I find Stephen’s sections to be a little more confusing than Bloom’s. In the Scylla and Charbydis chapter this complexity reaches a new height, largely because of its subject matter. This scene is in a library and is mainly literary discussion. In some ways this chapter feels like Joyce rethinking a lot of the imagery and illusions he has worked in earlier. He explicitly discusses Hamlet and The Odyssey. What I love about this is that Joyce is including commentary of his own work. Although unlike Dante, who included explanations of his work afterward, Joyce does it within the work. But in many ways this contorts the piece, instead of clarifying it. Since there are multiple characters discussing the works, we see multiple interpretations. And Stephen’s and the narrator’s back and forth form of story-telling can make one unsure of Stephen’s interpretations.
One thing we do know about Stephen’s interpretation of literature, is that it relates to many of his personal thoughts. I remember after reading the Proteus chapter feeling very uncomfortable because of the personal nature of the chapter. And in the discussion of whether Hamlet was inspired by Shakespeare’s dead son Hamnet related to the feelings I had. There are many questions concerning the role of the personal in art; whether knowledge of the author’s life is important to the art. Russell says their exploration is “prying into the family life of a great man”, and he goes on to say that despite what Shakespeare did “we still have King Lear: and it is immortal” (189). So here we see Russell wanting art to be art for its own sake. In response John Ellington says, concerning Ann Hathaway, “She died, for literature at least, before she was born” (190). Afterward Stephen says she died when sixty seven, and related to how she served as a mother and wife for Shakespeare. After this Stephen thinks of his mother’s deathbed and how he wept alone. It is here that one can fully appreciate what Joyce has done in these lines. First he set up a discussion of prying into the artists personal life. After some discussion Joyce flips the topic, showing how thinking of art has reminded Stephen of his personal life. And like I mentioned earlier, Stephen is in a way the author of this book, thereby showing how the personal is inseparable from art.
Questions
There is a moment on page 217 when Stephen mentions “a creamfruit melon he held to me.” I just couldn’t find where he brings this up earlier. Does anyone remember?
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1 comment:
It's really interesting to look at this chapter as Joyce's critique of himself. One thing that popped up in my mind when you mentioned this is that although Stephen has grounded himself in physical realism for his argument, much of this chapter's narrative is ethereal and abstract. Stephen himself is described only by his words, his thoughts, and his philosophy. It takes an idiot like Buck Mulligan to drag Stephen back into the ineluctable modality of the physical.
This also related to the way in which the newsmen are described. All the verbs like "he said" and such are described in terms of that characters philosophical convictions. If Stephen is supposed to be responsible for these somewhat playful stylings - and I think he is - then he is contradicting himself in a way by rooting the concrete in thought instead of the other way around. Of course he's also mocking his peers in a way...
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