Risky Cruxes: A Report on the 2007 Zurich James Joyce Foundation Workshop, 5-11 August 2007

The crux was it was a bit risky to bring him home as eventualities might possibly ensue.

U 16.1604-05

As Joyceans brought their cruxes home to Zurich, the ensuing eventualities inspired lively discussions of both the risks and possibilities attending realist approaches to Ulysses, generating conversational threads that stretched from minute considerations of individual words (such as "Sundam trench"—U 17.187) to larger questions about Joyce's fact-gathering practices and narrative technique (such as his urgent letters to relatives demanding information about Dublin that could be incorporated into his fiction). Spanning the week of 5 to 11 August, the 2007 Zurich James Joyce Foundation Workshop, ambitiously titled "Cruxes in Ulysses," focused on factual matters, the novel's relation to 1904 Dublin, and passages difficult to understand on a basic level. Unlike previous workshops based on series of presentations, this one was structured as an open-forum discussion, encouraging collective examination of precirculated passages and cruxes as well as ad hoc proposals to investigate additional problem areas. The forums were, however, interspersed with occasional mini-presentations that gave focus to the free-flowing exchange of ideas. Additionally, the discussions were framed most mornings by "DeCoda" sessions designed to attribute every line in the "Oxen of the Sun" coda to a specific character. These intensive scrutinies of Joyce's text were complemented by a walking tour of Joyce-related places in Zurich, a visit to the Kunsthaus, several dinners, a Finnegans Wake reading group open to the community, an evening of entertainment supplied by the poetry and alliterative novels of Amanda Ros, and a boat ride to Rapperswil on the Zurichsee.

Individuals arriving at the Foundation, located on Augustinergasse between the picturesque Sihl and Limmat rivers, stepped immediately into a community of devoted readers and scholars who were immersed in a distinctively Joycean atmosphere. On a table in the middle of the discussion room, a selection of the Foundation's treasures and curiosities attracted eager hands. Among other artifacts and resources were stacked Thom's Directory, Aristotle's Masterpiece, yellowed newspapers from around 1900, and a deluxe multi-volume edition of Joyce's works that distorted the order of Ulysses episodes in order evenly to distribute the number of pages in each volume. A Jacob's biscuit tin rested high up on the old-fashioned oven, out of reach of anyone tempted to throw it, and moustache cups, pots of Plumtree's potted meat (empty), coins, photos, and letters filled the display case, while in an adjacent room, t-shirts, bags, and mementos from previous Joyce conferences hung over books on tightly packed library shelves, which also managed to accommodate boxes of Pears and lemon soaps, Joyce-themed tins and bottles, and Humpty Dumpty figures perched precariously on the shelves' edges. In Fritz Senn's office, a cozy gathering place during breaks, visitors could view Joyce's death mask, suitcases, and walking sticks. (Later, participants were also treated to a view of the Foundation's open and closed drawers.) Throughout the Workshop, visitors were exhorted to sign the Foundation's prominently displayed guestbook, and by the end of the week the pages were filled not only with participants' names—Scarlett Baron, Harald Beck, Greg Downing, Anne Fogarty, Ruth Frehner, Hans Walter Gabler, John Gordon, Judith Harrington, Clive Hart, Geert Lernout, Robert Nicholson, Gerry O'Flaherty, Fritz Senn, Amanda Sigler, Sam Slote, John Smurthwaite, Masahiro Tsuji, David Vichnar, Aida Yared, and Ursula Zeller—but also with a few creative sketches, montage art, and a limerick commemorating the Workshop.

On Sunday evening, the first arrivals met at the Foundation for a preliminary dinner of Fritz Senn's special potato salad, which (I am told) has become a classic dish on the Workshop's inaugural evening, a regular part of the preparatory activity that precedes a week of collective Joycean investigations. On Monday morning, as all participants crowded into the Foundation, eagerly searching for their multicolored nameplates in a room that guaranteed close seating and intimate conversation, a ringing glass bell called the first session into order. Joyceans from eight...