444
PARTISAN REVIEW
German nursery-word (one from millel europa)
to
des ribe the way in
which the Mookse sits.
Papa
is a euphemism one employs with
children to represent the behind. The Mookse fills the space "quite
poposterously. "
If
Shaun is anal, there is another discrepancy to reconcile. ot
only did Pound insist that he was phallic. Joyce himseH spoke of
Shaun-Wellington-Pound as having-as being-a big "sexcaliber"
tel escope.
In the nonessentials, the telescope is phallic. In the way it looks, in
the way it covers, the way it eems to dominate the field of ballle, in the
way it expands when it is going to be used. Yet there i nothing it
crea tes.
A world of appearance. In spite of seeming activity, haun is
immobile. Standing-or itting-in his own pa e. By and large, the
anus and environs are the seat of the critic. There are allu ions to the
"white harse of Wellington," "the wide harse of Wellington." On
p. 552, Rebecca West, who said that Joyce has no taste, is described as
sitting-a very Establishment Mookse-on an altar-stone. She is- he
has-a "chilly bombom."
Back to "Esra." "Esra" and the contrast with the Song of Sol–
omon. As we saw, the Song is associated with Joyce-a song of love, of
joy, of gusto, of a phallic "Yes."
"Esra " -with an
s-i
the German form of Ezra. In the language
in whi ch the books were written, one reads from right to left. In the
world of Shem, E-s-r-a ("Esra") is equivalent to a-r-s-e.
Haw Simple
I have mentioned that Pound was contemptuous about the poems
Joyce had given him to read. He was pushing a mor recent discovery–
John Cheever Dunning. In a letter to Miss Weaver, Joyce admitted that
his own verses (those of
Parnes Pennyeach )
were both old and poor; but
he fail ed to understand why th ey should be thought inferior
to
the work
of Dunning, which he considered "drivel. " A few month later, he was
sti ll thinking of Pound and his protege. Once again, in May 1927, he
was writing to Miss Weaver. A leaky fountain pen aused a blot in the
middl e of a sentence. "Look at that! " he said.
"It
must be Pound did, I
mean dun it. " On p. 312-"from here Buvard to dear Pi cuchet. Blott. "
Plus a ma rginal comment. "En ouling Female Sustains Agonizing
Overman. " This is a letter that Joyce is writing to Harri et Weaver. The
