Line 14: "Wristling under milky and transluciant sheets in a suck-session of clamped, crusterphobic rended rooms, the da off summerwhere with all his righting and the mudder rural, pagan in her unconcern, forever standing pisspots on the parlour table where they lifft their venerable beaded halos on the varnish."
Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Wrestling under silky and translucent sheets in a succession of cramped, claustrophobic rented rooms, the dad off somewhere with all his writing and the mother rural, pagan in her unconcern, constantly leaving piss pots on the parlour table where they left rings on the varnish."
"Wristling"
Wrestling as in engaged in sexual behavior with the connotation of wrist movements, perhaps to suggest that, at first, Giorgio's sexual assaults were simply manual stimulation.
"milky"
Semen. Continues the suggestion that, initially, Giorgio was simply coercing Lucia to beat him off.
"transluciant"
A suggestion of Lucia between spaces, from innocent girl to experienced woman. It's difficult to find the correct tone when speaking about Giorgio and Lucia's sexual relationship as it is obviously assault and rape on Giorgio's part but as we see this through Lucia's perspective, I believe she doesn't quite feel that way. At least she seems to own her part in it, and she deeply loved her brother.
"suck-session"
Okay, maybe it wasn't just manual stimulation. Seem there was some endeavors into oral territory as well.
"clamped, crusterphobic rended rooms"
The spoonerism here paints more of the sordid and animalistic sexual experience. Two bodies clamped together secreting fluids which become crusty. "Rended" suggests Giorgio's destruction of Lucia's innocence or, less figuratively, her maidenhead.
"the da off summerwhere with all his righting"
James Joyce is always off somewhere writing. The homophone used for writing perhaps suggestive of his focus on writing above all else. It is both right that he spend his time writing and also his right to do so as the patriarch. "Summer" perhaps suggestive of frivolous, perhaps James not taking enough adult responsibility. He's off somewhere as if it were summer to do as he pleases, free and with no responsibilities.
"mudder rural"
Once again, the suggestion that Nora is a cow, a simple beast here to provide sustenance for her offspring.
"rural, pagan in her unconcern"
I'm not sure if "rural, pagan" has any wordplay happening as I'm too stupid to see it if there is. But even if Moore simply meant what is there, he's still left plenty of meaning in these words. Rural suggests Nora is perhaps simplistic in her morals and gives the sense that she views people and life as she would view animals on a farm. As such, she would be less concerned with her children rutting in the other room. Pagan suggests Nora doesn't hold the same values and morals as the status quo, perhaps suggesting she knew what her children were up to and simply didn't care, was unconcerned by their behavior.
"forever standing pisspots on the parlour table"
Nora stays engaged in rote, mundane behaviors as her son molests her daughter, "forever standing piss pots" being Nora's Prufrockian coffee spoons.
"where they lifft"
Apparently the river Liffey is an important metaphor in Finnegans Wake so Alan Moore makes a nod to it here (I think he made a nod to it earlier as well when Lucia was engaged in loads of water imagery but I probably missed it). The first line of Finnegans Wake (unless it's the second half of the last line) is "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs." There's some of that Garden of Eden imagery right out front, suggesting the start. But the sentence also suggests time as circular or a vicious cycle, evidenced by this line being a continuation of the last line of the book. Alan Moore's Jerusalem sets up the premise that time is not just cyclical but constant, all happening at once, together and also continuing to happen, forever. It is very much a book which the person/reader can open at any time to relive/reread any portion of it. It's all there and always has been and always will be. Like a character in a book, all lives are predetermined, inevitable, and unchangeable.
"their venerable beaded halos on the varnish."
Even small, mundane actions leave their mark on the world. Not just because of what that action accomplished but often what that action prevented the person from otherwise accomplishing. Here, Nora leaves her mark by not stopping her children's sexual activities. She has stained the varnish. But wait! These stains are regarded as "venerable" and "halos" (beaded also maybe suggesting rosaries). This must be because Lucia, whose perspective subverts this memory, sees her mother's allowance of her and her brother's trysts to be a wise and loving, perhaps almost religious, decision.
"constantly leaving pisspots on the parlour table where they lifft their venerable beaded halos on the varnish."
