Tsuwm's wwftd had a quotation containing the word "malefic" that also contained a phrase from James Joyce's Ulysses:- "agenbite of inwit"


Subject:
today's wwftd is... malefic
Date:
Thu, 26 Jul 2001 11:08:36 -0500 (CDT)
From:
wwftd master <mikef3@cfsmo.honeywell.com>
To:
wwftd minions <tsuwm@aol.com>
the worthless word for the day is: malefic

1) having an unfavorable or malignant influence: baleful
2) malicious

the film critic Richard Corliss discribes Humbert in the movie
'Lolita': "The agenbite of inwit gnaws at him, robs him of the
malefic majesty that makes screen villains entertaining."


A quotation from James Joyce's "Ulysses"
His hands plunged and rummaged in his
trunk while he was called for a clean
hankerchief. Agenbite of inwit. God,
we'll simply have to dress the character. I
want puce gloves and green boots. Do I
contradict myself? Very well, then, I
contradict myself. Mercurial Malachi. A
limp black missile flew out of his talking
hands.
-- And there's your Latin quarter hat, he
said."

agenbite of inwit
ME ayenbite of inwyt, transl. of L remorsus, REMORSE + ME inwyt, inwit, conscience, intellect: phrase revived by JOYCE (1922) in Ulysses remorse of conscience

CHAPTER THREE: AGENBITE OF INWIT: PERSISTENCE OF PAIN
A word on this chapter title: it is a phrase taken from James Joyce's writing, meaning roughly the looking again into the pain of
the self as perceived by the self. There is an iterative and increasingly powerful effect of this inner watching that can sap already
vulnerable energies and deepen already substantial self-doubt. This inner watch is, I think, very typical of wanderers.