The "Woman of No Appearance": James Joyce, Dora Marsden, and Competitive Pilfering

Author(s): Thaine Stearns

Source: Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Winter, 2002), pp. 461-486
Published by: Hofstra University
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The "WomanofNo Appearance":

James Dora Marsden,

Joyce,
and CompetitivePilfering

ThaineStearns

I havejust re-readEpisode III of"Ulysses."My dear editorgo

down on yourknees & thankyourstarsforpossessingonewriter
of metaphysics who is CLEAR! That'sME!!Joyce is ... my
word! He's appalling!
-Dora Marsden to HarrietWeaver,10 April 1918
(qtd. in Lidderdaleand Nicholson 147)

I hope Miss Marsden'sbook came out punctuallyyesterday and I

am looking forwardto thieverieson an unheardof scale as soon
as I can findan accomplice as rascallymindedas myselfto read it
to me.
-James Joyceto HarrietWeaver,2 December 1928 (Letters 277)

Literary modernismis repletewithrivalriesbetweenwritersand ideas.

This essayconsidersone of them:thatbetweenJamesJoyceand Dora
Marsden.This rivalrytook place over severalyears,was waged ultimate-
ly for statusand recognition,and had markedeffectson the work of
both writers.Underlyingit were severalotherbinaryoppositions:nov-
time/space,subject/object,male/female,
elist/philosopher, word/image.
These oppositionsoftenseem irresolvable, and theycertainlyunderlie
manyotherrivalries;butJoyceand Marsden ended up in a kind of col-
lusion.Marsden'swritings,includingher penultimatebook, The Defini-
tionoftheGodhead(1928), articulatea oneness thatbinds differenceand

Literature
Twentieth-Century 48.4 Winter2002 461

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ThaineStearns

unifiesoppositions;and thatstance appealed to Joyce.He draws upon

her ideas in Finnegans Wake,where he figuresMarsden as the source of
resolutionfora parodicmetaphysical struggle.In thisway he attemptsto
restoreher standingby positioningher as an arbiterin the modernist
debate about timeand space.
This rivalryand thiscollusion serveto raiselargerquestionsabout
competitionand its effects. While collaborationmightseem to be more
productive, could competitionbe just as helpfulin generatingliterary
work? Should we view rivalryas a definingfeatureof modernism,not
only as partof itshistorybut also as constitutiveof itstropes?
The firstpart of this essaytracesthe historyof the exchangesbe-
tweenJoyceand Marsden,demonstrating the termsof theirrivalryand
thepilfering thatensued.Ratherthanattackingopenly,bothwriterscom-
peted by covertlyborrowingfromeach other.The second partconsiders
the resolutionof theirrivalryin Joyce'slast novel,in Marsden'smeta-
physicaltext,and,moregenerally, in theirmodernistcollusion.Ultimately,
theircompetitivepilferingservesto illuminateone of modernism'sgen-
eral anxieties,reflectedin Pound's claim that"thereis . . nothingthat's
quite yourown" ("Portrait"58).1

Marsden'sstatusin literarymodernismremainsambiguous.While her

role as the founderand editorof the littlemagazinesthe Freewoman, the
New Freewoman, and the Egoisthas been documentedin historiesof the
period, and while her crucialrole in literaryendeavorsin the earlyyears
of the twentiethcenturyhas been recognizedin recentcriticism,there
has been relativelyscant attentionpaid to her extensivebody of writ-
ing.2Yet Marsden'sprose reflectsa consistentengagementwith general
concernsof literarymodernism-the ego and the individual,the status
of the image,the natureof consciousness,and the relationshipbetween
timeand space-even as interest in thoseconcernsdevelopedand evolved.
Her workprovidesan importantframework forunderstanding ideas cru-
cial to the formationof modernism'scanon, and we need to read her
textsbecause theyreactto and significantly develop theliteraryphiloso-
phy of modernism.Moreover-and this is my concern in thisessay-
herresponsesto particularideasof hercontemporaries, and the exchanges
engenderedby those responses,help us to rethinkour notionsofinflu-

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James Dora Marsden,
Joyce, andCompetitive
Pilfering

ence and conceptionsof individualgeniusin the period.I focusspecifi-

cally on the indirectexchangesbetween her and Joyce that occurred
from1914 to 1928, in the course of which the two writersarticulated
seeminglydistinctbut finallysimilarpositionsregardingthe metaphysics
of time and space.These positionsilluminatecrucialaspectsabout each
writer'sphilosophyof genderand the role of competitiveexchange in
constructing theirfictions.
Because theynever met or even wrote to each other,the primary
evidenceof theregardthatMarsdenandJoyceheld foreach other'swork
existsin theirintertextualexchange. Marsden was an early reader of
Joyce'sfirsttwo novels,both of which were serializedin herjournals,
and her responsesto those textsoccur in the formof philosophicalarti-
cles. She desiredfor her own work the criticalattentionand acclaim
thatJoyce'snovelsprovoked;she viewedJoyceas a competitor,a writer
againstwhose textsshe should compare her own, and she believed that
hers were inherentlysuperior.At the same time that she assertedher
superiority,however,Marsden was drawingupon Joyce'scharacteriza-
tion of Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of theArtistas a YoungMan and
Ulyssesforherown philosophicalruminations.Joyce, meanwhile,partic-
ipated in theirindirect exchange as a borrower from her textsand as an
implicitpromoterof what she was tryingto accomplish.Whiletheirex-
change generatedimportantideas forboth of them,Joyce'srole as the
primarybeneficiaryis confirmedby his statusas an iconic modernist
writer,a rolehe was becomingincreasingly awareof by thetimehe wrote
Finnegans Wake.Marsden'sreputationwaned considerably forvariousrea-
sons,butJoycewas sympathetic to her and undertookto restoreher im-
portance,at leastin his fiction.
Marsden'sdiminishedstaturein modernistcirclescan be explained
in partby tracinga rangeof biasesagainsther in the recordsof her con-
temporaries,particularlythose in Pound's circle,which influencedthe
receptionof her work by latermodernistcritics.Perhapsthe most tell-
ing example occurs in Eliot'sletterto his fathersoon afterMarsdenand
Weaverappointedhim assistant editorof theEgoist:he wroteofhis"strug-
gle to keepthewritingas muchas possiblein Male hands,as I distrust
the Femininein literature"(204).3 In a subsequentletterto art patron
JohnQuinn, Eliot claimedthatMarsden'sphilosophicalarticles"militat-
ed againstthe successof the paperwith manypeople who did not want
to read them"(315). For Eliot,then,Marsden'swritingspresenteda prob-

