Monday, 20 November 2017, Pages 427 - 430

We finished chapter 1 of book 3, and have started with chapter 2 of book 3, reading till
"... allo misto posto .... " (430.10)

Shaun, who was bouncing in a barrel down the river Liffey, talking about his brother Shem to the 29 girls assembled on the banks, simply disappaled and vanesshed (disappeared and vanished) at the end of chapter 1.

He was just gaogaogaone! (gone!) And the night fell. And the stellas were shinings. And the earthnight strewed aromatose. (The stars were shining. The night strewed fragrance.) According to McHugh (Annotations to Finnegans Wake), Joyce was inspired for this passage by the aria, 'E lucean le stelle e ollezzava la terra...' sung by the painter Cavaradossi just before his execution by the soldiers of Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's opera, Tosca. Listen to Jonas Kaufmann singing the aria - an unforgettable experience - here, and read the lyrics in English translation and in original Italian here.

Though Shaun is supposed to have been gaogaogaone at the end of chapter 1, he is back as Jaunty Jaun as chapter 2 starts. He has started walking down the road, and has stopped at the weir by Lazar's Walk to loosen his heavy shoes. He is propped up against a warden of the peace, one comestabulish Sigurdsen (constable Sigurdsen), who looks like he has been buried upright like the Osbornes (don't know who these are!), a result of having finished on his own a bottle (monopolized bottle).  It is then he sees the 29 girls (hedge daughters) once again, who are keeping time with their 58 pedalettes.

Who are these 29 girls? One interpretation is that they are Shaun's sister Issy and her 28 classmates from St. Brigid's School. They also interpreted to represent one day each of the month February + 1 for the leap year. Why February? Because February 1st is the feast day of St. Brigid! Why St. Brigid? Because she is one of the patron saints of Ireland!

Monday, 13 November 2017, Pages 425 - 427

We read as far as "Ah, mean!" (427.8)

(It would be interesting to list all the ways Joyce uses to say 'Amen!')

Recalling what has been happening so far, we are in the dream world of Earwicker, who currently has been dreaming of his elder son, Shaun. Shaun is talking a lot, is giving almost a sermon to the girls assembled on the bank of the Liffey, down which he is rolling buoyantly backwards in a barrel, via Rattigan's corner ... in the direction of Mac Auliffe's, the crucet-house. (McHugh explains in his Annotations to Finnegans Wake that Sitric Mac Aulaf (Olaf?) gave the ground for the Christ College Cathedral in Dublin.)

Not only is Shaun's talk very negative about his brother Shem, he also praises himself quite a bit. (... it is an openear secret, ..., how I am extremely ingenuous at the clerking even with my badily left....). He considers himself the ormuzd (i.e, Ahuramazda, the Persian divinity of light) where as Shem is the hairyman (i.e, Ahirman, the Persian divinity of darkness and evil).

We are after all in the world of dreams!

Monday, 6 November 2017, Pages 423 - 425

We stopped at "How's that for Shemese?" (425.3)

Shaun is still full of vitriol. He is telling the girls about the scandal concerning his father. Nobody really knows what exactly HEC did in the Phoenix Park. All we know is that HEC, two girls and three soldiers were there. Shaun says that after HEC returned home, while his wife, kept squealing down..., Shem laid out his litterery bed and noted down all that was said.

(Joseph Campbell says that this paragraph (p. 422 - 424) is a parody of Joyce's life.)

When the girls ask Shaun to tell them why Shem is excommunicated, why does he talk about his brother so, the answer Shaun gives is 'root language.' (By the way the thunder word that Shaun then pronounces - on page 424 - is made up of 101 letters, and not 100!)

Joseph Campbell comes to our rescue once again with the following explanation of this paragraph:
"Shaun's reason for hating Shem seems peculiar, even mysterious, until we probe deeply into its implication. The 'root language' of Shem is filled with thunder echoes of the divine judgement. Shem's words are the hammer of Thor which could destroy the civilisation of which Shaun is the representative. Joyce is here following Vico's notion that all language has its origin in man's effort to formulate the meaning of the primal thunderclap. Shem's language threatens to make that meaning clear, and is thus fraught with judgment on Shaunian society. Shaun's fear of Shem's language shows that he, Shaun, very well knows the secret and power of his brother."

