Gemini.Finnegans.Wake.53
For, be that samesake sibsubstitute of a hooky salmon, there’s already a big rody ram lad at random on the pre mises of his haunt of the hungred bordles, as it is told me. Shop Illicit, flourishing like a lord-major or a buaboabaybohm, litting flop a deadlop (aloose!) to lee but lifting a bennbranch a yardalong (ivoeh!) on the breezy side (for showm!), the highest of Brewster’s chimpney and as broad below as Phineas Barnum; humphing his share of the showthers is senken on him he’s such a grandfallar, with a pocked wife in pickle that’s a flyfire and three lice nittle clinkers, two twilling bugs and one midgit pucelle. And aither he cursed and recursed and was everseen doing what your fourfootlers saw or he was never done seeing what you coolpigeons know, weep the clouds aboon for smiledown witnesses, and that’ll do now about the fairyhees and the frailyshees.
This paragraph kicks off a new chapter by introducing a substitute for the fallen hero, HCE. It’s a gossipy account describing this new figure, his shady business, his flawed family, and the contradictory rumours circulating about his great sin.
## The Substitute Hero 🐏
The story immediately begins again with a replacement for the hero who was laid to rest at the end of the last chapter. A “samesake sibsubstitute” (a relative with the same name) has appeared. This new figure is described not as a wise “salmon” but as a deceptive “hooky salmon” and a powerful, aggressive “big rody ram.” He has taken over the premises in Dublin, which the gossipy narrator calls the “haunt of the hungred bordles” (a pun on Dublin’s original name, the “town of the hurdled ford,” and a bordello).
## The Two-Sided Sign 🌳
This new man is a great showman, “as broad below as Phineas Barnum,” and runs a shady business called “Shop Illicit” (a pun on Chapelizod). His establishment has a two-sided sign, representing his dual nature:
- The Hidden Side: On the sheltered side, there’s a “deadlop” (a dead branch), representing the hidden, decaying, artistic aspect of his character (the Shem principle).
- The Public Side: On the side that’s for show, there’s a “bennbranch” (a blessed branch), representing the respectable, public-facing aspect (the Shaun principle).
## The Flawed Family 👨👩👧👦
The narrator gives a less-than-flattering description of the hero’s family. He himself is a “grandfallar”—both a grandfather and a great man who is destined to have a “grand fall.” His wife is “pocked” (scarred) and “in pickle” (in trouble or pregnant), and his three children are dismissed as “three lice nittle clinkers” (three nice little kids, but also parasites and duds): two twin boys (“twilling bugs”) and a daughter (“midgit pucelle”).
## The Contradictory Rumour 🗣️
The paragraph ends by laying out the two contradictory versions of the great rumour or sin associated with this man. The truth is deliberately left ambiguous:
- The Actor: One version of the story says he was an active sinner, “everseen doing what your fourfootlers saw,” committing a public transgression witnessed by all.
- The Voyeur: The other version claims he was a passive voyeur, “never done seeing what you coolpigeons know,” endlessly watching a sin committed by others.
The narrator concludes that’s all there is to the gossip for now about the scandalous story involving the men (“fairyhees”) and women (“frailyshees”). It’s a perfect setup for the conflicting stories that will swirl around the hero for the rest of the book.
Though Eset fibble it to the zephiroth and Artsa zoom it round her heavens for ever. Creator he has created for his creatured once a creation.
This short, profound paragraph is a cosmological statement about the nature of the story being told. It argues that the flawed, gossipy rumour of the hero’s fall isn’t just a story in the universe; it is the universe itself.
The Cosmic Rumour 🌌
The first sentence describes how the story is broadcast throughout all of creation by two cosmic female figures.
"Though Eset fibble it to the zephiroth...": Eset (the Egyptian goddess Isis) tells a "fib" or "fable" into the "zephiroth." This is a pun on "zephyrs" (gentle winds) and the Sefirot of Kabbalah, the ten mystical attributes through which God creates the universe. The flawed story is being whispered into the very fabric of existence.
