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Nadya Zimmerman, Musical Form as Narrator: The Fugue of the Sirens in Joyce s Ulysses, Journal of Modern Litera-ture, XXVI, 1 (Fall 2002), pp. 108118. Indiana University Press, 2003

Musical Form as Narrator: The Fugue of the Sirens in James Joyces Ulysses

Nadya ZimmermanAntioch University

The fugal structure, which James Joyce claimed was the compositional technique of chapter 11 (the Sirens chapter) of Ulysses, has long been a point of intrigue with Joyce scholars. One of the reasons the chapter has drawn such attention is that Joyce himself gave few indications as to its structure. Evidence has revealed only two mentions of formal technique with respect to Sirens: Georges Borach recalls a conversation on 18 June 1919 in which Joyce noted, I wrote this chapter with the technical resources of music. It is a fugue with all musical notations.1 Later that same year, on 6 August, Joyce wrote a letter to Harriet Weaver revealing a few more speci cs as to the form of Sirens: They are all the eight regular parts of a fuga per canonem: and I did not know in what other way to describe the seductions of music beyond which Ulysses travels.2 Note the discrepancy between Borach s memory of a conversation and Joyce s own written words: in the remembered conversation, Joyce describes the chapter as a fugue, while his letter indicates that the form is a fuga per canonem with eight voices. It is this discrepancy that has ignited much debate concerning how and why, and even if, musical form is employed in Sirens.

While important scholarship has continued to fuel interest in the chapter, it has equally moved the debate toward questions of veri cation that is, whether Joyce successfully or unsuccessfully translated a musical form into prose.3 While this can be an interesting and valuable task, it is also

1. Joyce to Georges Borach, 18 June 1919, in Richard Ellmann, James Joyce: New and Revised Edition (Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1982), p. 459. 2. Joyce to Harriet Weaver, 6 August 1919, in Ellmann, James Joyce, p. 462. 3. See Stuart Gilbert, James Joyces Ulysses: A Study (Vintage Books, 1955). Gilbert argues for the chapter s fugal properties by equating characters to fugal themes the Sirens song is the subject, Boylan the countersubject, Bloom the answer, and the remaining characters are episodes and divertimenti. Lawrence Levin, in The Sirens Episode as Music: Joyce s Experiment in Prose Polyphony (James Joyce Quarterly III [Fall 1965], pp. 1224), agrees that there is an eight-part fugue in the chapter, but insists that it is only loosely de ned through shared thematic material. Heath Lees, in The Introduction to Sirens and the Fuga Per Canonem (James Joyce Quarterly XXII [Fall 1984], pp. 40, 42), relies on a fteenth-century de nition of canon that refers, not to the music but to the verbal directions placed before or sometimes within the music (p. 40). From these directions, a fuga per canonem can be worked out in its entirety. Lees, however, does not indicate that Joyce successfully wrote the entire Sirens chapter in a musical form according to the canonic directions of the rst sixty-three lines. Zach Bowen, in Blooms Old Sweet Song: Essays on Joyce and Music (University

Zimmerman: Fugue of the Sirens in Ulysses 109

one without resolution. Because there is no accepted formula for translating a musical form into written language, each scholar will have his or her own standards by which to judge whether the musical form in Sirens is a successful translation. And because, on the surface, it appears a nearly impossible feat to translate one art form into another, most scholars have deemed Joyce s attempt a formal failure. However, a detailed formal analysis of the musical form rendered in prose a task that Joyce scholars have yet to accomplish that does not aim solely to attribute success or failure to Joyce s translation of form, can prove extremely useful. In other words, this task has resonance in relation to broader implications of meaning: what does the use of a musical form in prose mean for questions of narrative and temporality? By using a musical form to represent the simultaneous actions of characters, Joyce offers a revolutionary model of narrativity in which events relate to time, space, and action as sound does in music. Sirens describes a perception of life as some-thing other than a goal-directed project.4

If narrative is an organizing principle by which people give coherence to their experiences over time, the use of a fugal structure subverts the reader s expectation (conscious or not) of teleology. Over the past ten years such musicologists as Susan McClary, Lawrence Kramer, and Fred Everett Maus have worked to revise commonly held views on the ways in which music engages in narrative process. If musical narrative is most often assumed to exist in relation to some verbal apparatus, McClary, for example, articulates a position whereby formal structures of certain instrumental musics can be seen to engage with issues of narrativity.5 Typically the lyrics of a song or opera are understood to contain the story, while the music corresponds to the lyrical narrative and helps the story progress. As if Joyce intuited the potential of musical form itself to narrate, he inverts the relationship between words and music: musical form in Sirens becomes the narrator, while words set that narrative into motion.