References:
1.  'A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake' by Joseph Campbell, 2005 edition, Footnotes on P. 266
2. Read here about Vico's work, The New Science.
- Of particular relevance regarding the thunderclap is the section, 4. f. The Three Principles of History: Religion, Marriage and Burial 
3. Here is an interesting blog article on the thunder words of Finnegans Wake.

Monday, 30 October 2017, Pages 422 - 423

We stopped at "... muddyasss ribalds." (422.18)

Shaun is being quite rude about his brother Shem, who has penned the letter that Shaun tried to deliver. The girls listening to all this, ask him, whether he has not used language ten times worse than the pen marks and with such hesitancy by your ... brother? This makes Shaun even more voluble about the deficiencies of his brother and announces, 'If he waits till I buy him a mosselman's present!' (Mussulman's present: ... The pig!)

The girls then request Shaun to unravel the letter in his own sweet words, with yet another fable from Aesop.

Shaun's answer hints at the rumours of Phoenix Park scandal that has been following his father, Earwicker.

(Note: Reading Joseph Campbell's rendering of these pages help a lot to unravel the sentences and get  at their meaning!)

Monday, 23 October 2017, Pages 420 - 422

Read as far as "Gach!" (422.3)

These pages are the funnest (oops, wrongly spilled!) ones in the parts we have so far read in the book. Shaun, the postman, is carrying a (the?) letter to deliver. It was written by Shem, the penman.  Shaun has problems delivering the letter though he tries different possible addresses.

He tries, for example, at 29 Hardware Saint, 13 Fitzgibbets, 12 Norse Richmound, 92 Windsewer. Ave., Fearview, 8 Royal Terrors, 3 Castlewoos, 2 Milchbroke, 7 Streetpetres, 60 Shellburn and ends up finding that either there is no such number (No such no.), or no such person (Noon sick parson), or no such street (none so strait) exists.

If these addresses were not wrongly spilled but correctly given, then they would correspond respectively to the following addresses in some of which James Joyce's parents lived over the years
29 Hardwicke St, 4 Fitzgibbon St, 17 North Richmond St, 29 Windsor Ave., Fairview, 8 Royal Terrace, 23 Castlewood Ave., 2 Millbourne Ave., 7 St Peter's Terrace, 60 Shellbourne Rd. In all James Joyce is said to have lived in 20 houses in Dublin. This article tells us more about it.

Do discover which other words are wrongly spilled on these pages!

Monday, 16 October 2017, Pages 418 - 420

Read as far as "An infant sailing eggshells on the floor of a wet day would have more sabby." (420.16)

Before that we read the poem of Ondt and the Gracehoper. It is available in regular English in Joseph Campbell's 'A Skeleton Key To Finnegans Wake'. (See pages 264-265 in the 2005 edition of the book.) You can also listen to the entire Joycean version of the fable here and read a critical analysis of the fable here. The original version of the fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper by Aesop is of course available here!

Regarding Ondt and the Gracehoper, Joseph Campbell writes the following on page 264:
"Underneath the sly insect play of this fable, the Gracehoper restates Shem's philosophy: there are advantages to Shaun's possessions and the thrift that begot them - all of which the Gracehoper appreciates - but he would not relinquish his own life style to enjoy them. He can see the Ondt's point of view, but why cannot the Ondt see his? - The fact that Shaun recites this fable would seem to indicate that he knows very well of the charm of Gracehoper existence, but realises that he is incapable of enjoying it, and therefore insists the more on imposing his own store-keeping pattern on the world."

Monday, 9 October 2017, Pages 416 - 418

We stopped at "Haru!" (418.8)

Next week we shall be starting with the poem on the Ondt and the Gracehoper (pardon, ant and the grasshopper) on page 418.

(My apologies that I have no time this week to write a bit more about the delightful pages we read this week.)

On another note, we are celebrating this month the completion of five years of reading of Finnegans Wake with Fritz Senn. It was in October 2012 that we came together to 'read' the book. Let us celebrate with a glass or two at the James Joyce Pub, Pelikanstrasse, after our reading on next Monday, 16th October.