My Page of Joy-ce

The page I have chosen to focus on from Finnegans Wake is page 425. I decided that if I was going to “open” to some random page I could not do that. I would then just spend my time endlessly trying to find that “perfect” page, and ultimately coming to the realization that they are all perfect in their own individual flow of language. Basically I chose 425 because it is my birthday, 04-25, which seems as good a reason as any to focus in on that particular number.

Also the “~30 words” I chose from that page are as follows:

“I’d pisel it with immenuensoes as easy as I’d perorate a chickerow of beans for the price of two maricles and my trifolium librotto, the authordux Book of Lief, would, if give to daylight, (I hold a most incredible faith about it) far exceed what that bogus bolshy of a sham, my soamheis brother…”

We shall see! I may have to find something a little shorter!

Re-membering Finnegan

So I finished Dr. Sexson’s article yesterday that was posted on Sam’s blog, and I must say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is another wonderful way for us to look at and approach Joyce without being as intimidated as we started off. Or at least that is a nice thought. I am still rather intimidated, but I am excited to discuss it and at least begin to be altered by the book itself rather than the other way around. Dr. Sexson wrote in the article that the journey itself through Joyce is itself the goal and not the ultimate goal is not to understand every minute detail.

I decided after reading this article I would just list some of my favorite quotes from it. I will blog about Finnegans Wake by Friday I promise. I am slowly making my way through it and I am finally working up to my first blog on this book of knowledge.

“…only in sleep do we begin to awaken to all we have forgotten.”

“…such material is tantamount not only to rebirth of wonder but an apotheosis, a translation of the human into the divine, of the mortal into the immortal…”

“…we all become artists when we sleep…”

“A reader of Finnegans Wake is more like a navigator moving experientially through simulacra, not with the intention of understanding what’s going to happen at the end, or of getting the “point,” but with the aim of experiencing a hallucinatory ride, “hanging out,” getting lost in fortuitous forks in the labyrinth, taking an ecstatic flight through the infinite caverns of memory in which the journey itself becomes the goal.”

“Knowledge, for example, should no longer be a commodity but closer to what Plato thought it was, an eroticized expression of the soul, a transformation.”

“It is here in, in this place that is not a place, at this moment of religious miracle and revelation when the phenomenal world metamorphoses into what Joyce calls the “funanimal” world, that we begin to learn how to read the unread and unreadable book.”

So thank you once again for this enlightening article. Similar to a Dr. Sexson lecture in all the information packed into a short period of time, and thoroughly enjoyable (missing the best part of lecture though, being there in person!). Informative and entertaining. The surefire way to lead your students to a successful semester and I thank you for that!

My Waking Reality

So Dr. Sexson wanted us to do an inventory of our room and what we see when we wake up. So here it goes!

I wake up to the blaring sound of my alarm clock at 6am, and force myself to get out of bed. I go to move and feel that I am barricaded in by my two cats, Oskar and Lola (no not the Barry Manilow Lola, but Humbert’s Lola, her full name is Dolores) they are brother and sister. I carefully remove myself from the layers of sheets, down comforter and family heirloom quilt, with deep green Celtic knots linked together across a cream backing, brought from Ireland by my Great-grandmother, my prized possession. I throw my legs over the side of my queen sized bed, and slowly begin to look around.

Right next to my knees is my side table, found at a yard sale for $5 but worth about $150. Piled on top are my books for class and the notebook I write in in the middle of the night when I wake up with ideas. Next to the books is my little lamp my Mother made me with the hand cut roses in the shade through which the light shines in red and green tissue paper, I have woken up to this lamp since I was four. In the shelves of the side table are all my movies, the CDs I have from before iTunes, and my massive album collection from my Uncle and Mother. In the collection is mostly Jazz and Classical (there’s even a Lionel Richie album signed by Quincy Jones when my Mother placed him and his entourage in L.A. in 1976 for a corporate event, another possession I prize and will never part with).

As I make my way to the bathroom I pass my desk drowning in papers, things I am working on, applications to grad schools and on and on and on. I can’t even see my laptop under all of it. As I walk around my bed I survey my room and realize I have four, six foot talk bookcases jam packed with books and more just spilling onto the floor! Even as I look at this I don’t think I have too many, I only think of all the books I have not found and bought yet! I make mental note to visit Francis at Vargo’s later in the week!

