Monday, 18 February 2019, Pages 532 - 534

We read as far as "... holding down the throne." (534.24)

Earlier in the work, Joyce had used in many places a single idea as the thread connecting a number of paragraphs/pages. For instance, the names of the rivers of the world was the thread running through pages 196 to 216.
Now it is the turn of cities to connect ideas, sentences, paragraphs and pages. The paragraph starting with Amtsadam (page 532) hints at Bucharest, Mecca, Jerusalem, Brussels, Oslo, London, Gretna Greene, New York, Stockholm, Liverpool, Tokyo, Kyoto, Athens, Belfast, Rome, Peking, Lambay Island, Frankfurt and Dublin, among others.

Monday, 11 February 2019, 531 - 532

We stopped at "... ouija ouija wicket up." (532.18)

Last week we had read that the 4 old men want to call Kitty the Beads, the Mandame of Tipknock Castle (530/32) to answer their questions. According to McHugh, Kitty the Beads lived near Ticknock, County Dublin, and she carried rosary beads. Joseph Campbell identifies her as the female janitor at HCE's pub.

What follows is her statements (hidden among many words that are to do with kitchen, cooking, ...) about HCE, how she massaged him till he was red in the face, etc. In Joseph Campbells' rendition of parts of page 531, she says, "He sizzled there, watching my picture as the refined soubrette, with my broached bust. And he never saw anything finer than he saw when I started so ladylike to leg a jig, highly tight, kickakickkack...."

At this point HCE himself participates in the inquisition conducted by the 4 old men.

Monday, 4 February 2019, Pages 529 - 531

The reading stopped at "Master's gunne he warrs the best." (531.4)

When I think about the pages we read this week, I have to remind myself - constantly - that what we are reading takes place in the dream world.  Earwicker is dreaming and we are kind of voyeurs of his dreams. This is the only way I can extract some sense out of these pages.

This chapter (chapter 3, book 3) started with Shaun being subjected to interrogation by four old men (four wise men, four evangelists, ...).  Now others are being interrogated. As Joseph Campbell writes, "The whole great world of the sons and the grandsons simply vanishes like a dream, and only the primordial, archetypal presence of HCE and ALP remains." A couple of things they want to know about HCE is whether he is the co-owner of a circus (hengster's circus near North Great Denmark Street; 529.33), whether he sent his son to buy the usual jar of porter ... and set it down before the wife ... bidding her mine the hoose (mind the house)..., while he and his buddies go rampaging the roads? (530.12 ff)

Monday, 28 January 2019, Pages 527 - 529

We read as far as "... from their last situations?" (529.14)

From last week's topic of 'fish', we have moved on to the topic of 'Virgin Mary,' reciting Joyce's version of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Joyce's version vs (Version of the original litany)

Mirror do justice,      (Mirror of justice)
taper of ivory,            (Tower of ivory)
heart of the conavent,  (Ark of the covenant)
hoops of gold!            (House of gold)

The litany is available here!

Or is this Issy talking to herself, watching her reflection in the mirror (water) as at the very beginning of the paragraph she tells herself, '... you are a viry vikid girl...'? (Why does she suddenly mention here 'Bartolo mio?' Bartolo is the doctor who has designs on marrying his beautiful ward, Rosina  in Rossini's opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (A wonderful recording of this opera can be watched here!) Most probably Issy is talking here of the apostel Bartholomew and not of Dr. Bartolo of the above opera!)

McHugh also interprets this scene as Tristan returning disguised to Cornwall to meet Isolde. There you go!

Monday, 21 January 2019, Pages 525 - 527

We stopped the reading at "Chic hands." (527.17)

It was mainly about various kinds of fish - including fishnoo! Have not had time to think about what it  - apart from fishnoo - meant :(

Monday, 14 January 2019, Pages 523 - 525

The reading stopped at "... neat zoo?" (525.20)

Monday, 7 January 2019, Pages 520 - 523

We stopped at "... Mrs's MacMannigan's Yard." (523.18)

There are some interesting phrases, sentences, snippets of sentences on the pages we read.
Example:
- cabbage or paperming comfirts (520.36)
- staggerjuice or deadhorse (521.12)
- Playing bull before shebears or the hindlegs off a clotheshorse (522.15)
- orangepeelers or greengoaters (522.16)
- tonedeafs in our noses to boot (522.28)
- pigeonstealer (522.36)
- groomed by S. Samson and son, bred by dilalahs (523.16)

Of all the above, I was (and am) intrigued by the sentence, 'playing bull before shebears or the hindlegs off a clotheshorse'. I wonder, what do these apparently two parts of the sentence mean and how are they related?

In a way, I think, this sentence summarises the quintessence of Finnegans Wake. One can interpret it on multiple levels as can be read below:
1. Roland McHugh gives the meaning as "Bulls and Bears: speculators on rises and falls, respectively, on Stock Exchange. He also equates 'shebears' to 'Sheba'.

2. Our co-reader, Anna, summarises it as follows:
It could refer to stockbrokers. They are good at persuading people by talking them into buying bonds. That is to say:
"playing bull and bear":  'playing' in the sense of 'gambling' on the stockmarket. 'Bull' market is when the stockmarkets are going up, and 'bear' market when stocks are going down.
"the hindlegs off a clotheshorse": there is an expression in English "to talk the hindlegs off a donkey". That is to say people who persuade you into something by talking incessantly. The 'donkey' has been changed into 'clotheshorse' which fits in with the 'she' of 'shebear'. in the sense that she has nice clothes and hangs them on a clotheshorse, sometimes also called a 'garment donkey'... There is also, of course, the sexual interpretation. The male 'bull' impregnates her and then she bears (a child). She has put her garments on the clotheshorse and been talked into it.

3. According to Kitcher et al (Joyce's Kaleidoscope: An Invitation to Finnegans Wake), the sentence refers to the story of the incident in the park and the tale of Buckely and the General. 
(Shaun/Yawn who is being interrogated by the four old men in this whole chapter is given the option to choose between these two alternatives.)

4. I found a nice story about bulls and bears. Read The Bull and the Bear here.

Admittedly, Finnegans Wake is teeming with sexual hints, - sometimes explicit, often hidden - and the incidence in the park is one of the main pillars of the book. Still, I personally prefer to interpret the sentence intriguing me based on the story of the bull and the bear!

In any case, here is a photograph of the bull and the bear in front of the New Stock Market in Frankfurt. You are all invited to make your interpretations of 'playing bull before shebears'!

(Source: url)