces in Ireland? Why twelve Tables ofthe Law, and twelve Apostles and twelve months and twelve Napoleonic marshals and twelve men in Florence called Ottolnghi? Why should the Armistice be celebrated at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day 6f the eleventh ‘month? He cannot tell you because he isnot God Almighty, but ina thousand years he wil tell you, and inthe meantime must be ‘content to know why:horses have not five legs, nor thre. He is ‘conscious that things with a common numerical charscterstic tend towards a very significant interrelationship. This preoccupation is freely translated in his present work, sce the “Question and Answer chapter, andthe Four speaking through 2 the chil’ brain, They are the fur winds at much athe four Provines, andthe foot Episcopal Ser ss ch eter As word tee Pron, Dae ls consequently imple culmination. Me Joye sper Cccluces clinton Inthe one thre i an sce fom rel Sogeation ~ Ante Purgury, to Heal voetsion Teresa Parade. nthe ater tere no scent and no el vegeston Inthe oe, slurs preprasion and pursed conten inthe eter, fx progestion or rerogression and an parent consummation nhe onemovemeatsunidtecinal nd sep forward veprects ae advancein the oer naneen o

    You might also like