In the Flash of an Eye a Multiplicity of Things”

James Joyce's literary method notoriously relies on intertextuality and on the construction of a complex web of references that encompasses different historical periods, literary traditions and cultures, and even aesthetic notions deriving from visual and kinetic arts. Such an interdisciplinary and intertextual method reaches its climax in Finnegans Wake, a work aimed at recreating, through language and through a profound awareness of etymology and philology, the whole history of humankind in its evolutionary process. Joyce famously incorporates quotations and references in a new hybrid language in which all particles of speech atomistically combine and create a simultaneous narration in which different spatiotemporal realities merge. Within such an intertextual method—which is already operational in Joyce's early and more traditional works such as Dubliners and Chamber Music—the European romantic tradition plays a crucial role.Joyce often draws on romantic authors such as Blake, Shelley, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, at once demonstrating, as has been extensively argued by a number of critics, his debt to their writing and his ambivalent attitude toward the romantic tradition and its limitations.1 Among the sources that Joyce derives from the romantic tradition, one should indubitably include Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837), to whom Joyce obliquely refers in selected but significant instances, which, thus far, have received scarce critical attention. In light of Joyce's extremely precise compositional method, those references appear more than coincidental, and they provide an insightful and novel interpretation of Joyce's ideas on the aesthetic category of the romantic. As a matter of fact, Leopardi represents a unique romantic voice that itself surprisingly also reveals an awareness of the limits of the romantic rule. In addition, his approach to poetry combines both literary and philosophical elements, in a fashion that significantly paves the way to the modernist canon. This explains why, after the publication of the complete collection of the Canti, in 1845, Leopardi's fame grew exponentially, as recently noted by Alessandro Carrera, who pointed out how authors such as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Sainte-Beuve, and Melville “recognized in him one of the most important voices of nineteenth-century literature.”2 Joyce explicitly and significantly refers to Leopardi in his early essay on Irish poet James Clarence Mangan (1907), in the notebooks for Finnegans Wake, and, as I intend to suggest, in at least two passages of Finnegans Wake. Although brief and apparently unintentional, such allusions reveal how significant Leopardi's influence was in Joyce's early formation. Concurrently, a close comparative reading of both authors uncovers salient similarities that shed further light on Joyce's poetics. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the two authors' lives and personalities show a number of remarkable connections both on a literary and on a biographical level, which may further account for Joyce's fascination with the Italian poet. The two authors were both radical thinkers who responded to historical crises in a revolutionary way; they had a similar nomadic and erratic lives characterized by self-exile, and they often suffered the troubles of censorship for overtly opposing their countries, cultures, and religions.3As Scarlet Baron remarks, according to C. P. Curran Joyce had been reading Leopardi since 1901 as part of his university course and, later, according to Richard Ellmann, his Triestine library held a copy of Leopardi's Poesie.4 John McCourt notes passages from several Italian authors and annotations on Leopardi's book Pensieri in the large notebook Joyce used for his Italian lessons with Alessandro Francini Bruni during his years in Trieste.5 Joyce especially focuses on the sections in which Leopardi expresses the existential troubles derived from censorship, which undoubtedly appealed to him as he was painfully experiencing negative reactions to the publication of Dubliners.6 What is more revealing, in the light of this comparative analysis, however, is the seemingly offhand reference in “James Clarence Mangan,” an essay that indirectly reveals Joyce's opinions on the Italian poet. Here, Mangan is declared “weaker than Leopardi, for he has not the courage of his own despair.”7 The sentence unmistakably asserts Joyce's admiration for Leopardi by pointing out the strength and the courage of the poet in facing a personal and professional life disseminated by difficulties and brave efforts. In this respect, Scarlet Baron's genetic study of Flaubert and Joyce highlights an allusion to Leopardi in notebook VI.B.8, in which Joyce writes the sentence “Leopardi changes not / his spots.”8 As Baron argues, the sentence is a variation of a biblical idiom from Jeremiah, in which the metaphor of the leopard was originally used to stress the impossibility of change (“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?”). Joyce turns the biblical question into a negative affirmation in order “to assert both fixity and change.”9 Baron notes that Joyce's concern was obviously with intertextuality, as he shared Leopardi's interest in originality and erudition, in the idea that identifying marks imposed by society