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ThaineStearns

lem on two accounts:a womanwrotethem,and he blamedthemfor

thejournal'slow circulation. Moreover, theneglectof Marsden'swork
also reflectsunwillingness on thepartofhercontemporaries to engage
withhercombativeness and herofteninvoluted prosestyle.Pound,for
instance, communicated that he was morefavorably disposedto Harriet
Weaver's almostnonexistent authorial contributions tothejournal, writing
retrospectively afterMarsden'sdeaththatWeaver's articles "madesense"
relativeto Marsden's.4 Pound'sverdict is tainted,however, becauseMars-
den had aggressively demandedofhimin the 1910sthathe defendhis
poeticphilosophy in hisessayseries"The SeriousArtist," whichhadbeen
published in the New Freewoman.5 His claims about her logic 50 years
laterindicate, howeverbelatedly, hisresponse to herpointed, cogentop-
position to his poetics.
Relativeto hiscontemporaries, including theother"menof 1914,"
Joycewasa sympathetic andavidreaderofMarsden's work.He benefit-
ed fromthecontentofMarsden's ideasandresponded to thescopecon-
veyedby the topicsshe addressed in her philosophical writings and by
theencyclopedic natureoftheprojectthatsheundertook in the1920s.6
In thefirst ofherbooks,TheDefinition oftheGodhead, Marsdensetforth
as herobjectives notonlyto definetheuniverse-being, firstprinciples,
and
space,time, reality-but also to reinterpret the entire history ofWest-
ernthought. Her estimation oftherevolutionary importance ofherideas
was perhapsexcessive, butJoyceadmiredherambitionand hersavoir
faire.Her similar motivations andwriting concernsmadehera worthy
rival.
Joycerecognized thatMarsdenlinkedherphilosophical concernsto
the literary in wayslike his own.7Both Kadlec (97-98) and Rabat6
("JoycetheEgoist"46) haveobservedthatJoycecarefully readMars-
den'slead essaysin theEgoist, especially during1914-15,sometimes us-
ing his scarce funds to the
buy paper when he could not get it sentfor
free.In thoseessays,Marsdenmakesclearthatshesawherself as themod-
ernistphilosopher, a rolethatneededto be filled, she thought, and one
thatshefeltmorethancapableofplaying. However, shealsounderstood
philosophy and poetryto be inextricably connected, writingin a 1915
essay that"whatever form literaturefinally takesitis in itssubstance, Phi-
losophy:curiosity abouthumannature:a layingbareof thespringsof
the humanmind"("Viewsand Comments"167). Hence poetryand
philosophical prosearepartofthesamecontinuum. Ifthewriteris"too

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 Joyce,
James andCompetitive
Dora Marsden, Pilfering

occupied,or too careless," shecontinues, "or hasso muchmaterial ... to

putit all out at theexpenseofleavingit'in therough'it willremainas
PhilosophicProse."Moreover, if she"caressufficiently," she will com-
municatephilosophy in "themosttransparent and economizedand ac-
cordingly themostpermanent formto it:thatofPoetry." Marsden's ideas
intersected withthethinking ofother, morefamouscontemporary phi-
losophers, many of whom Joyce alludesto in his fiction,
including Berg-
son,James,Wittgenstein, Whitehead,and Marsden'smentorat the
University of Manchester, SamuelAlexander. Joyce'sfictionis also im-
bricatedwithphilosophy, in
overtly Stephen'sdiscussions and medita-
tions,but also more generally in its ontological and ethical speculations.
Thus,Marsden's exclamation toWeaver-thatepisode3 of Ulysses ("Pro-
teus") communicates an unclear metaphysics-reflects both her acknowl-
edgmentofJoyce'sachievement (evenin herapparent disapprobation)
and herrecognition oftheirsharedbeliefthatphilosophy andliterature
arecategorically thesameproject.8
The writings ofJoyce andMarsdenpresent a complexdialogueabout
visuality,theimage,and timeand space.Whileneither writeracknowl-
edged the other in their publishedwriting, the evidence fortheirex-
changes can be found in their lettersand in how each of theirtexts
implicitly citetheother. Findingan adequatelanguagetorepresent philo-
sophicalcomplexities was a manifest concern for both, as indicated by
Joyce in the of The
openingchapters Ulysses. metaphysical problem that
confronts Stephenas he walksalongSandymount Strandin the"Pro-
teus"chapteris thequestionofperception: how does one conceivethe
worldifnotthrough theeyes?The visibleworldis an "ineluctable mo-
dality"-providing signs to read (or"signatures") evenin naturalflotsam
andjetsam:"seaspawnand seawrack, thenearingtide,thatrustyboot"
(3: 2-3).9To testwhether one can perceivetheworldwithoutusinglan-
guage invested in visual metaphors, Stephentellshimself to "shutyour
eyesand see."As he walksalong,eyesshut,he is forcedto thinkabouta
languageto express hisperception:
You arewalkingthrough ithowsomever. I am,a strideat a time.
A veryshortspaceoftimethrough veryshort timesofspace.
Five,six:
the Nacheinander.Exactly: and thatis theineluctable
modality oftheaudible.Open youreyes.No.Jesus!IfI fellover
a cliff
thatbeetleso'er hisbase,fellthrough theNebeneinander
ineluctably. (3:11-15)

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ThaineStearns

Stephenimaginesthatwithhiseyesshuttheworldbecomesonlyaudi-
ble,a placewhereobjectsare onlyperceivedin time(nacheinander) and
communicated through speech.It is a complicated matter, however, to
excisehissenseofspacealtogether. Later,when Stephen recalls this mo-
mentofhisdayin the"ScyllaandCharybdis" chapter, he thinks: "Space:
whatyoudamnwellhaveto see" (9: 86). Forhimthesenseofspacecan
onlybe derivedthroughthe eyes.Even withhis eyesclosedback on
Sandymount Strand, though, Stephenimaginesthe"spaceof time"and
the"shorttimesofspace,"and,as he envisions himself topplingoveran
erodededge of thebank,he seeshimself in hismind'seyeas an object
fallingthrough space(nebeneinander). As a modernartist butwithlimita-
tionsnotsharedbyJoyce, hiscreator, Stephenstillunderstands hisworld
bifurcated intoseparate realmsoftimeand space.Voluntarily blindedto
theideathathissubjectivity includesboth,he findshimself on thebrink
offalling intoa newconception ofartandexistence.
His walkon Sandymount Strandis notthefirst timeStephenDed-
alus pondersthe philosophical and aesthetic implications of timeand
and
space.Gifford Seidman(45) glossnacheinander and nebeneinander as
conceptsderivedfromLessing's Laocoin,thefamouseighteenth-century
philosophical essayconcerning thelimitsofpainting andpoetry, which
is directlyreferredto in Stephen's discussion withDonovanand Cranly
aboutaesthetics in A Portrait oftheArtist as YoungMan. In Joyce'sfirst
novel,publishedinitially as a serialin Marsden'sandWeaver's journal
theEgoistfrom1914 to 1915,Stephenparaphrases Lessing's genredis-
tinctionsregarding paintingas a spatialartandpoetryas a temporal one,
proclaiming them to Cranly as his own: "An esthetic is
image presented
to us eitherin spaceor in time.Whatis audibleis presented in time,
whatis visibleis presented in space"(212).Followingthis,Stephen's ru-
minations aboutnacheinander and nebeneinander in the"Proteus"chapter
of Ulysses reflectthesameaesthetic grounding; in Finnegans Wakethese
ruminations are developedintoa generalparodyof themodernist de-
bateabouttimeand space.Thisdebateproceedsin partout ofLessing's
argument, whichprescribes a separation ofthesister artsintotheir "prop-
er"categorical realms: is a
poetry temporal art,while is
painting spatial.
Marsden's borrowings from Joyceoccurimplicitly in essays shewrote
forthejournalthatshe was responsible forstarting and thatfirst pub-
lishedhiswriting. Atthecenteroftheliterary circlesthatwouldconsti-
tuteBritishmodernism,Marsdenwrote about the functionof language