One of the ironies of Joyce s inversion relates to the kind of narrative that scholars such as McClary and Kramer have shown musical form to embody. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, fugal forms served as musical analogues to the notion of the centered Self: fugue nar-rated a quality of subjective becoming (McClary, p. 24) in which heterogeneous elements of self come together as an autonomous whole. Joyce, however, employs a fugal structure to question autonomy and simulates simultaneity in order to reveal a multi-vocal interiority. Consider the

Press of Florida, 1995), suggests that Joyce s translation of a fugal structure into prose was unsuccessful because of a disparity between the voices introduced in the opening sixty-three lines and the remainder of the chapter. Bowen explains that the rst two pages of the episode, which clearly constitute an overture, tend to discredit the fugal idea. If the chapter is fugal it would not be likely to have an overture preceding it (p. 26). Other signi cant discussions of musical form in the Sirens chapter include Jack W. Weaver, Joyces Music and Noise: Theme and Variation in his Writings (University Press of Florida, 1998); David W. Cole, Fugal Structure in the Sirens Episode of Ulysses, Modern Fiction Studies XIX (Summer 1973), pp. 22126; Brad Bucknell. Literary Modernism and Musical Aesthetics: Pater, Pound, Joyce, and Stein (Cambridge University Press, 2001), chapter 4; and David Herman, Sirens after Schoenberg, James Joyce Quarterly XXXI (Summer 1994), pp. 47394. 4. Certainly, issues of mimesis (how the sound of music is represented in words) or hermeneutics (a reading of the con-tent of the Sirens) can contribute valuable support to understanding the Sirens model of narrativity. The representation of, for example, Simon s song or the barmaid s chatter requires a separate, in-depth investigation into musical constructions, in prose form, of non-dialecticism. 5. See Susan McClary, The Impromptu That Trod on a Loaf: or How Music Tells Stories, Narrative V (January 1997), pp. 2134. Lawrence Kramer, in Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge (University of California Press, 1995), examines both musical form and content to illuminate music as a cultural text which advances narrative. Likewise, Fred Everett Maus, in Music as Drama (Music Theory Spectrum X [1988], pp. 5673), suggests that musical form is already an aesthetically-oriented narration of dramatic action. He attributes this, in part, to the subject position of the listener: If the sound is regarded as action, the listener may also, seeking a perceptible protagonist, attribute those actions to the sounds as agents (p. 70).

110 Journal of Modern Literature

thesis: if a self is always constructed amidst a cacophony of other voices, musical form fugal, in particular allows for a simultaneous reconciliation of various strands of self in the moment.

In the Sirens chapter, several events or actions, while presented in prose, occur at the same time in the plot. These simultaneous occurrences have structural, relational value, as they do in fugal music. In addition, Joyce s eight regular parts correspond to the eight main characters in the chapter, with thematic repetition in the text serving as an analogue to fugal repetition and counterpoint. This investigation of form, then, relies on the premise that Joyce simulates fugal simultaneity by repeating thematic material to signal a simultaneity of action in the plot, despite the dispersal of this material throughout the chapter (due to linear prose).

The fuga per canonem is a sixteenth-century term for a fugue by means of a canon. One of the seminal studies of musical form in the Sirens chapter, by Lawrence Levin, focuses on the canonic features of the chapter. Levin s justi cation for this analytical choice is based on the notion that, in the sixteenth century, fuga meant essentially a canon.6 Levin s premise is noted: however, it is fair to keep in mind that Joyce lived in modern times when the fuga per canonem had already developed into the fugue. Hence, Joyce s characterization of the chapter as a fuga per canonem is not a sixteenth-century description, but a twentieth-century statement, indicating that the chapter incorporates both fugal and canonical rules.

