Analysis of "The Mamafesta" in Finnegans Wake, Pages 104-107

Executive Summary

This section provides a comprehensive synthesis of the themes, motifs, and extensive allusions contained within pages 104-107 of Finnegans Wake. This section, the beginning of Chapter I.5, introduces the "Mamafesta," a foundational document authored by the central female figure, Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP). The analysis reveals the following key insights:

• Invocation to the Universal Feminine: The chapter opens with a prayer to "Annah the Allmaziful," establishing ALP as a universal goddess figure. This invocation blends the Islamic Bismillah, the Christian Lord's Prayer, and allusions to ancient goddesses, portraying her as the "Bringer of Plurabilities" and the maternal force of creation.
• The "Mamafesta" as a Central Motif: The core of the passage is a list of over one hundred alternative titles for ALP's "untitled mamafesta." This document, described as a letter dug from a rubbish heap by a hen, serves as a memorial to and a defense of the central male protagonist, Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker (HCE).
• A Catalogue of Allusions: The list of titles is a dense tapestry of multilingual puns and references spanning global history, mythology, literature, religion, popular culture, and Irish geography. This technique collapses time and space, weaving together sources as diverse as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Shakespearean plays, Irish rebel songs, and American nursery rhymes.
• Defense of HCE's Fall: The ultimate purpose of the "Mamafesta" is articulated in its final, descriptive title. It is the "First and Last Only True Account" intended to tell the "Naked Truths" about HCE and refute accusations concerning his transgression in the park, specifically involving "Privates Earwicker and a Pair of Sloppy Sluts."
• Parody of Scholarly Inquiry: The presentation of this exhaustive list is framed as the work of a "pedantic scholar-guide." This structure allows for a satirical commentary on academic methods, as the scholar attempts to date, place, and interpret the polymorphous and fragmented document.

1. The Invocation to Anna Livia Plurabelle

The chapter commences with a prayer that establishes the divine, all-encompassing nature of Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP). This opening invocation synthesizes multiple religious and mythological traditions to frame her as a universal female principle.

• Formulaic Opening: The phrase "In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving" directly parodies the Islamic Bismillah ("In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate"), which begins nearly every Sura of the Koran.
• Etymological Blending:

    ◦ Annah: Combines Anna, the ancient Irish goddess Ana, the Turkish word for mother (ana), and the Hebrew name Hannah ('graced by God').

    ◦ Allmaziful: A portmanteau of "all-merciful," "amazing," "maze," and the Turkish mazi ('olden times').

• Christian Liturgical Echoes: The prayer continues by adapting the Lord's Prayer: "haloed be her eve" echoes "hallowed be thy name," and "her rill be run, unhemmed as it is uneven!" recalls "thy will be done."
• Universal Motherhood: She is titled the "Bringer of Plurabilities," a name that links her to the Hindu concept of Maya. This establishes her as the source of the manifold world, a creative force memorializing the "Mosthighest" (HCE or God).

2. The "Untitled Mamafesta": A Central Text

The primary subject of this section is a mysterious document referred to as ALP's "untitled mamafesta." This text, a letter, functions as a central motif within the book, representing a fragmented but universal history and a defense of HCE.

• Nature of the Document: It is described as a "memorialising" text that has "gone by many names at disjointed times." According to Joseph Campbell, just as the Hindu figure Maya's memorial to the Absolute is the cosmos, ALP's memorial to HCE is her letter.
• Origin and Discovery: The letter is famously characterized as a soiled, almost unreadable scrap recovered from a local rubbish heap by a neighbor's hen.
• Scholarly Framing: The long list of titles is presented as a collection compiled and edited by a "pedantic scholar-guide," a narrative device that satirizes academic pedantry and the quest for definitive interpretation of a protean text.

3. A Catalogue of Titles: Analysis of Allusions

The core of pages 104-107 is the exhaustive list of titles for the "Mamafesta." This catalogue serves as a microcosm of Finnegans Wake's method, weaving a dense web of interconnected references.

3.1 Mythological and Religious Allusions

The titles are saturated with references to global religions and mythologies, underscoring the universal scope of the text.

Title/Phrase

Reference/Allusion

My Golden One

A name for the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor, associated with women, love, and the dead.

How to Pull a Good Horuscoup even when Oldsire is Dead

Refers to the Egyptian myth of Isis reviving the dead Osiris ("Oldsire") to conceive their heir, Horus.

The Opening of the Mouth

A ritual from the Egyptian Book of the Dead performed on mummies to reanimate the senses for the afterlife.

I Know the Twentynine Names of Attraente

An allusion to the Book of the Dead, where the deceased must know the names of the forty-two gods in the Hall of Maāti.

When the Myrtles of Venice Played to Bloccus's Line

Combines the myrtle, sacred to Aphrodite/Venus, with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine.

Abe to Sare Stood Icyk Neuter till Brahm Taulked Him Common Sex

Blends the biblical story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac with the Hindu creator god Brahma.

3.2 Literary, Historical, and Political References

The list draws heavily from world literature, historical events, and political figures, positioning the "Mamafesta" as a document containing all of human history.

Title/Phrase

Reference/Allusion

gone by many names at disjointed times

Echoes Shakespeare's Hamlet: "The time is out of joint."

Rebus de Hibernicis

A pun on Charles Vallancey's Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, a study of old Ireland.

The Crazier Letters

A reference to Jonathan Swift's Drapier's Letters, combined with the tradition that Swift became insane in his later years.

Groans of a Britoness

Alludes to the "Groans of the Britons," a 5th-century plea for Roman aid against Saxon invaders.

From the Rise of the Dudge Pupublick to the Fall of the Potstille

Combines historian J.L. Motley's The Rise of the Dutch Republic with the fall of the Bastille.

Through the Boxer Coxer Rising

Refers to the Boxer Rebellion in China (1898-1901), blended with the farce Box and Cox.

Captain Smeth and La Belle Sauvage Pocahonteuse

Recalls the story of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, who stayed at the "La Belle Sauvage" inn in London.

Nopper Tipped a Nappiwenk

A pun on James Napper Tandy, an 18th-century Irish revolutionary.

3.3 Popular Culture: Songs, Rhymes, and Slang

The text integrates high and low culture, frequently referencing popular songs, nursery rhymes, and idiomatic expressions.

Title/Phrase

Reference/Allusion

Rockabill Booby in the Wave Trough

Combines the nursery rhyme "Rockabye Baby, in the Tree Top" with Rockabill Lighthouse off Dublin.

Peter Peopler Picked a Plot

A variation on the tongue-twister "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

My Hoonsbood Hansbaad's a Journey to Porthergill gone

A play on the 18th-century Irish song "My Husband's a Journey to Portugal Gone."

Da's a Daisy so Guimea your Handsel too

References the song "Daisy Bell" ("Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do").

Lapps for Finns This Funnycoon's Week

A pun on the line "Lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake" from the song that inspired the book's title.

Lumptytumtumpty had a Big Fall

A direct reference to the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty."

