Post by randolphcarter841 on Jun 30, 2017 0:11:44 GMT
We must note here -- as promised in our post "Circle Squared in Its Failure: 93 = SO" -- one of the more basic connections that can be made between FW and AL. Joyce repeatedly referred to his task of composing FW (when it was originally referred to as Work in Progress) as "squaring the circle." Outside of its immediate alchemical reference (generation of the quintessence out of the four elements -- these latter would consist of the four larger parts that make up FW), we have some clarification from the phrase "grist to whose mill."
Obviously, the millstones are circular; however, to "mill" is to move about in a disorderly fashion. We note that -- as most first-time readers will agree -- FW appears in the form of a "confused jumble"...specifically, we could say it looks like a "confused jumble of printers' type." It is no coincidence that this "confused jumble" is known as pi (pronounced "pie," like the common English mis-pronunciation of the Greek letter). We thus have a "mill" or "milling" which appears at a glance to be "pi," and this latter is, of course, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Thus, FW is a "squared circle" (or, more properly, a work that is progressively squaring the circle) in the sense that it is a sort of hyle (the alchemist's chaos) which possesses all of the equipment necessary to make sense or "rationality" out of, by virtue of its ruling figure: pi. All that is required is the observer -- the reader -- or, in our new understanding, the sacrifice. That the primary masculine figure of FW, HCE, has as his initials the first letters of three conic sections -- hyperbola, circle, ellipse -- must be kept in mind as we continue to unravel this extraordinary sequence of mysteries. (ALP -- aleph, ParaboLA, and "stone" in Her "altitude, latitude, and profundity" -- will be dealt with alongside HCE to help in understanding the Mystery of the Cone in future posts. To be continued.)
Obviously, the millstones are circular; however, to "mill" is to move about in a disorderly fashion. We note that -- as most first-time readers will agree -- FW appears in the form of a "confused jumble"...specifically, we could say it looks like a "confused jumble of printers' type." It is no coincidence that this "confused jumble" is known as pi (pronounced "pie," like the common English mis-pronunciation of the Greek letter). We thus have a "mill" or "milling" which appears at a glance to be "pi," and this latter is, of course, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Thus, FW is a "squared circle" (or, more properly, a work that is progressively squaring the circle) in the sense that it is a sort of hyle (the alchemist's chaos) which possesses all of the equipment necessary to make sense or "rationality" out of, by virtue of its ruling figure: pi. All that is required is the observer -- the reader -- or, in our new understanding, the sacrifice. That the primary masculine figure of FW, HCE, has as his initials the first letters of three conic sections -- hyperbola, circle, ellipse -- must be kept in mind as we continue to unravel this extraordinary sequence of mysteries. (ALP -- aleph, ParaboLA, and "stone" in Her "altitude, latitude, and profundity" -- will be dealt with alongside HCE to help in understanding the Mystery of the Cone in future posts. To be continued.)