We stopped at "How's that for Shemese?" (425.3)
Shaun is still full of vitriol. He is telling the girls about the scandal concerning his father. Nobody really knows what exactly HEC did in the Phoenix Park. All we know is that HEC, two girls and three soldiers were there. Shaun says that after HEC returned home, while his wife, kept squealing down..., Shem laid out his litterery bed and noted down all that was said.
(Joseph Campbell says that this paragraph (p. 422 - 424) is a parody of Joyce's life.)
When the girls ask Shaun to tell them why Shem is excommunicated, why does he talk about his brother so, the answer Shaun gives is 'root language.' (By the way the thunder word that Shaun then pronounces - on page 424 - is made up of 101 letters, and not 100!)
Joseph Campbell comes to our rescue once again with the following explanation of this paragraph:
"Shaun's reason for hating Shem seems peculiar, even mysterious, until we probe deeply into its implication. The 'root language' of Shem is filled with thunder echoes of the divine judgement. Shem's words are the hammer of Thor which could destroy the civilisation of which Shaun is the representative. Joyce is here following Vico's notion that all language has its origin in man's effort to formulate the meaning of the primal thunderclap. Shem's language threatens to make that meaning clear, and is thus fraught with judgment on Shaunian society. Shaun's fear of Shem's language shows that he, Shaun, very well knows the secret and power of his brother."
References:
1. 'A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake' by Joseph Campbell, 2005 edition, Footnotes on P. 266
2. Read here about Vico's work, The New Science.
- Of particular relevance regarding the thunderclap is the section, 4. f. The Three Principles of History: Religion, Marriage and Burial
3. Here is an interesting blog article on the thunder words of Finnegans Wake.
Shaun is still full of vitriol. He is telling the girls about the scandal concerning his father. Nobody really knows what exactly HEC did in the Phoenix Park. All we know is that HEC, two girls and three soldiers were there. Shaun says that after HEC returned home, while his wife, kept squealing down..., Shem laid out his litterery bed and noted down all that was said.
(Joseph Campbell says that this paragraph (p. 422 - 424) is a parody of Joyce's life.)
When the girls ask Shaun to tell them why Shem is excommunicated, why does he talk about his brother so, the answer Shaun gives is 'root language.' (By the way the thunder word that Shaun then pronounces - on page 424 - is made up of 101 letters, and not 100!)
Joseph Campbell comes to our rescue once again with the following explanation of this paragraph:
"Shaun's reason for hating Shem seems peculiar, even mysterious, until we probe deeply into its implication. The 'root language' of Shem is filled with thunder echoes of the divine judgement. Shem's words are the hammer of Thor which could destroy the civilisation of which Shaun is the representative. Joyce is here following Vico's notion that all language has its origin in man's effort to formulate the meaning of the primal thunderclap. Shem's language threatens to make that meaning clear, and is thus fraught with judgment on Shaunian society. Shaun's fear of Shem's language shows that he, Shaun, very well knows the secret and power of his brother."
References:
1. 'A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake' by Joseph Campbell, 2005 edition, Footnotes on P. 266
2. Read here about Vico's work, The New Science.
- Of particular relevance regarding the thunderclap is the section, 4. f. The Three Principles of History: Religion, Marriage and Burial
3. Here is an interesting blog article on the thunder words of Finnegans Wake.
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