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James
Joyce, andCompetitive
Dora Marsden, Pilfering

and the role of the image in languageat the same time thatthejournal
was serializingPortrait.Then she wrote about time and space-her the-
oreticalresponsesto the firstchaptersof Ulysses-at the same time that
thesechapterswere serializedin thejournal.This nexus of ideas contin-
ued to be her major focus,emergingagain in her firstbook-lengthtext
on metaphysics, TheDefinition oftheGodhead.
Marsden had begun attackingsome of the primaryfoundationsof
modernWesternthoughtbeforeher responsesto Ulysses. While she did
not addressLessing'sessaydirectly, she participatedin the generalfin-
de-siecle interrogation of post-Cartesianphilosophyadvancedby Berg-
son1oand, to a lesser extent,by William James.As early as 1913, for
instance,Marsdenproposedin an essaythatthe streamof thinking, rath-
er thanstaticthought,is the forcethatjoins the individualwith the phe-
nomenal world.These claims are followedby an explicitdiscussionof
Descartes'sideas ("Thinking and Thought"), the firstof severalattacks
thatbecame increasingly By 1917, Cartesiandualismhad be-
forceful.11
come one of Marsden'sprimarytargets-in fact,a synecdocheforother
binaries:
The firstimportantcorollaryto such a conceptionof space is
thatit forcesan immediateoverhaulingof the dualismwith
which Descarteshandicappedmodernphilosophyat itsincep-
tion,and which has preyedupon itsstrength fromthatday to
this.The essentialonenessin difference of the cognitionalactivi-
tyinvolvingas it does both"poles" (positiveand negative,sub-
jective or objective,just as we choose to name them),laysa ban
upon a divisioninto a "mind-stuff" which cognizeson the one
hand and a "stuff"of a different kindwhich is cognized on the
other. ("Observations"19)

Thus, the firstbinaryto be overhauledmustbe the Cartesiancontrast

between rescogitans, a thinkingthing,and resextensa,an extendedthing
or materialsubstance.12 This same essaybegins to lay out otherassociat-
ed dualitiesthatissue fromthisfirstprinciple,but stopsshortof making
an explicitclaim againstthe idea that essential,fixedboundaries exist
between subjectand object,time and space,male and female.Her claim
for a "oneness in difference," however,assertsa complex,multidimen-
sional dialecticbetween opposing poles thatresultsin new philosophi-
cal, linguistic,aesthetic,and politicalunities.If existencecan no longer

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ThaineStearns

be divided into thinkingthingsand extendedbodies thatare thought

about,Marsdenasserts, thenthereare criticaleffectsimpliedforlanguage
and representation.She thenarticulatesthe need fora new kind of lan-
guage practiceto addressthe complexitiesthatemergewith thispost-
Cartesianview.She communicatedthisidea in "Lingual Philosophy," the
the natureof the verbal
firstin a lengthyseriesof essayson linguistics,
image, and the metaphysics of time and space: "language ... must be
made adequate to expresstime and space and all otherand more com-
plex aspectsnot covered"(100).
AlthoughMarsden wrote about time and space well before 1917,
she deferredaddressingthese ideas directlyuntil aftershe had worked
out her ideas on the image,a set of concernsrelatedto the issuesad-
dressedby Lessing.In an essayfrom1915, forinstance,she wrote:
It is perhapsof the firstimportancethatthe verb"Perceive"
should be put in itscorrectTime-relation(ifwe mayso call it)
to the verb"Be" and itsforms,and that"Things perceived"
should be put in theircorrectSpace-relationto the"I" which
perceivesthem." ("Truthand Reality III" 66)
In otherwords,the perceivingsubject,engagingin the temporalactivity
of seeing,has to addressthe spatialextensionof what is seen in time.
Like Bergson and James,then,Marsden posited a spatial-temporal flux
of perception,language,and being that contrastswith both Cartesian
dualityand Lessing'sgenredivision.In the same essayshe arguedthatan
individualcircumscribeswhat he or she conceives as "space" and that
time is definedby an individual'ssustainedeffortto apprehendthe im-
ages in thatspace."The feelingof Space,"she writes,
is thatof calculationas to the amountof expenditurein effort
which is likelyto be necessaryin orderto bringour sensing
organsat theirmosteffective point (i.e. the surfaceof the body)
into immediatetouch with the image called"External." (68)
More succinctly, we need to understandthe distancebetween our bod-
ies and thingsin the externalworld,which,untilwe are in directphysi-
cal contactwiththem,remainas images.On theone hand,while Stephen
cannot help but conjoin space and time in his thinking--"Averyshort
space of time throughveryshorttimes of space"-like Descartes and
Lessing,he insistson distinguishingthemas separateaspectsof reality.13

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James Dora Marsden,
Joyce, andCompetitive
Pilfering

On the otherhand,fromMarsden'sperspective, an individual'spercep-

tion of space is inextricablyconnectedto the timeof consciouspercep-
tion;in effect, time and space are partof the same phenomenonwithin
humanconsciousness.
As the letterto Weaver quoted in my epigraphindicates,Marsden
chose to conflateStephen'sideaswithJoyce's, allowingherto setup Joyce
as a competitorso she could differentiate between his metaphysicsand
her own. At the same time,however,Marsden borrowsStephen'sideas
to use as a springboard forherown positions,which end up morealigned
withJoyce'sown thinkingthanshe acknowledges.Marsdenhad readearly
sectionsof Ulyssesby April 1918; HarrietWeaverhad sentthem to her
in manuscriptform.She was quick to respond:as her lettershows,she
perceivedJoyceto be a rival"writerof metaphysics," the ground that
she had spentseveralyearsstakingout as her own in her lead essaysfor
thejournals thatshe had founded.Beginningwith the May 1918 issue,
she began to critiqueJoyce'searliestchapters.Even thoughshe does not
mentionJoyceor StephenDedalus, the focusof her critiqueemergesin
her implicitattackon Stephen'sideas about separatingtime fromspace
in perception.Her May 1918 essayarguesthatphilosophyhad categori-
callydefinedhumansby eithertheirsensoryrelationship to externalsta-
ble objectsor by theirengagementwithan innerworldof consciousness.
The formeris the visibleworld of space;the latteris an abstract, tempo-
ral realm.Marsden takesexceptionto thissplit,asserting, "Any object is
knownwhen we have experience of it under two ordersof existence"
("Our Philosophy"66-67). Any definitionof intellectionor perception,
therefore, thatsplitsthem into two disparateparts,misunderstands the
natureof knowledgeand of reality. She assertsthispoint in a convoluted
passagethatproclaimswhat"all who seek to expound reality"mustun-
derstand:
The bifurcationof the hithertosingleorderof sensed-existence
into the two ordersof thought-existenceand real-existence
matchespreciselythatemergenceof dual agencies,oppositebut
related,which supervenedupon the organicworldin theprinci-
ple of propagationof organicspeciesby thejoint action of male
and female.... Both createtheirantithetically
relateddifferences
out of powerswhich basicallyare homogeneousand one.
("Our Philosophy"68)

