Semantic Instability and Philosophical Pessimism: Reading ‘De Profundis’ and <em>Finnegans Wake</em> with Schopenhauer

Abstract

The following article explores Oscar Wilde’s and James Joyce’s different approaches to language. To offer a new perspective on the authors’ distinct approaches to words and syntax, I incorporate the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer that connects the deficiencies of established languages with the somber realization that the world is beyond understanding. Schopenhauer maintains that despite our deep desire to understand actuality, the only knowledge afforded to humans is mediated by the senses and filtered by subjective perception. The idea of a futile pursuit of knowledge is central to the pessimistic underpinnings of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, offering a lens through which to examine the divergent perspectives on language and human experience in ‘De Profundis’ and in Finnegans Wake. Among the numerous allusions to Wilde in the Wake, one can find direct references to Wilde’s particular way of reading Queensbury’s note by imposing an intelligible word (‘sodomite’) upon a misspelling (‘somdomite’). These allusions provide, on the level of plot and through linguistic experimentations, commentary on the contingency of words and grammatical structures, and the impossibility of absolute and objective knowledge. I conclude that the non-representational features of the Wake emphasizing the material properties of letters more than the denotations of words align with Schopenhauer’s pessimistic vision by hindering the search for knowledge, while offering an aesthetic delight that, in a Schopenhauerian fashion, affords a respite from the sufferings of existence.