{"id":616,"date":"2016-11-22T08:39:49","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T08:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/?p=616"},"modified":"2016-11-22T08:39:49","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T08:39:49","slug":"first-hyperannotation-michael-livingston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/uncategorized\/first-hyperannotation-michael-livingston\/","title":{"rendered":"First Hyperannotation: Michael Livingston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Livingston, Michael. &#8220;&#8221;Dividends and Divisors Ever Diminishing&#8221;: Joyce&#8217;s Use of Mathematics in &#8220;Ithaca&#8221;&#8221;\u00a0<em>James Joyce Quarterly<\/em>\u00a041, no. 3 (2004): 441-54.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, Michael Livingston argues that it is a mistake to suppose that Joyce\u2019s use of mathematics in <em>Ithaca<\/em> was due to Joyce being a skilled (or even competent) student of math. Rather, Joyce was aware of his limitations, and by acknowledging them, readers can gain a deeper understanding of how mathematical error and limits play a role in <em>Ithaca<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Livingston begins with a very comprehensive survey of mathematical and scientific errors in <em>Ithaca<\/em> identified by himself and other critics. He then looks to biographical information and Joyce\u2019s notebooks in order to ascertain the extent to which Joyce was fluent in mathematics. He concludes that Joyce was familiar with algebra and Euclidean geometry, but not higher mathematics. (In this he goes against the conclusions of Mines and Dasenbrock, who argue that Joyce had a grasp of some parts of calculus and set theory as well). The one concept from calculus Livingston does identify in Joyce\u2019s notes is the concept of limits that could be approached but never reached, such as:<a href=\"http:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Infinite-sum.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-629\" src=\"http:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Infinite-sum.png\" alt=\"infinite-sum\" width=\"269\" height=\"136\" \/><\/a>With Joyce\u2019s lack of mathematical expertise established, Livingston then presents a reading of the math in <em>Ithaca<\/em> that doesn\u2019t require Joyce to be a mathematical genius. He suggests that <em>Ithaca<\/em> is an \u201cimmense parody of naturalistic and scientific reasoning\u201d (449). The reader of <em>Ithaca<\/em>, says Livingston, is ultimately distanced from the narrative by the inadequacy of both the catechistic question-answer format (leaving us with only more questions like \u201cWho was M\u2019Intosh?\u201d) and the limitations of scientific concepts at representing reality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Citations and Related Sources: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>McCarthy, Patrick A. &#8220;Joyce&#8217;s Unreliable Catechist: Mathematics and the Narration of &#8220;Ithaca&#8221;&#8221;\u00a0<em>ELH<\/em>\u00a051, no. 3 (1984): 605-18. doi:10.2307\/2872940.<\/p>\n<p>Mines, Ray, and Reed Way Dasenbrock. &#8220;&#8221;Nought Nowhere Was Never Reached&#8221;: Mathematics in &#8220;Ulysses&#8221;&#8221;\u00a0<em>James Joyce Quarterly<\/em>\u00a035, no. 1 (1997): 25-36. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25473867.<\/p>\n<p>Salvadori, Mario, and Myron Schwartzman. &#8220;Musemathematics: The Literary Use of Science and Mathematics in Joyce&#8217;s &#8220;Ulysses&#8221;&#8221;\u00a0<em>James Joyce Quarterly<\/em>\u00a029, no. 2 (1992): 339-55. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25485263.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Themes:<\/strong> Numbers\/Numerology, Science, Biographical Criticism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Livingston, Michael. &#8220;&#8221;Dividends and Divisors Ever Diminishing&#8221;: Joyce&#8217;s Use of Mathematics in &#8220;Ithaca&#8221;&#8221;\u00a0James Joyce Quarterly\u00a041, no. 3 (2004): 441-54. In this article, Michael Livingston argues that it is a mistake to suppose that Joyce\u2019s use of mathematics in Ithaca was due to Joyce being a skilled (or even competent) student of math. Rather, Joyce was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eriksimpson.sites.grinnell.edu\/Ulysses16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}