The canon is a form that consists of melodic lines, juxtaposed polyphonically: an initial voice enters alone with a melody called the subject. It is then joined by a second voice, carrying the answer. This answer imitates exactly the intervallic structure of the subject, but may enter on any note. That is, it is not required that the answer begin on the same note that the subject began, but merely that the intervals between the notes of the subject be preserved in the answer. Further, in canons with more than two voices, at least two melodic lines must be in imitation at any given time, while the remaining voices contribute harmony and counterpoint. So, if there are eight voices, as in Sirens, not all of the voices are required to replicate the subject introduced by the rst voice; some of the voices pick up the subject, while others develop harmony.

Like the canon, fugue incorporates the method of imitation. In a fugue, the rst voice enters playing the main theme, which again is called the subject. The second voice enters, perhaps a few measures afterwards, and takes that same subject, but modi es it by starting on a different note. The modi cation in the second voice, again, is called the answer. As in the canon, the answer retains the same intervallic shape and melodic structure as the subject, yet it is said to be in a different key.

When the second voice enters with the answer, the notes occurring simultaneously in the rst voice are no longer considered part of the subject: they are referred to as the countersubject. Natu-rally, a fugue is composed with the intention of making this countersubject t harmonically with the answer, because the two are sounded simultaneously. When the fugue reaches a more compli-cated stage of development with more than two voices, the rst voice does not always carry the subject.

Both the fugue and the canon depend upon a fundamental attribute simultaneity. Clearly a prose rendering of any musical form will not be able to achieve such simultaneity; at any given moment, there is only a single line of narrative. However, Joyce has managed to create a written equivalent that might be called verbal simultaneity. Using this device, Joyce has composed an eight-voice fuga per canonem.

6. Levin, The Sirens Episode as Music, p. 12.


The eight parts, or eight distinct, major voices in the chapter consist of the sirens (Miss Douce and Miss Kennedy), Bloom, Pat the waiter, Simon Dedalus, Boylan, Lenehan, the blind tuner, and Ben Dollard. Any one of these voices can carry the subject (main theme): this subject essentially remains unvarying from one voice to the next. Yet a literal translation of a musical form makes it impossible for the reader to hear the subject introduced along with the answer sub-sequently presented in another voice. Joyce addresses this disparity between music and writing by teaching his audience to avoid reading linearly, as habit dictates. He trains the reader to become alert to the time at which events occur by repeating the main theme and then including the shared thematic material that ties time periods together.

For example, let us say that the subject, or main theme, is introduced in the Sirens voice in lines 64 and 65. Bronze by gold, miss Douce s head by miss Kennedy s head, over the/ crossblind of the Ormond bar heard the viceregal hoofs go by, ringing steel.7 In a fugal piece of music, this subject would be answered imitatively a few measures later by another voice in a different key. Joyce indicates the presence of the imitative answer through the repetition of thematic material. The subject presented in the Sirens voice in lines 64 and 65 is descriptive in nature. That is, the subject is free of dialogue, while, at the same time, it describes the actions or thoughts of the voice that carries it. The main theme is signaled by description: indeed, it is always true that the subject is descriptive of the voice that carries it. With this in mind, the imitative answer (which is the sub-ject in a different key) to the subject in the sirens voice occurs in Bloom s voice. Bloowho went

7. James Joyce, Ulysses, ed. Hans Walter Gabler (Vintage Books, 1986), chapter 11, lines 6465. Because we are dealing solely with the Sirens chapter, subsequent references to Ulysses will be in the body of the text and in the form (l.6465) or l.6465, depending on context.


by Moulang s pipes bearing in his breast the sweets/of sin, by Wine s antiques, in memory bear-ing sweet sinful words, by/carroll s dusky battered plate, for Raoul (l.8688). These lines can be considered the answer because they describe the voice that carries it (Bloom). Moreover, we could even suggest that the answer is in a different key from the subject because a new set of words is being employed to describe Bloom s actions.

