Self-Reflective Revision

A nice account of one aspect of Finnegans Wake:

In a process of revision that is itself self-reflective, Joyce moulds language for purposes we cannot grasp, leaving us to guess at how to bring these strange words towards meaning, at how they might 'same with' other words. This game with language seems purely experimental, toying with fixed rules of language, but it also reflects on the common processes of language change and variation--such as the way phrasal verbs, expressions, and grammatical structure emerge (and fade) continually. It compresses and makes these processes explicit, while taking them to an extreme, continually stressing the materiality of language and suggests that we can, if we wish, do what we like with it. Joyce refuses to lag behind those changes that occur to language in its everyday use, wishing instead to embody the spirit of the transformation of expression.  (Finn Fordham, Lots of Fun at Finnegans Wake, Oxford 2007, p. 203-204)

Finnegans Wake Re-Re-Read

Well, maybe not the "best" book, but still.... Finnegans Wake is quite an experience. Reading it twice in a row (after having read it once back in the '80s) was something I never dreamed I'd ever do, and I definitely feel like my brain has been put through the ringer. I loved it. And I didn't even obsess over minutiae or layered meanings of individual words... my copy is astonishingly clean of annotations. I just let it wash all over me. Listening to Patrick Horgan's recording while reading it was definitely a plus... you need both your eyes and your ears for this... I find that reading it aloud to myself is often too distracting because I run into too many words I can't pronounce, and it impedes the flow... I also got a lot out of both Epstein and Kitcher's books... I especially liked Kitcher's approach to teasing out how what he terms the "Joycean virtues" ("kindness, understanding, tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness" --p. 250) are expressed in the Wake. I also appreciated Kitcher's perception of the dreamer (the reader? whoever is "narrating" the novel) and the dreamer's "dreamwork":

The dreamer is an aging man for whom there arises a cluster of overlapping issues about individuality and conformity, about public life and private life, about creativity and intimate relationships, and about the existence and value of enduring love. (Kitcher, p. 57)

Reading List, Week of 2019-08-04

After finishing Finnegans Wake for the second time, I am ready to start it a third. I will say this: the more you know, the better it gets. My reading plan for my next rereading is to read the section on each chapter in two books: Kaleidoscope: An Invitation to Finnegans Wake by Philip Kitcher, and A Guide Through Finnegans Wake by Edmund Lloyd Epstein, then read each chapter in the Rose/O'Hanlon edition (the Folio Society version) while listening to Patrick Horgan's reading. It really helps to listen while reading ---both, not one or the other. The visual and the aural overlap and coalesce. Epstein's take is more informational, closer in spirit to the Tindall guide. But I really like Kitcher's take on the book as a whole, where he is less focused on minutiae and more concerned with the notion of an ageing dreamer trying to come to terms with his life.

Reading List 2019-08-05:

*Epstein, Edmund Lloyd. A Guide Through Finnegans Wake (started)
*Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake (ed. Rose/O'Hanlon) (reread/started)
*Kitcher, Philip. Joyce's Kaleidoscope: An Invitation to Finnegans Wake (started)
*Nelson, Michael J. Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese (reread/started)
*Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake (ed. Henkes, Bindervoet, Fordham) (reread/finished)
*Tindall, William York, A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake (finished)
*Dreyer, Benjamin. Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style (in progress)
*Goldbarth, Albert. Across the Layers: Poems Old and New (in progress)

Finnegan Again

I'm doing it. I'm taking the plunge and rereading Finnegans Wake. I first read it in the '80s and it was a mind-blowing experience. This time, I am reading the Oxford World's Classics edition, edited by Robbert-Jan Henkes and Erik Bindervoet, and I am also reading along with the massive recording of the whole book as read by Patrick Healy. Reading it this way adds a whole other dimension to the experience, seeing the  words and hearing one aspect of them aloud at the same time, especially with Healy's strong Irish accent. He reads at a pretty pace, so it's pretty bracing to immerse yourself in this world this way. But as quick as it might go this way, it's still a long laborious read.... laborious in a good way. It's big fun. Even so, this book will be appearing on my Reading Lists "in progress" for quite some time, I'm sure!