V.A.6
Partial Later Version of Scenes and Text for the “Cyclops” (12) Episode (1919)1
Material Description and Collation
The manuscript is composed of 2 large (foolscap-sized) loose sheets of light yellow unlined paper, with text on both sides of both sheets. Each sheet was folded once vertically to make 2 pages of text per leaf, 4 pages of text per sheet and so 8 pages of text in total as follows:
| Sheet I recto | |
|---|---|
| Left column: p. [2v]: (second scene continued)
Text begins : “in the quartier latin and he came back an” Text ends : “—Anyway, says Ned. The young chap, “ |
Right column: p. [1r]: (first scene begins)
Text begins : Text ends : “—What about the <kudos>? says Lenehan” |
| Sheet I verso | |
| Left column: p. [1v]: (first scene continued) Text begins : “—There are Irish Americans millionaire behind it , says —” Text ends : “—No, no, says O’Madden Burke. You’re” |
Right column: p. [2r]: (first scene continued and start of second scene) Text begins : “wrong, there, Joe. It’s the O’Conor Don. He’s the” Text ends : “son of Si Dedalus. He was in Paris”
|
| Sheet II recto | |
| Left column: p. [4v]: (fourth scene continued and further dialogue) Text begins : “and truly try and true deliverance make in” Text ends : “—Scratch ^<your> his^ arse quicker, says Ned.” |
Right column: p. [3r]: (second scene continued and start of third scene) Text begins : “the nephew, came to stop with her and my” Text ends : “Our history that Geoffrey Keating” |
| Sheet II verso | |
| Left column: p. [3v]: (third scene continued) Text begins : “wrote in the fortresses of the Galtees is not finished” Text ends : “A higher land is Ireland”‘ |
Right column: p. [4r]: (start of fourth scene) Text begins : “There entered a one of the clan of the O’Molloy’s,” Text ends : “on rood that they should well” |
The text is in Joyce’s hand, all in black ink, with pencil additions and/or revisions only on pp. [3v] and [4r]. The sheets of this manuscript have been unfolded and were cleaned, de-acidified and individually encapsulated in February 1988.
Measurements
Each sheet measures 35.7 x 45.0 cm.
Contents
The manuscript contains a later draft version of the last 4 scenes in Buffalo MS V.A.8, which is continued and concluded on NLI MS 36.639/10, p. [1r], of the “Cyclops” episode. The scenes here are unnumbered (unlike on the earlier version where Joyce numbered these scenes “5”–”8″; see MS V.A.8, Contents). Here the first scene starts on p. [1r] and is continued on pp. [1v] and [2r]; after a blank space, the second scene begins on p. [2r] and is continued on pp. [2v] and [3r]; also after a blank space, the third scene begins on p. [3r] and is continued on p. [3v]; again after a blank space, the fourth scene begins on p. [4r] and is concluded on p. [4v] and, after another blank space, the final, short dialogue scene is also on p. [4v]. See Herring, Buffalo for a complete transcription of the text on this manuscript.
At some intermediary stage, Joyce wrote some dialogue in the lower half of p. [4v], also in black ink, which is based almost verbatim on BL “Cyclops” Notesheet 1: 73–82 and an entry from line 61 (see Ulysses 12.0129–0140). Joyce then incorporated this text as part of a much longer scene on NLI MS 36.639/10, pp. [10r] and [11r].
Although revised and amplified here, Joyce had previously written these scenes and text on the following manuscripts:
| MS V.A.6 Page | Corresponding Text on the Earlier Manuscript Draft |
|---|---|
| p. [1r] | MS V.A.8, pp. [20r]–[20v] |
| p. [1v] | MS V.A.8, pp. [20v], [23v], [21r] and [19v] |
| p. [2r] | MS V.A.8, pp. [19v] and [18v] / p. [21r] |
| p. [2v] | MS V.A.8, pp. [21r], [21v], [22r] and NLI 36,639/10, p. [3v] |
| p. [3r] | MS V.A.8, p. [21v] / MS V.A.8, pp. [23r] |
| p. [3v] | MS V.A.8, pp. [23r] and [22v] |
| p. [4r] | NLI 36,639/10, p. [1v] |
| p. [4v] | NLI 36,639/10, p. [1v] / NLI 36,639/10, pp. [10r] and [10v] |
Dating
Joyce wrote the fragmentary texts in this manuscript in late June 1919 in Zurich, after completing Buffalo MS V.A.8 (and the start of NLI MS 36,639/10), but before writing the subsequent scenes and additional fragments in the NLI “Cyclops” manuscript.
Other Markings
Joyce crossed through the texts with diagonal lines or X s in red crayon on all the inscribed pages, except p. [2r], probably as he transcribed the texts to later, intermediary drafts before the Rosenbach manuscript. Similarly, Joyce also crossed through some of the additional texts with X s in blue crayon on pp. [1v], [2r], [3r] and [3v].
During conservation, therefore after the manuscript’s publication in the JJA , pp. [1r], [2r], [3r] and [4r] were marked “V. A. 6.” in the lower right corners in pencil.
Publication
The manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 13.134.a–h. It has been transcribed and annotated in Phillip F. Herring (ed.), Joyce’s Notes and Early Drafts for Drafts for “Ulysses”: Selections from the Buffalo Collection , (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977), pp. 178–187. See also Michael Groden, “Cyclops in Progress, 1919,” JJQ 12.1/2, (Fall 1974/Winter 1975), pp. 123–168; “Ulysses” in Progress , (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977), especially pp. 115–165 and “Joyce at Work on ‘Cyclops’: Toward a Biography of Ulysses ,” JJQ 44.2 (Winter 2007), pp. 217–245.