The Rift Within The Lute

Rev. ed. of: Notes for Joyce: an annotation of James Joyce's Ulysses, 1974.

What is it for poetry to be serious and to be taken seriously? What is it to be open to poetry, exposed to its force, attuned to what it says and alive to what it does? These are important questions that call equally on poetry and philosophy. But poetry and philosophy, notoriously, have an ancient quarrel. Maximilian de Gaynesford sets out to understand and convert their mutual antipathy into something mutually enhancing, so that we can begin to answer these and other questions. The key to attuning poetry and philosophy lies in the fact that poetic utterances are best appreciated as doing things. For it is as doing things that the speech act approach in analytic philosophy of language tries to understand all utterances. Taking such an approach, this book offers ways to enhance our appreciation of poetry and to develop our understanding of philosophy. It explores work by a range of poets from Chaucer to Geoffrey Hill and J. H. Prynne, and culminates in an extended study of Shakespeare's Sonnets. What work does poetry set itself, and how does this determine the way it is to be judged? What do poets commit themselves to, and what they may be held responsible for? What role does a poet have, or their audience, or their context, in determining the meaning of a poem, what work it is able to achieve? These are the questions that an attuned approach is able to ask and answer.

Professor Bowen's book is more than a simple collection of musical allusions; it is an engaging discussion of how Joyce uses music to expand and orchestrate his major themes. The introductions to the separate sections, on each of Joyce's works, express a new and cohesive critical theory and reevaluate the major thematic patterns in the works. The introductory material proceeds to analyze the general workings of music in each particular book. The specific musical references follow, accompanied by their sources and an examination of the role each plays in the work. While the author considers the early works with equal care, the bulk of this volume explores the musical resonances of Ulysses, especially as they affect the style, structure, characterization, and themes. Like motifs in Wagnerian opera, some allusions introduce and later remind us of characters—bits of Molly's songs for instance constantly intrude her impending adultery on Bloom's consciousness. Other motifs are linked to concerns such as Stephen's Oedipal guilt over his mother's death, which in turn connects to his preoccupation with Shakespeare, the creator, the father, and the cuckold. Music helps create the bond which briefly joins Stephen and Bloom, and music augments the entire grand theme of consubstantiality. Professor Bowen's style is simple and clear, allowing Joycean artifice to speak for itself. The volume includes a bibliography.

What is it for poetry to be serious and to be taken seriously? What is it to be open to poetry, exposed to its force, attuned to what it says and alive to what it does? These are important questions that call equally on poetry and philosophy. But poetry and philosophy, notoriously, have an ancient quarrel. Maximilian de Gaynesford sets out to understand and convert their mutual antipathy into something mutually enhancing, so that we can begin to answer these and other questions. The key to attuning poetry and philosophy lies in the fact that poetic utterances are best appreciated as doing things. For it is as doing things that the speech act approach in analytic philosophy of language tries to understand all utterances. Taking such an approach, this book offers ways to enhance our appreciation of poetry and to develop our understanding of philosophy. It explores work by a range of poets from Chaucer to Geoffrey Hill and J. H. Prynne, and culminates in an extended study of Shakespeare's Sonnets. What work does poetry set itself, and how does this determine the way it is to be judged? What do poets commit themselves to, and what they may be held responsible for? What role does a poet have, or their audience, or their context, in determining the meaning of a poem, what work it is able to achieve? These are the questions that an attuned approach is able to ask and answer.

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