Oxen of the Sub/ Ulysses by Joyce

IrishMark

I'm sure a thread about this already exists, but I can't find it (Mods feel free to move if I've missed it).

I'm re-reading Ulysses and am currently on the Oxen of the Sun section. I came across the following paragraph near the start of the chapter (at the end of the Latinate part and just before the alliterative section in the style of Old English) and I can't find an explanation on the web anywhere. Admittedly, I don't have access to Ulysses Annotated right now, but going by what I can find on the web, I don't think this paragraph is annotated in it. Could anyone enligthen me?

"To her nothing already then and thenceforward was anyway able to be molestful for this chiefly felt all citizens except with proliferent mothers prosperity at all not to can be and as they had received eternity gods mortals generation to befit them her beholding, when the case was so hoving itself, parturient in vehicle thereward carrying desire immense among all one another was impelling on of her to be received into that domicile. O thing of prudent nation not merely in being seen but also even in being related worthy of being praised that they her by anticipation went seeing mother, that she by them suddenly to be about to be cherished had been begun she felt!"

Many thanks,
Mark.

Giruilla

Yay a Ulysses thread!

I'm also reading Ulysses right now. I'm no expert and pretty much winging myself though the book. But how I read that passage;

That this woman (Purefoy?) is excited about the prospect of having a child. Obviously sex in Ireland and the Catholic religion had/has a stigma attached, and sex without becoming pregnant isn't seen in the most glorious light. Yet she has done this, and been blessed by the Gods to actually give birth, which is seen in a beautiful light. She will feel as those Catholic mothers who have sex only with the intention of becoming pregnant (as that is seen as without sin). She will go from just a woman having sex (sinning), to a woman 'about to be cherished'. She is glad that she will be praised for this act, and in a way become a pure woman.

Thats how I read it anyway...

Loved that chapter... I'm currently half way through Circe.

IrishMark

Thanks for that Giruilla. I've been studying this paragraph for the last few hours, and trying to decipher it line by line. Using your interpretation, and what I can make of it, I've come to the following (so far):

(The Ulysses text is in bold)

To her nothing already then and thenceforward was anyway able to be molestful

Nothing can dampen the spirits of Mrs Purefoy on the birth of her child

for this chiefly felt all citizens except with proliferent mothers prosperity at all not to can be

?? for all people feel so at such times, except pregnant women who think prosperity unimportant (compared to this moment)??


and as they had received eternity gods mortals generation to befit them her beholding,

And as mother is blessed in her new gift

when the case was so having itself, parturient in vehicle thereward carrying desire immense among all one another was impelling on of her to be received into that domicile.

when the moment for delivery came, the baby about to be born, all the people round Mrs Purefoy compelled her to go to this hospital.


On a parallel to this, I think the paragraph can also be read in reference to the wider process of conception to childbirth: the start of the sentence representing the realisation that a woman is pregnant, and the elation of that moment in comparison to the fallen woman who had sinned and now has this shame. By the end of the paragraph, even the fallen woman as well as the richer woman is blessed with this gift and compelled to go to the same hospital.

I'm probably missing loads here, and my understanding of the second line (in bold) seems incomplete...

PurpleBee

I don't think she's being having sex without the the intention of becoming pregnant? Purefoy is the archetypal catholic breeder, she has a child and becomes pregant again straight away...

Maybe I'm just lazy but to me the passage seems an overly complicated way of saying a relatively simple thing, when she was ready to give birth she went to holles street and those who anticipated the birth were glad to be there in praise of her and she was glad of their praise.

IrishMark

Thanks for that Purple Bee. On a separate note, I came across the word 'aresouns' a couple of pages later. Could anyone suggest a possible definition or etymology for this word?
Thanks.