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ThaineStearns

In otherwords,the splitbetweentimeand space harborsotherdivisions

betweenmindand matter, subjectand object,and male and female.Mars-
den viewed these"antithetically relateddifferences"as constituentparts
of a complex whole. Simplyput,while Stephen(and in Marsden'sstated
view,Joyce)articulatedtraditionalphilosophicbifurcations, she believed
her modern philosophywould serveas a correctiveto thismisconcep-
tion.
Ultimately,however,Joyce and Marsden concurredin theirtreat-
ment of time and space. Both viewed the idea of existenceas divided
into two opposingrealmsas a persisting constructionto be undermined.
In fact,Marsden'sreadingof "Proteus,"like thatof manyJoyceancritics
who followed,missesJoyce'sironic treatmentof Stephen,or she disre-
gardsit intentionallyto foregroundher argumentabout timeand space,
an argumentthatis, finally, againstgendercategories.Despite his effort
to analyzeperceptionas dichotomous,Stephencannot finallymake the
distinctionbetweentimeand space thathe triesto enactby shuttinghis
eyes as he walks along the beach. In her "opposing" account,Marsden
argues thatspace is neitherorganic nor intuitive;it emergesas a con-
structthatstandsin contrastto sensory,externalimages:
The idea of space took itsoriginin men'smindsas the sponta-
of the limitedpower of the organic
neous logical translation
nucleusto negotiatesensoryforms,eitherby movingthrough
themor roundthem.The idea sprangup betimesin man'scul-
turalhistory,and came by itsmostindeliblymarkedfeaturesat a
timewhen man was more habituatedto the acceptanceof sense-
formsat theirface-valuethanhe is now.
("Space and Substance"102)
In her view,then,images (or "sense-forms")were like "natural"signs,
insofaras theywere "spontaneouslogical translations," integratedinto
the vitalfluxof the individualbeing.However,she also arguesthatim-
ages become partof a spatialconstructionin men's minds (theseminds
are genderedmale) as a consequence of theirinabilityto translateor to
conceptualizethemas integratedinto a spatial-temporal flow.Moreover,
just as she viewed the idea of space as a culturaland construc-
historical
tion,so she also assertedthat simple time is anotherhuman invention,
intendedto organizethesedisconnected"sensoryforms":

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 Joyce,
James andCompetitive
DoraMarsden, Pilfering

Thisimperfect timeis ournewman-devised instrumentfor

arrangingintoa newkindoforderall thespatially arranged
itemswhichmanfindslyinghiggledy-piggledy abouthisuni-
as spaceservesas a sortoflaboratory
verse.Just benchupon
whichthesubstantial itemslie strewn conti-
in meresuperficial
so
guity, time servesas a powerfulrefractive an
instrument: amaz-
ingsynthetic device. of
("Measure Authority" 36)
Marsdenimaginesin thispassagea moreperfect conceptionoftime,an
organicforcecomprised ofspace-time thatconstitutessubjectivelife,in
contrast to"humantime," the"man-devised instrument" thatordersand
arranges illusoryspatialobjects about a constructed universe. Again,in
heranalysis, a genderedcritique of theseconstructions is more thanim-
plicit:it is "man'sculturalhistory" in whichthenotionof a masculine
"imperfect time" arranges feminized spatialconstructsat willin"super-
ficialcontiguity."
Marsden's exclamation to Harriet Weaveraboutepisode3 of Ulysses
her
foregrounds misinterpretation ofJoyce'sideas;hermisreading, per-
haps intentional, suggests that Joyce'sideas could be equated with
Stephen's.Yet it is thisslippagethatinitiates herseriesofessayson time
andspacethatappeared in thejournal'spagesin ensuing months.As dem-
onstrated withthe"Nausicaa"episode,however,Joyce's ideasdo notset-
tle easilyintofixedbinaries, includingtheones thatMarsdenassigned
to himvia StephenDedalus.Thislaterepisodeof Ulysses parodiescon-
ventional representations of women,including of
genres painting, as time-
less images of beauty,figured in staticspace. For example,Gerty
MacDowellis characterized in termsofa Renaissance "The wax-
portrait:
en pallorof herfacewas almostspiritual in itsivorylike puritythough
herrosebudmouthwas a genuineCupid'sbow,Greeklyperfect" (13:
87-89). Even in thisstaticcharacterization, however,thenarrative tells
us parenthetically (andironically) thatGerty, alongwithEdyBoardman
and CissyCaffrey, "had ofcoursetheirlittletiffs fromtimeto timelike
therestof mortals"(13: 94).The injectionof theclause"fromtimeto
time"is notjustan incidental idiom-in fact,timebecomesan increas-
ingly critical factor in thisepisode:CissyCaffrey asksLeopoldBloom
the timejust as he and Gertybegintheirflirtation (13: 544-545); he
noticesthathiswatchhasstopped,laterrealizing thatit stoppedat ap-
proximately the time BlazesBoylan and Molly met to havetheiraffair

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ThaineStearns

(Joyce gesturesironicallyhereto theekphrastic"pregnant moment"14);

Gerty thinks that"Edy and Cissyweretalkingaboutthe timeall the
time"(13:574-575);and,as"His darkeyesfixedthemselves on heragain
drinking in her every contour,
literally
worshipping at hershrine,"Ger-
ty"could see the gentleman windinghiswatch and listeningto theworks
and she swungherleg morein and out in time"(13: 556-557,563-
564).Joyce's narrativeherebreaksup thestatic"undisguised admiration
in a man'spassionate women
gaze"by reinserting back into time,thus
undermining conventionallygendered ofwomeninpaint-
representations
erlyspace (13: 565). In "Nausicaa"
effect, undermines Stephen'sideas
aboutcleardivisions betweentimeand space,and it parallels Marsden's
conceptionthatsensory formsareintegratedintothevitalfluxofindi-
vidualconsciousness, thussubverting ofwomenas static,
representations
spatialobjects.

Joyce's
recognition thatMarsdenwas engagedwithquestionsand issues
similarto hisown is evidentin hisexpressed
intention
to borrowfrom
Marsden'sTheDefinition ofthe GodheadforFinnegansWake.In addition
to theletterquotedin thesecondepigraphto thisessay,Joyceinitially
communicated in Marsden's
hisinterest workin anotherlettertoWeav-
er,whileherbookwasbeingreadiedforprinting bytheEgoistPress:
I am surethatyouarepassingmanyvaluablethings through
yourhandsin goingthrough MissMarsden'sworkandifI had
sufficient
energyto be livelyaboutanything atpresentI should
be as restless
as a smallboyoutsidea pantrythinking all the
of
nicelittlebitsI couldpilfer
withno lossto herbutoh thediffer-
enceto me,as MrWordsworth remarked. (Letters 272)
Joyce'sintention
to "pilfer"
fromMarsden's forthcoming book is all the
morestriking becauseofhisallusiontoWordsworth's poem"Song,"one
ofthe"Lucy"poems.1s The allusionis significant
forseveralreasons.
The
narratorofthepoemdescribes hissubjectelegiacally:
"She lived
unknown,
andfewcouldknow/WhenLucyceasedtobe."From1920until1935,
Marsdenlivedin SeldomSeen,a nearly deserted
miner'shamletin Cum-
bria County,inWordsworth's belovedLake District, thesettingforhis
"Lucy"poems. Marsden's statusas a respected activist
and writer had

