Intertexts

Intertexts, Vol. 4, No. 2,2000 The Signifier as Siren—Kafka, Brecht, Joyce and the Seduction of the Text N i c o l e B r a c k e r UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA InthisessayIwanttodiscussvariousaspectsofthetoposoftheSirens’ song in the twelfth book of Homer’s Odyssey. Not only is the character Odysseus attracted by the Sirens’ song, but the textual encounter with the Sirens has also stimulated the poetic imagination of many writers. In the early twentieth century, several major authors seem to have been enticed by the lure and the challenge that the narrative encounter between Odysseus and the Sirens radiates.As we shall see, Franz Kafka, Bertolt Brecht and James Joyce, drawn to this topos of the Sirens, seek to utilize this ancient music, the Sirens’ tones, for their own different and distinctive modern purposes, as if tempted by an imperceptible pull to rewrite this moment of seduction.Consequendy,onecanbeginbyassumingthatthereisarelation between the seductiveness of the Sirens and the urge to (re) write. Finally, Iwanttoconsiderspecificaspectsofre-writingitselfRe-writingcreatesan intertext,and,asRolandBaineswrites:“[T]heintertextisnotnecessarily afieldofinfluence:ratheritisamusicoffigures,metaphors,thoughtwords ;itisthesignifierassiren”(Barthes,RolandBarthes145),aquota¬ tionwhichenticingly,butproblematically,linksintertextualitytothetopos oftheSirens.Barthes’squotationexistsonseverallevels,onwhichheques¬ tions the relation of rewriting to the original. On the one hand, he is reject¬ ing influence as pointing to something axiomatic, while, for him, the intertext is infinite. On the other hand, at another level, he is adding the moment of seduction and the fatal attraction of the Sirens as afigurative overlay to the question of intertextual relations in general. Ishallarguebelowthatthisdoubledconceptionofthetoposthrows light on Kafka’s, Brecht’s and Joyce’s rewritings of Homer’s text. But first, ordertoexploretheseductiveimpactofthisparticulartext,Iwanttobe¬ ginwiththeoriginalHomericcontext.Initially,theSirens’songisbothad¬ vertisedandwarnedagainstbyCirce.TheeffectoftheSirens’songin¬ volves fascination as well as athreat of destruction to the self, as becomes clear in Circe’s words: i n The high, thrilling voice of the Sirens will transfix him, lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses rotting away, rags of skin shrivelling on bones ...{Od. 12.50-52). There are many representations of the Sirens myth through the centuries in the work of different authors, all of which present the figure of the Siren as Bracker—The Signifier as Siren 1 6 7 an enigma. 1The Sirens’ peril is that of provoking in Odysseus irrespon¬ sibility and roodessness, since they try to make Odysseus forget Ithaca and Penelope. From Circe’s warning it becomes clear that the Sirens embody both desire and the threat of death at the same time. The bones littering the ground on the Sirens’ island recall their link to the world of the dead; they are, as Jean-Pierre Vernant writes, “death in its most bmtally monstrous aspect: no funeral, no tomb, only the corpse’s decomposition in the open air” (Salec, Sirens 15). Since Odysseus himself listens to the warning of Circe, which also implies their irresistible attraction, the aimouncement of the Sirens is thereby figured as the triangulation of the seductive narrative relationship through the introduction of Circe as athird party. Odysseus is lured by the advertisement of the seduction of the Sirens’ song within Circe’s words, in spite of being threatened by destruction. Odysseus is called polymetis, aman of thousand ruses and inventive thoughts and especiallyamanoftwistedwords,2yetinencoimteringtheSirenshedoes not design his own scheme of cunning but follows Circe’s words; Race straight past that coast! Soften some beeswax and stop your shipmates’ ears so none can hear, none of the crew, but if you are bent on hearing, have them tie you hand and foot in the swift ship, erect at the mast-block, lashed by ropes to the mast soyoucanheartheSirens’songtoyourheart’scontent(Od.12.53-60). Odysseus respects Circe’s advice: he sets up an opposition between himself andthecrew.IncontrasttoOdysseus,hiscomradesarerendereddeafby thewaxintheirears.Theship’screwplaysanessentialpartinOdysseuss cunning,sincetheyhavetoensureandwitnessthesuccessofhisplan. When Odysseus signals the crew to set him free, they flung themselves at the oars and rowed on harder, Perimedes and Eurylochus springing up at once to bind me faster with rope on chafing rope {Od. 12.211-213). OdysseusisheresubsequentlyrecountinghistaletoNausikaa,quotingthe Sirens’promiseoftheirsong,butnotthesongitselfLikeOdysseusweare thus to hear the promise of the song of the Sirens, apromise whose attraction is both ineluctable and openly displayed: Comecloser...