In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CHAPTER 10 The Liturgy By Liturgy here is meant the Christian Liturgy which in the Wake is represented almost entirely by the Mass and other Roman Catholic services and prayers. Joyce's 'working library' contained -rather oddly-a copy of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in a French translation,l as well as a copy of the English version but there is no evidence of the French translation being used in the Wake. The only prayer books Joyce names are The Garden of the Soul, in 'a jaculation from the garden of the soul' (r45.25), and the missal in 'Eat a missal lest' (456.r8) w}1ich also conceals the sentence Ite, missa est that ends the Mass. The Mass in Finnegans Wake has been considered at some length by Hugh Kenner in Dublin's Joyce.2 He claims that 'The parts ofthe first section of the Mass-Introit, Confiteor, Gloria, Epistle, Sermon, Gospel,-appear in the Wake in order, with remarkable exactness of correspondence.'3 But in fact the correspondence is visible only if a very loose approxi..-nation to the va..;ous parts of the Mass is expected. But perhaps Joyce intended this correspondence, for the parallels between the sections of Homer's Odyssey and Joyce's Ulysses are also occasionally laboured and doubtful although we have Joyce's authority for their existence. On the oilier hand the sermon can hardly be called a part of the Mass, and even if it is included it should come after the Gospel, not before it. Ifthe reversal of the usual order is necessary the correspondence cannot be as exact as Kenner claims. Kenner also says that 'With the third part of the Wake (the four watches of Shaun the Post) the correspondences become those of the Mass for Good Friday, the one day in the year when no Host is consecrated.'4 This seems to be 1 See Connolly, pp. 9 ana 24. 2 Hugh Kenner, Dublin's Joyce, pp. 346-53. • Ibid., p. 35I. 4 Ibid., p. 351. THE LITURGY true, indeed the authors of A Skeleton Key had previously pointed out Joyce's use of a part of the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified.1 This is the 'Improperia' or 'Reproaches'. ShaUll says, 'Improperial! I saved you fore ofthe Hekkites and you loosed me hind bland Harry to the burghmote ofAud Dub ... I brought you from the loups ofLazary and you have remembered my lapsus langways' (484.20). The 'Improperia' that are being parodied begin, 'Because I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, thou hast prepared a cross for thy Saviour.' There are thirteen similar reproaches each followed by the repetition, first in Greek, then in Latin, of the Trishagion: 'Agios 0 Theos. Agios ischyros. Agios athanatos. Sanctus Deus. Sanctus fortis. Sanctus immortalis.' Neither Kenner nor the authors ofA Skeleton Key seem to have noticed that Joyce makes a travesty of this as, 'Haggis good, haggis strong, haggis never say die' (456.9). This is, of course, one of the many quotations that would have to be ignored by anyone claiming to prove that Joyce was a devout Catholic treating the Mass with respect. But the Mass that is being quoted in the Wake does seem to be the Mass for Good Friday as Joyce suggests in the sentence, 'You never wet the tea' (585.31). But L1.ere are many phrases quoted from the Mass which do not fit with this particular day. For example, 'a laddery dextro' (196.14) suggests 'a latere dextro' which is a phrase from the antiphon for Paschal time: Vidi Aquam. And I can see no particular progression in the scraps of quotation from parts ofthe Mass that occur in the Wake. In fact I would say that Joyce simply quotes from the Mass whenever a quotation seems apposite without bothering about any correspondence ofthe Wake, as a whole, with the Mass. To show the kind ofthing that happens I will list here some of the more obvious quotations in the order in which they occur in the Mass. Introibo ad altare Dei Spera in Deo Gloria Patri . . . et in saecula saeculorum Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini Confiteor 1 A Skeleton Key, p. 243. 'Enterellbo add all taller Danis' (336.2) 'Spira in Me DOmLTlo' (485.19) 'Per omnibus secular seekalarum' (8r.7) 'in secular sinkalarum' (178.I8) 'Auxilium Meum Solo A Domino' (496.13) 'the confisieur' (531.2) 'confiteor' (322.9) [18.227.161.132] Project MUSE...

Share