3.4 Irish and Dublin-Specific Content

The universal text remains firmly rooted in a Dublin landscape, with numerous local and national references.

Title/Phrase

Reference/Allusion

Oremunds Queue Visits Amen Mart

A pun on Ormond Quay, a quay on the north side of the River Liffey in Dublin.

E'en Tho' I Granny a-be

Alludes to the Irish legend of Gráinne, who was betrothed to the aged Finn MacCool but eloped with the young Diarmuid.

From Abbeygate to Crowalley

References Dublin's Abbey Theatre and the 18th-century Crow Street Theatre.

The Tortor of Tory Island

Refers to Tory Island off the coast of County Donegal, a legendary stronghold of the Fomorians. Tory Island may also refer to England as well.

Norsker Torsker Find the Poddle

Mentions the Poddle, a small river in Dublin and a tributary of the Liffey.

Putting it all around Lucalizod

A blend of Lucan and Chapelizod, two villages on the Liffey west of Dublin.

4. The Core Narrative: A Defense of HCE

Amidst the encyclopedic chaos of the titles, a clear purpose for the "Mamafesta" emerges: it is a defense of HCE against slander surrounding his "fall." The final, extended title functions as a plain-language summary of the document's contents and intent.

• The Definitive Account: The letter is presented as the "First and Last Only True Account all about the Honorary Mirsu Earwicker, L.S.D." This title claims final authority and truthfulness.
• The Accusation and the Actors: It concerns "the Snake (Nuggets!)"—the temptation or original sin—and is told by "a Woman of the World who only can Tell Naked Truths about a Dear Man." This narrator (ALP) will expose his "Conspirators" and detail "how they all Tried to Fall him."
• The Central Scandal: The slander was spread "all around Lucalizod about Privates Earwicker and a Pair of Sloppy Sluts plainly Showing all the Unmentionability falsely Accusing about the Raincoats." This directly references the recurring motif of HCE's encounter in Phoenix Park with three soldiers ("Privates," "Raincoats") and two girls ("a Pair of Sloppy Sluts"), which is the source of his public shame and guilt. The letter, therefore, is ALP's attempt to set the record straight and vindicate her husband.

 

Analysis of a Protean Scripture: Pages 107-109

Executive Summary

This briefing document synthesizes an intensive analysis of pages 107-109 of Finnegans Wake, focusing on the central subject of an enigmatic, multi-faceted document, referred to as "the letter," a "bordereau," and a "proteiform graph." This document serves as a self-referential metaphor for Finnegans Wake itself, exploring the profound ambiguity of its authorship, meaning, and relationship to reality.

The analysis reveals several critical themes. The primary focus is the document's indeterminate nature, described as a "polyhedron of scripture" with a "multiplicity of personalities inflicted on" it. The identity of its author is a central, unanswered question, with possibilities ranging from a single criminal ("deliquescent recidivist"), to the archetypal figure of HCE as an "eternal chimerahunter," to a collective entity spanning generations.

The text critiques various methods of interpretation—from forensic and psychoanalytic to pedantic scholarship—ultimately advocating for patience and a holistic approach. It is structured around the philosophical concept of the "coincidence of opposites," where contraries like light and dark (chiaroscuro), fact and fiction, and male and female (sexmosaic) coalesce into "one stable somebody."

The passage culminates in a powerful analogy that serves as a key to its interpretive framework: the relationship between an envelope and its contents. The analysis argues that to focus solely on the "literal sense or even the psychological content" while neglecting the "enveloping facts themselves circumstantiating it" is a profound error. This is compared to ignoring a woman's clothing, perfume, and "local colour" to crudely envision her naked. Both the surface reality ("feminine clothiering") and the deeper meaning ("feminine fiction") are presented as essential, co-existing truths that must be contemplated simultaneously and separately.

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The Nature of the Document: A "Polyhedron of Scripture"

The central object of inquiry is a manuscript of immense complexity and shifting identity. It is not a simple letter but a multi-faceted artifact whose very form contains its meaning.

• Protean and Polyhedral: The document is introduced as a "proteiform graph" and a "polyhedron of scripture" (107.08). The term "proteiform" alludes to the sea-god Proteus, who could change his shape at will, signifying the text's variable and mutable nature. "Polyhedron" suggests a solid with many faces, implying that the scripture has numerous facets, interpretations, and layers of meaning.
• The Bordereau and the Dreyfus Affair: The document is explicitly linked to the "bordereau" (107.24), the incriminating memorandum central to the Dreyfus affair. This connection frames the analysis within a context of forgery, ambiguous handwriting, and contested authorship. Annotations note that the real bordereau was written on thin onionskin paper, causing ink to seep through and create a commingled, "ambidextrous" appearance—a quality mirrored in the "multiplicity of personalities" found in the Wake's letter.
• Physicality and Medium: The text references the potential materials used in the document's creation, adding to its tangible yet mysterious quality. The writing surfaces could be "cotton, silk or samite," while the ink or pigment could be "kohol, gall or brickdust" (108.24-25). This catalogue of materials, from rich medieval fabric to common brick dust, underscores the document's universal and composite nature.

The Ambiguity of Authorship

A primary preoccupation of the analysis is the question of who wrote the document. The text systematically presents and deconstructs various theories, leaving the matter unresolved and emphasizing its fundamental ambiguity.

• A Multiplicity of Personalities: The initial impression is of a single author, but closer inspection reveals "a multiplicity of personalities inflicted on the documents or document" (107.24-25). This suggests a composite or fragmented authorial voice, akin to dissociative identity disorder, or perhaps a text created by a collective.
• Generational Authorship: The concept of a single author is further dismantled by the suggestion that the document is the work of a bloodline, with contributions made "generation after generation" (107.35). This theory posits that the author is not an individual but a continuous lineage, possibly a "morganatic" one where wives and children contribute without receiving formal credit.
• Contradictory Author Profiles: Different interpretive lenses yield wildly different profiles of the writer:

    ◦ The Criminal: "Naif alphabetters" might see the author as a "purely deliquescent recidivist, possibly ambidextrous, snubnosed" (107.09-11), a forensic profile of a criminal degenerate.

    ◦ The Scholar/Simpleton: Later, the question is posed whether the author was "a right-down regular racer from the soil" (a simple, earthy person) or a "too pained whittlewit laden with the loot of learning" (an over-educated pedant) (108.05-07).

• Uncertain Circumstances: The conditions under which the document was written are equally mysterious. The text asks if it was written "Erect, beseated, mountback, against a partywall, below freezigrade, by the use of quill or style, with turbid or pellucid mind, accompanied or the reverse by mastication" (108.01-03). This barrage of conflicting possibilities highlights the impossibility of fixing a stable origin point.

The Subject of Inquiry: HCE as Chimera

While the author is unknown, a central subject, HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker), emerges as a focal point. However, he is not a stable character but a composite, chimerical figure who embodies the text's themes of multiplicity and fusion.

