Topsawyer’s Rocks

We’ve come to the next part of our sentence, highlighted in red below:

Sir Tristram, violer d’amores, fr’over the short sea, had passencore rearrived from North Armorica on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his penisolate war: nor had topsawyer’s rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse to Laurens County’s gorgios while they went doublin their mumper all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to tauftauf thuartpeatrick: not yet, though venissoon after, had a kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all’s fair in vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe. Rot a peck of pa’s malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

So what are “topsawyer’s rocks”? A quick search tells us that a “top sawyer” is a person working in a sawpit who is above the log being cut, as opposed to a “bottom sawyer” (see right). In British usage, though, it can be “a person in a position of advantage or eminence.” (See Merriam-Webster). Not sure what that has to do with anything. According to Joseph Campbell, this is a reference to the opposing brothers; one on top, one on the bottom.

What is maybe more likely (and also correct) is that it’s a reference to Tom Sawyer. Ready for some cool stuff? This is all based on Joseph Campbell’s Skeleton Key but I dug around for additional sources. Samuel Clemens, a.k.a Mark Twain, wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, right? Huck Finn. Finn in America now. Finn again / Finnegan! Also, anecdotally, the wife of Samuel Clemens? Olivia Langdon Clemens. What did her husband call her? Livy! Livy -> Liffey -> Livia -> Annabel Livia Plurabelle (ALP). Crazy!

But, the more I researched this blog post, the more I think this isn’t really about Tom Sawyer. Yes, the reference is certainly there and none of it is accidental. (There are no accidents in what Joyce references. It’s all correct.) But there is another Sawyer that might be more important here, particularly since this paragraph seems to be establishing a time frame. Read on…

The next part of the sentence is: “…by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse to Laurens County gorgios…”

There just so happens to be an Oconee River in Laurens County, Georgia in the US. So, back to our map:

Here is Laurens County, Georgia. But let’s zoom in a little bit more. We can see that the Oconee River flows right through Dublin!

So, now about that “topsawyer”. From the Dublin, GA town website:

The City of Dublin was incorporated by the Georgia Assembly on December 9th, 1812, and made the county seat. It is said that a citizen, Jonathan Sawyer, named it Dublin after the capital of his Irish homeland.

The City of Dublin History

We have Dublin, GA being made the county seat of Laurens County in 1812 after the city was founded by Jonathan Sawyer. He may be the “topsawyer” we really care about from a timeline perspective.

As for the rest of it, I can find no other explanation than Campbell’s who explains that the “rocks” are, in fact, genitals, and, when we’re talking about “exaggerated themselse” and “doublin their mumper all the time,” it refers to the settling of Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia and its growing population.

The “rocks” (genitals) of “topsawyer” (Jonathan) “exaggerated” themselves (reproduced) and they were “doublin” (Dublin/doubling) their “mumper” (number) all the time. And, by the way, the motto for Dublin, GA? “The City That’s Doublin’ Daily!”

Oh! And, as for those “Laurens County gorgios”? Well, it’s certainly a nod to the state of Georgia in the United States. But there’s more… By looking up the definition of “gorgios”, Merriam-Webster tells us that it is a word used by the Roma to describe someone who isn’t Roma. That doesn’t help much. But, here’s an interesting fact… James Joyce’s son, his first child with Nora Barnacle, was born in July 1905 and was named “Giorgio”. That certainly gives some support to Campbell’s assertion that this is all about reproduction and doubling in population.

So, another part of our timeline is complete… This is before the settling of Dublin, Georgia in Laurens County in 1812.

If we momentarily forget the reference to Tristan and Iseult (from the year 1177) from the last post and assume “penisolate war” refers to the Peninsular War, we have a relatively consistent timeframe so far. The Peninsular War was fought between 1807-1814 and Dublin, Georgia was founded in 1812. So, we’re setting the stage for something that happened before, say, 1807.

Make sense? Also, keep in mind that none of this may be right or all of it may be right at the same time. By all accounts, Finnegans Wake does not follow a linear timeline and, since it is apparently a dream-novel, timelines may merge and split at any time and without warning. But what fun it is to try and make sense of it all!

See you on the next post!