JOYCE THROUGH THE FOWLERS: “EUMAEUS”: THE KING’S ENGLISH AND MODERN ENGLISH USAGE

Abstract

This brief essay is a coda case regarding Eumaeus and developing concept of proper or standard English, i.e. English linguistic nationalism, in ninth chapter of my book Joyce 's Revenge.1 It is more specifically focussed on period 1904-22 than chapter, and not only supplements it, but points in one or two slightly different directions. The list of examples at end is a significant record. It allows us be more exact about Joyce's treatment specifically of question of class and language in chapter than has been possible so far, and helps us get certain familiar concerns of Eumaeus criticism in proportion. This is notably true of question of how far technique Joyce adopts is of narration (the point of view being Bloom's), scope and importance of which it helps us set a precise limit.The London University Seminar for Research into Ulysses worked on Eumaeus for several years. At a certain point in process, it occurred me check some of chapter's linguistic features against Fowler's Modern English Usage} Many, perhaps most Joyce scholars will know that title; though question of who does and who doesn't, their nationality, class background, age and gender, and how those who know it came do so, often turns out be an extremely interesting one. Non-English English speakers from corners of globe remote from England itself may turn out be very well-acquainted with Fowler. Educated Englishmen and women from certain kinds of background may scarcely have heard of him. On both sides of fence, there is often a story, one with political ramifications which, put together with others, forms part of a complex configuration.For larger part of last century, Fowler's Modern English Usage was bible of English usage. Henry Fowler himself referred it as the general vade-mecum of English writing. It could be found in countless school satchels and student bags, on bookshelves in homes, schools, libraries and offices. It had a big American circulation (though question of its American reception, again, is a complicated and interesting one), a very large colonial and, more generally, international circulation. According an Egyptian friend, for example, it was actually a principal set text for examinations in English in Egypt for many years. Some measure of its reach and cultural power in England can perhaps be gauged from two facts: firstly, Churchill asked an aide consult it on matters of wording whilst drafting plans for invasion of Normandy;4 and, secondly, in Sooner or Later, a popular novel of 1933 by Elinor Glyn, on advice of a solicitous young man, heroine Mary, a Cinderella, sets out to study Fowler thoroughly, especially [the entries under] heading called 'Genteelism'.5 In view of argument later in this essay, it is important note, here, that Mary is desperate better herself socially, culturally, intellectually and as a marriage prospect; and that her cultural horizons have specific limitations that are directly related her lack of geographical range. Her expression of a desire travel, for example, also involves an admission that ? have never even been Wales or North of England'.6There are other instances one can readily cite of currency of Modern English Usage as a key text in modern Britain. Firstly, at Oxford University in late 1960s, and quite possibly beyond, a good proportion, perhaps majority, of students reading English had a copy of Fowler on their shelves. Secondly, in University of London library, Fowler nestles where he has always nestled, as he no doubt still does, right up alongside Oxford English Dictionary. This contiguity makes sense in more respects than one, since both OED and Fowler's work in general were quintessentially Oxford products. Not only that: they were central Oxford or Clarendon publishing project 1880-1930 insofar as that project involved aiming at a much more colonial and indeed global market. …