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James
Joyce, andCompetitive
Dora Marsden, Pilfering

fromthe previousdecade,and the ironypresented

declined significantly
wasnotlostonJoyce.
bythenameofherchosenresidence Hisimplied
of
comparison to
Marsden is
Lucy especially when
telling we recognize
poem Lucy has alreadydied:"But she is in herGrave,
thatinWordsworth's
and Oh! / The differenceto me." Wordsworth'sLucy causes him to
mourn,butJoycepicksup on theironyof theloss:it is herdeaththat
hasgiventhepoettheopportunity hisownlyricsubjectiv-
to articulate
ity in the formof his poem. For Joyce,pilferingfromMarsden'sbook
wouldmeanlittleto her;likeLucy,she had becomeunknown,
"Half-
hiddenfromtheEye!"
Joyce'sborrowingsfromMarsden'stextbecome evidentwhen Mars-
den's claims about time and space in The Definitionof theGodheadare
delineated.Her main argumentshiftsthe emphasisfromher earliercri-
tique in the Egoistessaysof genderedconstructionsof time and space.
Instead of a singular"Space-Time," Marsden arguesforfirstprinciples
In thisbook Mars-
in a dualisticuniverse,workingtogetheras contraries.
den figuresspace as an eternalmotherand time as an eternalfatherin
the universe,two contrariesthattogetherforgethe"One; theAbsolute"
(19, 28-29). Positingspace and timeas interconnected dualitiesthenen-
ables her to argue thatfemininespace is the source of everything, in-
cludingtime.Accordingto Marsden,thisunderstanding was lostbecause
men had foundthisconception of the universea "stumblingblock." In
effect,she challengesconventionaltropesof philosophicthoughtfortheir
misogyny, assertingthatmen foundthe"truth"of a femininefirstprin-
ciple problematic:
[they]were tornin theirallegiance,findingsatisfaction neither
in callingheaven (the soul of the world) Satan,the principleof
evil;nor in callingHer (theAll-Mother)theAll-Father;nor in
callingHer (who was the source of all) a non-entity:non-being:
nothing-at-all; while as forstylingHer what She trulywas (i.e. at
once the mother-principle and the governing, form-determin-
ing principle,the nurseand home of all remainingthings),the
emphasizedmasculinismof the period could not easilybrook it.
The net resultwas a veiledyetfiercelyrealintellectualwar.
(199)
The idiosyncratictheologicalaspectsof her"science of firstprinciples"
underscoreMarsden'seffortto narratean epistemologicalontologythat

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ThaineStearns

subverts masculine hierarchies in thought andlanguage. She alsotriedto

avoidsetting upjustanotherhierarchical structure:instead,thetextpos-
itsa femaledeitypresiding overitsmasculineother,yetoperating to-
in a
gether conjunctive, "non-differentiable whole" (168).In thissystem,
spaceconstitutes an ocean-like continuum, whiletimeisa movingstream.
Although thesetropesareconventional, hertextoffers thisoriginalslant:
space is the sourceof time, which is a "secret"that she had"uncovered"
andthatsheimaginedwouldchangethecourseofthought.
While hertextis constructed as a seriesof philosophical analyses
and histories, Marsdenwas entirely cognizant composing kindof
of a
fictional ontology in thiswork. Much in her 1914 essay"Cul-
earlier,
ture,"she had assertedthat"All our Gods we createon one principle:
we createthemin ourownimage,and givethemproportions to match
our own" (321).When she latermadeclaimsfora femaledeityin The
Definition oftheGodhead, then,sheunderstood thatshewas engagedin
an imaginative act.In thislaterwork,she explicitly refers to herown
of
process thinking as one of construction, which, unlikea "cosmogoni-
cal"or scientificintellectual
activity,is an artistic
actofimagination. Dis-
tinguishing thetwoforms ofintellectual from
activity eachother, Marsden
writes:
Now,concerning ontology,we haveto say... thatthisintellec-
tualactivity is notto be regardedas a science,forallformsofthe
latterareactivities bentuponthediscovery ofthegenerative
factorswhichgo to producethings. Ontology, on thecontrary, is
ofgrouping,
an art.It is theartofclassification, ofarranging the
universal contenton a plannotofa genealogical-table linking
and
up parents offspring: effects
with theircauses: but of a segre-
gating(mentally) of likeform with like form. (41)
By proclaiming ontologyan art,Marsdenarguesforherphilosophical
practiceas a radical
engagement withmetaphor, oflin-
thejuxtaposition
guisticimagesin an imaginative In effect,
association. Marsdenunder-
stoodherworkas poeticcreativity;in thisregard,
thetextasserts,"theories
of therankoffirst arerequiredto interpret
principles (163).
poetically"
Poetry therefore the
constitutes onlylanguagepracticecapableoftrans-
figuringtemporal, thingsintotheeternal.Indeed,she defines
transient
poetryas thepresentation of"mundanethingsin thelightoftheeter-
nal" thus definingwhat her "science of firstprinciples"must accom-
plish.

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 DoraMarsden,
Joyce,
James andCompetitive
Pilfering

Beneaththegrandiosephilosophical and historical framework and

theargumentative rhetoric,Marsden'sobjectives in TheDefinition ofthe
Godhead aresubtlerandmoreinteresting thantheymightatfirst appear,
as Joyceanticipated in hislettersto HarrietWeaver.In partbecauseof
her dedicationto the book, "To THE GREAT NAME HUSHED
AMONG US FOR SO LONG of HER, HEAVEN,THE MIGHTY
MOTHER ofALL,"Marsden'sconceptionof hertexthas been mis-
construed bythefewcriticswho havebotheredto commentabouther
project.GarnerandLidderdale andNicholsonfindthisdedication curi-
ous or disturbingbecauseofitsreligious tone.16 However, bothofthese
accountsmisstheconnection ofthisdedication to thetitleofMarsden's
first
journal,theFreewoman. As Robertvon Hallberghasobserved(66),
thistitlecomesfroma passagein Galatians (4: 26) whichis citedin Max
Stirner'sTheEgo andIts Own (157),a keyinfluenceon Marsdenand
otherearlymodernists: "The Jerusalem thatis aboveis thefreewoman;
sheis themotherof us all."WithJoyceanself-referentiality, thededica-
tionin herlaterbook alludesto the earliestof herpublishedwriting,
whenheressays wereradically feministandconcerned withpoliticaland
socialethics.
The underlying objective of The Definition oftheGodhead is
similar:insteadoffeminist Marsden
politics, shiftsto a feminist
philoso-
phyin whichshe imaginesa utopianJerusalem, an emancipated free-
womansignified bya femaledeity.
Marsden'sassertionof a feminine godhead,freedfrommasculine
misunderstanding, offersa means to interpretJoyce'smostexplicitrefer-
encein Finnegans Waketo hiscounterpart writer, thewomanwhofound-
ed thejournalsresponsible forpublishing his firstnovel.A fewpages
beforethestory"The Mookseand theGripes," Issyannounces, "I'm so
keenon thatNew FreeWomanwithnovelinside"(145),an exclama-
tionthathasperplexedsomeJoycescholars becauseA Portrait oftheArt-
istas a YoungMan waspublishedin theEgoist,nottheNewFreewoman.
JoyceaddedIssy'sutterance in one ofhisfinalrevisions ofpart1 in 1936
(Finnegans WakeFacsimile 287), whichindicatesthathe viewed"The
Mookse and theGripes"as connectedto Marsdenand hisown history
withherjournalsin a morefundamental mannerthanwhenhe origi-
nallyconceivedofthestoryin 1927.Whatthischronology doesnotex-
plain,however, is whyJoyceswitchedthetitleof thepublication that
was instrumental in fostering hiscareer.Rabat&arguesthatJoyce'sin-
versionof the titlesparadoxicallydemonstrates
hispreference
forthelater

