Individuality, In Practice

“Pleasant . . . tolerant . . . meek.” “Sunny . . . dauby . . . Saxon?” “Sweet [and] forgiving . . . sour [and] tenderish.” “Sinister . . . bewitching . . . subtle . . . half sloothering [which is Dublin slang for sloppy or slobbering] . . . ghastly lewd . . . compliant . . . vacant”— these are just some of the ways James Joyce qualifies a smile in Ulysses. He also writes of “ghostly” and “demented glassy” grins, plus varieties of laughter that are “choked,” “young,” and “joyous little,” not to mention “shrieking,” “eldritch” and “mirthless high malicious.” ¹ By Joyce’s account then, the ways in which one can describe the simple everyday movement of lips curling upward is limitless. Should we believe him?