Modernity

James Joyce:

Plato in the Phaedrus, calls mnemonics defective memory without seeming to recognise that it would not be necessary if memory were not already defective. Mnemonics, therefore, is a confirmation of the arbitrary nature of the sign as proposed by Saussure.

Bloom's walk is, in almost surrealistic fashion, a series of chance encounters. It is awalk of almost pure contingency. 'Almost' — because the text has to be written down. The insignificant, unpredictable detail has to be turned into a sign in order that it might the give up part of its ephemeral status and be communicated [...]