and culture, though being immutable like the leopard's spots, do not prevent a mutation that can lead to a radical change in the artist's formation. In addition, it can be argued that the sentence alludes to Leopardi's boldness and his determination not to change his ideals, not to accept any political and existential compromise with his environment. The famous Leopardian heroic declaration, “I will never bow to any person in the world and my life will be a continuous despise of despises and derision of derisions,” besides strikingly echoing Stephen Dedalus's Luciferian “non serviam,” can be connected to Joyce's brief but intense references to Leopardi in “James Clarence Mangan” and in Finnegans Wake.10Joyce's 1907 essay on Mangan denounces the Irish tradition fueled by Celtic Renaissance, and it explores the theme of exile and the function of art in recreating the truth of experience. It opens with a striking metaphor that considers poets as “storage batteries of a new energy,” another explicit reference to the simultaneous novelty and fixity that must be seen as the common ground among “certain poets,” among which we can surely include Leopardi: There are certain poets who, in addition to their virtue of revealing aspects of the human consciousness to us that were unknown until their age, also possess the more questionable virtue of embodying in themselves the thousand conflicting tendencies of their age, of turning themselves into, so to speak, storage batteries of a new energy.11The activity of such poets thus revolves around two parallel modes of expression, namely the exploration of inner life through writing (“revealing aspects of the human consciousness”) and a deep analysis of the social and political environment (“embodying in themselves the thousand conflicting tendencies of their age”). The two modalities are fundamental and simultaneous constituents of both Leopardi's and Joyce's literary methods and aesthetic intentions; they are “two names for one thing,”12As expressed in Stephen Hero, the artist must be “capable of absorbing in himself the life that surrounds him,” since he is “the intense centre of the life of his age to which he stands in a relation than which none can be more vital.”13 Nevertheless, the poet must not only provide a social criticism of his age (which ultimately proves sterile) but has to combine the two discourses and voice simultaneously the crisis of the environment and the crisis of the individual. In this way, the poet offers a lucid portrait of the artist in history and at the from In this art is the and the of a that only to its historical Joyce's is in the of the of the in which he at the admiration that from their the most it is by this than the in themselves the of their that they by the which, as they are by of any work of to by of to the which a affirmation to a of the on the is to a and a personal to the through the and to a that is both an of the consciousness and a lucid analysis of the social in which such a consciousness is so as to their influence and their in the of Such a precise of the artist undoubtedly to Giacomo Leopardi, literary work and the parallel the one he a of and that he the of his and, on the he also a number of critical and to the and of The political and social is noted by Joyce in poetry not only the of one who has suffered and who is to and that his but at the from being only an of the is also and it the of being with his The two in poetry to and, in the course of Joyce's to revealing thus the of in order to This us to the and which is famously by Joyce but is also the most of Leopardi's he was to the European romantic Leopardi to his as and his writing is as an of and romantic Leopardi the European that in the and to the and he the of the romantic and its of history and he of the most significant of and with romantic such as the the and the the philosophical human and and of and and the and the for a of both and to be through the Nevertheless, his a to one literary In the early essay of an Italian Leopardi had already his to the romantic will to poetry the to the from to and to it from being and into and The a of the Stephen Dedalus's aesthetic in of the as a the being a of has “to the of a as it is was in the most way by the Stephen and by Joyce Leopardi the romantic attitude of the poetry and as as the and and and to his he on the for a of poetry that on the and that have a on the the of any was to be in a and with Leopardi that such a had in the of the and was thus to create a of poetry to on an level, that with that had been on an level, by and The only to at the works of and to study their methods and to their such an approach had to and that Leopardi is a precise of the attitude of culture, of a the of has and a of this in Joyce's essay of the he refers to the and in the of this complex and the human by itself and we that which in a from the Renaissance, the of his his us concern with the of the Leopardi's and it light on their similar on and on their shared in the to from a literary tradition though obviously was as and of Stephen as a has been by a number of with essay in ideas “the that has not to the and that has to be the artist's famously highlights how Joyce's ideas were at with the of his that “the artist the artist a that Joyce's in this that and are and by in the light of and Finnegans Wake, it is that of a Stephen only a and own which in Finnegans of the is thus