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Re: "Switch off the current, will you?"

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On Monday, October 21, 2002 at 7:04:20 AM UTC-4, George Ellison wrote:
> *** sorry for the gibberish in last paragraph of original post . . .
> not sure what caused it & there doesn't seem to be an edit function at
> this site . . . that paragraph should read as follows:
> --- obviously this commences the numerous whistles/bells/alarms
> sounded throughout Ulysses . . . but on the mundane level who do you
> think
> the old chap is who returns BM's long slow whistle with two strong
> shrill whistles . . . and what sort of current are we talking about? .
> . . who is BM talking to (obviously not SD)? . . . does Haines (or a
> nearby caretaker) take the signal to mean that the electric current
> used at night in the tower is to be turned off during the day? . . .
> if not, what's going on?
> *** thanks again, George

Yes, a reply.  The answering whistles have to come from Stephen: one, because he is there and two, because he is Catholic - or ex Catholic - and knows what is going on: understands Mulligan's humor
here.  The "switch off the current" is one of my favorite mysteries in Ulysses.  What I find most important
is the dual nature of the word current.  Originally designed to describe the mysterious nature of moving
water; and then borrowed by the moderns to try and describe the mysterious nature of moving electrons.  I think it's most likely that Mulligan is calling down to Haines to shut off the water; But Joyce
tries to make it even more ambiguous, it seems, by using the word "switch" which we are much more likely to associate with electricity than water.  There is another wonderful allusion to the water/electricity duality in - I think - Lestrygonians when Bloom says, or thinks, "Nectar, imagine it
drinking electricity: gods' food.  Again the wonderful ambiguity of crossing liquidity and electricity.
mark.

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Re: "Switch off the current, will you?" masheehan67@gmail.com - 2016-05-01 14:30 -0700

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