This paints Nora as in somewhat of a daze, perhaps lost in daydreams or, simply, irresponsible. Her children were fucking in a nearby room while she complacently went about doing mundane tasks half-assed, such as forgetting the piss pot she was emptying and leaving it on the table long enough for it to cause a ring.
Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Wrestling under silky and translucent sheets in a succession of cramped, claustrophobic rented rooms, the dad off somewhere with all his writing and the mother rural, pagan in her unconcern, constantly leaving piss pots on the parlour table where they left rings on the varnish."
"Wristling"
Wrestling as in engaged in sexual behavior with the connotation of wrist movements, perhaps to suggest that, at first, Giorgio's sexual assaults were simply manual stimulation.
"milky"
Semen. Continues the suggestion that, initially, Giorgio was simply coercing Lucia to beat him off.
"transluciant"
A suggestion of Lucia between spaces, from innocent girl to experienced woman. It's difficult to find the correct tone when speaking about Giorgio and Lucia's sexual relationship as it is obviously assault and rape on Giorgio's part but as we see this through Lucia's perspective, I believe she doesn't quite feel that way. At least she seems to own her part in it, and she deeply loved her brother.
"suck-session"
Okay, maybe it wasn't just manual stimulation. Seem there was some endeavors into oral territory as well.
"clamped, crusterphobic rended rooms"
The spoonerism here paints more of the sordid and animalistic sexual experience. Two bodies clamped together secreting fluids which become crusty. "Rended" suggests Giorgio's destruction of Lucia's innocence or, less figuratively, her maidenhead.
"the da off summerwhere with all his righting"
James Joyce is always off somewhere writing. The homophone used for writing perhaps suggestive of his focus on writing above all else. It is both right that he spend his time writing and also his right to do so as the patriarch. "Summer" perhaps suggestive of frivolous, perhaps James not taking enough adult responsibility. He's off somewhere as if it were summer to do as he pleases, free and with no responsibilities.
"mudder rural"
Once again, the suggestion that Nora is a cow, a simple beast here to provide sustenance for her offspring.
"rural, pagan in her unconcern"
I'm not sure if "rural, pagan" has any wordplay happening as I'm too stupid to see it if there is. But even if Moore simply meant what is there, he's still left plenty of meaning in these words. Rural suggests Nora is perhaps simplistic in her morals and gives the sense that she views people and life as she would view animals on a farm. As such, she would be less concerned with her children rutting in the other room. Pagan suggests Nora doesn't hold the same values and morals as the status quo, perhaps suggesting she knew what her children were up to and simply didn't care, was unconcerned by their behavior.
"forever standing pisspots on the parlour table"
Nora stays engaged in rote, mundane behaviors as her son molests her daughter, "forever standing piss pots" being Nora's Prufrockian coffee spoons.
"where they lifft"
Apparently the river Liffey is an important metaphor in Finnegans Wake so Alan Moore makes a nod to it here (I think he made a nod to it earlier as well when Lucia was engaged in loads of water imagery but I probably missed it). The first line of Finnegans Wake (unless it's the second half of the last line) is "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs." There's some of that Garden of Eden imagery right out front, suggesting the start. But the sentence also suggests time as circular or a vicious cycle, evidenced by this line being a continuation of the last line of the book. Alan Moore's Jerusalem sets up the premise that time is not just cyclical but constant, all happening at once, together and also continuing to happen, forever. It is very much a book which the person/reader can open at any time to relive/reread any portion of it. It's all there and always has been and always will be. Like a character in a book, all lives are predetermined, inevitable, and unchangeable.
"their venerable beaded halos on the varnish."
Even small, mundane actions leave their mark on the world. Not just because of what that action accomplished but often what that action prevented the person from otherwise accomplishing. Here, Nora leaves her mark by not stopping her children's sexual activities. She has stained the varnish. But wait! These stains are regarded as "venerable" and "halos" (beaded also maybe suggesting rosaries). This must be because Lucia, whose perspective subverts this memory, sees her mother's allowance of her and her brother's trysts to be a wise and loving, perhaps almost religious, decision.
"constantly leaving pisspots on the parlour table where they lifft their venerable beaded halos on the varnish."
This paints Nora as in somewhat of a daze, perhaps lost in daydreams or, simply, irresponsible. Her children were fucking in a nearby room while she complacently went about doing mundane tasks half-assed, such as forgetting the piss pot she was emptying and leaving it on the table long enough for it to cause a ring.
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