(This is reposted from the Finnegans Wake mailing list.)

According to Ellmann's "Consciousness of J" (as well as a parallel, more
complete bibliographic work on JJ's Trieste library, qv), JJ owned a 1914
edition of Georges Polti's "36 Dramatic Situations".  Polti was a critic of
some sort (any details, anyone?) who tried to distill off the 36 most
important literary 'complications', hoping to start something of a science
of plot-design, where you might recombine the pieces to form more complex
and interesting variations.

I append his list below (the original offers somewhat more detail, but not
tons).  I think it's clear that JJ ate Polti for breakfast (literally! ;^),
that FW in some sense must be JJ's next-giant-step- beyond-Polti compendium
of plots.

I'm hoping to find a solid key in all this, that establishes principles by
which JJ *could* have sorted any possible story-element into the 'right'
location via a grand plan, possibly even one he *could* have taught James
Stephens, as he claimed at one point in the 30's.  It seems to me JJ must
have re-sorted Polti according to the sigla idea: HCE, ALP, Shem Shaun
Issy, all embodying aspects of the grand structure of human behavior.
(Tristan as a starting point that included most of them is just right, cf
Ulysses as the most 'complete' human story in lit.)

[two paragraphs deleted]

Polti's 36 chapters:
1- supplication: supplicant asks powerful one to stop persecutor
2- deliverance: rescuer rescues unfortunate one from threatener
3- crime pursued by vengeance: avenger pursues criminal
4- vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred
5- pursuit: punishment pursues fugitive
6- disaster: enemy vanquishes old regime
7- falling prey to cruelty or misfortune
8- revolt: conspirator tries to vanquish tyrant
9- daring enterprise: bold leader achieves object despite adversary
10- abduction: abductor abducts abducted from guardian
11- the enigma: "interrogator, seeker, and problem" (??)
12- obtaining: solicitor and adversary who is refusing
13- enmity of kinsmen
14- rivalry of kinsmen: object prefers one, rejects other
15- murderous adultery: love-triangle + murder of any one (see 25)
16- madness: madman hurts victim
17- fatal imprudence: imprudent one hurts victim
18- involuntary crimes of love: unknowing incest, etc. (see 26)
19- slaying of a kinsman unrecognized
20-23: "the four themes of immolation": ideals (?), gods, kindred, desires
20- self-sacrificing for an ideal: hero, ideal, [creditor or sacrificial
victim]
21- self-sacrifice for kindred
22- all sacrificed for a passion: lover, object of passion, sacrifice
23- necessity of sacrificing loved ones: hero, beloved victim, cause
24- rivalry of superior and inferior: two rivals and object of rivalry
25- adultery
26- crimes of love: knowing incest, etc.
27- discovery of the dishonor of a loved one
28- obstacles to love: lovers, obstacle
29- an enemy loved: enemy, lover, hater
30- ambition: ambitious person, thing coveted, adversary
31- conflict with a god
32- mistaken jealousy
33- erroneous judgment
34- remorse
35- recovery of a lost one: seeker, one found
36- loss of loved ones: kinsman sees kinsman slain


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Jorn Barger, Northwestern U., Chicago, Midwest, USA      barger@ils.nwu.edu
   "And crazyheaded Jorn, the bulweh born?"   _Finnegans Wake_ 513.07
          (Ask me about the electronic FW reading project!)
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