Joyce in Trieste: An Album of Risky Readings by Sebastian D. G. Knowles, Geert Lernout, John McCourtJoyce's Rare View: The Nature of Things in 'Finnegans Wake' by Richard Beckman

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i86 Reviews Joyce inTrieste: AnAlbumofRisky Readings. Ed. bySEBASTIAN D. G. KNOWLES, GEERT LERNOUT, and JOHN MCCOURT.Gainesville: University PressofFlorida. 2007. xiv+304 pp. ?35. ISBN 978-0-8130-3033-3. Joyce'sRare View: 7he Nature of Things in 'Finnegans Wake'. By RICHARD BECK MAN. Gainesville: University PressofFlorida. 2007. XiV+256pp. ?39.95. ISBN 978-0-8130-3059-3. Joyce inTriesteisa collection of sixteen papersfrom the2002TriesteInternational James Joyce Symposium. Thereislittle further reference toTriesteinthisattractive book,whichpresents a setof substantial readings, with an element of riskadding spice.Part I, 'ReadingJoyce: Text, Meaning,Language',openswith an accountby MichaelGrodenof 'The NationalLibrary ofIreland's New Joyce Manuscripts',some ofwhich, including a draft of 'Penelope', were exhibited at theLibraryin2004 to celebrate thecentenary of 'Bloomsday' (16June 1904).Groden tellsthestory ofhow the manuscriptsresurfaced and hewas asked toevaluatethem. Most usefully, he offers a listof the new papers and tabulates the drafts related toUlysses (pp. 30-3 1). MargotNorrisopenstheseries of 'risky readings' bylooking behindthe wingsofthe actionofUlysses, particularly intotherelation withlesbian overtones between Hester Stanhope andMolly Bloom. This may seem tantamount toasking how many children Lady Macbeth had,butJoyce enjoyed dropping cluesthat addedup,andNorrishas always beena convincing explorer ofthestories hidden withinJoyce's books.Part II, 'Genetic Readings',includes accounts of 'Oxenof the Sun' (by NickDe Marco) and 'DamePlurabelle'(by DirkVanHulle), aswell asmore theoretical contributions on 'Narrative asPotential' byAndreTopia,and 'Negative Utopia' (in Joyce, Benjamin, and Bloch) byHugo Azerad. Part III has fivepapers on political dimensions of Joyce: Gerty MacDowell as an image ofsuffering Irish womanhood (Vike Martina Plock), Orientalism and the question of Palestine in Ulysses (Brian G. Caraher and Arye Kendi), class-consciousness (Borislav Knezevic),and topicalreferences toStalin's andHitler's machinationsand aggressions inthe Wake (Richard Robinson). Many of these are post-9/ 1 readings, inspired by current concerns and 'risks',but they mostlyprovetheir usefulness. Afterthis dangerous crossing, Part Ivprovidesrelief with some relaxed finalwords from the lateHugh Kenner, and meditations onMolly and Leopold's breakfast and cuisine byAustin Briggs and Ira B. Nadel, while Carla Marengo Vaglio offers ample notes on Joyce and early cinema theory and practice. AnotherseniorJoycean, Zack Bowen,contributes a short paperon a 'Smidgeon of Smut' (among other matters) inPart Iof thisvaried and well-produced volume. Somebody said thatFinnegans Wake was hard to decipher and that, ifone made theeffort, more oftenthannot onewould find-smut.RichardBeckmanproves this point in his excellent study of Joyce'sRare View, but he also shows that for Joyce this rare/rear view which prefers buttocks to face, excrement toword, is an indispensable tooltounderstanding nothinglessthan'the nature of things'. Part I, 'Views fromAfar', has fivechapters about 'The Wrong Side' (of 'theArras', 'Honour', 'Marriage'), 'The Rude Side of History', and a comparative reading of the Wake and Kant ('A Little to theRere'). Part II has again fivechapters which comment on MLR, 104.1, 2009 187 selected passages with extreme careandperceptiveness. Some are so difficult that whenBeckman lists previousinterpretations we see that we are reallyinthedark. Readersnotfamiliar with 'Buckley's shooting ofthe Russiangeneral'and 'St Patrick and thearchdruid' (episodesstill notas current as the Wife ofBath)willhave todo quitea lotofhomework, butBeckman isone of thebestguidesthey could findto such mysteries and 'coincidentum oppositorum'(ashe callsthem more thanonce: recte 'coincidentia oppositorum'). Beckman'sreadings areneverfacile, and they are conducted with a sure hand: theyare concerned with giving us keys, adding a littleto ourunderstanding ofcertain passagesandofJoyce's methodandattitude: 'The Wake itself isan exerciseingetting things backwards, ofwearinglanguageinsideout,of taking a chanceon instability. Its nightmarish, jazzystyle exposesan infinite worldof delight-clever, learned, terrific, and lyrical' (p.196).Thoughclearly excited bythe revelations offered byJoyce, Beckmandoes not sentimentalize his allegedaffirma tions.His readings warn us tobeware of happy ends. This iswhat he has to say about twoofJoyce's most famous passages: 'Aconcluding sopranoariasetslife back into motion. Molly's sleepy "Yes" affirms what has come tobe; ALP's dyingwish forcon tinuity, "alongthe[deepbreath]riverrun" putsus back to whereandwhenhistory has "passencore" begun' (p.191).Beckman'sscholarship and style areexemplary. UNIVERSITY OF GENOA MASSIMo BACIGALUPO Ezra Poundand the Making of Modernism.ByWILLIAMPRATT. New York:AMS Press. 2007. 197 pp. $74.50. ISBN 978-0-404-61596-3. William Pratt isa Poundian stalwart ofmany years' standing, and thepresent volume collectshis thoughts on thetrajectory of thepoet's Modernist renaissance. These thoughts are not research-led, but comprise rather a sensitive and gentlemeditation on Pound...