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ThaineStearns

journal.17 KadlecarguesinsteadthatJoyce's conflation ofthetwojour-

nalsreflectsthelasting impression thattheyhad on him as he wroteFinne-
gansWake(276n20).While bothofthesereadings areilluminating,Joyce's
pilfering from The Definition of the Godhead needs to be takenintoac-
countas well.Tobe sure,Marsden's interest in thetimeandspacedebate
appealedto him.Joycewas also awareof theStirnerian connectionof
herjournal'stitleto Galatians. Issy's reference in Finnegans Waketo"that
New FreeWomanwithnovelinside"thusrefers notonlytoJoyce's first
noveland itspublication in Marsden's journalbutalso synecdochically
to Marsdenherself, as thenewfreewoman,witha novel(bothnewideas
anda fictional text)inside.By doingsoJoycesimultaneously gesturesto
Marsden'scareer, to theintersections withhisown,and to heridiosyn-
craticideasin TheDefinition oftheGodhead.
Joycemadesignificant revisions to "The Mookse and the Gripes"
afterTheDefinition ofthe Godhead was published in December1928.The
fablewasrevisedprimarily bytheadditions to thebeginning ofthesto-
ry: aftera grandgreeting and
("Gentes laitymen, fullstoppers and semi-
colonials, and the
hybreds lubberds"), storybegins:"Eins within a space
anda wearywide spaceitwasterewohneda Mookse.Theonesomeness
wastalltolonely, archunsitslike, broadyoval,and a Mookse he woulda
walkinggo" (152).18 In her book,Marsdenasserts as a firstprinciple that
spaceengenders time, and,inJoyce's lines,thisideais echoedbythe"wea-
rywidespace" where the Mookse "wohned" ("erewohned," Germanfor
"he lived,"punson Butler's Erewhon, which means nowhere).
The allusionsin thissectionofFinnegans Waketo a rangeofideasin
Marsden's careerthatinterconnected withJoyce's ownpublishing histo-
ry his
reflect thinking about Marsden and her book. Marsden's advocacy
ofegoismpervades thedescription oftheMookse'ssurroundings, whose
"onesomeness wastalltolonely"; moreover, thisphrasealsoservesto de-
scribeMarsden's lonely existence in the hamlet SeldomSeen.In an es-
say from 1914,Marsden argued for the difference between"Anarchists"
and"Archists" a
("Illusion"341), discussion Joycepicksup in "archun-
Duringthesameyear,Marsden's
sitslike." journalwasserializing A Por-
traitoftheArtist,and we can hearthe resonancebetweenthatnovel's
openinglines-"Once upona timeand a verygood timeitwas"-and
theinversion fromtimeto spacein theopeninglinesof"The Mookse
and theGripes":"Einswithina spaceand a wearywide spaceit wast."
Joyce's reflection on his own career emerges in these lines as well:

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James DoraMarsden,
Joyce, andCompetitive
Pilfering

Stephen'schildhoodinnocencein thebeginningof hisfirstnovelhas

beentransformed intothewearyspacesofFinnegans Wake.
Joyce'sother changes to "The Mookse and the Gripes"after thepub-
licationof The Definition ofthe Godhead are woven into the wordplay
and linguistictextures thatmakeup thefabricof thenovel,and these
revisionsreflecta rangeofpositions in themodernist debateabouttime
and space,one ofwhichis certainly Marsden's. A moreextendedanaly-
sisof"The Mookseand theGripes"showsthatJoyceusesthestoryto
introduce a Marsden-like figureand to parodythegroupoftwentieth-
century writers,including Marsden, Lewis,Bergson,Whitehead, andSam-
uel Alexander, who asserted positions about this metaphysical question.
SeveralJoycescholarshavereadthisfableonlyas a responseto Lewis's
TimeandWestern Man (1927),which,in a chapterentitled "AnAnalysis
oftheMind ofJamesJoyce," took Ulysses to taskforitsparticipation in
timeaesthetics.19Thisargument doesnottakeintoaccount,however, at
leasttwoimportant considerations. The first is thetimingofJoyce's re-
visionsto thestoryafterMarsden'sbook was published. The secondis
an issueofcontent. In particular,
Joyceaddedmoreallusions to timeand
spacein hisrevisions to thestorycompleted in early1929."The Mookse
and theGripes"is toldbyProfessor Jones,a Lewisstand-in who is fig-
uredas "so eminenta spatialist." The prefaceto thefableis a Joneslec-
turethatshifts almostimperceptibly fromdiscussing timeand spaceto
andtheprofessor
finances, rantsaboutthe"samedime-cash problem else-
where."Just as Lewis critiques Bergson and Einstein in Time and Western
Man,Professor Jonesattacks "thesophology ofBitchson" and"thewhoo-
whoo andwhere'shairstheoricsof Winestain" (149).Certainly thisfa-
bleparodies Lewis'sarguments in TimeandWestern Man:theMooksewho
in exasperation askstheGripes"Is thisspaceofourcoupleofhourstoo
dimensional foryou,temporiser?" (154) servesas a kindofspace-mind,
whiletheGripes,"hisDubvillebrooder-on-low" (153) (Dublinbroth-
er-in-law) offersthe timeperspective, tormenting hiscounterpart with
thequestion, "By thewatch,whatis thetime,pace?"(154).Wealsosee
hereMarsden's argument in herlead essaysin theEgoistagainstthesep-
arationof a singleorderof existencereprised in thequestionaskedby
theMookse,if"thisspace... [is]too dimensional." In short,whileLewis's
polemicsplaytheirpartin theargument, it is too simpleto claimthat
"theemphasis in thisfableis clearlyon thedisjunction ofspaceandtime

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ThaineStearns

a la Lewis"(Otte301). Marsden'spositionappearsheretoo in thesug-

gestionthattimeandspaceareconjoinedin a singleentity.
Joyceprovidesmorethanjustellipticalreferences
to Marsden's ideas
in Finnegans
Wake,however,in hiseffort
to Marsden
recuperate as a writer
ofsignificance.Whentheargument betweentheMookseandtheGripes
ends,withbothcombatants
finally spent,a Marsden-like
figureappears
on thesceneto carrythetwocombatants away.Thewoman is unnamed
but,once the
again, passage teems withallusions:
Then therecamedownto thethither banka womanofno ap-
pearance(I believeshewasa Blackwithchillsat herfeet)and
shegathered up hishoariness
theMooksemotamourfully where
he wasspreadandcarriedhimawayto herinvisible dwelling,
thatshights, AquilaRapax,forhe wastheholysacredsolemand
poshupspitofherboshop'sapron.So yousee theMooksehe
hadreasonas I knewandyouknewandhe knewallalong.And
therecamedownto thehither banka womanto all important
(thoughtheysaythatshewascomely, spitethecoldin herheed)
and,forhe wasas likeitas blowitto a hawker's hank,she
plucked down the torn
Gripes, panickyautotone, in angeufrom
hislimbandcariadawayitsbeotitubes withherto herunseen
it
shieling, is,De RoreCoeli.
And so thepoorGripesgotwrong;
forthatis alwayshowa Gripesis,alwayswasandalwayswillbe.
Anditwasneverso thoughtful ofeitherofthem. (158-59)

Joycecapturestwoaspects ofMarsden'scareerandcharacterinthewoman
who showsup on oppositebanksoftheriverto carrythetwocombat-
antsaway;whatlinksthe two allusionsto Marsdenis theirresidence.
The "womanofno appearance" carriestheMookse"awayto herinvisi-
ble dwelling,"
and "womanto all important" carriesthe Gripes"with
herto herunseenshieling."20As hiscorrespondence withHarrietWeaver
attests,
Joyce waswell aware that Marsden, who had become a writerof
no importance,was residing in SeldomSeen,in a former miner'scot-
tagethatlackedrunning waterandelectricity.21
Weaver, whovisited Mars-
denseveraltimes,oncecomplained thatitwasso coldtherein thewinter
thatshehad to getdressedin bed,and thenhad to breaktheice in the
pipe fromthespring(qtd.in Garner156).The womanwho appearsin
thissectionhas"chillsat herfeet"and a "cold in herheed,"an allusion
to Marsden'spoor health,caused by her livingconditions.More crucial

