Gifted as a singer and as a "mummer,"
Stephen thinks of his literary vocation too as a kind of
performance. Unfortuntately, he has not yet produced more than
a few slight lyrics. But that has not stopped him from
imagining the rapture that will greet his earthshaking mature
work, and he has actually practiced bows in the mirror to
acknowledge the thunderous applause. In Telemachus
and again in Proteus he mocks this callow asininity
of a younger self. Circe affirms that, personally
and artistically, he has "far to go."
In Telemachus, Stephen thinks, "Hear, hear!
Prolonged applause. Zut! Nom de Dieu!"
The French means “Damn! In the name of God!" (i.e., Merveilleux!
What an astonishing work of art!). In Proteus, he
mocks himself with even more savage humor: “You bowed
to yourself in the mirror, stepping forward to applause
earnestly, striking face. Hurray for the Goddamned idiot!”
Like so much else about Stephen's thoughts, these bitter
reflections show how far he is from finding happiness and
artistic success. (In Circe Stephen tells Zoe that
he was born on a Thursday, and she reminds him of the nursery
rhyme: "Thursday's child has far to go.") But
by mocking himself Stephen indicates readiness to learn from
his past errors, and he refines the herculean egoism that may
eventually enable him to write a great work. (Joyce once
remarked, "I never met a man with a faith like mine.")