also a criticism of a romantic even though Joyce and several romantic and as Leopardi In Stephen Hero, Joyce had already his opinions on the in a that proves in his is the of the only from one world to is not the of any age or any it is a of the It is a of and of and The romantic so often and so and more by than by its is an which for its and to As a of this it to certain are to the of and the that has by The on the of to and so to work and fashion that the may to their which is the for its awareness of certain and thus for being to the of poetry and to the of their The is Joyce's in in and, in Finnegans Wake. In Joyce's in fact, at least two passages that significant references to Leopardi around The of the a which alludes both to and to and at the the I can in my own as my and I by that the of my is to the of their as the of is to the of I not for any must all that of or of and who out of from I to on my of two namely the of a and the to a is and at once and is by a romantic by the of the The is even more of the of the which the of a used by who his were than those of the that the was of which, a was by Joyce in order to the of the The of both the of and those of is further in the (which and and especially in a that the and the of and romantic in the of Leopardi and his and political with the idea is also expressed in the and in a or a of of the as of the romantic attitude is on the the romantic in after all for a and for in with the is the of The a of the romantic and, in addition, it explicitly refers to Italian the of the the famous Italian (which is both with the seen as a for different and with the Italian of Italian language and is also to be in a from the book of Finnegans Wake, in which the reference to Leopardi is even more to the allusion to his Leopardi's Joyce's the of the traditions as in the of language and to and and of a of a not like with of combines and the that can be in its of or in a that is by the that the Italian and by the As noted by the on the by Leopardi in in which the poet the for and work with and that he and Leopardi a to the his and, more lucid for his to the of the of the and most famous language the was in in The used a to from in order to a for the of the being to a of and of in order to a of the Italian own Leopardi from the of the derived from the of being sources for Joyce and Among Leopardi the who were to language in a personal way and, he the of the to in fact, the of such to literary art only the of since they that that had the course of the history of language and of the of and it as a to a which the a and a The age was and to the of the that fueled the and the of on the the only reveals its and the of the in fact, are by Leopardi a language of recreating the and of and of the all of the age are through such as and so Leopardi a language to and a and with an existential as as with It is in this with and two and that Leopardi a of poetry to and at the novel on a level, him to a personal that is as The of the which the this and in the since all the of this age a new life to or in its a level, the a heroic and a to the that he the of his to the of the As a matter of fact, the and of Joyce's be as the a from according to which the attitude of the human is by their historical to by human awareness of the of their and of their that in light of the close Joyce and Leopardi that in the and of Finnegans Wake, it is not that Joyce's approach to in his early writing is similar to In Leopardi's and novel of the notions of and which he out in the can be argued to have significantly and Joyce's Although it is that Joyce's of such reveals its debt to the of Coleridge, Shelley, and Wordsworth, one can also the influence of Leopardi's and of his and with one may that the references to an of and to the a that is simultaneously to of and to the As an of the of the Leopardi the of who was to the and who life was with the and the the and the at of are to he into their has to the the it from us had unknown the all all the world and and the the than to the of and the of his that the world is at the of the the world and is in the in which the is on a of all and to a a in in are all the the us by the to have of the of of the at in an this all are proves the way for to truth more and more is from so will be be the and in the a and that Leopardi's Here, it a that combines a historical and an existential the poet both the historical a and a and the the early and the attitude of This theme all of Leopardi's and him to and his the and as as the different of and we have at different of profound the of as both and into of are in Joyce's of the in and of his of and of in the and in the of the The in by the of and as a and of that are to be to a of at the of the a that a in fact, the is of experiencing the of the of the of and of simultaneously and the the how during the of a and of an and one as in the most famous of by the on romantic notions of this of and and, the of and inner in the Joyce is to a for the and the of a as the of also explores the in the most is in his famous early a of for his poetry and, as I intend to suggest, for Joyce's a in has been to this which in the that one the and from out of the of and the and so profound to how I a the like the I among that a with the the and that and with its own my are it is to be in this and collection of Leopardi that he the he was in to of the world is only through the even though