• The Eternal Chimerahunter: HCE is identified as the "eternal chimerahunter Oriolopos" (107.14). The Chimera of Greek myth was a hybrid monster, making HCE a hunter of indeterminate things. This also positions the reader as a chimerahunter, pursuing elusive meaning through the text. This figure is also blended with Orion the hunter and the Ouroboros, the self-devouring serpent symbolizing cyclicality.
• Entomological Identity: HCE is portrayed as an "entomophilust" (107.13), a lover of insects. He is a moth-finder, butterfly hunter, and implicitly, an earwig. He pursues his "vanessas" (a genus of butterfly, and also a nod to Jonathan Swift's Hester Vanhomrigh) "from flore to flore" (107.18), an image of both pollination and lecherous pursuit.
• Fused Identities: HCE's identity is a fluid composite of various figures from myth and history:

    ◦ Adam: He is called "our great ascendant," a reference to the first man (108.20).

    ◦ Fionn mac Cumhail: The "ear of Fionn Earwicker" fuses HCE with the legendary Irish hunter-warrior Finn McCool (108.21-22).

    ◦ Humpty Dumpty: The phrase "oxhousehumper" contains a reference to Humphrey/Humper (107.34).

The Critique of Interpretation

The text is deeply self-aware, embedding a critique of the very act of analysis. It warns against simplistic, hasty, or reductive conclusions, advocating instead for a patient and multi-faceted approach.

• Patience as a Virtue: The narrative explicitly commands the reader to "remember patience is the great thing" (108.08). It offers models of perseverance, including Confucius's "Doctrine of the Mean," Robert the Bruce learning from his spider, and "Elberfeld's Calculating Horses" (108.11-15).
• Warning Against Rash Conclusions: The text cautions against "unlookedfor conclusion[s] leaped at" (108.32-33). It specifically refutes the idea of drawing definitive conclusions from negative evidence. For example, inferring from the "nonpresence of inverted commas" that the author was "incapable of misappropriating the spoken words of others" is shown to be a logical fallacy (108.34-36). This is also a subtle reference to Joyce's view that T.S. Eliot had plagiarized Ulysses.
• The Limits of Scholarship: Scholarly pronouncements are treated with skepticism. The assertion that HCE's name ("Earwicker") was simply the "trademark of a broadcaster" (108.22) is presented as an example of a trivializing, anachronistic explanation that misses the deeper significance.

The Philosophy of Coalescence

A core philosophical principle organizing the text is the reconciliation of opposites, where conflicting elements merge into a unified whole.

• Chiaroscuro and Contraries: The text describes a process where, "under the closed eyes of the inspectors the traits featuring the chiaroscuro coalesce, their contrarieties eliminated, in one stable somebody" (107.29-30). Chiaroscuro (Italian for "light-dark") signifies a blending of light and shadow, praise and blame, cheerfulness and gloom.
• Coincidence of Opposites: This dynamic is identified with Nicholas of Cusa's concept of the "coincidence of opposites," where differences are reconciled in a higher unity. This is demonstrated through the "providential warring" of contradictory pairs like "heartshaker with housebreaker" and "dramdrinker against freethinker" (107.31-32), which ultimately allows society to bowl along.
• Linguistic Blending: The language itself is a constant exercise in coalescence, blending multiple languages and meanings into single words.

Portmanteau/Word

Component Meanings & Languages

• proteiform
  • Proteus (changeable god) + proto (first) + cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing)
• lousadoor
  • lousadour (Armenian: light-bringer) + Lucifer
• kidooleyoon
  • kidout'iun (Armenian: science, knowledge) + kidology (humbug)
• bewilderblissed
  • bewildered + blissed + blunderbuss
• oxhousehumper
  • aleph (Hebrew: ox) + beth (Hebrew: house) + gimmel (Hebrew: camel/humper); simple as ABC

The Central Analogy: The Envelope and the Letter

The passage culminates in an extended metaphor that functions as an interpretive directive for the entire work. It argues for the necessity of appreciating the surface, the form, and the context—the "envelope"—as much as the interior meaning, or "letter."

• The Error of Neglecting the Surface: The text asserts that to "concentrate solely on the literal sense or even the psychological content of any document to the sore neglect of the enveloping facts... is just as hurtful to sound sense" (109.12-15).
• Clothing vs. Nakedness: This error is compared to a man being introduced to a lady and immediately trying to "vision her plump and plain in her natural altogether," while closing his eyes to the "ethiquethical fact" of her clothing (109.20-22).
• The Value of the "Outer Husk": The envelope, or the woman's clothing, is more than a mere container. It is described as being "full of local colour and personal perfume and suggestive, too, of so very much more" (109.26-27). It is a reality in itself.
• Fact and Fiction Coexisting: The analogy concludes by stating that "the facts of feminine clothiering" (surface reality) and "the feminine fiction, stranger than the facts" (deeper meaning) are both present simultaneously. The expert reader must be able to contemplate them together, separately, and in turn, recognizing that one cannot be fully understood without the other.

 

Analysis of Finnegans Wake, Pages 110-114

Executive Summary

This document provides a comprehensive analysis of pages 110-114 of Finnegans Wake, synthesizing extensive annotations and critical excerpts. The central focus of this passage is the discovery and subsequent examination of a significant document—a letter—which serves as a primary artifact within the text's narrative.

The section begins by establishing a philosophical framework where "the possible was the improbable and the improbable the inevitable," a concept attributed to Irish scholar John Pentland Mahaffy and linked to Aristotelian and Berkeleian ideas. This sets the stage for the narrative of the letter's discovery. An "original hen," identified as Belinda of the Dorans, unearths the letter from a midden heap (dunghill), an act later claimed by "keepy little Kevin" (a Shaun figure), who parallels his find with the historical discovery of the Ardagh Chalice.

The letter itself, originating from "Boston (Mass.)," is a fragmented and stained piece of correspondence addressed to "Maggy." Its contents are a jumble of domestic news, including mentions of health, cocoa, elections, a wedding cake, a funeral, and salutations to twins, concluding with four "crosskisses" (X's) and a teastain. The physical state of the letter is critical; its long burial in a heated "mudmound" has distorted it, a condition compared to a melted photographic negative that makes reading it a disorienting experience, a "jungle of woods."

The hen, the letter's discoverer, is elevated to a figure of great importance, a guide ("Lead, kindly fowl!") whose "socioscientific sense is sound as a bell." She is presented as a symbol of the feminine principle (ALP), whose discovery heralds the return of a "golden age" of androgynous harmony and progress. The document concludes with a detailed palaeographic analysis of the letter's script, paper, and authorial intent. The writing is described as "crossed" (lines running both north-south and west-east) and written boustrophedonically ("end to end and turning"), creating a checkerboard pattern that confounds linear interpretation. The authoress's intent is framed not as intellectual炫耀 (dazzle), but as a simple, unvarnished telling of "the cock's trootabout him" (HCE).

