JOYCE’S AESTHETIC OF THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE AND HIS ENCOUNTERS WITH HOMER’S ODYSSEY

Abstract

One might think by this point Joyce studies that answer to whether Joyce read in originar' is already well established and exhausted, and a volume focusing on negative aesthetics with my chosen title, one likely expects answer to be Molly Bloom's. But correct answer is yes and no, closer to Molly's ambiguous first word Ulysses: Mn (U9 4.57), which Leopold first interprets to mean No, She didn't want (U, 4.58). Molly's Mn actually means no and yes, for it indicates that she does not want Leopold to buy her anything for breakfast but only wants tea with cream and bread (U, 4.318, 366). So Joyce too could have answered Mn concerning his own reading in For Joyce did indeed read Latin works in during course of his education at Belvedere and University College Dublin, while he cannot be said to have done so proficiently area of Greek classical texts at any point his life. Yet matter of how well Joyce knew Odyssey, ana translations upon which he relied while writing Ulysses, still remains a point of contention and ignorance.The urgency of resolving this issue was announced to me when I received a review of an article that I submitted to Proceedings of Modern Language Association which reviewer informed me that I should not be using my own translations of Homer's Odyssey to support my comparative efforts with Joyce's Ulysses. This anonymous reviewer insisted that the Butcher and Lang translation of Odyssey should be included since this was only translation that Joyce ever read. Despite helpful criticism of this reviewer regarding rest of my work, I knew that this claim was dead wrong. Nevertheless, it unmasks a very significant misconception about nature and extent of Joyce's acquaintance with Homer's Odyssey. Most of my readers will immediately recall that Joyce of course read Charles Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses. But that knowledge alone is hardly sufficient ground upon which to defend an intertextual project comparing Homer's Greek poem with Joyce's novel. My determination to justify using my own translations my comparative work led me to try to ascertain exactly translations of Homer Joyce read and when he read them. I also sought to learn whether Joyce's own acquaintance with Odyssey would bear out value of Homer's Greek poem for readers of his work. Surprisingly, establishing Joyce's encounters with Homer proved much more difficult and perplexing than I initially imagined, despite variety of work already done on classical themes Joyce.4 Allow me to trace available evidence regarding Joyce's encounters with Odyssey any form, an endeavour which will first require me to elucidate Joyce's level of competence Latin as well as Greek, and I will then draw a few conclusions about how Joyce himself read Homer and translations of Homer Joyce scholars should rely upon and quote their comparative efforts.First of all, Joyce did own and read Homer original Greek, but his expertise was so minimal that he cannot justly be said to have known Homer original. Any typical young classical scholar second year of studying Greek would already possess more facility with Homer than Joyce ever managed to achieve.5 R. J. Schork establishes Joyce's expertise Latin and his lack thereof Greek quite thoroughly and convincingly.6 Schork comments that Joyce's scores on his Latin exams at Belvedere were extraordinarily high, eliminating any suspicion that Joyce was a mediocre classical linguist. Yet if Joyce's Latin was so superb because of his formal education, at point did he begin to learn Greek? Denis Rose and John O'Hanlon contend that after Joyce had what was described by his physician as a 'nervous breakdown' Letters I, 97), and he took upon himself a 'rest cure' Letters II, 387). As if seeking direction, he embarked upon a course of research beginning, logically enough with Greek language. …