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James DoraMarsden,
Joyce, andCompetitive
Pilfering

is thefunction thatthewomanofSeldomSeen fulfills here:overseer to

theend of thefuriousbattlebetweentheMookse and theGripes.Al-
thoughthewoman,likeWordsworth's Lucy,is unknown andunacknowl-
edged,Joyce inverts the relationship between the livingand thedead:
heretheunnamedwomancomesto takeawaythenear-deadcombat-
ants.22 In hersecondappearance, on "thehither bank,"thewomanis"to
all important," a critiqueoftendirectedat Marsdenby herdetractors
andbyJoyce's contemporaries.23 The unnamedwoman,Marsden's stand-
in in Finnegans Wake,is bothunseenand important in Joyce'sstory,a
paradoxical representation worthy of Marsden. In his finalsummation,
The Mookse (thespacemind)"was theholysacredsolemand poshup
spitof herboshop'sapron"and "had reasonas I knewand you knew
and he knewall along,"while"thepoor Gripesgotwrong."In effect,
Joycegestures toward Marsden's argument forthepreeminence ofa fem-
ininespacein TheDefinition oftheGodhead.
Joyce's allusion to Marsden andherobscurevolumein Finnegans Wake
servesas hiseffort to restoreherstanding andpropagate herideas.Mars-
denasserted in TheDefinition oftheGodhead thatthephilosopher offirst
principles musthave"a mentalcouragegreatenoughto darethosegreat
mentalsweepsthrough theuniverse-initsentirety, whichinvolvesuch
profound intellectual and ethicalconsequences" (164).As a writerwho
soughtto includeeverything in hertexts, sheintrigued Joyce.In Mars-
den'swords,theirparalleleffort was"to succeedin thetaskwe haveun-
dertaken ofpresenting theentirebodyofknowledge as a singlecultural
unit"(Definition 30-31).
In somesense,Marsden's bookservesas an aptdemonstration ofpre-
cisely the element for which she has been consistently criticized-her
audacityin presuming herown genius.Her philosophical projectis im-
menselygrandin scopeand design,and perhapsitsfailureto finda re-
ceptive audiencebesides Joyceattests toMarsden's propensity to overreach.
This aspectoffailureis a fatethatmanyof hercontemporaries escape,
however, evenwhentheyengagein projectsthat,likeMarsden'sbook,
areencyclopedic in theireffort to includeeverything. The proliferation
of attention to Joyce'snovelsand Pound'sCantos,as two examplesof
encyclopedic reach,hasresulted in partbecauseoftheirscope.LikeMars-
den,thesetwo modernists self-consciously promotedtheirown genius
in manyways,but especially withtextsthat,as Bob Perelmanwrites,
createan "aura of illegibleauthority"surroundingthe artist-"a lurefor

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ThaineStearns

endlessstudy"(1-2). Perhaps,
then,whatMarsden's and abstruse
strange
textsrequire,
to legitimatehersenseofherown modernist entitlement,
isJoyceanattention.By givingmoreconsiderationto Marsden'swork,
we wouldbe morelikelyinclinedto attendto theclimateofcompeti-
tionandthepracticeofmutualborrowing in literary
modernism.

Notes
1.The modernist anxiety regardingplagiarismand,moregenerally,
"borrow-
ing"ideasis in
reflected variousways.Pound'sprescriptionto"makeitnew,"
forexample, themodernist
suggests concernaboutoriginality.Wyndham
Lewis'sparanoiaaboutstolenideasis evidentin manyofhistextswhenhe
parodiesunoriginalartistsor overtly
attacks
otherwriters In his
forplagiarism.
1937novelRevenge forLove,forexample,Victor StamppaintscounterfeitVan
Goghs(226);andin hisposthumous novelRoaring Queen,Rhoda Hymen(a
caricature
of VirginiaWoolf)givesherself theawardforTheYear'sCleverest
LiteraryLarcenyfornotstealing froman"unknown Americannovelist"
whose
namehappensto beWyndham Lewis(100).In hischapteronWoolfin Men
WithoutArt,LewisclaimsthatWoolfcreatesan"exactandpuerile"copyof
partsofJoyce'sUlyssesin Mrs.Dalloway(138).
2. Recentscholarship
on Marsdenhasfocusedeitheron herworkas an editor
or on theinfluence
ofherwritingsaboutStirnerian anarchismandtheindi-
vidualego onWilliams,Pound,andJoyce. See,forinstance,
DavidKadlecfor
discussions
ofMarsden'sinfluence
on all threeofthesewriters.
Also,seeJean-
MichelRabate'sJamesJoyceandthePolitics
ofEgoismfora discussion
ofMars-
denvis-i-vis
Joyce.BruceClarkeconsiders Marsden's
especially earlywritings
andtheirinfluenceon PoundandWilliams. Otherrecentpublicationsthat
offersignificant
commentary on Marsden includethosebyVincent Sherry,
MarkMorrisson, PaulPeppis,andRobertvonHallberg.
3. EliotreplacedH.D. as assistant
editoroftheEgoistfortheJune1917issue.
His letterto hisfather
is dated31 October1917.His antipathy to Marsdenis
reflectedmoredirectly elsewhere;forexample,in a 9 July1919lettertoJohn
Quinn,he wrote"I haveonlymetMissMarsdenonce,and then(instrict
confidence) frothedatthemouthwithantipathy" (315).
4. PoundtoJaneLidderdale,
12July1962.Qtd.in Lidderdale
andNicholson
472n1.
5. ClarkedetailstheexchangebetweenMarsdenandPoundandthedebate
thattookplacein theNewFreewoman betweenthemin her"Viewsand Com-
ments"columnandin hisseriesofessays"The SeriousArtist"
(110-17).

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James Dora Marsden,
Joyce, andCompetitive
Pilfering

6.The EgoistPresspublished twovolumesofMarsden's metaphysics,outof

herinitialplanfora three-volume which
series, latersheprojected be as
to
as
many eight. The two The
volumes, Definition ofthe Godhead(1928) and The
Mysteries (1930)
ofChristianity hadlow runs
print and generatedlittlepublic
The presspublished
interest. 500 copiesofthefirst volumeand250 ofthe
second;Weaver wasunableto sellmanycopiesofeithervolume.In 1955
Weaverarranged withtheHolywellPressforpublication offivechapters ofa
thirdvolumeprovisionallytitledTimeandtheHomo-centric The five
Universe.
chapterswerepublished as a 34-pagepamphlet titledThePhilosophy ofTime.
The appealofsuchencyclopedic projectsforJoycehasbeenwelldocu-
mented.See forinstanceAttilaFij andPeterMunz.
7.Thisis a perceptionthathercriticshavegenerally
missed.FollowingPound
andEliot,criticism ofMarsdenhastypicallyfocusedon herabstruse prose,her
ostensibleturnawayfromfeminism, andherapparent for
disregard literary
concerns.We can observetheinfluence ofPound'sandEliot'sviewsofMars-
denin criticismas earlyas GlennHughes'sImagismandtheImagists(1931):
Not theleastamusing thingto one who looksthrough thecom-
pletefileof theEgoistis thenever-endingstream of abstraction
con-
tributed byMiss Marsden. Exceptfor one or two occasionswhen
illnessintervened,sheneverfailedto exerciseherprivilegeofoccupy-
ing the first
page (andusuallyseveralotherpages intothe bargain).
Whatshewrotehadnottheslightest connection withtheothercon-
tentsofthepaper,andwasstudiously overlooked bymostreaders.
(31-32)
EvenMarsden'sbiographer,thesocialhistorian
Les Garner,
viewsher
workas too removed
from"lifeandreality" irrelevant.
and,thus,implicitly He
writes:
Ifthe"British
Public"struggled withJoyce's
prosetheyhadan almost
taskin unraveling
impossible Dora'sownphilosophical ramblingsin
TheEgoist.
In particular,
[herwriting]tendedto be basedon unsub-
stantiated
assertion.
It lackedrealism
andwasexpressed in inexorable
prose. (144)
GarneralsoreadsMarsdenas havinga negative attitude
towardimagismand
otherliterary in thejournal.I concurwithClarke:Garneris"often
interests
outofhiselementin literary andhe commits
discussion, factualerrors
that
diminishtheusefulness
ofhiswork"(94n4).
8.The "Proteus"chapterof Ulysses
wasthesecondto be published
in theEgo-
ist.AlthoughtheLittleReview
serialized novel
Joyce's in theUnited States

