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Chapter 9 / Scylla and Charybdis - Summary: An attempt to summarise what I understand from the chapter 9 / Scylla and Charybdis: In 'Mythic Worlds, Modern Words' Joseph Campbell writes that the chapter, Scylla and Charybdis 'is very interesting.' What I found was that it is a very tough chapter to read. It was even difficult to make out who is saying what. Still the pleasure is great when certain things get deciphered, when a pattern is recognised. I must have read it at least four times. Now I feel I have a glimpse of what is going on in the chapter. So, if only for my sake, I want to put my thoughts together. (I also understand now why it is that people read this book again and again. So this summary should help me when I start reading the book once more!) As everybody knows the scene is the library. A long discussion takes place between Stephen, Eglington, Russell, Mr. Best (whoisthisbest?) and the librarian. Finally Mulligan enters the discussion too. Bloom and Haines are part of the scenario, the former comes to the library at the very end of the chapter, to look into some papers, the latter is present by being absent. Having been in various libraries, and being used to the general q-u-i-e-t atmosphere at libraries, I am a bit surprised that such a long discussion could take place in a library. Bob mentions that such a discussion did actually take place between Joyce (Stephen) and A.E. (Russell). Stephen is holding forth on a pet theory, hints about which were given by Mulligan in the very first chapter. He is trying to prove that Shakespeare was projecting himself in his plays. Taking the example of Hamlet, he says that the ghost is nothing else but Shakespeare himself. The connection between the two is given about half way into the chapter. (Page 259 in the Penguin edition): "Two deeds are rank in that ghost's mind: a broken vow and the dullbrained yokel on whom her favour has declined, deceased husband's brother." Thus the ghost in Hamlet and Shakespeare were both cheated by their wives. But it is not only Hamlet that plays here a major role. Many other plays of Shakespeare is mentioned to prove the point that Shakespeare was in all his characters, or "...that he is the spurned lover in the sonnets." The friends gathered around Stephen do not easily buy his theory. Russell goes on saying that that is not what matters: "All these questions are purely academic...", he says. As Bob mentions, I also thought that this sounds a bit too pompous. But there is a grain of truth in all that Russell says, provided one takes it for granted that Stephen is serious about what he is talking about. Aristotle, Socrates are also part of this chapter. Both Socrates and Shakespeare, says Stephen, had wives who were shrews! One important reference to Socrates is on page 273: "If Socrates leave his house today he will find the sage seated on his doorstep. If Judas go forth tonight it is to Judas his steps will tend." Gifford says that this idea belongs to Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949), a symbolic Belgian poet, who wrote, "Let us never forget that nothing happens to us which is not of the same nature as ourselves." This idea is very much behind Stephen's thoughts. Stephen, of course, cannot let go of his father or mother. He calls the father "a necessary evil." (Page 266) And then, "The son unborn mars beauty: born, he brings pain, divides affection, increases care. he is a male; his growth is his father's decline, his youth his father's envy, his friend his father's enemy." (Page 267). This is said in reference to Shakespeare and his father, but I think that here Stephen is expressing his relationship with his own father. So it is not a question of whether Shakespeare (or even his grandfather) is the ghost, the prince or anybody else, it is rather that Stephen (=Joyce) is Shakespeare. That is why I made the statement at the end of the previous paragraph. Mulligan is ever mocking, laughing. Kind of a weight who balances Stephen's seriousness. He spoils the serious discussion, takes Stephen away for a drink, shows him Mr. Bloom, and the three walk out of the library, Bloom, of course, does not notice Stephen. There is much, much more in this chapter than what I have summarised above. What I mistook as references to Hinduism is actually references to theosophy. There are many, many beautiful sentences in this chapter. One of my favourite ones is: "So in the future, the sister of the past, I may see myself as I sit here now but by reflection from that which then I shall be." (Page 249) All said and done, I too feel prepared to leave the library. The next chapter, chapter 10, is called 'Wandering Rocks'. I wonder whether it is easier than this chapter. Would anybody, Bob, Mike, ??, want to ask a few questions on this chapter, questions which will help to focus the thoughts? Greetings Chandra Best, Richard Irvine: Ulysses, first mentioned on page 152 (1904 - 1923) Librarian, scholar and translator from the French of Joubainville's work on Irish Mythology and Literature. He was indignant upon being asked what it was like to be a character in Ulysses. He was a person, not a character in a book, he said. He did not say: 'Don't you know." The idea of Haines' importance by virtue of his absence is very well observed. This is an important theme in Joyce. In Finnegans Wake it becomes a parody (the Real Absence) of the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence (the existence of Jesus in the eucharist.) Joyce is anxious to unburden himself of family. Although we will see him greatly pained by his sister in the next chapter, he does nothing for her although he has money in his pocket. The undercurrent in A Portrait is that Simon looks to Stephen to support the family. Stephen is torn between what he perceives as an obligation and his need to escape Ireland. He finds an intellectual solution in the Shakespeare discourse. He banishes the idea of paternity. Part of this is involved with Shakespeare but Stephen draws on Christological theories, especially the teachings of Sabellius who taught that Jesus was his own father. Bob HOME! |