Four Dubliners: Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett

123 Pages·1988·13.902 MB·English

by  Richard Ellmann

FOUR
DUBLINERS
*
m
Jrt Wilde,
,
Yeats
Joyce, and
Beckett
FOUR
DUBLINERS
vfrt by RichardEllmann
George Braziller New York
BRIGHTON
Publishedin theUnitedStatesin 198? by
GeorgeBraailler,Inc.
Copyright © 1982,1984,1985, 1986by Richard Ellmann
For information,address thepublisher:
GeorgeBraziller,Inc.
60Madison Avenue
New York,New York 10010
These essays wereoriginallypresentedinsomewhat different
formas lectures at theLibraryofCongressunder the
auspices oftheLihrary'sGertrudeClarke Whittall Poetry
and LiteratureFundandhavebeenpublished in
the jVftt' YorkRttiru ofBooks.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Elllmann,Richard,1918-
Four Dubliners:Wilde,Yeats,Joyce,and Beckett.
— —
1.Englishliterature Irishauthors History and
criticism. 2. Yeats, W.B.(William Butler),1865-1939-
3.Wilde,Oscar, 1854-1900. 4.Joyce,James, 1882-1941.
. —
5. Beckett,Samuel,1906- 6, Authors,Irish
Ireland—Duhlin(Dublin)—Biography. 7.Dublin(Dublin)
—Intellectuallife. 8.Irelandinliterature.
I.Title.
IPR8892.D8E57 198?] 820’.9'941835 87-13245
ISBN 0-8076-1185-9
Printedin theUnitedStatesofAmerica
Firstprinting,August 1987
TomydaughterMaud
Contents
9 Pjtface
13 Oscar Wilde at Oxjmd
39 W. B. Yeats’s SecondPuberty
65 JamesJoyceInand Out ofAn
91 SamuelBeckett:Nayman ofNoland
117 Acknowledgments
119 Index
*
m
Preface
four Dubliners—Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, and
Beckett—were chary of acknowledging their connections. But
theseconnectionsexist.Somebelongtohistory.Yeats,theneigh¬
teen,wenttolistentoWildelecturein1883;Joyce,attwenty,told
Yeats when they first met in 1902 that the poet was too old;
Beckett, at twenty-two, was introduced to Joyce in 1928 and
became as close a friend as Joyce, not given to intimacy, would
allow.Oninspection their connectionsthicken.Wilde andYeats
reviewed each other’s work with mutual regard, and sometimes
exploitedthesamethemes.JoycememorializedWildeasaheroic
victim, and repeatedly quoted or referred to him in his later
writings.Beckettwassaturatedinalltheirworks,especiallythose
ofJoyce,whoseAnnaLinnPlumbellehe anda friend translated
intoFrench.
Yetbesidesthesepublicadmissionsofliterarykinship,there
were affectingpersonalmoments. Wilde invitedYearstoChrist¬
masdinnerin1888asthoughYeatshadnofamilyinLondon,and
treated him with great kindness. For his part Yeats circulated a
testimonialofsupportforWildeatthetimeoftheprosecutionfor
indecent behavior. A few yearslater Yeats rose at dawn to meet
Joyce’strainatEusronStationatsixo’clock,andaftergivingthe
youngmanbreakfast,tookhimaroundLondoneditorialofficesto
findhimwork.AnothersceneisofJoycesittingsilentbutsympa¬
theticbesideBeckett’shospitalbedafterBecketthadbeenstabbed.
9
AndthereisBeckett’ssurpriseandpleasurewhen,onfirstmeeting
Yeats, that poet quoted approvingly sonic lines from Beckett’s
Whoroscope.
Forusthequadrumvirateseemboundtogetherinotherways.
They touch successivelymost areasofour consciousness.Wilde
proceedsinsouciantly tohisdoom,andonhisway jolliesus for
beingsomuchharsherthanheis,somuchlessgraceful,somuch
less attractive, and mocks the law for being so witless. Yeats
strugglesbyimaginativepassion toovercome theprosaic and to
revolutionizereality.Joyce,intransigentyetaffirmative,turnsthe
unhcroic and mockhcroic into the heroic, makes commonplace
thingslyrical,and undoeschurchand state. Beckett denies with
the samepassion that theothersaffirm,but manifestsa senseat
times similar to theirs of the comic and incongruous. All four
seem,after themannerofmodemwriters,dislodgersandsubver¬
tedofeverythingexcept truth.
Thesefour,itmaybegranted,makeastrangeconsortium.Yet
resemblancesofwhichthey wereunaware begin toappear.Dis¬
placed,witty,complex,savage,theycompanioneachother.Mag
nificcnt,plume-flaunting,sumptuousevenintheirrecognitionof
aridities,these Dubliners have, like PythagorasinYeats’s poem,
golden thighs.Theyposit andchallenge theirownassumptions,
they circle from art to anti-art, from delight to horror, from
acceptance to renunciation. That they should all come from the
samecitydocsnotexplainthem,bur theysharewiththeirislanda
tensestruggleforautonomy,adisdainforoccupationbyoutside
authorities,andagooddealofinnerdivision.Thesequalitiesare
notexclusivelyIrish,yetIrelandhelpstofocusthem.Andthrough
these four of her natives, Dublin—once reluctantly imperial—
regains its power to influence the w'orld through another
imperium,that ofart.
RichardEllmann
EmoryUniversity
June27,1985
10