By Jacob Hershman
INTRODUCTION:
MULTIDIMENTIONALITY IN ULYSSES
Curiously, the concept at the heart of my musical representation of “Lestrygonians” derives from a scholarly essay examining “Penelope,” which, I need not mention, is not “Lestrygonians.” In the final paragraph of Jennifer Wicke’s “’Who’s She When She’s at Home?’ Molly Bloom and the Work of Consumption,” Wicke challenges the one-dimensionality readers are wont to impose upon fictional characters, writing:
From Bloom's point of view, Molly's acceptance of the kiss is total, a promiscuous, erotic swoon…But underneath lies what he does not and can never know - the skein of tessellated thoughts Molly produces which situate, deflect, and inflect her affirmative kiss, her historically sedimented kiss, the fabric of her kiss woven from the material of political life...(Wicke 762).
Wicke's implication of Joyce's characters bearing multidimensional consciousnesses inspired me to attempt a musical composition representing the multiple cognitive planes on which Joyce's characters experience the world. Before describing the musical and syntactic techniques I used to capture this phenomenon, I will, first, define multidimensionality in the context of Ulysses, and, second, explain how multidimensionality contributes to the text's overall complexity and genius.
Joyce imbues Ulysses with what I refer to as multidimensionality by seamlessly shifting between spatial, temporal, and narrative dimensions. One moment we’re placed snugly in the skein – to use Wicke’s phrasing – of Bloom’s thoughts as he overlooks the Liffy, and the next we’re scrambling to understand how and why we’ve been relocated to another country ten years in Bloom’s past. During my reading of the first several episodes, this technique elicited greater levels of eye-watering confusion than any other – more, even, than the word “contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality” (Joyce 32). By the time I had finished the book, however, I could (not easily, but effectively) distinguish between the different spatial, temporal, and narrative dimensions scattered throughout the text. How? Well, to answer that question, we need to look a little more closely at the above passage.
Wicke argues that Leopold’s incorrigible isolation from “the skein of tessellated thoughts Molly produces” subverts his claim to special knowledge of his wife’s interior dimensions. While the implications of this subversion with respect to the Bloom’s marriage are worth discussing elsewhere, the only part of this argument that really applies to my project is the “skein of tessellated thoughts” to which Wicke refers.
Molly – like all human beings - does not experience the world one-dimensionally. “Underneath” every moment Molly experiences in real time lies a dimensionally-transcendent, exclusively-interior amalgam of memories, experiences, and predilections from which all are isolated. This multidimensionality is the cornerstone of human consciousness, which simultaneously operates on multiple spatial, temporal, and narrative planes. As I write in this moment, for example, I am simultaneously aware of my surroundings, considering the places I’d rather be, thinking about the woman I love, and feeling defeated over my general inability to wear pants well. Wicke’s argument allowed me to realize that Joyce applies this multi-dimensional framework in Ulysses to capture the essence of the human consciousness as it interacts with the physical world. (Unsurprising, then, that I had such a hard time understanding what the hell was going on half the time.)
So, to answer to question posed above, how did I ultimately learn to distinguish between the different spatial, temporal, and narrative dimensions scattered throughout Ulysses? Because Joyce succeeded in transmuting the frenzy of human consciousness into writing; because, by the time I finished Ulysses, I had developed such deep understanding of his characters' voices, tendencies, and personal histories that it felt as though we were actual acquaintances – even friends.
As I will show in the proceedings sections, my musical representation of “Lestrygonians” extracts and distills Joyce’s synthesis of the human consciousness, charting the trajectory of Bloom’s thoughts from one cognitive dimension to the another. Since I would prefer that my readers fashion their own interpretations of my composition before reading an explanation of the actual motives behind each element, the following section presents the lyrics sans any liner notes or annotations. Believing, like Joyce, that enigmas and puzzles are "the only way of insuring one's immortality" (front matter, Gifford), I do not include a line-by-line account of my artistic intent in the ultimate discussion of my creative decisions. I do, however, complement the lyrics provided below with photographs of the pages from which they are sourced, offering my readers little clues as to how I intended to render Bloom's cognitive wanderings without articulating it outright.
Passengers aboard the Mastondontic Pleasuresehip, fare thee well.
LYRICS
Verse 1: (127-128)
Whitesmocked sandwichmen, scarlet sashes, boards.*
H.E.L.Y.S.
No business.
I suggested a showcart...girls inside
Get twenty of them round.
Have a finger in the pie.
You can’t lick ‘em. What?
Envelopes.
Can’t stop hastening
to purchase the inkeraser sold
by Hely’s 85 Dame Street.
