1n6xZiV

A M E S [ 1907-1909 ]ment of Irishmen and (an odd charge in this context) of English cattle.On this last point, Joyce rather irrelevantly offered a number of instancesworthy of Mr. Bloom, that animal lover, or of Stephen Dedalus, 'bullockbefriendingbard.' 22The articles demonstrate that the Citizen inUlysses, who windily discusses the plight of cattle in terms of Irish gloriesand English injustices, is an aspect of Joyce's mind as well as the butt ofhis satire. Joyce held tenaciously to the character of the exile, punishinghimself and his country, full of distrust and nostalgia for her.His articles brought him a certain reclame in Trieste. Shortly beforethe firstone appeared, his pupil Dr. Attilio Tamaro, later the author ofa nationalistic history of Trieste, gave him another opportunity. WouldJoyce be willing to present a series of three public lectures on Ireland atthe Universiti del Popolo? Joyce agreed at once. 23Subsequently the invitationwas reduced to two lectures, whereupon Joyce decided to giveonly one. He had completed the firstand almost completed the secondwhen he came to this decision. The first,and last, lecture, on April 27,1907, was 'Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages.' Francini, who also lecturedat the evening university, advised him to speak extempore, butJoyce, not wanting to risk mistakes, wrote everything out. 24The Sala della Borsa was filled.Much of the audience consisted ofBerlitz students whom Almidano Artifoni had encouraged to attend byclosing the school early. Joyce arrived in Stanislaus's overcoat, underwhich he wore a black broadcloth coat borrowed from Artifoni. In thisfirst lecture Joyce was less ironic than might be expected. Its point wasthat Ireland had once deserved the name of Island of Saints and Sages—and a good deal of evidence, only occasionally inaccurate, is marshalledas proof—but had deteriorated monstrously under British rule. At momentshis eloquence becomes bombastic:The economic and intellectual conditions that prevail ... do not permitthe development of individuality. The soul of the country is weakened bycenturies of useless struggle and broken treaties, and individual initiative isparalyzed by the influence and admonitions of the church, while its bodyis manacled by the police, the tax office, and the garrison. No one whohas any self-respect stays in Ireland, but flees afar as though from a countrythat has undergone the visitation of an angered Jove. 25The priest and the king would have to be shaken off, but Joyce was notsanguine. As for the first,he commented sardonically, in time, perhapsthere will be a gradual reawakening of the Irish conscience, and perhapsfour or fivecenturies after the Diet of Worms, we shall see an Irish monkthrow away his frock, run off with some nun, and proclaim in a loudvoice the end of the coherent absurdity that was Catholicism and thebeginning of the incoherent absurdity that is Protestantism.'* 26He had* Stephen Dedalus says in A Portrait (514 [359]), 'What kind of liberation would that beto forsake an absurdity which is logical and coherent and to embrace one which is illogicaland incoherent?'