Difficult Books

You learn something new everyday, or so they tell me. Or, as my dad is fond of saying, "I just learned something I didn't know before."

I'm still trudging through page 37. During my online research, I came across this Sheila Variations website post.

That post pointed out that James Joyce makes exactly one reference to a fact about Stephen that might be crucial to understanding this chapter: It turns out that Stephen broke his glasses the day before.

In the chapter where Stephen and Leopold Bloom are in the brothel, Joyce gives Stephen these lines:

STEPHEN: (Brings the match near his eye)
Lynx eye. Must get glasses. Broke them
yesterday. Sixteen years ago. Distance.
The eye sees all flat. (He draws the
match away. It goes out.) Brain thinks.
Near: far. Ineluctable modality of the
visible. (He frowns mysteriously) Hm.
Sphinx. The beast that has twobacks at
midnight. Married.

Ah, that makes sense. This goes a long way in explaining why Stephen happens to be thinking about the "ineluctable modality of the visible." After all, he's having trouble seeing. And, instead of interpreting this as Stephen's questioning of reality, maybe it's just Stephen is trying to find another way to experience reality (since he can't rely on his eyes).

That post also goes on to note that much of Stephen's descriptions in this early chapter center around sounds (since he's having trouble seeing), and many of the visual descriptions are fuzzy.

I'll have to keep an eye on that.

So, while this and subsequent discussion of Stephen alienation is still relevant, it's nice to know that there's also a literal component to this passage.