McCarthy, Patrick A. "Joyce’s Unreliable Catechist: Mathematics and the Narration of ‘Ithaca.’" ELH 51, no. 3 (October 1, 1984): 605–18.

Related topics:

Questions and Answers
Realism
Science

Link to citation page: https://www.worldcat.org/title/joyces-unreliable-catechist-mathematics-and-the-narration-of-ithaca/oclc/5552660622&referer=brief_results

Link to full text: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2872940

In response to criticism that assumed the catalogues of "Ithaca" (U 17) were purely factual, McCarthy debunks some of the mathematical logic of the episode to argue against taking the information at face value. McCarthy examines such mistakes as "the impossible date MXMIV (instead of MCMIV)" (606), the description of interstellar space being "thousands of degrees below freezing point..." (U 17.1246) rather than its actual value in the hundreds (607), and the incorrect ratio calculated for Bloom's and Stephen's ages (609). The article also considers notes Joyce took on mathematical formulas and jargon, alongside Albert Einstein's admission in 1921 that "mathematics could no longer claim to be an accurate and absolute description of the physical universe" (611). McCarthy argues that Joyce incorporated the errors purposefully to comment on the acknowledged limitations of mathematics. McCarthy furthers this point by analyzing Joyce's invocation of the problem from Euclidian geometry of squaring the circle (U 17.1072), ultimately arguing that Joyce has "transformed the dry tone of scientific precision into a style that incorporates the idiosyncrasies of human nature. He has, in fact, circled the square" (617).

Citations and Related Sources