Finnegans Wake Grappa discussion

A lovely passage on pg. 331 of the OUP ("For the joy of the dew on the flower of the fleets on the fields of the foam of the waves of the seas of the wild main from Borneholm has jest come to crown.") yields this bizarre wikipedia entry:

"Oofty Goofty was the stage name of Leonard ("Leon") Borchardt (born April 26, 1862 in Berlin), a sideshow performer, who lived in San Francisco in the late 19th century.

Author Herbert Asbury wrote that he got the name "Oofty Goofty" from an appearance at a Market Street sideshow, where he was billed as the Wild Man of Borneo. He was said to have been covered over most of his body by a mixture of tar and horsehair, put into a cage and fed raw meat by an attendant. When fed, he would let out a fierce cry of "Oofty goofty!" – hence his stage name.

Goofty's career as a wild man came to an end, after about a week, when he took ill, unable to perspire because of the tar on his skin. Doctors at the city's Receiving Hospital tried for days to remove the tar, but could not do so, presumably because of the horsehair. The tar finally came off after he was doused with tar solvent and left to lie on the hospital's roof.

Afterward, Goofty attempted to gain success through the stage and theater. He played Romeo opposite actress "Big Bertha's" Juliet, but the play proved disastrous. Asbury said that Goofty discovered that he felt no pain as the result of being thrown out of a Barbary Coast saloon onto a hard cobblestone street. Goofty reportedly would tour San Francisco, baseball bat in hand, and invite anyone who would listen to kick him as hard as they could for 5 cents, smack him with a walking stick for 15 cents, or beat him with a baseball bat for 25 cents. Asbury wrote that boxing champion John L. Sullivan ended Goofty's career when he struck him across the back with a billiard cue fracturing three vertebrae, and reported that Goofty walked with a limp the rest of his life and died a few years later."

This article has more details, including the tidbit that later he was a song and dance man at a bar (the reference is in the Taverny in Feast chapter, where Shem and Shaun are doing songs and dances as Butt and Taff):
http://spydersden.wordpress.com/2011/...

Something so deliciously Wakean about that entire story!



There is also PT Barnum's Wild Men of Borneo, exceptionally strong dwarf brothers, and if that ain't Shem and Shaun I don't know what's what:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Men...

Yesterday, I read Nathan's Chabon post and got angry. Today, the opposite has happened. My day is made.

Ashley wrote: "Yesterday, I read Nathan's Chabon post and got angry. Today, the opposite has happened. My day is made."

Avec plaisir!

Geoff wrote: "A lovely passage on pg. 331 of the OUP ("For the joy of the dew on the flower of the fleets on the fields of the foam of the waves of the seas of the wild main from Borneholm has jest come to crown..."

I think I've run across half a dozen (six of the other!) plays on this particular syn=tax. Also the one about that house that Jack built. Sorta wish I'd've'a collected all them there those instances. I think they's cute.

Have you seen "Oofty Goofty" among the Wake=detritus yet?

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Oofty Goofty"

Nope, but I wasn't actively looking for it until yesterday...

PS-the McHugh annotation for this line cites a song that they rhythm is based on