James Joyce Reading Group discussion

Hi

First time reader of the Wake - longstanding goal. I'm blogging the results on johnsfinneganswake.blogspot.com

6 pages a day from April to September - on page 128 currently. Reading aloud AND silent. Using the Annotations and the Skeleton Key to abet the reading.

Having a great time!

John Browning

I have some time off coming up. I finished the Wake but will read again as I'm focusing on the McHugh. Looking forward to following your blog. My goal is to understand enough to write an intelligent review. Thank you.

I agree with some sentiments Frank Delaney (RIP) said about it on his wonderful Re: Joyce podcast. He said, "You don't read Finnegans Wake. Or at least you don't understand it. What you do is you FEEL Finnegans Wake."

The material in the book is fascinating and I love how you can feel you're getting on the track to understanding it but then it unravels again, just like a dream.

True, true. I'm constantly unraveling. Did I read the Wake? I thought I did but until I can write a review on the Wake, I don't think I've read it. That's why I'm trying to get through the McHugh to increase my understanding of the hidden meanings. So far, I've been FEELING the Wake.

the wake is like any great masterpiece in that it requires numerous readings - as was joyce's desire. agree with burgess in Re:Joyce that the "sound of the river" is really what joyce wanted people to experience, so "feeling" the wake hits close to the mark ... the understanding comes later. i spent two years reading the book in its entirety on the first pass and have made a few successive full passes and have read many of the episodes numerous times. you cannot comprehend it in one sitting! it's impossible, even with the various annotated texts. you have to dive in and keep coming back to it. it's a book you might just develop a lifetime relationship with. but again, i think that's true of all the great works, whether we're talking about rothko, joyce, kristaeva, tarkovsky, or the late beethoven quartets.

and we readers change over time, so of course your relationship to the text changes.

Phillip wrote: "the wake is like any great masterpiece in that it requires numerous readings - as was joyce's desire. agree with burgess in Re:Joyce that the "sound of the river" is really what joyce wanted people..."
Hey Phillip - Interesting list of heroes. I know rothko is a painter, and joyce, but I've never heard of kristaeva (is she the french phenomenologist?), never heard of tarkovsky either, but I'm very interested in the late B q's & how about the late shostakovich quartets too?
I wasted? about 4 or 5 years reading and re-reading the Wake and I got nothing, but i must have got something because why keep rereading a book you can't understand? Well, because Joyce wrote it, and I love the way he writes!
If you ever want to do another Ulysses read, or a Dubliners, I would like to be involved.

This is such a great idea!!! I'm hoping to finish Ulysses this month, review my notes all of next month and then start Finnigans Wake in October ^.^

A novel that's felt rather than read, what a lovely idea!


Source: for this image is a rabbit hole in of itself!!!

It's from this blog:
http://finwakeatx.blogspot.ca/

The artist who drew this image is creating an audio soundtrack reading of FW here:
http://www.waywordsandmeansigns.com/l...

I came up with an idea the other day and would enjoy some feedback. I'm wondering if the last chapter (17) of Finnegans Wake is more than just the conclusion to the novel. Could we maybe find evidence of the author also summing-up and bidding farewell to his entire literary career?

That makes sense! Joyce merged his real life with his fiction writing. So naturally, he would write a goodbye to his writing.

[His health was really bad and he barely finished writing FW. I think it was complete via dictation?]

Biblio wrote: "That makes sense! Joyce merged his real life with his fiction writing. So naturally, he would write a goodbye to his writing.

[His health was really bad and he barely finished writing FW. I think..."
Yes. Agreed. But I would like to find some hard evidence in the text, which for me has always been undecipherable.

Of course it's undcipherable!! That's the best part of Joyce's writing ^.^ I'm sure if a meaning can be gleaned, it'll change the next time the reader considers it. And of course, each reader will see another meaning to it!! To me, this is what Joyce is all about ^.^

Biblio wrote: "That makes sense! Joyce merged his real life with his fiction writing. So naturally, he would write a goodbye to his writing.

[His health was really bad and he barely finished writing FW. I think..."

it was his eyesight that was in decline when he was writing FW. beckett was living in their home for a while and did some of the dictation, but joyce also wrote parts of the text in big letters on big poster boards. he had 11 major eye operations while writing it (and keep in mind that it took 19 years to complete it).

he died a few years after the novel was completed, but the nazi occupation of paris had already taken place, and he and his wife moved to zurich for safety. he spent a lot of what little money the book brought in (as it had been published in segments while he was writing it) helping jewish friends get out of occupied territories. the history of the writing of the book is pretty interesting - richard ellmann's biography is a great read for joyce enthusiasts.