I pass my dresser and look at the 1920s French Posters I found in a strange antique shop in London. They are massive and the graphics are beautiful in their infinite details. I finally make it to the bathroom door and trip over Oskar as I go to the sink to splash cold water on my face to wake up. I am instantly jolted awake and look at the calendar to realize that I am about to begin another week, and I haven’t blogged yet!

My room is small but it is jammed pack full of my life and things. I never really thought about it until Dr. Sexson had us do this blog. I sure have accumulated a lot of things, but each has a fond memory attached, and each time I step into my own reality in the morning I am reminded of my past.

The Water Genie Speaks

So this paragraph is going to be repetitive, redundant, wordy and verbose. It could even get annoying, obnoxious, irritating, exasperating and aggravating at times. But isn’t that how he speaks, why use one word when twenty would do? Writing like this difficult, challenging, arduous, knotty and cryptic at times. It could drive any one crazy, loony, insane, bonkers, cuckoo. But that is what happened when I dove into the waters of Finnegans Wake. Joyce is perhaps a water genie himself, they way he strings lines together and writes in a fluid motion, even focusing on the fluidity of water at times. Perhaps the Water Genie in Haroun and the Sea of Stories is not so crazy after all, perhaps he is a savant, a genius, a gifted student in the realm of the English language. We mere mortals will never know unless we dive in, jump into, plunge into the depths and immerse ourselves in the language of the Water Genie and James Joyce.

Life as a Parabola

While reading the introduction to Finnegans Wake I was struck by the idea of the structure of the story on page xix. Bishop writes, "The book follows the course of a downward-plunging parabola, in this view, descending from the fall into sleep at its beginning into a darkest center and then reascending toward dawn, light, and reawakening as it nears its end...."

I was intrigued by this because of last semesters biblical lit. class with Dr. Sexson. In that class we read a work by Northrope Frye on the Bible as literature, and Frye describes much of the bible, and even life, as following a u-shaped curve, or parabola.

Perhaps Bishop has read Frye's work even as a literary critic, but there is no footnote suggesting such a possibility. If he had read Frye he would see that this is the path many tales take, especially the religious. There is a period of success and happiness that is then lost and we are in the bottom of the curve and then God redeems us and we return to our original place, perhaps even better off. Frye believed that right now in human history we are in the bottom of the curve, waiting to be redeemed.

I was intrigued that Bishop thought of Joyce's work as following this path as well, not just because he mentioned it, but because Joyce often refers to the religious and biblical as well. The parabola that his story follows is one of a descending and rebirth, whether through death or sleeping, the wake itself.

While Finnegans Wake the story itself is cyclical in form, ending where it began, following the theme in class of the myth of the eternal return. Joyce's writing follows the parabola perfectly. This is not just seen in his character that we are witnessing this dreamworld through, but through the very act of sleeping itself that we all experience. According to Joyce's form we all follow this path at least once a day. We descend into that darkness and unknown that is sleep and enter another world, and then we are awaken again to another day. Most often we do not experience the same day over and over again, as in Groundhog's day, but we awaken to a strangely familiar world.

Joyce's writing style is unusual in that he creates and draws from many languages making it strange to the human eye and ear, but then the language of sleep is strange and yet familiar all at once. It is the structure that is recognizable in this dreamland though, something that we all can identify with. That all to familiar descent into sleep and another world, and the awaking to one we are more familiar with. The story itself many be cyclical, but the path it follows is u-shaped.

Confused? Why Yes Thank You.

(Sorry for all the blogs at once. No internet at home and I am trying to catch up!)

So over the weekend I decided to read Wilder's play before I began Finnegan's Wake. IT sounded like a good idea, and I did finish it, but I am rather confused.

I get the obvious connection with the myth of the eternal return, because the play ends where it began with Sabina. But all the stuff in the middle just left me dizzy! Dinosaurs and mammoths, approaching ice, people living underground, beauty queens in red stockings, all the biblical and Greek allusions, OY!

I thought this would help with Joyce, but perhaps Joyce will help with Wilder. This blog is short because let's just say I am unsure of what to write about. Maybe in the end Joyce will clear up Wilder. Who knows! I just know I will have to reread it after diving into Joyce. Enjoy all!

I must say though that I was excited to see that Elia Kazan directed the first performance! He directed two of the best movies ever, A Streetcar Named Desire and Baby Doll, both by Williams. If you haven't you should, it's Marlon Brando at his most gorgeous!

But anyway let's just say I am confused and hoping to understand it all in the end, after much discussion and rereading!