Well out of that ruck I am.
That nun - sweet.
How long ago?
Hely’s year
we married...six...ten.
Yes that’s...Glencree
Couldn’t hear.
Milly was a kiddy then.
Molly had that dress.
Happy.
Happy.
Happier then.
Chorus: (144)
Softly she gave me (l. 907) joy: I ate it (l. 908).
Moistened remembered (l. 899) joy: I ate it,
Joy, remembered joy
I ate it:
Remembered, remembered joy:
I ate it.
Verse 2: (136-137)
The window of Yeates and Son.
Chat with Sinclair?
Must get those old glasses set right.
Watch up there.
Can’t see it.
Eclipse this year.
Autumn some time.
That ball falls at Greenich.
Dunsink.
If I…
Could get
An introduction...
That would do.
Not go in and blurt out what you know you’re not to.
What’s parallax?
Waste of time.
Gas. World. Cold. Dead
shell. Frozen rock.
Pineapple.
New moon, she said.
Bridge: (137)
The full moon was...
(quickbreathing)
Night we were...
(quickbreathing)
Walking down...
(quickbreathing)
Elbow, arm. Love. Touch. Yes.
If it was
(quickbreathing)
Was it was
(quickbreathing)
If it was…
(quickbreathing)
Stop.
Instrumental
Chorus (144):
Softly she gave me (l. 907) joy: I ate it (l. 908).
Moistened remembered (l. 899) joy: I ate it,
Joy, remembered joy
I ate it:
Remembered, remembered joy:
I ate it.
X2
DISCUSSION
As mentioned, (too many times, I fear), my musical rendition of “Lestrygonians” maps out Blooms’ cognition as he travels South from the Liffy to Davy Byrne’s pub at 20 Duke Street – during which time he thinks extensively and fondly about his wife Molly. It's a love song, okay? Get over it.
Now, let's talk form.
Since I aimed for my composition to generally embody – rather than exhaustively depict – the multidimensionality with which Joyce imbues Bloom’s physical and cognitive experience, I include only two states of consciousness in my composition. For the remainder of this discussion, I refer to these two states of consciousness as ‘cognitive layers’ or 'layers.'
Each layer is musically, lyrically, and syntactically distinct. The first, containing the two verses and bridge, sets forth the cascade of thoughts arising out of Bloom’s perceptions in real time. I wanted these portions to represent the frenzied manner in which Bloom processes (or, to use a term more apt in the context of “Lestrygonians,” consumes) his experience of the world, so I applied the same peristaltic technique to my music and lyrics as Joyce does in the actual text.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: peristaltic technique, what sayeth you?
Peristalsis literally refers to the autonomic contracting of muscular canals, especially the intestines. According to the Gilbert schema, which identifies a fundamental organ, color, symbol, art, and technique for nearly every episode of Ulysses, “Lestrygonians” was written using a 'peristaltic' technique. Given who the Lestrygonians are, it figures that the technique used in this episode relates to digestion. In The Odyssey, on which Ulysses is based, the Lestrygonians are the cannibalistic tribe that eats a substantial portion, if you will, of Odysseus’ crew.
In applying the peristaltic technique, then, Joyce claims that his halting, contracting diction evokes digestion. Although I was not so interested in my lyrics evoking the erratic squirming of viscera, I did intend for the verses and bridge to mirror the halting, highly unpoetic character of the technique Joyce applies to Bloom's interior monologue in "Lestrygonians."
The second cognitive layer I represent occurs only in the choruses, wherein the clarity of Bloom's love dashes away the frenzy of thought affecting the verses and bridge. During the latter sections, Bloom is thoroughly anchored in the physical, bound by the halting effects of technical (and literal) peristalsis. In the choruses, however - constructed of rearranged text from an anomalously lyrical section of "Lestrygonians" (see Joyce 144) - Bloom enters an entirely different cognitive space. Captivated by thoughts of his and Molly's early infatuation with one another - by "remembered joy" - Bloom transcends the bounds of reality, of the actual imperfections of his relationship with Molly, and of the world by which he is utterly consumed. During the choruses, it is Bloom who consumes the world, Bloom who consumes his joy, and Bloom who chooses to have it all be "moistened, remembered."
WORKS CITED
Gifford, Don. Ulysses Annotated. University of California Press, 2008.
Joyce, James.Ulysses. Random House, 1986.
Wicke, Jennifer. “‘Who’s She When She’s at Home?’ Molly Bloom and the Work of
Consumption,” James Joyce Quarterly 28, no. 4, 749-763, 1991.
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