Re: Seymour's Suicide -- Bruce...
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Sun, 10 Oct 1999 21:38:47 -0400 (EDT)
In a message dated 10/10/99 12:30:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
rbowman@indigo.ie writes:
<< joyceiensis seems to have swept through
the land like the HIV virus through subSaharan Africa.
What CAN it all mean? I've looked it up in all my references
& the explanations seem to vary widely - from
the 'unveiling of the Godhead' to the 'sudden appreciation
of the whatness of things.' It occurs six times in the above
paragraph. If you perform a find/replace with any of
the accepted definitions you get a strange - &, to me,
still mystifying - result.
Scottie B.
>>
Yes, I confess, my use of the word epiphany in the offending paragraph was
the result my own contraction of joyceienesis. It happened when I was doing
my senior honors thesis on shared themes (all relating to the rejection of
religion) in Joyce's Portrait and Dubliners. Joyce pretty well steals words
and ideas from Catholicism and invests them with new meaning -- and Joyce
scholarship has followed suit.
I'm sure you already know, but a Joycean epiphany can very easily be a quite
profane thing and generally describes a sudden revelation of any kind.
Gabriel at the end of "the Dead," Stephen with "the Irish Muse" -- these were
deep experiences completely centered in this world and devoid of what would
normally be called religious content.
It's a good idea and useful for Salinger's fiction as well, but you were
completely right calling me on the carpet for my use of the word without some
kind of explanation :)
Jim