Since, as readers, we follow literature linearly, the answer in Bloom s voice may seem only distantly connected to the subject presented twenty lines earlier by the sirens. But Joyce helps the reader negotiate this predilection for linearity by evoking temporal simultaneity. Bloom is walking by the Moulang pipes at the exact moment that the sirens are gossiping in the bar. By keeping a strong sense of time in mind, the reader can sense the simultaneity of events that are separated on the page. In a fugue or canon, if two or more lines of music in different voices occur simultane-ously, they are said to be in counterpoint with each other. Hence, as Bloom walks by the Moulang pipes, we can say that he is in counterpoint with the conversation between the sirens in the bar, because these two events are happening at the same time in the plot. Furthermore, as Bloom takes up the answer to the sirens subject, the sirens banter in the bar is no longer termed the subject, but becomes the countersubject.

Without a musical staff, a composition of words faces a major theoretical obstacle. In music, counterpoint implies difference. That is, two or more simultaneous musical lines will not have precisely the same notes because the combination will lack harmony and sound homophonic. Yet a musical form rendered in words nds the opposite to be true. Consider the following hypothetical situation: if two melodic lines written in prose are a page or two apart and are composed of entirely different words meaning no words, phrases, or thematic material in common then it would be nearly impossible to determine if they are intended to be in counterpoint with each other. In order to form a contrapuntal link between two melodic lines in prose, they must be made to resemble each other much more closely than simultaneous musical lines. It follows that Joyce must throw in similar words, phrases, or thematic material in two different narrative sequences in order to create verbal simultaneity. If, in music, difference is necessary for counterpoint, in prose, similarity sup-ports simultaneous harmonies.

A few words about notation will help to understand Joyce s practice in Sirens. The subject of the fuga per canonem is labeled S, the answer is A, and the countersubject is CS. Additional harmo-nies in other voices are counterpoint, or CP. Because my musical analysis is in the form of an analyti-cal chart, its structure requires some clari cation. Consider the following excerpt from the chart:

Sirens S l.6465 CS l.6684 CP l.9293, 95

Bloom A l.8588 CS l.102

The chart can be viewed both vertically and horizontally like a musical score. The names Sirens and Bloom at the left indicate different characters or voices. Everything horizontally to the right of Sirens represents what the sirens do or think. Similarly, everything directly to the right of Bloom indicates what Bloom does. Each horizontal line is divided by vertical lines, in which each horizontal segment indicates an arbitrary length of time. When vertical lines in two or more voices are aligned (as they are in this example), it is at that point that all the voices are


moving into a new stage of action or thought simultaneously in the plot. Hence, the vertical lines serve a function similar to that of measure lines in music. If we look at the chart vertically, we see that Bloom s answer occurs at the same time as the sirens countersubject, because the vertical lines are aligned. That is, the vertical line between the sirens CS and their CP is aligned with the vertical line between Bloom s A and his CS. Lastly, following line numbers such as l.6465 or l.102, we see that the subject in the sirens voice is written in lines 6465 in the chapter, while the answer to the subject, in Bloom s voice, is written in lines 8588.

The chart does not indicate rhythm or exact duration of any given theme, as a musical score would do. It does, however, indicate simultaneity of events. In the example, the sirens are gossiping in the bar, CS, at the same time as Bloom is walking by the Moulang pipes, A. Hence, they are ver-tically aligned in the chart, as in a musical score. Because we are concerned not with the duration of each theme, but only with simultaneity of action, the literal number of lines that Joyce spends to describe each voice does not factor into his representation of a musical form. That is, the fact that Joyce spends only four lines describing Bloom s actions (l.8588) and takes a lengthy nineteen lines to develop the sirens conversation (l.6684) does not impact the fugal form.