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Philosophical and Narrative Framework

a. The Realm of Improbable Possibilities

The passage opens by establishing a unique logical space where conventional reality is suspended. This is articulated through a quote attributed to "that stern chuckler Mayhappy Mayhapnot" (a reference to Irish scholar Sir John Pentland Mahaffy), who is said to have described a place where "the possible was the improbable and the improbable the inevitable." This inversion of expectations is explicitly linked to an Aristotelian formulation from Poetics, which prefers "a sequence of probable impossibles to one of improbable possibles." The text announces that the reader is "in for a sequentiality of improbable possibles," framing the ensuing narrative as a series of events that defy normal logic but possess their own internal, dream-like coherence.

This theme is further connected to the Irish philosopher Bishop George Berkeley, whose dictum "To be is to be perceived" is alluded to in the line "me ken or no me ken Zot is the Quiztune" (a pun on Shakespeare's "To be, or not to be, that is the question"). Berkeley's philosophy, which posits that objects only exist insofar as they are perceived by a mind, aligns with the dream-state of Finnegans Wake, where the distinction between reality and the dreamer's perception is "undivided."

b. The Discovery on the Midden Heap

The central event is the unearthing of a key document from a "fatal midden" or dunghill. This discovery occurs in a "Midwinter" setting, with spring being a distant promise.

• The Discoverer: The finder is an "original hen," later identified as "Belinda of the Dorans," described as a "more than quinquegintarian" (over fifty-year-old) fowl. She is observed "behaviourising strangely on that fatal midden or chip factory or comicalbottomed copsjute (dump for short)."
• The Site: The dump is a place of refuse and decay, linked by annotations to prehistoric archaeological sites. It later undergoes a transformation "into the orangery" when "fragments of orangepeel" are discovered, linking decay with cultivation and referencing a line from page 3: "where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green."
• The Usurper: While the hen makes the initial find, "keepy little Kevin" (a representation of Shaun) appropriates the discovery. His act is explicitly compared to the historical finding of the Ardagh Chalice, which was discovered by two boys in a potato field in County Limerick. Kevin is depicted as "euchring the finding" (cheating or outwitting) to claim "a motive for future saintity."

The Letter: An Artifact Analyzed

The document discovered by the hen is a letter, the contents and physical characteristics of which are minutely detailed.

a. Provenance and Content

The letter's origin and message are presented as a fragmented collage of domestic correspondence.

Attribute

Description

Origin

Originating by "transhipt from Boston (Mass.)," a city known for its large Irish-American population.

Date

"of the last of the first," interpreted as January 31st.

Salutation

"to Dear whom it proceded to mention Maggy well..."

Body

A disjointed series of phrases: "allathome's health well," "the hate turned the mild on the van Houtens" (the heat turned the milk in the cocoa), "the general's elections," a "beautiful present of wedding cakes," the "grand funferall of poor Father Michael," and repeated greetings to "Maggy."

Closing

"must now close it with fondest to the twoinns with four crosskisses for holy paul..."

Postscript

"pee ess from (locust may eat all but this sign shall they never) affectionate largelooking tache of tch."

b. Physical Condition and Interpretation

The letter's physical state is as significant as its content, having been altered by its time buried in the earth.

• The Teastain: A prominent feature is a "largelooking tache of tch," identified as "a teastain." This mark is presented as a sign of its authenticity, a "genuine relique of ancient Irish pleasant pottery." The stain is also seen as a signature of the "masterbilker" (Shem, the forger/writer).
• The Melted Negative Analogy: The text explains the letter's distorted nature by comparing it to a photographic negative that has melted during development, resulting in a "grotesquely distorted macromass." The "Heated residence in the heart of the orangeflavoured mudmound" has similarly "partly obliterated the negative" of the letter. This process has caused features "nearer your pecker to be swollen up most grossly," while more distant details require "the loan of a lens to see."
• Reader Disorientation: The text directly acknowledges the reader's potential confusion, asking, "You is feeling like you was lost in the bush, boy?" The document is described as a "puling sample jungle of woods" (a pure and simple jumble of words), where one "cannot see the farest [forest] for the trees."

The Hen as Herald and Guide

The "kindly fowl" is elevated from a simple creature to a figure of profound symbolic importance.

a. A Guide to Meaning

Despite the text's difficulty, the hen is positioned as a guide. The narrative voice encourages the reader to "Lead, kindly fowl!" (a play on Cardinal Newman's hymn "Lead, Kindly Light"). While the "quad gospellers" (Four Masters) may own the official interpretation ("targum"), others can still "pick a peck of kindlings yet from the sack of auld hensyne" (a play on "Auld Lang Syne" and hen-signs or chicken-scratch).

b. Prophecy of a Golden Age

The hen's actions are interpreted as an "auspice," a sign heralding a future utopia. Her natural instincts ("she was kind of born to lay and love eggs") are seen as a model for a coming "golden age." This new era will feature:

• Technological and Biological Advancement: "Man will become dirigible" and "Ague will be rejuvenated."
• Feminine Ascendance: "woman with her ridiculous white burden will reach by one step sublime incubation."
• Androgynous Harmony: The "manewanting human lioness with her dishorned discipular manram will lie down together publicly flank upon fleece," an echo of the peaceable kingdom prophecy in Isaiah.

This future is presented in direct opposition to the "gloompourers who grouse that letters have never been quite their old selves again since that weird weekday in bleak Janiveer... Biddy Doran looked at literature."

Palaeographic Examination of the Manuscript

The final section shifts to a detailed, almost academic analysis of the letter's physical text, paper, and authorial style.

a. The Authoress and Her Intentions

The presumed writer of the letter (ALP) is described with a series of titles: "a mere marcella, this midget madgetcy, Misthress of Arths."

• Watermark: The paper carries a "jotty young watermark: Notre Dame du Bon Marché" ("Our Lady of the Good Deal/Bargain"), a pun on the Paris department store Le Bon Marché.
• Intent: Her purpose is declared not to be scholarly ostentation ("not out to dizzledazzle with a graith uncouthrement of postmantuam glasseries") but to tell the simple truth ("the cock's trootabout him"). The letter reveals that "There were three men in him" and "Dancings... was his only ttoo feebles. With apple harlottes."

b. The Script and Its Structure

The physical layout of the writing is described as highly unconventional, contributing to its difficulty.

• Crossed Lines: "more than half of the lines run north-south... while the others go west-east." This describes a "crossed letter," a technique used to save paper and postage where lines are written horizontally and then vertically over the same page. This "crossing is antechristian of course."
• Writing Implements: The lines appear "to have been drawn first of all in a pretty checker with lampblack and blackthorn," with the "homeborn shillelagh as an aid to calligraphy."
• Boustrophedon Style: The text is written "thithaways end to end and turning, turning and end to end hithaways writing," a method known as boustrophedon ("ox-turning"), where the direction of writing alternates with each line. This movement is captured in the phrase "with lines of litters slittering up and louds of latters slettering down," evoking the game of Snakes and Ladders. The confounding result leads to the final question: "where in the waste is the wisdom?"

