"In the intense instant of imagination, when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that which I am and that which in possibility I may come to be."
— Joyce, James (1882-1941)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Paris
Publisher
Shakespeare and Company
Date
1922
Metaphor
"In the intense instant of imagination, when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that which I am and that which in possibility I may come to be."
Metaphor in Context
--As we, or mother Dana, weave and unweave our bodies, Stephen said, from day to day, their molecules shuttled to and fro, so does the artist weave and unweave his image. And as the mole on my right breast is where it was when I was born, though all my body has been woven of new stuff time after time, so through the ghost of the unquiet father the image of the unliving son looks forth. In the intense instant of imagination, when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that which I am and that which in possibility I may come to be. So in the future, the sister of the past, I may see myself as I sit here now but by reflection from that which then I shall be.
(pp. 159-160)
(pp. 159-160)
Categories
Provenance
II.9
Citation
James Joyce, Ulysses, eds. H.W. Gabler, W. Steppe, and C. Melchior (New York: Vintage, 1984).
Date of Entry
06/17/2011