Seen in its entirety, the chart draws upon the notational framework in order to illuminate the speci c ways in which Joyce translates a fuga per canonem into an entire chapter of prose.8

1 2 3 4 5

Sirens S l.6465 CS l.6684 CP l.9293, 95 CP l.9799, 103111 S l.112113

Bloom A l.8588 CS l.102

Pat A l.8990 CS l.91, 94, 96, 1001

6 7 8 9 10

Sirens CS l.114148 CP l.15879 CP l.18084, 191CP l.196, 8, 9, 200, 2034,

8, 9, 21318, 2256

Bloom A l.133, 14957 CS l.185CP l.185, 18690

Pat

Simon S l.1923 CS l.194, 5, 7, 2012, 2057, 21011, 21924, 227

Boylan A l.212

8. Due to limitations on space, the analysis will be restricted to lines 64 through 316.


11 12 13 14 15

Sirens CP l.232, 23640, 2434, 2467, 250CP l.2778, 2801, 284

Bloom A l.228(end)230(half) CP l.23031

Pat CP l.28688

Simon CP l.255, 57, 2601, 2716CP l.279,

2823

Boylan CS l.245 CP l.245 CP l.290

Lenehan S l.228 CS l.2335, 2412, 24853 CP l.2524, 6, 2635, 26770 CP l.289

Tuner S l.285

16 17 18

Sirens CP l.312

Bloom S l.295303 CS l.305, 7, 30911

Pat

Simon A l.29194

Boylan A l.304

Lenehan

Tuner CS l.31316

Because Ben Dollard does not appear in lines 64316, only the rst seven voices are accounted for on the chart: the Sirens, Bloom, Pat the waiter, Simon Dedalus, Boylan, Lenehan, and the blind tuner. There are eighteen bold-face numbers on the chart, each of which represents a moment in time, considered in chronological order: 1. S l.6465. The sirens, Miss Douce and Miss Kennedy, open with the subject, which is descrip-

tive and tells what is happening to them. 2. A l.8588. Bloom carries the answer to the subject, indicated by similar thematic material,

descriptive of Bloom s actions. We know that this is the answer because it is in a different key,


indicated by the use of different words. The countersubject (l.6684), is charted simultane-ously with Bloom s answer because Bloom walks by the Moulang pipes as the sirens gossip in the bar. In addition, Joyce indicates that the two voices are in counterpoint with each other by including common thematic material: Bloom is described as Bloowho (l.86), which is thematically harmonious with Miss Kennedy s Who? Where? (l.71).

3. A l.8990. Bald Pat the waiter carries an answer to the subject because it is descriptive of his actions: For them/unheeding him he banged on the counter his tray of chattering china (l.8990). The brief countersubject, Bloom (l.102), serves as Joyce s reminder that Bloom still exists and is walking the streets at the same moment that Pat the waiter bangs his tray.

4. CS l.91, 94, 96, 100, 101. The waiter s answer turns into the countersubject in this section because he shares a conversation with the sirens. The other indication that the sirens and Pat the waiter are in counterpoint is the similarity of their thematic material. The sirens voice appears as A haughty bronze replied:/ Ill complain to Mrs de Massey on you if I hear any more of your/impertinent insolence (l.9799). Joyce plays on this theme of rudeness and includes similar words in the waiter s voice to indicate that the sirens and the waiter are in harmony: Imperthnthn thnthnthn, bootssnout snnif ed rudely, as he retreated as she/threatened as he had come (lines 10001).

5. S l.11213. As Bloom and the waiter drop out, the sirens re-enter with the recognizable, descriptive subject that tells the reader what they are doing. Yes, bronze from anear, by gold from afar, heard steel from anear,/hoofs ring from afar, and heard steelhoofs ringhoof ring-steel (lines 11213).

6. A l.133, 14957. These lines, in Bloom s voice, are also descriptive and follow as the answer to the sirens subject. As fugal rules dictate, Bloom s answer is charted simultaneously with the sirens countersubject, and, consequently, the actions of both voices occur simultaneously in the plot. We are further convinced that the two voices are in harmony because A and CS share thematic material in common. The sirens say goggle eye (l.146), and your other eye (l.148). Bloom counterpoints this by discussing eyes: Bloowhose dark eye read Aaron Figatner s name (l.149) and By Bassi s blessed virgins Bloom s dark eyes went by (l.151). In addition, Bloowhose (l.149) resembles the interrogative nature of the sirens babble.