 

Analysis of Finnegans Wake, Pages 114-119

Executive Summary

The provided context presents an exhaustive, multi-layered investigation into a single, enigmatic document—a soiled and mysterious letter. The analysis, conducted from a variety of critical perspectives, reveals a text of profound complexity whose ultimate meaning remains deliberately elusive. The core analytical approaches applied include a forensic examination of its physical properties (paper, ink, stains), a psychoanalytic deconstruction of its latent sexual content, a political reading of its allegorical symbolism, and a historical framing based on cyclical patterns. A central paradox emerges: while the document is subjected to intense, granular scrutiny, its meaning is shown to be inherently unstable, reflecting a "chaosmos" where every person, place, and thing is in constant flux. Key arguments posit that the text itself is its own signature, negating the need for a formal authorial mark, and that its narrative embodies the Viconian principle of cyclical history, where events endlessly repeat. The final conclusion is one of radical ambiguity, urging the reader to cling to the authentic "scrap of paper" as a tangible artifact, even as its interpretation shifts and dissolves.

1. The Document: Physical and Forensic Analysis

The investigation begins with a detailed palaeographic and material analysis of the document, treating it as an archaeological artifact. The focus is on its physical composition and the evidence left by its creation and subsequent history.

• Materials and Composition: The paper itself is described as a composite material, made from an "original sand, pounce powder, drunkard paper or soft rag." The term "drunkard paper" is linked to the French papier buvard (blotting paper), suggesting a slightly damp or absorbent surface. The writing is executed with a primitive implement, a "blackthorn stick," using ink made from "soot" or "lampblack."
• Condition and Accretions: The document is not pristine. It has "acquired accretions of terricious matter whilst loitering in the past," indicating it was discarded or lost for a time. Its most significant feature is the "teatimestained terminal," a stain at the end of the letter that becomes a key point of analysis.
• Trace Evidence: The examiners deduce a "bohemian, and probably impoverished" setting from the evidence on the paper. This includes:

    ◦ Wax drippings from an untrimmed, spluttering candle ("taper's waxen drop").

    ◦ The specific type of tea that created the stain ("scalding Souchong").

    ◦ The scent or residue of a "clove or coffinnail [cigarette]" that the author chewed or smoked.

    ◦ Potential smears from a meal of eggs ("voos from Dalbania") and drisheen (blood sausage).

• Other Markings: Beyond the tea stain, the text is marked by a "thumbprint" or "mademark," further complicating its interpretation. The writing itself is described as a "riot of blots and blurs and bars and balls and hoops and wriggles and juxtaposed jottings linked by spurts of speed."

2. The Question of Authorship and Signature

A central preoccupation of the analysis is the identity of the author and the nature of the text's signature. The document lacks a conventional signature, a fact that is itself interpreted as a significant clue.

• The Unsigned Letter: The analysis notes that "both before and after the battle of the Boyne [1690] it was a habit not to sign letters always." This historical precedent is used to justify the absence of a name.
• The Text as Signature: The core argument is that a formal signature is superfluous. The document’s unique character is its own authentication: "why, pray, sign anything as long as every word, letter, penstroke, paperspace is a perfect signature of its own?" A person is known better by personal habits and "personal touch" than by a name.
• The "Writer Complexus": The authorship is theorized as a "writer complexus," suggesting a composite identity. The analysis posits that "if the hand was one, the minds of active and agitated were more than so," pointing to a singular creator channeling multiple consciousnesses or states of being.
• The Tea Stain as Mark: The "teatimestained terminal" is treated as a form of non-traditional signature—a "trademark" or even a "datemark" indicating the time of day (afternoon tea) it was written.

3. Interpretive Frameworks Applied to the Text

The analysis moves beyond the physical evidence to apply several powerful, and at times contradictory, interpretive methodologies to decode the letter's content.

A. Psychoanalytic Reading (Freud and Jung)

The text is subjected to an intense psychoanalytic reading, which uncovers layers of latent sexual meaning and psychological complexity. This approach is presented with a self-aware, ironic tone, with the analysts portrayed as "grisly old Sykos who have done our unsmiling bit on 'alices, when they were yung and easily freudened."

• Hidden Sexual Content: The reading focuses on "incestuish salacities among gerontophils," linking them to the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Seemingly innocent words are viewed "under the pudendascope," where "father in such virgated contexts is not always that undemonstrative relative."
• Case Study of the "Nympholept": The analysis constructs a psychological profile of a female subject, described as a "neurasthene nympholept, endocrine-pineal typus, of inverted parentage with a prepossessing drauma [drama/trauma] present in her past and a priapic urge for congress with agnates before cognates." This suggests a patient suffering from nervous exhaustion, sexual confusion, and unresolved past traumas, consistent with Freudian theory.
• Libidinal Urges: The text asserts that even a "slight statement of fancy may conceal great libido urges," such as when a woman's reference to a "feeler she fancie's face" is interpreted as a sign of lubricious desire.

B. Sociopolitical Allegory

In a sharp turn from psychology to politics, the letter is re-read as a coded allegory for social revolution, parodying the "Aesopian language" of early Bolshevism.

• Symbolic Equivalence: The key elements of the letter are assigned specific political meanings, referencing events like the "White Terror" that followed the Russian Revolution.

Textual Element

Allegorical Meaning

Father Michael

The old regime

Margaret (Maggy)

The social revolution

Cakes

The party funds

"dear thank you"

National gratitude

• Revolutionary Context: This interpretation is supported by references to Spartacus, leader of a Roman slave revolt and a "hero in Communist hagiography," and the concept of "intercellular" organization, alluding to Communist cells.

4. The Theme of Cyclical History and Universal Patterns

Running through all interpretations is the philosophical concept of cyclical history, most closely associated with the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico. This theme posits that history does not progress linearly but repeats in recurring patterns.

• Viconian Cycles: The text explicitly signals a Viconian framework, with sections identified as depicting "[Viconian cycles — again and again]." This is reinforced by references to Edgar Quinet and Jules Michelet, 19th-century historians who popularized Vico's work.
• The Four-Stage Pattern: The four-part structure of Vico's cycle is woven into the text:

    ◦ The Four Elements: "Feueragusaria iordenwater" (German Feuer for fire, Italian aria for air, Danish jorden for earth, and water).

    ◦ The Four Ages: The cycle of thunder ("a good clap"), marriage ("a fore marriage"), death ("a bad wake"), and recurrence ("lose and win again") is laid out.

• The "Michael Finnegan" Motif: The theme is perfectly encapsulated by the cyclical children's song "Michael Finnegan," which is directly quoted: "he's gruen quhiskers on who's chin again, she plucketed them out but they grown in again." The song, like the text, is designed to begin again as soon as it ends.
• The Old, Old Story: This recurrence is framed as the "old, old story" of humanity, a universal pattern of "weatherings and their marryings and their buryings and their natural selections" that has "combled tumbled down to us."

5. The Instability of Language and Meaning

The analysis confronts the profound difficulty of establishing a stable meaning for the document. It argues that language and reality are in a state of perpetual transformation, a concept termed the "chaosmos."

