VARIETY
JAMES JOYCE
AND REBECCA WEST
Back in the 20's, Rebecca West
was shopping, when she suddenly
realized what was wrong with
Joyce. Out of this experience, she
distilled a little essay of some two
hundred and twenty pages, which
she called
The Strange Necessity.
As far as I knew, Joyce made no
reply.
A few months ago, however, I
happened to hear Padraic Colum
say that this essay had irritated
Joyce profoundly. That his critic
had had her illumination while
about to buy some bonnets was a
thing that seemed
to
leave a partic–
ularly bitter sting. His anger over–
flowed into the book that he was
writing.
Namely-Finnegans Wake.
Forty bonnets
is a phrase which
he uses a number of times in
Fin–
negans Wake.
According to Mr.
Colum, every time it is' used, it's a
reference to Miss West. For ex–
ample, take a passage on page 552.
This deals with a Dublin Viking
who, at his wife's behest, erected a
cathedral - making the proviso
that she'd sit naked in its altar.
....
she sass her nach
..
the
passage
runs . .
chilly bombom
and forty bonnets, upon the altar–
stane.
...
Or-
The lady sits naked. The lady's
rump is cold. And-
..
and forty bonnets ..
"This," said Mr. Colum, "i5 an
allusion to Miss West."
He did not elaborate. But-what
is the allusion? Joyce is saying
something harsh. But-what's he
saying? And how did Miss Rebecca
West get into this business of a
Viking and his wife?
The passage Mr. Colum men–
tioned is part of a longer passage.
Its theme is
building.
The building
of all buildings. Of all cathedrals.
Religion, Science, Art, Culture,
Civilization. The passage is full of
universals. And, at the same time,
it is full of particulars: particular
buildings and particular builden.
The story of the Viking is told
on many levels.
It
becomes the
story of various Vikings, who built
various cathedrals. In these ca–
thedrals, various women sit-with
a chilly bottom--on various altars.
For instance, there is the Viking
chief. His wife sits in the heart of
the altar...
chilly bombom
..
Her
bum is cold.
There is another builder. Ear–
wicker - Finnegan. He lives in
Dublin too. He has Viking sires.
And-what woman sits in the mid–
dle of his altar? His daughter Isobel.
On page 246, she is called
I cy–
la-Belle. Now-icy
equals
chilly ..
Bom! bom!
is the sound of a bell.
Or-in other
words-Icy-la--Belle
is a
chilly bombom.
Ibsen is a builder too. He is a
Viking too. He's one of Joyce's
mentors. He's one of Joyce's sym-