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ThaineStearns

beforetheEgoist itin England,

published HarrietWeaver,who communicated
with
regularly Marsden regardingeditorial
issues
with thejournal,wasdirectly
involvedin allphasesofthenovel'spublication.
See Lidderdale
andNicholson's
accountofherrolein publishing thenovel(199-200).
9. References
to Ulysses
giveepisodeandline.
10.See,forinstance, Matter
Bergson's andMemory:
The mistakeofordinarydualismis thatitstarts
fromthespatialpoint
ofview:itputs,on theone hand,matter withitsmodifications,
in
space;on theotherhand,itplacesunextended in
sensations conscious-
ness. (220)
11. BothKadlecandClarkediscusstheexchangeofideasbetweenMarsden
andPound,especially in regardto Pound'sessayseries"The SeriousArtist"
and
Marsden'sreactionto hisideas.NeitherKadlecnorClarke,however, discusses
thestrikingdifferences
betweenMarsden's attackson Cartesianthoughtand
Pound'saffirmationofCartesian geometry in hisessay"Vorticism."This
dis-
agreement wasanothersourceofcontention betweenthetwoambitious writ-
ers.Pound'sessaystandsas hisassertion
ofhisownimportance in modernist
andhisanalysis
letters, dependson privilegingDescartes.Marsden'sattackon
Descartesservednoticeto Poundofhercontrary viewofhissignificance.
12.Although itis impossible
to knowwhether JoyceutilizedMarsden's discus-
sionsaboutDescartesbeforewriting the"Proteus"chapter, he hadprobably
readtheNewFreewoman andtheEgoist;PoundsenthimcopiesoftheNew
Freewoman,andHarriet WeaversenthimcopiesoftheEgoist. AsWendySteiner
haspointedout,in hiswalkalongSandymount Strand,StephenDedalusreen-
acts"a goodportionofthehistory ofphilosophy" (33),includingDescartes.
Justbeforethe passagequoted above("You arewalkingthrough .. .")
it
Stephen meditates abouttheextensionofbodies in space:"Then he wasaware
ofthembodiesbeforeofthemcoloured.How?By knocking hissconceagainst
them"(3: 8-9).
13.SteineroverlooksStephen'sargument aboutLessingin Portrait
andthus
readshismeditationin"Proteus"as a correction
ofLessing:
"whereasforLess-
ingtheseweretwoincommensurate forStephentemporal
realms, sequence
haveprovedinterchangeable"
and spatialcontiguity (35).UnlessStephenhad
revamped hisaesthetic
theories
completelyin histimeawayfromIreland, my
readingis moreconsistent.
moment"in painting
14.The "pregnant is analogousto theekphrastic
object
in poetry,
whenthetemporal
movement oftheactionis ostensibly
"suspend-

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JamesJoyce,Dora Marsden,and CompetitivePilfering

a paintedimageor one thatcanbe "seen"in thetext.Lessing's

ed,"creating
Laocodn(1766) famously theprescription
articulated thata visualimagewas
mostappropriatelypurelyspatial,
suspended in This
time. dictateis under-
minedbyekphrasis, ofcourse.Joyceandothermodernist writers chal-
overtly
lengedLessing'sideaswiththeir
verbal of
depictions representational space.For
ofekphrasis
discussions to timein painting,
anditsrelationship seeW.J.T.
Mitchell's
"EkphrasisandtheOther"in hisPictureTheory andJamesHeffernan.
15.Theentiretextof Wordsworth's
"Song"follows:
She dweltamongth'untroddenways
Besidethesprings
ofDove
A Maid whomtherewerenoneto praise
Andveryfewto love
AVioletbya mossystone
Half-hidden fromtheEye!
-Fair, as a starwhen onlyone
Is shining in thesky!
She livedunknown, andfewcouldknow
WhenLucyceasedto be;
But sheis in herGrave,and Oh!
The differenceto me. (147-48)
16.See Garner167 andLidderdale
andNicholson284.
17.Rabatemakestheconvincing casethatJoyce'sreferences to thejournalsare
notjustfictional of
expressions gratitude butthathe had an intellectual
and
aestheticinterestin a feministegoism,stemming from Stirner. He arguesthat
JoycequotesMarsden when Stephen Dedalus with
struggles belief anddoubt
in a scenefromUlysses, thusforegrounding theauthor's
interest in theworkof
hisphilosopher colleague.In Rabate'swords,MarsdenandStephen"both
insertthefamousphrase[from theGospelofMark,'Ibelieve,helpthoughmy
unbelief']in a contextthatstresses thevalueofdoubtandtheneedto resist
theauthoritative injunction to believe"("JoycetheEgoist"46-47).After
Stephenstatesthefamousphrase, he adds,"Whohelpsto believe?Egomen.
Who to unbelieve? Otherchap."As Rabat6pointsout,itwasMarsdenwho
believedin andpublished Joyce'sA PortraitoftheArtist
as a Young Man,while
GeorgeRobertshadhesitated to publishDubliners,
finally destroying the
manuscript.
18.Firstcomposedin pencilinJulyorAugust1927,"The Mookseand
Gripes"wasrevisedbyJoycein lateAugust1927.He revised
itagainforTales

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ThaineStearns

ToldofShemandShaun,mostlikelyinApril1929.See Finnegans
WakeFacsimile
75.

GeorgeOtte.
19.See,forinstance,
as"a hut"(159).Its"unseen"aspect
20. RolandMcHughglosses"shieling"
suggestsMarsden's
residence.
21. In hisletterstoWeaverafter1918,Joyceoftensenthisregardsto Marsden
andaskedaboutherwellbeing,referring at one pointto Marsdenas"my
fellowsufferer."Thisacknowledgment ofMarsden's healthproblems indicates
thatphysical ailments hindered
similarly theirconcurrent efforts
to writeand
but also
publish, Joyce implicitly grantsMarsden an equalstatus
to hisown
(286).
22.Joyce's allusiveplaybetweendeadandnear-deadrelieson theambiguityin
theLucypoemsaboutLucyGray'smortality andherlivingpresencein the
landscape(see"LucyGray"lines57-58:"Yetsomemaintain thatto thisday/
She is a livingChild").
23.EliotandPoundeachcomplained thattheythoughtMarsdenwashigh-
handed in hermanagementof theNew Freewomanand theEgoist.However,
HarrietWeavercontinuedto consultheraboutday-to-day ofthe
operations
Marsdenhadvoluntarily
Egoistevenafter accededthiscontroltoWeaverin
andNicholson87-88.
1914.See Lidderdale

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