This presentation poses the question of “meaning” in James Joyce’s “epiphanies”; not what they mean, as such, but rather, the type of meaning that is at stake when it comes to epiphanies. It suggests that the type of meaning concerned relates to what Lacan is intimating when he plays on the term, j’ouï sens and when he says that this j’ouï-sens is the same thing as “to hear a meaning”.
Inquiring into the meaning of “meaning” in epiphanies begs the question of interpretation; are epiphanies to be interpreted or do they even need to be interpreted? The answer to this, of course, depends on the answer to the first inquiry here regarding the type of meaning that is concerned in Joyce’s epiphanies.[i]
The main source and reference point for this expose is Le Sinthome. There...