• Constant Flux: The text posits that "every person, place and thing...was moving and changing every part of the time." This instability affects every aspect of the document's creation and transmission.
• Sources of Change: The sources of this constant change are enumerated:

    ◦ The physical objects: "the travelling inkhorn (possibly pot), the hare and turtle pen and paper."

    ◦ The creators: "the continually more and less intermisunderstanding minds of the anticollaborators."

    ◦ The language itself: words are "variously inflected, differently pronounced, otherwise spelled, changeably meaning."

• Polyglot Nature: The document's language is a "polygluttural" fusion of multiple tongues (Albanian, German, Latin, French, Greek, Irish), specialized jargons ("sheltafocal"), and even artificial languages ("Volapucky"), making any single interpretation inadequate.

6. Conclusion: Authenticity Amidst Ambiguity

Despite the overwhelming evidence of instability and interpretive difficulty, the final argument does not dismiss the document. Instead, it asserts its value and authenticity precisely because of its complexity.

• Rejection of Simple Dismissal: The narrator insists the document is not a "miseffectual whyacinthinous riot of blots and blurs... it only looks as like it as damn it." The apparent chaos is not meaningless.
• Assertion of Authorship: A pragmatic conclusion is offered: "Anyhow, somehow and somewhere...somebody...wrote it, wrote it all, wrote it all down, and there you are, full stop." However, this simple certainty is immediately undercut by the claim that this "is only all in his eye," a subjective perception rather than an objective fact.
• The Final Exhortation: The analysis concludes with a call to appreciate the artifact that remains. The reader is told "we ought really to rest thankful that at this deleteful hour...we have even a written on with dried ink scrap of paper at all to show for ourselves." The final instruction is to "cling to it as with drowning hands, hoping against hope...that things will begin to clear up a bit," for the alternative—total incoherence—"will never do."

 

Analysis of Finnegans Wake, Pages 119.10–123.10:

The Manuscript as Microcosm:

Executive Summary:

The passage from Finnegans Wake spanning pages 119.10 to 123.10 constitutes a dense, self-reflexive analysis of a manuscript, understood to be the book's recurring "letter." This analysis is framed as a direct and detailed parody of Sir Edward Sullivan's scholarly description of the famous illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells. By mimicking the language of paleography and textual criticism, the passage functions as an extended commentary on the intricate, multi-layered nature of Finnegans Wake itself. The central focus is a meticulous, often fantastical, examination of the manuscript's calligraphy. Individual letters and sigla (symbols for the book's main characters) are anthropomorphized and imbued with complex symbolic meaning, transforming the text into a living document. The analysis highlights key thematic dualities, such as the masculine and feminine principles embodied in the handwriting, and draws a direct parallel between the profound visual intricacy of the Book of Kells and the linguistic complexity of Joyce's own work. A significant focal point is the "Tunc page" of the Book of Kells, which illustrates the crucifixion of Christ with two thieves. This page is presented as a "key to the entire puzzle," linking the manuscript's cruciform postscript to one of the most sacred moments in Christian iconography. The passage is further saturated with historical allusions, linguistic puns across numerous languages, and direct references to Joyce's earlier work, Ulysses, ultimately presenting the act of reading and interpretation as a form of archaeological excavation into the very structure of language and history.

 

I. The Parodic Framework:

The Book of KellsThe entire passage is structured as an elaborate parody of the introduction to Sir Edward Sullivan's The Book of Kells. The commentary on the exhumed letter in Finnegans Wake deliberately mirrors Sullivan's descriptive praise for the ancient Irish manuscript, creating a parallel between the two artifacts as foundational texts of Irish culture.

• Sullivan's Description of the Book of Kells:

• Joyce's Parodic Description of the Letter:

This sustained parallel suggests that Finnegans Wake is a modern successor to the intricate, sacred "monk work" of the Kells scribes, with its own complex system of illumination and symbolism embedded within the text itself.

II. The Tunc Page: A "Key to the Entire Puzzle"

The analysis repeatedly returns to the "Tunc page" of the Book of Kells, presenting it as a central interpretive key. The page is an ornate illumination of the text from Matthew 27:38: "Tunc crucifixerant Xpi cum eo duos latrones" ("Then they crucified Christ with him two thieves").

• Central Features: The text notes several features of this page:    

◦ The "chrismon" or "XPI," a monogram for Christ, which is identified as a medieval note-mark used to call attention to remarkable passages.    

◦ The presence of "exactly three squads of candidates for the crucian rose awaiting their turn in the marginal panels," referencing the three small, box-like panels containing human faces in the manuscript's margins.    

◦ The commentary provocatively suggests that the "cruciform postscript" of the letter, with its scraped-away kisses, was the original inspiration for the "tenebrous Tunc page," playfully inverting historical causality.

• Thematic Significance: The focus on a scene of crucifixion alongside thieves connects to the book's recurring themes of sin, judgment, and the interplay of opposites (e.g., Shem and Shaun). The proverb "two is company when the third person is the person darkly spoken of" is directly invoked in this context.

III. Calligraphic Analysis: Graphemes as Characters

The core of the passage is an exhaustive and symbolic deconstruction of the manuscript's handwriting, where each letter and mark becomes a character or an event.

A. The HCE and ALP Sigla: The primary symbols for the book's central characters, H.C. Earwicker (HCE) and Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP), are given specific calligraphic identities.

• HCE's Siglum (M): Described as "the meant to be baffling chrismon trilithon sign," it is identified with the letter E. When moved "contrawatchwise," it represents HCE's title. This siglum is also interpreted visually as a "village inn." The trilithon structure (two uprights supporting a lintel) is explicitly mentioned.

• ALP's Siglum (Δ): This is the "smaller Δ" (delta), which "stands beside the consort." It is visually interpreted as an "upsidown bridge." The analysis connects this siglum to the conferring of grace at a baptismal "font," positioning ALP as the book's "grace-conferring water principle."

B. A Bestiary of LettersNumerous individual letters of the alphabet are described with vivid, anthropomorphic detail, creating a taxonomy of calligraphic forms.

