ABSTRACT
In the light of recent research it is possible to demonstrate that the prodigious difficulties of Mr. Joyce’s latest work, provisionally entitled Work in Progress, are at least the outcome of a logical and deliberate plan, even if it is impossible to follow with full understanding the details of its execution. As in Ulysses, the key to the new work may be found in a philosophical concept. Briefly, Work in Progress is an attempt to realize Vico’s project of ‘an ideal and timeless history’: to create a composite image of human existence, regardless of time or space. Where language has seemed to Mr. Joyce insufficient for his purpose he has altered it. By deformation, punning and the interpolation of foreign languages he has given his English a suggestiveness, a capacity for multiple associations such as his theme demands. The narrative of Work in Progress is a simultaneous projection of many narratives. Externally it has to do with the history of Dublin, the myths and facts of its origin, but into the prose texture are woven strands taken from history and myths of all time. There is no sharp definition; it is part of Mr. Joyce’s plan to keep his medium fluid and amorphous. His story is no more than the main current in a stream of associations.