the we from is and since to the of and to the of are and Leopardi his and the of the as the only through which can and in the of and of Although the of the is by a is to its the world into a that the of and that the of an to a to and to thus in the recreating the of and and and the the poet a this that the whole of the in the as the he a This is by the that refers to the which from the turns into that the poet the as from himself and that his has a of the of the him to the from and the is as to his the a another the by the of and is so that it is to be the only as expressed by the that refers to The of and which were only and a a and a metaphor for the of an The are also extremely the has been by as a of which a but a continuous of the similar the to and in that and a of the of the and the of by and the of the is another reference both to the historical after which and to the of early in the the the whole and of Leopardi is of two is the of his a of that on a of such as and and of and and simultaneous In this respect, the affirmation of a and is through the and of the It is in the that the the to an and, the to and to the It is also from the by the of the that a the with a of Leopardi a profound of the of and he both as an and as an to the and a which only focuses on the and a which, on the turns the into a The itself as an in which appear simultaneously the the of and a of thus to an awareness that reveals the of of his The of is only by of during which the a more than he is used to at one and in the of an a of that a of that the and the of and such an is to This is in the of Leopardi's which in more complex out with a more profound awareness of the of and, more of language The offers a lucid of the a will The I has I we of the is being do the is and The world is a the but the the common the of all of the in has a of that a awareness of of the and that and that reveals the of and of the with both in of and of (which any romantic and a that in and that a Leopardian of and of and their is in the also a or as in Leopardi, they are of and of they combine an of and a new a of and of and a at once and the most explicit reference to in the of into I as a and by the seemingly is also by the in which, by and the elements, explains the that not only reveals an and but simultaneously also into and as the whole of the collection and its the Leopardi that the world and are in a way the modernist of the of all that in Finnegans Wake, deriving from famously the book of the of their in that Finnegans Wake, Dubliners reveals the the of a and of a of both their simultaneous of and that I have in Leopardi in the from to In the appear simultaneously in the and at the they a to the of and, of the of It is such ideas that Joyce draws from Leopardi, and they us the profound of his allusions to the Italian poet. As a matter of fact, Leopardi's of the as historical of my and Joyce's of the appear extremely especially in Joyce's of the in are by and more complex aimed at a of the of to Joyce from the of the is a that the world as it a world that in Dubliners as and and by new of the argues, though it the of a expresses a that he had from Flaubert and It is the of the of and a of truth that the has to The of this truth can be to the early Mangan in which Joyce is already the of and the of and that the new of the in a for the of a social and historical that is with the of the a that reveals the of and elements, of and and of apparently of and the in Leopardi, the significantly offers a philosophical interpretation of at the it is worth that it often revolves around that are characterized by an and and and and or are often simultaneously by a that is at by or and at by more but as the in that the and him from both and however, the that the to an of and that a as in from a of to an Wake, namely a of by a through an the the reveal the impossibility of such a of the of the The of the Dubliners are they to a of and simultaneous or to a from to the they only the of that in the in a Leopardian more complex of awareness and of and of a of his consciousness and of the as as of the of his own and the of Irish Although a it is worth how his the a historical and a age simultaneously on an existential the of his of his and his both to and The as is also in Leopardi's in several as as in Joyce's reference to in Finnegans Wake. In both one notes how personal is with a more historical analysis and, more how the both and the of revealing of and, of a as and with with a language to the of the and aesthetic it similar to the Leopardi, besides being a matter of philosophical this also a and Joyce and modernist the Italian poet also reveals a awareness of the of a language that should be to and of this As argues, Leopardi was with the of an on a of that from an and of and a concern for In the Leopardi that he to a of that is and and and of and and as Here, the of Leopardi also its a that the poet has to In several passages of the he that of that is to be by a number of and to the concern its on a of language that on the of the on its and on its as Joyce has in his and as remarks, “the of language are not to be seen as the of the poet who his an of but as the of the whole of Joyce's stress on intertextuality, on the and of on a that its function are the he in such a and the he in the and that the Leopardi, like the leopard in Jeremiah, not his

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