Signs on a white field : a look at orality in literacy and James Joyce's Ulysses

I intend to illustrate the concepts of Sprache der Nahe ("language of immediacy") and Sprache der Distanz ("language of distance") and demonstrate the usefulness of the orality/literacy approach for the study of literature. Not only can it serve as a metaphor for interpretation, but it can also be employed in the analysis of several levels of literary discourse, from character language to overall narrative strategies. The double purpose of this essay demands some restrictions on the material considered. In the middle sections I will therefore focus on two extreme instances of the representation of character language that are contrasted in fictional medium and linguistic mode: Stephen's talk about Hamlet in the National Library (spoken/literate mode) and Martha Clifford's letter to Bloom (written/oral mode). In addition, I will discuss some metatextual commentaries on speech and writing in Ulysses that testify to Joyce's awareness of oral/literate phenomena.5 Finally, the particular status of orality in literature, which differs markedly from naturally occurring orality both generically and functionally, needs to be addressed.Quotation marks removed from title to ensure alphabetical order. Difference as follows; "Signs on a white field": A Look at Orality in Literacy and James Joyce's Ulysse