7. CS l.185 (half). Bloom now carries the countersubject for half of line 185, By Cantwell s of ces roved. The countersubject of the sirens in the previous section transforms into free counterpoint here, playing on the eye theme: your other eye . . . (l.159); and rolled droll fattened eyes (l.165); O greasy eyes (l.169); and Greasy I knows (l.17677).

8. CP l.18084, 191. Here the sirens and Bloom are in free counterpoint with each other. If this were a sounded piece of music, the sirens line Married to Bloom, to greaseabloom (l.180) would sound simultaneously with Bloom s voice Greaseabloom (l.185). Cer-tainly Joyce s use of the same phrases in two different voices indicates that they are in coun-terpoint. This is further shown through the thematic material that both voices share sin, saints, religion, and virginity. Bloom thinks, for example, Religion pays (l.187), while Miss Douce exclaims, O saints above! (l.181).

9. S l.19293. The character of Simon Dedalus is introduced to the chapter and enters with the subject. Consistent with the rule that the subject be descriptive of the voice that carries it, Dedalus lines are: Into their bar strolled Mr Dedalus. Chips, picking chips off one of his/rocky thumbnails. Chips. He strolled (l.192193). Bloom s counterpoint continues through-out this section because he is continually walking the streets as Dedalus strolls into the bar.


10. A l.212. The answer to Dedalus subject comes very brie y in Boylan s voice. Jingle (l.212) is a valid answer to the subject that Simon Dedalus has voiced because it is descriptive of Boylan s actions. We know that Boylan is in a car, is a ashy lady-killer, and that he jingles. By fugal rules, as Boylan gives voice to the answer, Simon Dedalus subject turns into the countersubject. At this point in the plot, we know that, simultaneously, Bloom is walking, Boylan is driving, and Simon and the sirens are conversing in the bar: hence, they are all ver-tically aligned on the chart. Dedalus countersubject is in harmony with the free counterpoint of the sirens because the two characters are conversing. In addition, they share the theme of irtation to indicate simultaneity.

11. S l.228. Lenehan s character makes his entrance with the descriptive subject. In came Lenehan. Round him peered Lenehan (l.228). And Boylan now carries the countersubject with Jingle jaunty jingle (l.245). Bloom is still walking in counterpoint to everyone else s actions.

12. A l.228 (end)-230 (half). The fugal rule still applies: when a subject is introduced, it is then followed by an answer. In this case, Lenehan s subject is answered descriptively in Bloom s voice, while Lenehan, again according to fugal rules, takes the countersubject. We can assume that the lines voiced by Bloom are the answer because they are descriptive of Bloom s actions: Mr Bloom reached/Essex bridge. Yes, Mr Bloom crossed bridge of Yessex. . . . (l.22829). Bloom s answer, Lenehan s subject, and the sirens counterpoint are vertically aligned because of similarities in themes. Lenehan and the sirens are conversing; hence, they are automatically in harmony (at least, fugally). In the case of Bloom, with respect to the sirens, their harmony centers around paper. Bloom ponders, To Martha I must/write. Buy paper (l.22930). His thoughts occur as Miss Kennedy is reading and gazing upon a page (l.238). As Lenehan drones in vain (l.250), it is conceivable that Simon Dedalus is nally induced to enter as counterpoint in the conversation.

13. CP l.255, 257, 26061, 27176. Simon Dedalus and Lenehan enter into conversation; hence, they are both marked as counterpoint in a new section. Bloom s answer in the previous sec-tion becomes counterpoint here as he continues his journey through Dublin: Bloom. Old Bloom. Blue Bloom is/on the rye (l. 23031).

14. CP l.279, 28283. In this section of the chart, the characters of both Bloom and Boylan have horizontal lines next to their assigned number. Boylan and Bloom are free counterpoint because they are always moving simultaneously with the action in the bar. We know that the sirens and Simon Dedalus are in counterpoint because they are conversing about the blind tuner.

