The use of silence is a pattern in the works of James Joyce. It is not a caprice; though the enigmas in his works allow plausible explanations, Joyce deliberately does not supply crucial information. Why does Joyce choose not to specify? Why does he "prefer not to" say? Joyce uses silence in the form of enigmas, omissions, and gaps in narrative, as an artistic medium. While these silences may at first seem trivial, or part of a plan to avoid censorship, they are in fact similar to religious mysteries which cannot be solved. Joyce's silences invite the reader to pour himself into the gap and to experience these mysteries with his whole being. But how can we talk about this experience if these mysteries are insoluble and if the mystical experience they bring about is ineffable? Religious literature which deals with silence can help us fill these gaps or at least to assimilate them into our reading as Joyce would have wanted us to. Mystical texts and the literature of Zen Buddhism can tell us what happens in those silences and can reconcile us to the fact that we cannot have certainty. Joyce embraced the method of silence; other philosophies of silence can help us make sense of this practice.
