The patterjack Source File

[patterjack]

I have received the occasional pm over the past 5 or 6 years, remarking on my user name. Several of my friends , when lately looking up my postings on the net, have noted the recent addition of the name Patterjack to articles about dog breeds.  NB -- in this situation it has a capital . It has made me the happy subject of some friendly wit, including references to the creature  natterjack as well, which is native to Ireland.   I hope the following  will suffice as an explanation of my choice of the word.

My early university years from 1946, as well as continuing my acquaintance with the classics in both English and Latin, introduced me to a whole new world  both in poetry and prose.  I was in my opinion very lucky to study in courses that involved both classic prose and poetry, but with the added great advantage of a first meeting with the world of modern authors and poets.  The poets influenced my later works much more than did the prose writers, but I gained new insights into the Augustans like Swift from the classical prose studies, and into modern trends with such authors as Woolf, Joyce, and dos Passos.  These latter kept me fascinated with the structure of their work in particular.

Classics like the Homeric tales with modern applications in Ulysses , automatically led  to my willingness to  tackle Finnegans Wake .  I chose it as the general subject of my Honours year  thesis in 1949 , and within a few pages found myself engaged with  the story of Dean Swift  and the two women who so much influenced his life , Stella  and Vanessa  --  or  in real life ,  Hester and Esther .   Not only was Swift  deeply involved in the Irish question , ( see his Modest Proposal ! ) but he was an early writer in English in Ireland .  Joyce on the other hand  at that time of my life was the end product of a long line of Irish writers.  It was inevitable  that, considering them  then as Alpha  and Omega, I was able to explore the Swift theme throughout the Wake.

Swift and the pair of young women fitted admirably into  the story of HCE and the seductive young women who brought about his downfall.

Not only that , but the crossover of the exile  theme: Swift exiled to  Ireland , Joyce self-exiled from Ireland;  their common use of satire; their preoccupation with religion; and a strong scatological bent, made them an ideal choice for me to expound  upon.

Very early in the Wake, in the tick of time   between Viconian cycles, there are references to twone nathanjoe and vanessy  -- and still more Swift references until page 7 where the word patterjackmartins is used .  This reference is to Swift's religious satire A Tale of a Tub , in which he compares the three major religions of his time.  (There are as well references to other themes in this quote, portmanteau-ed in !)

with her issavan essavans and her patterjackmartins about all them inns and ouses. Tilling a teel of a tum, telling a toll of a teary turrty Taubling 

The Wake itself  has been described as a kind of Tale of a Tub as well. 

The Wake was written  from 1917 on the continent  during Joyce's self-exile from Ireland.  He said , in  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man : Ireland is the old sow that eats her own farrow. 

FW  was published in 1939  (although there had been evaluations of the incomplete material by several authors,  in for example  Our Exagmination Round His Factification For The Incamination  of Work in Progress  (as it was then known) 

So, in 1949 I began my thesis , ten years after the publication of the Wake.  I read and re-read the book many times.  Since that time the Joyce Industry has expanded , notably in America, but also  ironically in Ireland itself, considering Joyce's self exile thence.

So I had already become  fond of the word patterjack for its sound  (but the third name made it too long  for my use ) and have often used it since .

For my friends , I have researched the dog breed's name  and that seems to have come into use only post 1950 , though this is not definite.

However there are no references to be found in the Wake to the Patterjack dog .

I trust that this clarifies matters  for those  who politely inquired.

[Phil]

Interesting stuff, Brian. Must get around to Joyce - on my reading list. You'll have to advise on which to start with.

I wonder which idiot thought of natterjack?

Phil

[Sue]

Interesting, Brian. I'm another (as you know) who finds Joyce formidable. So a bit of background is helpful - and I'll remember it if I ever have time to settle down and study the Wake. I think you probably need as many years free to get your head round it as he spent structuring it.

The natterjack toad (incidentally) is a rare European native, not just Irish. I know there are colonies in South Cumbria and Lancashire, and I gather also in Scotland. I believe the name comes from the noise they make. http://www.herpconstrust.org.uk/animals ... k_call.htm

[Brett]

Thanks for posting this, Brian - interesting indeed. Read Dubliners, Portrait of the artist and Ulysses a long time back in my greener days and struggled with Finnegan's Wake, gave up on it (amusing song he lifted the title from though ) so I was interested to read of the allusions to Swift and get a bit more context - you never know I may even pick it up again.

What makes some of Joyce difficult, for me anyway, is his lack of speechmarks - more distracting than difficult perhaps?

Cheers

Brett

[patterjack]

That posting kept taking me back to the original source -- both to the Wake itself and to my battered copy of my thesis.

I was quite surprised to rediscover the epigraph I used from John Donne's Valediction-- a real piece of prediction from the good Doctor Donne :

This all-graved tome
In cypher writ ,or new made idiome

Very metaphysical

[patterjack]

I agree that Joyce is formidable, Sue--but I was young and daring when I took on the Wake -- probably foolish too.

But I still get a kick out of picking it up and browsing now and then. It is of course the kind of material one can dip into at any place , and join in the flow .

Natterjacks -- yes , protected in one place in Ireland I think. Thanks for the tape.

I just hope that my intentions in posting were clear enough.

Thank you for the reply.

[Brett]

You still have a copy of your thesis, Brian? May that prove beneficial to any Joyce readers were you to post that somewhere on the site?


Cheers

Brett

[Sue]

Ah, the faith of youth

I very much doubt that Brian's battered thesis is in a digital form.

[Brett]

Oi! Less of the youth

So it may be on papyrus, the bugger can still type can't you Brian?

Cheers

Brett

[patterjack]

Before I get round to other things, Phil, I must thank you for the comment. There are so many areas of Joyce's works that are still fascinating to me -- the different approaches he makes to poetry ( from brutal satire to Elizabethan delicacy) , without even getting around to the prose. I have areas there that still entrance me -- for example Stephen's literary discussions , and of course The Oxen of the Sun sequence from Ulysses -- really remarkable stuff.

Natterjacks --

But I must not ramble on -- thank you again .