We read as far as "
Mercurial Malachi." (Penguin 681.14), (Gabler 15.4171)
Well,
if, even though we are used to the 'craziness', the irrationality of this chapter, most of us still search for some kind of rationality in these pages, whose fault can it be but ours own! As one of the fellow readers (Mr. Widmer) put it succinctly last night, '
Joyce had no 'respect' for his readers!' How true! Joyce teases us and demands from us that we remember every word we have so far read if we want to enjoy, if we want to make sense of these pages. Because as Fritz Senn put it, this chapter feels as if the book is reflecting on itself, as if the text has its own memory. This is apparent when we read the paragraph starting with '
Bang fresh barang bang...' (Penguin p.680). Most of the words and phrases in this paragraph echo words and phrases from previous episodes. When Fritz Senn explained this, what felt at first sight to be very bewildering came across as being very familiar indeed!
The main player on these pages is Stephen. Bloom and Lynch are there too as are the women of the brothel. Surprising entries are that of Simon Daedalus, Deasy, the head of the school at which Stephen teaches (see
episode 2), the dance teacher Maginni (met him in episode 10), Professor Goodwin, who was Molly's piano accompanist (see episode 4), Buck Mulligan, and Stephen's mother. Bracelets and hours of the day also acquire voices! The song 'My girl is a Yorkshire girl' plays an important role on these pages (listen to the song
here or
here, read the lyrics
here) as does the dance sequence of the ballet, 'Dance of the Hours' (watch it
here). In the bargain, we go through a bevy of unconnected topics: shows in France, dance steps, betting, hunting scene, horse race,... One thing we can say with certainty is that Stephen is also hallucinating just as Bloom did earlier in this episode.
But first things first. When Zoe asks Stephen to give them
some parleyvoo, he starts off in great style, talking supposedly like how a Frenchman talks in English. Is he talking of one or some of the shows in Paris? In any case, his performance is punctuated with
parleyvooing French, when he out of the blue says, '
I dreamt of a watermelon.' This is an echo of episode 3 in which Stephen on the Sandymount strand thinks of a dream he dreamt the previous night. Melons are also the fruits the children of Israel long for in their wanderings (Gifford 3.367-69). Stephen is now the Dedalus, and has talons like a falcon. As he thinks
he flew, too high, calling for his father (
Pater! Free!), Simon Dedalus's voice answers,
somewhat sleepy (too late in the night?!)
We are in the midst of a fox hunting scene with all kinds of weapons. The crowd consists of not only
huntsmen and huntswomen but also a variety of gamblers and game players. The scene jumps to that of a horse race. In fact news of a horse race that took place that day, in which an outsider horse, Throwaway, won, has accompanied us through out the book. Back into reality with Private Carr and Private Compton singling outside. This reality is again not totally real as Cissy Caffrey is also singing with them. It is difficult to imagine that this girl is there in Mabbot street at this time of the night.
It is time for music (My girl is a Yorkshire girl) with Professor Goodwin at the pianola, and for dance with the steps being called out by the dance teacher, Professor Maginni. Stephen dancing with Zoe, later with Florry and then with Kitty, has to share the space with the Dance of the Hours starting with the morning hours,
goldhaired, slimsandalled, in girlish blue, waspwaisted, with innocent hands. During this scene of gaiety, Simon admonishes his son, saying '
Think of your mother's people.'
The word 'mother' is the cue to what follows. (Joyce intercepts the happenings here with a confusing - because their relevance is unclear - collection of echoes from a number of previous episodes as mentioned in the first paragraph above.) Stephen's mother is dead. So naturally, he thinks of the
dance of death. The dancing
couples fall aside.
Stephen's mother, emaciated, rises through the floor like a ghost. There is an echo of the death service in Latin (
Liliata rutilantium...). We are back in episode 1. On top of the Martello tower. With Buck Mulligan. In yellow. But now, instead of
bearing a bowl of lather (
episode 1), he is eating a
smoking buttered scone (e
pisode 10). Still Stephen is smarting at Mulligan's words to his (Mulligan's) mother about his (Stephen's) mother's death ('
She's beastly dead').
Note: The next blogpost will be about the reading on 3rd May.