Letter(s)Description and Interpretation

p / q "the pees with their caps awry are quite as often as not taken for kews with their tails in their or are quite as often as not taken for pews with their tails in their mouths." This references the P/Q split in Celtic languages and their nature as lowercase mirror images. The Hebrew letter peh (P) means "mouth."

b"t hat absurdly bullsfooted bee," alluding to the phrase "knows not a B from a bull's foot."

e "those superciliouslooking crisscrossed Greek ees awkwardlike perched there and here out of date like sick owls hawked back to Athens." The Greek 'e' is associated with culture or pretentiousness, and a circumflexed 'e' (ê) resembles a "supercilious" raised eyebrow.

g "the geegees too, jesuistically formed at first but afterwards genuflected aggrily toewards the occident." This points to James Joyce's Jesuit education (initials JJ) and the shape of the letter 'g'.

w " those throne open doubleyous... seated with such floprightdown determination and reminding uus ineluctably of nature at her naturalest." The cursive 'W' is seen as resembling the midsection of someone on a toilet ("throne" or "loo").

f "that fretful fidget eff, the hornful digamma of your bornabarbar." It "stalks all over the page" and is associated with phallic energy and taboo language (the "f-word"). Its form is linked to the Claudian letters of ancient Rome.

h "those haughtypitched disdotted aiches." The lack of a dot ("disdotted") and the "h" itself refer to Irish orthography, where an 'h' is used to indicate aspiration previously marked by a dot over a consonant.

i / j "jaywalking eyes... always jims in the jam... as pipless as threadworms." This references the interchangeability of 'i' and 'j' in Latin, their 'pipless' (undotted) state, and riddles about the letter 'j' being "in jam."

s "that strange exotic serpentine... seems to uncoil spirally and swell lacertinelazily before our eyes." This connects the letter's shape to the serpentine forms in the Book of Kells and to a rising phallic energy.

r "those ars, rrrr! those ars all bellical," a "highpriest's hieroglyph." The sound is compared to a pirate's growl, and the phrase alludes to the Latin ars bellica (the art of war).

m" the toomuchness, the fartoomanyness of all those fourlegged ems." This is a reference to a supposed habit of Shakespeare and a documented practice in Joyce's own notebooks of writing 'm's with four downstrokes.

d "why spell dear god with a big thick dhee," a reference to the Irish word for God, Dia, and its pronunciation.

x / y "the cut and dry aks and wise form of the semifinal," linking the letters to the X and Y axes of a graph and the mathematical, catechistic structure of the "Ithaca" episode of Ulysses.

z The final letter, mentioned as part of the phrase "when all is zed and done."

C. Manuscript Markings and Punctuation

The analysis extends to other textual and paratextual features.

• The "Leak in the Thatch": This is a "curious warning sign" that corresponds to a symbol in Irish manuscripts known as "head under the wing" or "turn under the path." It indicates "that the words which follow may be taken in any order desired."

• Obeli: "all those red raddled obeli cayennepeppercast over the text, calling unnecessary attention to errors, omissions, repetitions and misalignments." These are dagger-like marks (– or ÷) used by scribes to note spurious or doubtful passages.

• Kisses: The manuscript contains a "cruciform postscript from which three basia or shorter and smaller oscula have been overcarefully scraped away." Basia and oscula are Latin words for different types of kisses, implying that erased signs of affection underpin the text.

• Ampersands: The "four shortened ampersands" are interpreted as signs of a "quickscribbler," and through them, the reader can feel "the warm soft short pants" of the writer.

IV. Themes of Interpretation and Readership

The passage is deeply concerned with the act of reading and the subjective nature of interpretation.

• The Ideal Reader: The text posits the need for an "ideal reader suffering from an ideal insomnia" to fully comprehend its layers, a direct comment on the demands Finnegans Wake places on its audience.

• Graphology as Character Analysis: Drawing from sources like Crépieux-Jamin's work on handwriting, the commentary links calligraphic traits to moral character. The "fatal droopadwindle slope of the blamed scrawl" is called a "sure sign of imperfectible moral blindness."

• Fallible Interpretation: The process of transcription is shown to be flawed. A "scholiast has hungrily misheard a deadman's toller as a muffinbell," introducing an error ("buns" for "cakes") into a family of manuscripts due to his own physical state.

• Connection to Ulysses: The passage concludes with a series of direct allusions to Joyce's previous novel:    ◦ The "semifinal" chapter's "cut and dry aks and wise form" refers to the impersonal catechism of "Ithaca."    

◦ The mention of "eighteenthly or twentyfourthly" references the 18 episodes of Ulysses and the 24 books of The Odyssey.    

◦ The "penelopean patience of its last paraphe" and "seven hundred and thirtytwo strokes" point to the final "Penelope" episode and the page count of the first edition of Ulysses.

V. Historical and Linguistic Layers

The calligraphic analysis is interwoven with a dense fabric of historical, literary, and linguistic allusions, demonstrating the text's encyclopedic scope.

• Historical Events: The text references the beginning of Dermot MacMurrough's reign (1132), the Battle of the Boyne (MDCXC or 1690), the burning of Roe's Distillery in Dublin, and King William "Rufus" II of England.

• Linguistic Play: Wordplay is constant and draws from a wide array of languages:    ◦ Latin: ars bellica (art of war), ipsissima verba (the very words), mors (death).    

◦ Greek: The digamma, iota, and the pronunciation of 'mp' as 'b' in Modern Greek.    

◦ Hebrew: The letter ghimel meaning "camel," linking to the biblical aphorism about a camel passing through the eye of a needle.    

◦ German: Frau (woman), dumm (dumb), Wetterhahn (weathercock).    

◦ French: flair (sense of smell), plume (quill).

• Literary Allusions: The text is embedded with fragments from other literary works, including Shakespeare's Hamlet ("Very like a whale"), Tennyson's "Locksley Hall" ("a cycle of Cathay"), and Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" ("warm soft short pants").

 

Analysis of a Manuscript: Themes and Interpretations in Finnegans Wake, Pages 123-125

Executive Summary

This briefing document synthesizes a dense, multi-layered analysis of a manuscript as described across pages 123-125 of Finnegans Wake. The central focus is a document of mysterious origin, characterized by its "unbrookable script" devoid of punctuation but marked by four distinct types of physical perforations. The passage presents a parody of scholarly inquiry, detailing a debate over the origin of these marks. An initial theory posits that a "grave Brofèsor" made the punctures with a breakfast fork to impose a sense of time on the text. This is ultimately superseded by the conclusion that the marks are peck-holes made by a hen, "Dame Partlet on her dungheap," particularly where the script is clearest.

The manuscript's style is described as a "ulykkhean or tetrachiric... perplex," a four-handed, complex structure alluding to both James Joyce's Ulysses and the four-part structure of Finnegans Wake itself. The text is compared to a "Punic admiralty report" that was republished as a popular guidebook, a reference to theories about the Semitic origins of The Odyssey. Through this complex web of allusions—spanning ancient history, the Book of Kells, 1930s television technology, and biblical scholarship—the identity of the manuscript's scribe is progressively narrowed. The investigation dismisses lesser theories before culminating in the definitive identification of the author as "that odious and still today insufficiently malestimated notesnatcher... Shem the Penman."

1. The Manuscript: A Subject of Scholarly Inquiry

The passage centers on the paleographic examination of an original document whose authorship and nature are under investigation. The text is analyzed by a series of critics and scholars, both real and imagined.

• Physical Characteristics: The document is written in "Hanno O'Nonhanno's unbrookable script," a style defined by its complete lack of punctuation. This is explicitly compared to scriptio continua, a common feature of early Greek and Latin texts, and is also linked to Sir Edward Sullivan's analysis of the Book of Kells, which notes many consecutive lines without punctuation, as well as the unpunctuated "Penelope" chapter of Ulysses.
• Hidden Markings: Despite having no conventional punctuation, the document reveals markings when its verso is held against a light source ("a lit rush"). It is described as "pierced butnot punctured" by "numerous stabs and foliated gashes made by a pronged instrument." These "paper wounds" are identified as being "four in type."
• Critical Framework: The analysis is framed as a scholarly debate, citing fictional critics like "Duff-Muggli" and "Tung-Toyd." These names are themselves complex puns, alluding to deaf-mutes, the psychological theories of Jung and Freud, and the phrase "tongue-tied." This establishes a tone of academic parody from the outset.

