Category: Giambattista Vico

The identity of the opposites, a central theme of Taoist thought, is indicated early in Finnegans Wake. The very first appearance of Shem and Shaun is as “the Hindoo, Shimar Shin,” (p.10) a single figure. Through the rest of the book they are split into two figures, but they are constantly changing roles and merging into each other (for instance, in the “Geometry Lesson” chapter, where the Shem-type notes, left side of the page, leap suddenly to the right side, and the Shaun-type notes leap from right to left.) Again, in the Mercius and Justius dispute, Shem and Shaun are picked up at the end and carried off together by ALP. “Sonnies had a scrap,” she says with feminine equanimity.

The two philosophers most frequently mentioned in the Wake, Nicholas of Cusa and Bruno of Nola, taught a dialectic of resolution of opposites. Joseph Needham in his monumental Science and Civilization in China, repeatedly mentions both Bruno and Nicholas as the only two Occidental philosophers before Liebnitz to have a basically Taoist outlook. —DR. ROBERT ANTON WILSON, TAO OF JOYCE.

“Callibrating the binary opposition of phonemes, which provided a central insight into the nature of linguistic meaning: meaning inheres not in sounds themselves – “d” and “t,” for example – but in the contrast or difference between them, so that we can distinguish “dime” and “time” — Margot Norris, The decentered universe of Finnegans wake: a structuralist analysis.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6sLDMPYB3QUC&lpg=PT29&ots=Ke7xY1REgk&dq=finnegans%20wake%20%2B%20binary&pg=PT29&output=embed

FINNEGANS WAKE BY JAMES JOYCE:

Part:1 Episode:1 Page:10

of the lipoleums, Toffeethief, that spy on the Willingdone from
his big white harse, the Capeinhope. Stonewall Willingdone
is an old maxy montrumeny. Lipoleums is nice hung
bushellors. This is hiena hinnessy laughing alout at the
Willingdone. This is lipsyg dooley krieging the funk from the hinnessy.
This is the hinndoo Shimar Shin between the dooley boy and the
hinnessy. Tip. This is the wixy old Willingdone picket up the
half of the threefoiled hat of lipoleums fromoud of the bluddle
filth. This is the hinndoo waxing ranjymad for a bombshoob.
This is the Willingdone hanking the half of the hat of lipoleums
up the tail on the buckside of his big white harse. Tip. That was
the last joke of Willingdone. Hit, hit, hit! This is the same white
harse of the Willingdone, Culpenhelp, waggling his tailoscrupp
with the half of a hat of lipoleums to insoult on the hinndoo
seeboy. Hney, hney, hney! (Bullsrag! Foul!) This is the seeboy,
madrashattaras, upjump and pumpim, cry to the Willingdone:
Ap Pukkaru! Pukka Yurap! This is the Willingdone, bornstable
ghentleman, tinders his maxbotch to the cursigan Shimar Shin.
Basucker youstead! This is the dooforhim seeboy blow the whole
of the half of the hat of lipoleums off of the top of the tail on the
back of his big wide harse. Tip (Bullseye! Game!) How
Copenhagen ended. This way the museyroom. Mind your boots goan
out.
Phew!
–JAMES JOYCE, FINNEGANS WAKE, PAGE 10.

“Race is the primary site of this account of the Wake, with race discourse, especially in its ‘scientific’ forms, featuring largely. Such an emphasis requires some explanation because although race is a familiar enough concern of Joyce studies, especially since Vincent Cheng’s landmark reading, Joyce, Race and Empire (1995), it is usually worked differently. Most typically it figures in the context of Irish history and postcolonial critical traditions. Here race is often understood in terms of the Derridean binary where the imperial Self becomes conditioned against the colonial Other and vice versa. —http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/68846/excerpt/9780521868846_excerpt.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_opposition

James Joyce and victims: reading the logic of exclusion
By Sean P. Murphy
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nEq_OCM7mxYC&lpg=PA135&dq=finnegans%20wake%20%2B%20binary&pg=PA135&output=embed

“In 1937, Claude Shannon produced his master’s thesis at MIT that implemented Boolean algebra and binary arithmetic using electronic relays and switches for the first time in history. Entitled A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, Shannon’s thesis essentially founded practical digital circuit design. —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system

What a warm time we were in there but how keling is here the
airabouts! We nowhere she lives but you mussna tell annaone for
the lamp of Jig-a-Lanthern! It’s a candlelittle houthse of a month
and one windies. Downadown, High Downadown. And
nummered quaintlymine. And such reasonable weather too ! The
wagrant wind’s awalt’zaround the piltdowns and on every blasted
knollyrock (if you can spot fifty I spy four more) there’s that
gnarlybird ygathering, a runalittle, doalittle, preealittle, pouralittle,
wipealittle, kicksalittle,severalittle,eatalittle,whinealittle,kenalittle,
helfalittle,pelfalittle gnarlybird. A verytableland of bleakbardfields!
Under his seven wrothschields lies one, Lumproar. His glav toside
him. Skud ontorsed. Our pigeons pair are flewn for northcliffs. –JAMES JOYCE, FINNEGANS WAKE, PAGE 10.

The mirror and the killer-queen: otherness in literary language
By Gabriele Schwab
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5Un7mtoUnCUC&lpg=PA90&dq=finnegans%20wake%20%2B%20binary&pg=PA90&output=embed

“There is clear relevance between all these notions, and they all contribute to our understanding of socio-economic change. The Adamses on migration and acceleration, Douglas on increment of association, Korzybski on “time-binding,” Fuller on synergy, Schrödinger on life as an anti-entropic process, Shannon and Weiner on information as negative entropy, and Leary on neuro-genetics, all illustrate part of what we mean by Information Increase. –Robert Anton Wilson, Human Intelligence Increase.

Due to finishing off my Novel that includes the members of RAW’s tale of the tribe scenario Universe, I can’t help but notice that many ideas surrounding the 2012 phenomena – geological phenomena, meteorite strikes, time and calendars, Prophecy, precognition and paranormal phenomena, historicism, cosmology, anthropology and strange alternative ideas to rock the mainstream opinion and poke at the standard model – are treated in a most scientific and rational but far from – dry – manner by RAW. And that’s not news, but I wanted to mention Giambattista Vico in particular – and by default Joyce – due to their correspondence with the principles of world ages – shifting ages – cyclical ages. Here, I guess, might be a good place to start a cross-cultural interdisciplinary study into the 2012 phenomena using Vico, Joyce, McLuhan and Dr. Wilson as quality critters, or guides to processing Maya world ages, the five ages of ancient Greece, Biblical ages, Hindu world age doctrine (Feat. Michael Cremo!), Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine – World Ages. Bobby has already covered some of this ground too, with his work on McLuhan, Vico, Joyce and RAW. –Steve Fly, Maybelogic Academy Post, 2008.
Joyce’s Finnegans Wake: The Curse of Kabbalah
By John P. Anderson
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6sLDMPYB3QUC&lpg=PT29&dq=finnegans%20wake%20%2B%20binary&pg=PT87&output=embed