JOYCEOV FINNEGANS WAKE I MCCARTHYJEV REMAINDER: KODIRANJE I JEZIČKO RASLOJAVANJE

Abstract

JOYCE’S FINNEGANS WAKE AND MCCARTHY’S REMAINDER: CODING AND LANGUAGE STRATIFICATION The purpose of this paper is to consider the terms “code” and “language stratification” by analysing James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and Tom McCarthy’s Remainder. A code is considered to be a transition from mimesis to meaning. The starting point of the analysis is the genre of Finnegans Wake and Remainder, and the state of fictional characters in these literary works. The paper argues that the fictional characters have a “rhetorically encrypted identity”, and furthermore considers methods with which this identity develops, and their consequences. The paper also shows how the technique of bricolage is used in Finnegans Wake and Remainder, and explains the connection between bricolage and encryption. The last part of the analyses explains the way in which Joyce’s and McCarthy’s texts use their literary language to self-reflect about the code the texts are written in. The code thus stays within the area of mimesis (and does not proceed to the area of meaning). This text also proposes the idea of a literary text as performative, which consequently changes the ontology of fictional characters in their respective literary works.