St Kevin born on the Island of Ireland goes to lough glendalough to live on an Island in the the lake and as there is a pond on the Island and a little island in the pond he builds his hut on the islet and then scoops out the floor to a dept of one foot after which he goes to the brink of the pond and fills his tub with water which he emptys time after time into a cavity of his hut thereby forming a pool having done which he half fills the tub sets it in the middle of the pool, pulls up his frock and seats himself in the tub and mediates with burning zeal the sacrament of baptism or regeneration by water [cite] [from notebook VI.B3.43 (Apr-May?) mid-March?]
[An attack of conjunctivitis in March abated after about a week, and on April 4 six or seven decayed teeth were extracted, the rest a few days later. Joyce stayed in a maison de sante for two weeks recovering. The loss of the teeth did not greatly bother him; he remarked to his son, 'They were no good anyway.' But the seventeen extractions were painful, and made speaking and eating difficult. Then in stages, on April 3, 15, and 26, with this source of infection removed, Borsch performed the sphincterectomy. A month later Joyce felt none of the improvement Borsch had predicted, but by June 10 he was able to read a little, and Borsch assured him that his eye would recover its health fully in a few months. Meanwhile the dentist had finished his new plates, and when these had been inserted on June 10, Joyce and his family left for a holiday in England. In spite of the rigors of the last few months he was feeling better, and had no serious eye trouble for the rest of the year.]
asperger's/autism spectrum
cf Joyce himself: "One day in a wood near Malahide a labourer had marvelled to see a boy of fifteen [1897] praying in an ecstasy of Oriental posture." [PoA04]
St Kevin born on the Island of Ireland goes to lough glendalough to live on an Island in the the lake
Kevin was historical, supposedly 498-618
Ireland is 175 by 300 miles. Lough Glendalough is 30mi south of Dublin, 10mi inland, 2mi long (E-W) and ¼mi wide (N-S) [map] GoogleMaps shows one tiny 'island' about 50ft across at the eastern end of the lake, and another long skinny sort-of island 1500ft long and 100ft across along the northern shore, but these aren't plausible.
 |
| Kevin lived at the far end, on the right |
 |
| St Kevin's Bed |
and as there is a pond on the Island and a little island in the pond
pure fiction, geologically bizarre, to reach 9 layers total [closest real]
FW2: "to its supreem epicentric lake ysle... whereon... Kevin came to where its centre is... an enysled lakelet yslanding a lacustrine yslet"
he builds his hut on the islet and then scoops out the floor to a dept of one foot
hut: sticks, stones, or mud?
measurement motif
FW2: "whereupon... holy Kevin bided... but to build a rubric penitential honeybeehivehut whereof the arenary floor most holy Kevin excavated as deep as to a depth of a seventh part of one full fathom"
after which he goes to the brink of the pond and fills his tub with water which he emptys time after time into a cavity of his hut thereby forming a pool
"a cavity"?
a puddle, more like
FW2: "which excavated, venerable Kevin... proceeded towards the lakeside... collected Gregorian water sevenfold and... as many times receded carrying the lustral domination... which severally seven times into the cavity excavated... most venerable Kevin then effused, thereby letting there be water where was theretofore dry land"
having done which he half fills the tub sets it in the middle of the pool,
FW2: "now... blessed Kevin, exorcised his holy sister water... so that, well understanding, she should fill to midheight his tubbathaltar which hand-bathtub most blessed Kevin ninthly enthroned in the interconcentric centre of the translated water"
pulls up his frock and seats himself in the tub and mediates with burning zeal the sacrament of baptism or regeneration by water
"burning" = fire
the viconian word "regeneration" survives to the last: Kevin ponders regeneration but doesn't necessarily achieve it
FW2: "whereamid... Saint Kevin Hydrophilos, having girded his sable cappa magna as high as to his cherubical loins... sat in... that hipbathtub, whereverafter... he meditated continuously with seraphic ardour the primal sacrament of baptism or the regeneration of all man by affusion of water."
the alternating layers suggest an electrical device like a capacitor or battery
No comments:
Post a Comment