Joyce, Dante and the Poetics of Literary Relations: Language and Meaning in Finnegans Wake (review)

Abstract

BOOK NOTES rhetoric and theater in medieval society, and to the general late-medieval theorization and representation ofviolence, social order, and their connections. In addition to work on medieval rhetoric and on theater, the book draws on theorists of the violence oflanguage such as Barthes and Derrida, on anthropologically-oriented work like that ofRené Girard, on medieval literary and social historians ofviolence like Peter Haidu, and on Baudrillard's analyses of the simulacra, among others. Enders also addresses at several points the gender issues raised by the rhetoric of violence, such as the differing views ofviolence and education for the sexes. To the extent that one might see room for improvement, it is at the margins of the discussion, so to speak. At various points, the larger questions ofviolence, social control, and hegemony are raised, but the range ofapproaches offered to address these issues is too limited to be fully effective. While the book does what it does very well, the largest questions it raises almost inherently require a broader range of responses than a study of scholastic rhetoric and religious theater can offer. Despite the use ofGirard, anthropological studies are not central to the analysis of violence and social order. The rum to Austin for a theory ofthe performative could have been enrichedby more extensive use ofrecent ethnopoetic studies ofperformance by figures like Victor Turner, Dennis Tedlock, or Dell Hymes. Enders rightly questions many recent scholars' tendency to see rebellion everywhere in medieval society, but perhaps goes too far in finding the stage to be essentially a vehicle ofhegemonic represssion. Ethnopoetic theories ofperformance as a form ofsocial negotiation and reflection would have enriched the third chapter, in my opinion. But, as I said, these are more criticisms at the margin. This is a very useful and interesting book, which I highly recommend. It is very thorough and very subtle in its core arguments, and Enders is to be credited for her willingness to expand these arguments into larger theoretical contexts—a process which always invites criticisms such as those above, and a process which many medievalists often decline to pursue. Her engagement with theorists of the modem theater such as Antonin Artaud suggests convincingly that the issues raised by medieval theater and rhetoric are crucial to theater history in general. This book successfully crosses the boundary from medieval scholarship to broader, comparative issues in literary and cultural studies, and makes a powerful case for the continuing importance ofthe Western tradition ofrhetoric in contemporary cultural life. Andrew CowellUniversity ofColorado LUCIA BOLDRINI. Joyce, Dante and the Poetics ofLiterary Relations: Language andMeaning in Finnegans Wake. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. xi + 233 pp. In a well-known letter ofPetrarch's to Boccaccio, the poet-laureate confesses to his dear friend that he has never read the Decameron in its entirety (Seniles, XVII, 3). For reasons that might seem a bit mundane ("it is very big"), and perhaps a bit elitist ("written for the common herd and in prose"), Petrarch admits to knowing only the beginning and end ofthe lengthy text—points of initiation and of conclusion, therefore. Petrarch cues the reader as to where the interest lies. The question of beginnings and endings becomes a challenging one in both Dante and Joyce, where we begin "in the middle" of a journey in the text of the former, and in the middle ofa sentence in that ofthe latter. Joyce's "translation" of Vol. 26 (2002): 176 THE COMPAKATIST a Dantesque beginning, nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita, manifests itselfas an expression of form: as a journey that begins midway through (the life of) a sentence . Dante's presence in Joyce's text can be argued readily and persuasively. This fact notwithstanding, the reader ofFinnegans Wake is keenly aware from the outset that this is not Dante, but rather is and can only be James Joyce. This premise represents a principal point ofinterest in Lucia Boldrini's book. Wherein lie the poetics ofliterary relations between Joyce and Dante? What makes up the complex network of intertextual readings and "raidings" (13) between the Commedia and Finnegans Wake! How does Joyce succeed in a "silent silencing" ofhis precursor, at the same time "allowfing] Dante's voice...