"...and Artsa zoom it round her heavens for ever.": Artsa (from Eretz, the Hebrew word for Earth) zooms the story through the sky.
The rumour of the fall is therefore a fundamental, eternal principle, propagated by both divine and earthly forces.
The Act of Creation 創
The second sentence is a powerful, biblical-sounding declaration that connects this rumour directly to the creation of the world.
"Creator he has created for his creatured once a creation."
This simple, repetitive sentence states that the Creator made one single, definitive creation for his creatures. The profound implication is that this "creation" is the flawed story, the "fibble," mentioned in the line before. The Fall of Man was not an accident in the world; it was the event that created the world. The sin, the gossip, the story, and the universe are all one and the same thing.
White monothoid? Red theatrocrat? And all the pinkprophets cohalething? Very much so! But however ‘twas ‘tis sure for one thing, what sherif Toragh voucherfors and mapqiq makes put out, that the man, Humme the Cheapner, Esc, overseen as we thought him, yet a worthy of the naym, came at this timecoloured place where we live in our paroqial fermament one tide on another, with a bumrush in a hull of a wherry, the twin turbane dhow, The Bey for Dybbling, this archipelago’s first visiting schooner, with a wicklowpattern waxenwench at her prow for a figurehead, the deadsea dugong updidripping from his depths, and has been repreaching himself like a fishmummer these siktyten years ever since, his shebi by his shide, adi and aid, growing hoarish under his turban and changing cane sugar into sethulose starch (Tuttut’s cess to him!) as also that, batin the bulkihood he bloats about when innebbiated, our old offender was humile, commune and ensectuous from his nature, which you may gauge after the bynames was put under him, in lashons of languages, (honnein suit and praisers be!) and, totalisating him, even hamissim of himashim that he, sober serious, he is ee and no counter he who will be ultimendly respunchable for the hubbub caused in Edenborough.
This long, gossipy paragraph attempts to define the hero, HCE, by recounting the story of his arrival in Dublin and describing his paradoxical character. It concludes by definitively identifying him as the person ultimately responsible for the original sin in the Garden of Eden.
## The Foreign Invader 🚢
The narrator begins by trying to pin down the hero’s identity—is he a pure saint (“White monothoid”) or a sinful showman (“Red theatrocrat”)? The answer is that he’s both. The story of his arrival casts him as a foreign invader.
- Here named “Humme the Cheapner,” he arrives in Dublin (“our paroqial fermament”) by sea.
- His ship is an exotic vessel, “The Bey for Dybbling”—making him the “Bey” (an Ottoman governor) of Dublin.
- He himself is described unflatteringly as a “deadsea dugong,” an ancient, sluggish sea creature rising from the depths, further emphasizing his role as an outsider.
## The Man and His Nature 👨👩👧👦
Once established in Dublin, he becomes a showman and storyteller (“fishmummer”) and a brewer who performs a kind of debased alchemy, “changing cane sugar into sethulose starch” to make alcohol. The narrator insists that despite his drunken boasting, his true nature is a mix of contradictions. He is:
- Humile: Humble, of the earth (humus).
- Commune: Common, one of the people.
- Ensectuous: A pun on “insect” and “incestuous,” suggesting he is both a lowly, crawling creature and that his nature is turned inward on his own family.
## The Final Verdict ⚖️
The paragraph culminates in a final, definitive judgment. After considering all the stories and nicknames given to him in legions of languages, the narrator declares that HCE is “ee and no counter he” (he is “he,” the essential man, and there’s no arguing it). Most importantly, this humble, common, insect-like man from Dublin is the one who is:
- “…ultimendly respunchable for the hubbub caused in Edenborough.”
This is the punchline of the whole paragraph. This local publican is definitively identified as the universal figure responsible for the original sin, the “hubbub” in the Garden of Eden (which is also Edinburgh, “Eden-borough”). The local and the universal, the mundane and the mythic, have become one.
21/09/2025, P29, End of Chapter 1.