[ilds] Note re: the name “Aubrey”

[Bruce Redwine]

A further note on Ken’s astute observation.  Seems to me this raises a few questions re Lawrence Durrell, James Joyce, and Aubrey Blanford.  Here’s the quote from Ulysses:  “Young shouts of moneyed voices in Clive Kempthrope’s rooms.  Palefaces:  they hold their ribs with laughter, one clasping another, O, I shall expire!  Break the news to her gently, Aubrey!” (Telemachus; Modern Library, 1992, p. 7).  This is presumably Stephen Dedalus’s stream of consciousness dealing with England (“Palefaces”).  I also hear allusions to British aestheticism of the late 19th century, namely, Oscar Wilde (“O, I shall expire!  Break the news to her gently, Aubrey!”), a homosexual, and Aubrey Beardsley, of unknown sexuality.  Charles Sligh can probably elaborate.  So, the questions:

1.  How is Aubrey Blanford effeminate in the Joycean sense of an Aubrey Beardsley and/or Oscar Wilde?
2.  Why does Blanford refer to Ulysses as “Joyce’s masterpiece” (Sebastian 126) and later as “that odious book” (131)?  Simply irony?
3.  Is Durrell rewriting or taking-on the Joycean novel (a worthy opponent in literary prizefighting), and, if so, is there a close connection between the author and his alter ego, Aubrey Blanford?  (“So D. begat Blanford.”)

Bruce




> On May 31, 2015, at 3:45 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> In the Quintet, there are a couple of references to Aubrey Blanford in a Joycean context, when talking about Ulysses.  Durrell knew the great novel.  So your observation has merit.
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On May 30, 2015, at 5:21 PM, Kennedy Gammage <gammage.kennedy at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> This has zero applicability to Jack Aubrey, the hero of Patrick O’Brian’s sea stories – but it may apply to Aubrey Blanford:
>> 
>> From Don Gifford’s Ulysses Annotated, p. 17:
>> 
>> “1.167 (7:24). Aubrey – A name regarded as effeminate and frequently used to express the sort of scorn the context applies.” 
>> 
>> Of course, these particular notes are circa 1904 Ireland – and Blanford’s earliest incarnation in the AQ2 is 1930s England…
>> 
>> …But would it be fair to say that Durrell may have had this in mind?
>> 
>> Cheers - Ken
>> 
>> _______________________________________________

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