_TSW_ and Molly Bloom

[juli@lafayette.dartmouth.edu (Julian West)]

> We're all agreed now that "The Sensual World" was based on, or 
> inspired by, Molly Bloom's speech at the end of _Ulysses_ by
> James Joyce.  I thought I'd post part of this, so people who
> haven't read it (I assume this is the vast majority) can see
> what it's like.

I'm sure most people considered this very thoughtful.  I had refrained
from posting it myself because I was hoping people would go to the 
trouble of looking it up for themselves.  I agree with you that people
will be able to judge the style and some of the mood of the chapter
from this extract.  It requires considerably more effort to appreciate
the background and motivations.

> I can only post part of it because it's actually quite long.  But
> the last couple of pages is enough to give readers a taste of what
> it's like, and it also includes many of the phrases Kate uses.

Indeed, the chapter (usually called "Penelope" or "Molly Bloom's monologue)
is about 40 pages long, with no punctuation at all and only
8 paragraph breaks!  The great majority (possibly all) of the words borrowed
by Kate fall in the two pages you posted however.

> The resemblance to Kate's lyrics are striking -- not only do have several
> of the phrases that appear in the song, and the repetition of the word
> "yes", but Kate even managed to get some of the feel of the rhythm of this
> passage.

Absolutely right on both points, Ed!   (Now that I've finally heard the song,
I'll have more to say on this later.)

> I hope some people find this interesting.

I hope so too, Ed!  I even, dare I imagine it, hope that perhaps some person
or other will actually _read_ _Ulysses_ after hearing Kate's song!

-----------------------------------------------------

> From: Woj <woiccare@clutx.clarkson.edu>

> Alright you anaylsts of things Kate: why did she use the word 'Machevellian'
> instead of 'Andalusian' (like Joyce wrote it) in TSW (the song)? Seems to
> me out of place somehow, unless of course she is refering to the manipulative
> way the Molly plays with her suitor's mind...

Okay, good question!  I was a bit puzzled by this word `Machiavellian' since
it is absent not only from the "Penelope" chapter but from the whole of 
_Ulysses_!  Your observation that `those Andalusian girls' [_Ulysses_] fits
the rhythm of `a Machiavellian girl' [_TSW_] is an excellent one.  Since
Kate is on record as having said that she couldn't get the rights to use
the text from _Ulysses_ (although she obviously alludes to it freely), perhaps
this is an example of a line which was _changed_ from an earlier, complete
version of the song.  If we could get some more evidence to bear out this
hypothesis, it would shed considerable insight into the textual composition of
_TSW_.

Similar examples anyone?

Julian

ps. `Andalusian' appears because Molly is remembering incidents from her
    girlhood when she was an `army brat' in Gibraltar.  Characteristically,
    these memories blur with those of her courtship with Leopold Bloom 
    on Howth Head.