Ulysses (1922)
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It's where it goes properly mental. This bit was one i bookmarked:
What moved visibly above the listener's and the narrator's invisible thoughts?
The upcast reflection of a lamp and shade, an inconstant series of concentric circles of varying gradations of light and shadow.
In what directions did listener and narrator lie?
Listener, S. E. by E.: Narrator, N. W. by W.: on the 53rd parallel of latitude, N., and 6th meridian of longitude, W.: at an angle of 45° to the terrestrial equator.
In what state of rest or motion?
At rest relatively to themselves and to each other. In motion being each and both carried westward, forward and rereward respectively, by the proper perpetual motion of the earth through everchanging tracks of neverchanging space.
In what posture?
Listener: reclined semilaterally, left, left hand under head, right leg extended in a straight line and resting on left leg, flexed, in the attitude of Gea-Tellus, fulfilled, recumbent, big with seed. Narrator: reclined laterally, left, with right and left legs flexed, the index finger and thumb of the right hand resting on the bridge of the nose, in the attitude depicted in a snapshot photograph made by Percy Apjohn, the childman weary, the manchild in the womb.
Womb? Weary?
He rests. He has travelled.
With?
Sinbad the Sailor and Tinbad the Tailor and Jinbad the Jailer and Whinbad the Whaler and Ninbad the Nailer and Finbad the Failer and Binbad the Bailer and Pinbad the Pailer and Minbad the Mailer and Hinbad the Hailer and Rinbad the Railer and Dinbad the Kailer and Vinbad the Quailer and Linbad the Yailer and Xinbad the Phthailer.
When?
Going to dark bed there was a square round Sinbad the Sailor roc's auk's egg in the night of the bed of all the auks of the rocs of Darkinbad the Brightdayler.
Where?
What moved visibly above the listener's and the narrator's invisible thoughts?
The upcast reflection of a lamp and shade, an inconstant series of concentric circles of varying gradations of light and shadow.
In what directions did listener and narrator lie?
Listener, S. E. by E.: Narrator, N. W. by W.: on the 53rd parallel of latitude, N., and 6th meridian of longitude, W.: at an angle of 45° to the terrestrial equator.
In what state of rest or motion?
At rest relatively to themselves and to each other. In motion being each and both carried westward, forward and rereward respectively, by the proper perpetual motion of the earth through everchanging tracks of neverchanging space.
In what posture?
Listener: reclined semilaterally, left, left hand under head, right leg extended in a straight line and resting on left leg, flexed, in the attitude of Gea-Tellus, fulfilled, recumbent, big with seed. Narrator: reclined laterally, left, with right and left legs flexed, the index finger and thumb of the right hand resting on the bridge of the nose, in the attitude depicted in a snapshot photograph made by Percy Apjohn, the childman weary, the manchild in the womb.
Womb? Weary?
He rests. He has travelled.
With?
Sinbad the Sailor and Tinbad the Tailor and Jinbad the Jailer and Whinbad the Whaler and Ninbad the Nailer and Finbad the Failer and Binbad the Bailer and Pinbad the Pailer and Minbad the Mailer and Hinbad the Hailer and Rinbad the Railer and Dinbad the Kailer and Vinbad the Quailer and Linbad the Yailer and Xinbad the Phthailer.
When?
Going to dark bed there was a square round Sinbad the Sailor roc's auk's egg in the night of the bed of all the auks of the rocs of Darkinbad the Brightdayler.
Where?
While writing Ithaca, Joyce wrote to Frank Budgen: 'I am writing Ithaca in the form of a mathematical catechism. All events are resolved into their cosmic physical, psychical etc. equivalents, e.g. Bloom jumping down the area, drawing water from the tap, the micturition in the garden, the cone of incense, lighted candle and statue so that not only will the reader know everything and know it in the baldest coldest way, but Bloom and Stephen thereby become heavenly bodies, wanderers like the stars at which they gaze'
Driven by the need to name the physical world, Ithaca obsessively asks 'What?' There are eight times as many 'whats' as 'whys' in this episode, little interested as it is in motivation, and so hugely concerned with nomination... Further, though, such precise, 'scientific', denotative language deceives us into thinking it is value free, capable of avoiding the corrupting influence of figurative language, of metaphor. But a central irony of Ithaca is that such 'scientific' denotation reveals its own indebtedness to metaphor: note the 'male barrel', the 'unstable female lock', the 'purchase' obtained. Scientific discourse swerves into figurative trope and literature enters through the back door (which is, after all, an 'arpeture for free egress and free ingress'). Just as narrative persists beneath the relentless drive nominally to displace it (events do happen here). Ithaca is literature after all.