2. The "Ulykkhean Perplex": Stylistic Analysis and Allusions

The critic Duff-Muggli is credited with first labeling the manuscript's style. This description is dense with allusions that point toward the nature of the work itself, heavily implying it is a self-referential analysis of Finnegans Wake and its relationship to Ulysses.

• Defining the Style: The style is called "the ulykkhean or tetrachiric or quadrumane or ducks and drakes or debts and dishes perplex."

    ◦ Ulykkhean: A blend of "Ulyssean" (relating to Ulysses) and the Danish word ulykke (misfortune, accident).

    ◦ Tetrachiric/Quadrumane: Both terms mean "four-handed" (from Greek tetracheir and Latin quadrumane), referencing the four-part structure of Finnegans Wake, the four evangelists, or the "Four Old Men" who appear later.

    ◦ Ducks and Drakes: Refers to idle play but also puns on "dots and dashes," alluding to Morse code and the manuscript's unconventional punctuation.

• The Plagiarized "Bestteller": The analysis is based on the "wellinformed observation" that a similar case occurred with a "littleknown periplic bestteller." This work, associated with a "wretched mariner," is said to have originated as a "Punic admiralty report" which was "cleverly capsized and saucily republished as a dodecanesian baedeker."

    ◦ This is a direct reference to Victor Bérard's theory that Homer's Odyssey was a Hellenized version of a Phoenician (Semitic) mariner's log (periplous).

    ◦ It also alludes to James Macpherson's fraudulent "translation" of the Ossian poems in the 18th century.

    ◦ The term "dodecanesian" (twelve-part) is interpreted as a reference to the twelve central chapters of Ulysses that Joyce himself called the "Odyssey" section.

3.The Mystery of the Punctures: A Tale of Two Theories

The central mystery of the passage is the origin and meaning of the "four in type" paper wounds. These marks are interpreted as a form of punctuation, with the four types understood to mean "stop, please stop, do please stop, and O do please stop respectively," a reference to a 1920s joke about a woman's escalating protests during seduction. Two competing theories are presented to explain their creation.The

a. Professor's Fork

The initial theory, attributed to inquiries from "the Yard" (Scotland Yard and/or Harvard Yard), is that the marks were "provoked" by a fork.

• The Perpetrator: The culprit is identified as "à grave Brofèsor," specifically Professor Prenderguest. This name is a pun on the German Brotfresser ("bread-eater") and Schiller's term Brotprofessor (a pedant working only for his keep). The historical Reverend Patrick Prendergast was known for having his valuable manuscripts accidentally cut up by his tailor.
• The Motive: The professor, "acùtely profèššionally piquéd," is said to have stabbed the document at his breakfast table. His goal was "to=introdùce a notion of time [ùpon à plane (?) sù ’ ’ fàç’e’] by pùnct! ingh oles (sic) in iSpace?!"—a desire to impose linear time and punctuation onto a continuous, spatial text.
• Rejection of the Theory: This hypothesis is ultimately "hotly dropped." The reasoning is that the professor, being "deeply religious," would not have wittingly visited such ire upon the "ancestral pneuma" (spirit) of a text he venerated.

b. The Hen's Peck

The second and accepted theory attributes the marks to an animal origin, linking the manuscript to nature, refuse, and the feminine principle.

• The Perpetrator: The marks are identified as "perforations by Dame Partlet on her dungheap." Dame Partlet is a traditional proper name for a hen. The dungheap, or midden, is a recurring motif in the work.
• The Evidence: This conclusion is reached when it is "detected that the fourleaved shamrock or quadrifoil jab was more recurrent wherever the script was clear and the term terse." The hen instinctively pecked at the most lucid and concise parts of the text.
• The Implication: This discovery connects the creation and annotation of the text to a natural, instinctual, and even excretory process, standing in contrast to the intellectual, aggressive, and masculine act of the professor. The anatomical proximity of the hen's "two...selfsame spots naturally selected for her perforations" is noted as proof of the Felix Culpa theme.

4. Identification of the Scribe: From Ape to Penman

The resolution of the puncture mystery leads directly to the identification of the manuscript's author.

• Discarded Hypotheses: An initial "half hypothesis of that jabberjaw ape amok" is discarded in favor of the hen theory.
• Intermediate Clues: The text identifies the scribe's name as "Diremood" (Diarmaid), the mythological lover who eloped with Gráinne from Finn MacCool. He is described as "passing out of one desire into its fellow." The text asks if he is "growing a moustache" as a disguise from authorities who want him for "millinary servance" (military service).
• Final Revelation: With the rejection of the professor theory, the room is "taken up by that odious and still today insufficiently malestimated notesnatcher... Shem the Penman." Shem is identified as the true author, a forger and writer figure whose name puns on "Jim the Penman," the nickname of a notorious 19th-century English forger.

5. Core Allusions and Thematic Layers

The passage is woven with recurring motifs and dense layers of allusion that connect its central narrative to broader themes of history, religion, and technology.

Theme/Motif: Description and Key Examples

Paleography & The Book of Kells

The entire analysis mimics the study of ancient manuscripts. Specific references to Sullivan's The Book of Kells include the lack of punctuation, the "foliageous forms such as the trefoil," and the analysis of punctuation dots as "quadrilateral—not round."

Biblical & Historical Cycles

The phrase "Tiberiast duplex" refers to the Roman Emperor Tiberius, whose reign saw the crucifixion of Christ, symbolizing a moment of historical transition where a father-figure civilization is supplanted by a son's new order. This is linked to the "New Book of Morses," contrasting the New Testament with the Old Testament of Moses.

Technology & Communication

The text opens with futuristic terms sourced from a 1937 issue of Popular Wireless & Television Times: "dectroscophonious photosensition," "suprasonic light control," and "microamp." This refers to the Scophony mechanical television system, blending cutting-edge (for the time) media technology with the archaic manuscript.

The Four Masters/Apostolic Sees

A series of four names—"old Jeromesolem, old Huffsnuff, old Andycox, old Olecasandrum"—are invoked. These names are puns on the four Apostolic Sees: Jerusalem, Rome (via "le Vieux Jérôme"), Antioch, and Alexandria, representing the four corners of the old world and another instance of the number four.

Linguistic Wordplay

The text is a fabric of multilingual puns. Examples include "smearbread" (English) and "smørrebrød" (Danish); "Tung-Toyd" for tongue-tied, Jung, and Freud; "Brotfressor" for professor and Brotfresser (German: bread-eater); and a Russian phrase hidden in "kak, pfooi, bosh and fiety, much earny, Gus, poteen?" (kak vy pozhivaete, moy chërny Gospodin? - "how are you, my black sir?").