| Festivals reenact the birth of cosmos or the organized universe out of chaos. When the cosmic order deteriorates, a festival is declared and the primordial chaos temporarily restored. Amid chaos, which is an inexhaustible repertoire of possible orders, the old order gives way to a new one, hence the rebirth of cosmos.;Given that festival is instrumental in the inauguration of a new order, it is not surprising that festival is envisioned when a new order is needed. Indeed, throughout history we have witnessed semblances of festival in revolutions, be they literary or artistic, social, cultural, religious or political. Genji monogatari and Ulysses, which revolutionalized the genre of prose fiction in their respective traditions, recapitulate the process of festival. In "Hahakigi" and "Cyclops," chapters in which Murasaki Shikibu and James Joyce departed from conventional ways of writing fiction and established their own, festival in its Japanese and Western forms respectively is manifest. In those chapters, "the world upside down," which festival invariably occasions, is present, and "laughter," integral to festival, abounds.;By virtue of festival, both writers were also able to challenge the center, or "the central value system" imposed by the authority of the time. Writing in Japanese, an inferior vernacular language designated for "the weaker sex," Murasaki Shikibu worked within the constraints imposed by her society. Conversely, Joyce wrote in English, the language of the rulers, rather than his native Gaelic, deliberately choosing to work within the constraints imposed on his people. Hierarchical inversion integral to festival enabled them to poke fun at the center with impunity.;On the periphery of the power structures of their societies, Murasaki Shikibu and Joyce were able to write from a unique vantage point, which revealed their awareness of the instability of the center: "the central value system" can be replaced with other value systems when the balance of power shifts. Liberated and empowered by that awareness, they in turn strove to instill that awareness in their readers. The "Hahakigi" and "Cyclops" chapters, in which they evoked festival, bear testimony to their tenacious efforts to realize an epistemological revolution. |