15. S l.285. The subject is taken up by the piano tuner, who enters into the plot at this point. God s curse on bitch s bastard (l.285): This descriptive subject characterizing a kind of self-hating bastard child is often associated with the piano tuner. While Bloom, Boylan, and Simon Dedalus remain moving counterpoint, an interesting new thematic counterpoint is introduced between Lenehan and Pat the waiter. Lenehan waited for Boylan with impa-tience (l.289) at the same time that bothered Pat, the waiter of Ormond (l.28788), waits as usual.

16. A l.29194. If the piano tuner carried the subject in the last section, fugal rules dictate that another voice take up the answer here. This answer comes from the piano itself as Joyce describes Simon Dedalus at the piano. Upholding the lid he (who?) gazed in the cof n


(cof n?) at the/oblique triple (piano!) wires. He pressed (the same who pressed indulgently/her hand), soft pedalling, a triple of keys to see the thicknesses of felt/advancing, to hear the muf ed hammerfall in action. (l.29194). This ts contrapuntally with the countersubject of the piano tuner: That was a tuningfork the/tuner had that he forgot that he now struck. A call again. That he now/poised that it now throbbed. You hear? It throbbed, pure, purer, softly and/softlier, its buzzing prongs. Longer in dying call (l.31316). The tuner is not actually present, but his tools, actions, and tuning fork are.

17. S l.295303. Bloom enters with the subject, descriptive of his isolated thoughts at the moment: Two sheets cream vellum paper one reserve two envelopes when I was/in Wisdom Hely s wise Bloom in Daly s Henry Flower bought (l.29596). The sirens serve as counterpoint to Bloom s subject as they, too, are isolated and dealing with paper: In drowsy silence gold bent on her page (l.312).

18. A l.304. Bloom s subject, by fugal rules, now becomes the countersubject as Boylan gives voice to the answer. We can assume that Boylan carries the answer because his line is descrip-tive of his movement: Jingling on supple rubbers it jaunted from the bridge to Ormond (l.304). And we can understand Boylan and Bloom as functioning together in counterpoint because their lines share the thematic notion of pursuit.

* * * *

In music, a common method by which a composer tells a story is to ally characters with speci c musical material. For example, character A is signaled by a particular harmonic pattern, character B by a rhythmic motive, character C by a melody, and so on. Within the context of the piece, each character s own musical material represents an identifying quality character A is sad, character B anxious, character C seductive, and so on. Each character plays a role in the larger unfolding story of the piece. That is, as each character s identifying musical material transforms over the the course of the piece in counterpoint with the other characters so do the characters themselves, so that, consequently, the story progresses.

By translating a fuga per canonem into prose, Joyce is able to appropriate music s capacity for simultaneous development and thus to offer a new approach to literary narrative. Prose, unavoid-ably, imposes linearity on the reader we read the words on the page in the order in which they appear. This developmental narrative of events occurring in temporal succession has come to dominate the way in which we conceptualize life, the ways in which it proceeds, and in which we relate past, present, and future. By evoking a musical form, Joyce derails this linearity with the simultaneity that only music possesses. He achieves this by con ating each character s identity with that character s formal role the presence of the subject is dependent on and re ective of the voice that carries it. Hence, all eight characters in this scene share the subject, or main theme (description), and the development of the story hinges upon the simultaneous development of each different character.

The Sirens chapter gives us the possibility of thinking vertically, in the moment, as well as horizontally and successively. Fugal music can be heard in two ways: we can listen horizontally to the development of independent lines of melody, and we can listen vertically for the various parts interacting in each moment. If literature offers only the rst way, Joyce simulates a fuga per canonem so as to include the second way. Certainly, these eight characters in the Sirens episode are on their own independent trajectories the sirens/barmaids gossip in the bar; Bloom walks


the streets of Dublin; Boylan moves jauntily; and so on. However, within the fuga per canonem structure, the reader can also experience the counterpoint shared by the characters. No one devel-ops independently of the others because their actions and thoughts are interconnected by verbal simultaneity. And, perhaps, this is closer to the reality of the ways we live we develop not in a vacuum, but in counterpoint with our surroundings, building life s narrative in each moment.9

9. Much thanks to Prof. Joseph Kerman at UC Berkeley, for his helpful readings and critique of this material, and Prof. Seth Zimmerman, for his ongoing feedback and encouragement.

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