Structure as Discovery in Ulysses

Abstract

As Stephen launches into his Shakespeare theory in Ulysses, he thinks to himself, “Folly. Persist” (9.42). This refers to a line from Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell, “If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise” (Blake 36), parallel to the nearby proverb “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” The importance of excess in Joyce’s work increases steadily from the “scrupulous meanness” of Dubliners to the outpouring of the Wake—and from the short opening chapters of Ulysses to the expansive later ones. Such progress toward excess may also be seen in the works of Lacan, who began with the containment of structuralism and moved toward extravagance in a final phase influenced by Joyce.

an order of discovery that is nothing other than what is called structure.

Seminar XVII (44)