Skip to content
quotesby

For that (the rapt one warns) is what papyr is meed of, made of, hides and hints and misses in prints. Till ye finally (though not yet endlike) meet with the acquaintance of Mister Typus, Mistress Tope and all the little typtopies. Filstup. So you need hardly spell me how every word will be bound over to carry three score and ten toptypsical readings throughout the book of Doublends Jined (may his forehead be darkened with mud who would sunder!) till Daleth, mahomahouma, who oped it closeth thereof the. Dor. (20.10-18)

James Joyce#41

LanguageReadingBooksInterpretation

About this quote

What does it mean?
The text explores how language and print create endless interpretations and meanings for readers.
In plain terms
Words in books lead to many different readings and understandings.
What can you take from it?
Text invites infinite interpretations through its ambiguity.

Where it applies

  • literary analysis
  • book clubs
  • reading comprehension

Putting it to work

  • analyze text deeply
  • embrace multiple meanings

Questions to consider

  • How many meanings can one word hold?
  • Who controls the meaning of a text?

Another view

The dense syntax makes the point difficult to grasp initially.

More from James Joyce

  1. But all they are all there scraping along to sneeze out a likelihood that will solve and salve life's robulous rebus (12.32-33)

    Permalink to quote #40
  2. came at this timecoloured place where we live in our paroqial fermament one tide on another (29.30)

    Permalink to quote #42
  3. Phall if you but will, rise you must: and none so soon either shall the pahrce for the nunce come to a setdown secular phoenish. (4.15-17)

    Permalink to quote #39

Related quotes

  1. The book, if you would see anything in it, requires to be read in the clear, brown, twilight atmosphere in which it was written; if opened in the sunshine, it …

    Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne quote #12
  2. I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed ac…

    Gaston BachelardGaston Bachelard quote #12
  3. May, 1993 - Stratford... have been reading through the poetry of 15th century Spain, and I find myself drawn to one by the mystic writer and visionary St. John…

    John of the CrossJohn of the Cross quote #47