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[Aetat. 31-32 ] J O Y C E xxi29 23-I914The veripatetic image of the impossible Gracehoper on his odderkop inthe myre, after his thrice ephemeral journeeys, sans mantis ne shooshooe,featherweighed animule, actually and presumptuably sinctifying chronic'sdespair, was sufficiently and probably coocoo much for his chorous ofgravitates.—Finnegans Wake (418)Shem's artistic miracle in Finnegans Wake is to make the dead speak; inTrieste Joyce had to achieve not only this resuscitation by art, but alsothe homelier feat, with his creditors, of making the vociferous be dumb.Some debts he paid with the help of Stanislaus, who complained againin a letter to Charles Joyce that no matter how much he helped he was'not appreciated.' 1Other debts were dexterously juggled and so Joycerode out the storm or rather, rode in it, as another man might sail in fairweather. He contrived to pay not only for necessaries but also for theluxury of first restoring and then shipping the Joyce family portraits fromDublin to Trieste. John Joyce was anxious to entrust them to the care ofhis eldest son, rightly supposing that he best understood their value. Inthe spring of 1913 these arrived and were prominently displayed to pupilsand visitors in the flatat 5 via Donato Bramante. Their stolid respectabilitylent piquancy to their new owner's caprices.Joyce's daily life became less confused as a result of his being giventhe position at the Scuola Superiore di Commercio Revoltella, of whichhe had heard a few months earlier. This time the complications of foreigncitizenship were surmounted.* He taught there in the mornings,and then in the afternoons continued with private pupils. His officialposition at the school made him even more sought after as a teacher thanbefore, and his unpunctuality and eccentric methods were countenanced* On the employment form, in response to the question, 'Religion?', Joyce wrote curtly,'Senza' ('Without').339