Nooteboom and Nabokov

I LOVE THE FOLLOWING STORY! I read it in 2 hours this past weekend and can't wait to read it again. Thus far this semester this is my favorite work, but then again I have only read three of our six novels fully.

One thing about this novel that I love in particular is the connection it has with Nabokov's Transpart Things. Obviously there is the connection with the qoute that begins part two, but I was thinking about Nabokvo while I read this even before that point. There are also more connections then that alone throughout the work, and Nooteboom's writing refelcts the fact that he has read a lot of Nabokov himself.

The Following Story to me emerges fully out of Transparent Things and Nabokov's writing style. Nooteboom seems to question and strive to understand the other worldly as Nabokv does. The buring question of life after death, or what coms when we finally cross to the other side. "This is, I believe, it: not the crude anguish of physical death but the incomparable pangs of the mysterious mental maneuver needed to pass from one state of being to another."

Nooteboom also uses literary allusions to guide his readers as Nabokov does. His are not so much clues as Nabokov's were, guiding us through the maze of his tales, but details that add to the aesthetic of the tale. What really intrigued me though in Nooteboom is that like Nabokov's Transparent Things we are in all three tenses. Both his characters and readers are always in past, present and future all at once. Using Herman's flahbacks and dreams gives us, as readers, a chance to see where Herman was and perhaps where he is going.

Nooteboom also blatantly has his narrator talk directly to his reader. Noabokov was more subtle using Hugh->You, but in the end Nooteboom just comes out and says "You." Leaving no ending punctuation so that the story hangs in the air waiting to be completed. Then there is of course the supernatural element to be explored and discussed as well, OY!

I have not looked into this connection as completely as I would like, but that will come as we discuss the novel more in class. Another favorite from Dr. Sexson to add to the list. Perhaps a paper topic?!

Haroun: A River Runs Through It

I really enjoyed Haroun and the Sea of Stories as the initial reading for this class. Dr. Sexson brought up in class the connection between water and the creation of stories that continuously flow throughout Rushdie's work. Also the idea was brought up that when we don't read this flow of water becomes polluted and the subject matter of the stories is changed forever. This idea of the relation between water and stories, and even language, really intrigued me while I was reading Haroun.

One quote that really perfectly described this idea was on page 72. Rushdie writes of the sea of stories, "...like a liquid tapestry of breathtaking complexity...." I loved that that in Haroun each stream is a story within the sea, and they all run into each other making the stories change and evolve over time. Dr. Sexson also mentioned in class that this describes Joyce's Finnegan's Wake as well.

Joyce's writing flows like water and he focuses on water/streams in his work as well. But each line is part of a greater whole in his writing. Like any story or novel each character, place, event can be its own story but when brought together they all form a more whole and complete tale. Rushdie's work seems to be a novel about the creation of a novel or story. From the army that forms a "book" when set into action, to the streams of stories, Rushdie is writing of creation in all its forms. Writing for Rushdie even leads to the creation of other and new worlds beyond our perception.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories also perfectly encompasses the theme of the myth of the eternal return. The novel itself, like Joyce, ends where it begins with Haroun's father retelling their adventures to the crowd. This is also seen in the act of writing and creating the stories themselves by Rushdie. This novel to me seems to be about the act of creation through language and the written word.

High Brow/Low Brow

Most of what I think of when I hear high brow and low brow in relation to culture has already been stated by most of my classmates. Once again I get the slightly depressing realization that we are never original in our thoughts and never can be. We are always striving to remember and relearn all that we have forgotten and did not know we already knew. Everything returns to us in one form or another, cyclical time and the myth of the eternal return are always present throughout our everyday lives.

High brow and low brow as terms themselves emerged in the early 20th century in America. Another way to distinguish the culture of the upper classes from the lower. Here we are again as Americans, trying to even put art and culture into categories, when really it all is in the eye of the beholder. I believe art is subjective and is important and understood most completely when held within a context. But with these terms we are able to relate works to each other and have a standard of either high brow or low brow when both are relating to the same theme.

High brow to me though is something that is complex, intellectual and asks more of its reader or observer. Asking us to pay closer attention and fall into that work and its context and time. Low brow on the other hand refers to simpler forms of culture, mass culture in a sense. Culture for all to enjoy. Not culture so much to be learned from, but to be enjoyed and understood by many.

I am looking forward to this class, and reading both high and low brow versions of similar themes. As usual Dr. Sexson's classes are always intellectually stimulating and entertaining, just like our presentations at the end.