It reminds me of years ago when i was reading some loose leaf law documents and everything is written up in this dispassionate style but some of the cases are really full on and really distressing if you consider them a moment eg someone is raped at a party, or someone gets stabbed or something, and they're quite revealing in terms of what is included / not included.
My friend wrote a sort of log of a trip to some mountain in the Andes he went on, it's like an uncharted one, so the report is written as though you are filling in fields on a form for a credit card application. It's all factual but some of the details were really funny eg they went over Christmas and on one of the lines, he mentions that a brief Carol service was sung on the South side of the ascent on Christmas eve, or whatever.
What's genius about that Joyce section is how far he takes it.
My friend wrote a sort of log of a trip to some mountain in the Andes he went on, it's like an uncharted one, so the report is written as though you are filling in fields on a form for a credit card application. It's all factual but some of the details were really funny eg they went over Christmas and on one of the lines, he mentions that a brief Carol service was sung on the South side of the ascent on Christmas eve, or whatever.
What's genius about that Joyce section is how far he takes it.
Lydia Davis points out something like that re: a chart of the Beaufort scale of wind force in a dictionary,
Apropos of weather and precision, here is Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary’s chart of the Beaufort scale—a scale in which the force of the wind is indicated by numbers from 0 to 17. This source is “just” a dictionary, but the images are vivid because of their specificity and the good clear writing in the dictionary, and because the increasing strength of the wind on the scale becomes, despite the dry, factual account, dramatic.
Apropos of weather and precision, here is Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary’s chart of the Beaufort scale—a scale in which the force of the wind is indicated by numbers from 0 to 17. This source is “just” a dictionary, but the images are vivid because of their specificity and the good clear writing in the dictionary, and because the increasing strength of the wind on the scale becomes, despite the dry, factual account, dramatic.
| Beaufort number | Name | Mph | Description |
| 0 | Calm | Less than 1 | Calm: smoke rises vertically |
| 1 | Light air | 1–3 | Direction of wind shown by smoke but not by wind vanes |
| 2 | Light breeze | 4–7 | Wind felt on face; leaves rustle; ordinary vane moved by wind |
| 3 | Gentle breeze | 8–12 | Leaves and small twigs in constant motion; wind extends light flag |
| 4 | Moderate breeze | 13–18 | Raises dust and loose paper; small branches are moved |
| 5 | Fresh breeze | 19–24 | Small trees in leaf begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland waters |
| 6 | Strong breeze | 25–31 | Large branches in motion; telegraph wires whistle; umbrellas used with difficulty |
| 7 | Moderate gale | 32–38 | Whole trees in motion; inconvenience in walking against wind |
| 8 | Fresh gale | 39–46 | Breaks twigs off trees; generally impedes progress |
| 9 | Strong gale | 47–54 | Slight structural damage occurs; chimney pots and slates removed |
| 10 | Whole gale | 55–63 | Trees uprooted; considerable structural damage occurs |
| 11 | Storm | 64–72 | Very rarely experienced; accompanied by widespread damage |
| 12–17 | Hurricane | 73–136 | Devastation occurs |
Probably less but ive just ordered the birth of tragedy and want to read some Shakespeare first.
Let's do it tho, I can put this doc up I watched the other night which is a finnegans wake reading group
letterboxd.com
Let's do it tho, I can put this doc up I watched the other night which is a finnegans wake reading group
The Joycean Society (2013)
Created thanks to the funds provided for the production of new artworks awarded to Dora García for the 45th PIAC, The Joycean Society is a film about a book club dedicated to James Joyce's Finnegans Wake; The Zurich-based group of students, admirers and connoisseurs read and dissect passages...
letterboxd.com
sus
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Don't you dare get caught up in Ulysses yet, we have a Tempest pactProbably less but ive just ordered the birth of tragedy and want to read some Shakespeare first.
Let's do it tho, I can put this doc up I watched the other night which is a finnegans wake reading group
The Joycean Society (2013)
Created thanks to the funds provided for the production of new artworks awarded to Dora García for the 45th PIAC, The Joycean Society is a film about a book club dedicated to James Joyce's Finnegans Wake; The Zurich-based group of students, admirers and connoisseurs read and dissect passages...