Anna was, Livia is, Plurabelle's to be
Finnegans WakeThe expression “Anna was, Livia is, Plurabelle's to be” compresses a three-part movement through time into a single sentence: Anna belongs to the past, Livia to the present, and Plurabelle to what is yet to come. Its decisive implication is that these names mark not separate lives but successive forms of a continuity that is still unfolding.
The Three Tenses
Each name is paired with a distinct grammatical time. “Was” places Anna behind the present; “is” makes Livia immediate; “to be” holds Plurabelle in anticipation. The sequence advances from recollection through presence toward possibility, but it does not settle into a final state: the future remains prospective.
Identity Through Change
The sentence makes identity dynamic. Rather than treating its three names as unrelated figures, it links them through a single temporal pattern, so that transformation and persistence become inseparable. The present is neither the whole story nor a fixed identity: it stands between what has been and what may yet be.
Recurrence and Renewal
This temporal progression is set within a surrounding passage that invokes “happy returns” and “The seim anew,” language of recurrence and renewed beginnings. In that context, Plurabelle's future does not simply follow Anna's past in a straight line. The expression holds forward movement together with return, presenting change as another turn in an ongoing cycle.
