Malachias' tale

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So-called Gothic novels drew inspiration from medieval buildings (especially castles and monasteries) thought to contain hidden passageways, underground rooms, battlements exposed to the elements, trapdoors and sliding panels, doors closing by themselves, and the like. These novels had elaborate unrealistic plots and they typically wove an atmosphere of mystery, terror, and the supernatural. The Castle of Otranto, which kicked off the fad, draws on Shakespeare's story of Hamlet and the ghost stalking the labyrinth of Elsinore, a fact that probably accounts for Joyce's decision to include "a phial marked Poison," the sentence "For this relief much thanks" (from the scene of the sentries on the battlements), and references to the Hamlet theory that Stephen has delivered in Scylla and Charybdis.

In the novel a giant ghost stalks a castle belonging to the violent prince Manfred. Early in the novel Manfred finds his son Conrad crushed to death by a huge helmet, and at the end he is forced to relinquish his unjust reign, an action met by the ghost's approval. In Gifford's view "Haines plays the part of Manfred, the bloodstained usurper," no doubt because Haines identifies himself as Samuel Childs, the man charged with murdering his brother Thomas: "The mystery was unveiled. Haines was the third brother. His real name was Childs." But Haines also seems to play the part of the ghost that stalks the castle of Otranto. As they open doors and enter rooms in the labyrinthine structure, characters in Walpole's novel are terrified to see parts of the specter's massive body, an experience which Joyce reproduces: "The secret panel beside the chimney slid back and in the recess appeared... Haines!"

Walpole's narrative style does not much resemble Joyce's overblown prose, though sentences like "The company were struck with terror and amazement" do cohere with it. For stylistic inspiration, it seems, one must jump a century ahead to Le Fanu's The House by the Churchyard. Set in Chapelizod, this novel has become well recognized as a source for Finnegans Wake, but it also seems to inform the paragraph in Oxen. Its title is echoed in Joyce's evocation of the Childs house next to the Glasnevin cemetery ("The lonely house by the graveyard is uninhabited"), and its story includes a ghostly visitation and a murder, as in Walpole's novel. However, its principal influence on Joyce appears to be stylistic.

Although Robert Janusko does not document any phrases from Churchyard that Joyce jotted down in notebooks and echoed in Oxen (nor does he do so for Walpole's novel), a simple scanning of words reveals that nearly every important word of Joyce's paragraph appears in Le Fanu's novel, some of them quite frequently:

But Malachias' tale (43) began (78) to freeze them with horror (40). He conjured (2, "conjure" 3, "conjured up" 2) up the scene (12) before them (2, as a phrase). The secret (59) panel (3) beside the chimney (9) slid (4) back and in the recess appeared (29)... Haines! Which of us did not feel (26) his flesh (10) creep (1)! He had a portfolio full of Celtic (4) literature in one hand, in the other a phial (1) marked (2) Poison (13). Surprise (15), horror (40), loathing (2) were depicted on all faces (17) while he eyed (14) them with a ghastly (9) grin (32). I anticipated (2) some such reception (3), he began (78) with an eldritch laugh (31), for which, it seems, history (32) is to blame (9). Yes, it is true (78). I am the murderer (7) of Samuel Childs. And how I am punished! The inferno has no terrors (4, "terror" 21) for me. This is the appearance (6) is on me. Tare (2) and ages (2), what way would I be resting (3) at all, he muttered (23) thickly (5), and I tramping (1) Dublin this while (1, as a phrase) back with my share (10) of songs (14) and himself after me the like (10, as a phrase) of a soulth or a bullawurrus? My hell (9), and Ireland's (32), is in this life (2, as a phrase). It is what I tried (21) to obliterate my crime (9). Distractions, rookshooting, the Erse language (12) (he recited some), laudanum (4) (he raised (19) the phial (1) to his lips (21, as a phrase)), camping out. In vain (3, as a phrase)! His spectre (1) stalks me. Dope is my only (1, as a phrase) hope (69)... Ah! (10) (The black (116) panther! With a cry (21, "cried" 117) he suddenly (51, "sudden" 64) vanished (11) and the panel (3) slid (4) back. An instant (19) later (12) his head (216) appeared (29) in the door (364) opposite (19) and said: Meet me (1, as a phrase) at Westland Row station at ten past eleven (2, as a phrase). He was gone (3, as a phrase). Tears (24) gushed from the eyes (211) of the dissipated (1) host (5). The seer raised (19) his hand (299) to heaven (38), murmuring (4): The vendetta of Mananaun! The sage (7) repeated (31): Lex talionis. The sentimentalist is he who would enjoy without incurring the immense (3) debtorship for a thing done. Malachias, overcome (1) by emotion (4), ceased (7). The mystery (19) was unveiled. Haines was the third brother (36). His real name was Childs. The black (116) panther was himself the ghost (21) of his own father. He drank (20) drugs to obliterate. For this relief (12) much thanks. The lonely (18) house (261) by the graveyard is uninhabited. No soul (68) will live there (1, as a phrase). The spider pitches her web (3) in the solitude (11). The nocturnal rat (3) peers from his hole (9). A curse (52) is on it. It is haunted (20). Murderer's (7) ground (45).

Of course some of these words and phrases are commonplace and may occur in both texts by coincidence. But the overlap is staggering, and the number of times things like blackness, muttering, hope, horror, sudden occurrences, vanishings, cries, and mystery recur in Le Fanu's novel suggests that Joyce probably had it rattling about in his head long before he started writing the Wake. Occasional phrases leap the intertextual gap more or less intact––Le Fanu writes about a "ghastly smile" and a "frightful grin," while Joyce mentions a "ghastly grin"––and Le Fanu's sentences collectively create a recognizable atmosphere. They whisk characters on and off the stage: "Two or three minutes later, the hall-door of Sturk's mansion opened wide, and the figure of the renowned doctor from Dublin, lighted up with a candle from behind, and with the link from before, glided swiftly down the steps, and disappeared into the coach with a sharp clang of the door." They erupt in melodramatic sentiments: "Then the good doctor told them that the blood of the murdered man cried to heaven." They relish the experience of horror: "I, who thirsted more for that tale of terror which the old soldier had all but begun..."