Aroon’s
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(group member since May 21, 2013)
Aroon’s
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from the Summer of the Wake group.
Showing 1-20 of 30
Well, you know Anna Livia?
ha!
As Meltinguncle suggested, it could be really useful for us to pick a single page (or even paragraph) and dissect it together. Any nominations?
Fresh horrors from Hades, globules of mercury, undeleted glete, glass eyes for an eye, gloss teeth for a tooth, war moans, special sighs, longsufferings of longstanding, ahs ohs ous sis jas jos gias neys thaws sos yeses and yeses and yeses.
(I'm on page 100, that's not TOO far behind is it?)
20% through!Out of curiosity, if anyone is reading The Wake without any guides - are you finding patterns and pockets of meaning bubble up, now that we're 100+ pages in? Eureka moments? It's a drastically different experience from reading with the guides (though no method of reading is better or worse than any other.)
Personally I figured for discussions we'd take a week as a whole rather than micromanage it down to day-by-day. I don't see anything wrong with discussing stuff 30 pages ahead, since people are no doubt all over the place with their readings, some ahead and some behind. And yeah, I'm not entirely sure spoilers exist for something of this nature!
Oops, I went on vacation and got delayed posting this! I also did not lug my 3 heavy FW books on said vacation, so I'm about 30 pages behind. I will catch up soon, but I'm really glad others are keeping pace. (PS you all should feel free to make new topics if I'm failing to do so!)
Happy Bloomsday y'all
I'm not the only one having FW-inspired dreams?! Phew. I feel like this book has been rearranging my brain.I just finished "The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly" at the end of Chapter 2, and it's all kinds of amazing. Probably the funnest section so far.
I'd wager Daniel has it right. It seems like with Chapter 1, Joyce has introduced us to all of the characters, narrative arcs, figures and myths, themes and concerns of the novel. It's like the 30 pages we just read are a neat microcosm of the larger novel, though we're not quite equipped to deal with most of it yet. Much is submerged and will only become elucidated and expanded upon throughout the rest of the book. We've been introduced to HCE as Finnegan, Willingdone and Van Hoother - and we have some hints about his mysterious sin/guilt regarding something that may or may not have happened in Phoenix Park. We're (maybe, if lucky) dimly aware of a variety of resurrection stories (Finnegan, Finn MacCool, phoenix, Osiris), historical concerns (Waterloo, Crimean war, Irish history, invaders and empire), Babel, the Viconian cycle, and the concept of the same events taking on personal, familial, political, historical, and mythological significance. We also have some sections that seem to provide metatextual commentary on Finnegans Wake itself. It's all quite a lot to take in, but we may be through the densest part, just because so much is thrown at us at once."Essentially, the rest of the book is enlargement, rearrangement, and decoration of what we are given in Chapter I." -Reader's Guide to FInnegans Wake
On to Chapter 2!
How're we doing? :) I'm kinda interested in thoughts on the Museyroom, and Mutt & Jute. They strike me as the funnest and most rewarding sections so far. I was taught the Museyroom section way back in a high school English class, and it was amazing how much the class picked up from that group reading/puzzling session.
I was thinking this morning about how can we ever know what specific references Joyce was intending in some of these words, and really does it even matter?I agree the "mum = German beer brewed in 1492 = America" sounds too far-fetched to pay much attention to. Especially since mumpers=beggars + Dublin,GA + "doubling their numbers" is more than enough to work with. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if every FW scholar has had his share of theories and references that don't quite pan out. I've already seen a bunch, and can't blame anyone for it.
By and large, though, it seems like Joyce is illuminating the text and throwing all kinds of fascinating shadows against the wall. Eureka moments on every page. We just probably shouldn't get too carried away finding connections where none exist.
Judging from the "annaone" in that sentence, the "she" would be ALP, who is the main "she" of this book. Anna Livia Plurabelle. Anna is also all women throughout the ages, the great mother archetype and wife and flowing river. Another "she" is Isabel or Issy, the daughter who replaces ALP as she grows up. We're not introduced to these characters formally in Chapter 1, so it's a bit rough going at the moment. The good news is there aren't that many characters in the book - or there are, but they're all configurations of the same 5 or so overarching characters.Look out for the initials ALP hidden in the text for signs that Anna is present. Other characters are HCE (H.C. Earwicker, or Here Comes Everybody), and his sons Shem and Shaun (or Mutt and Jute, or any of a number of opposed pairs throughout the book)
"Chapter 1 (pages 1-29) is a place where Joyce presents - or, to be accurate, offers - themes and characters, both mistaken by the innocent reader who, to take what is offered, must reread the chapter after reading the book." - says Tindall. (So don't be too worried, I guess. The main characters haven't been properly introduced yet, and we're thrown into a divine/mythological age with a huge amount of information present without a whole lot of context. But we do get a fun retelling of Finnegan's Wake.)Myth, history and religion all seem soaked in a huge amount of drunken ribaldry - sacred & profane:
(FW 4:20) - alcohol, sex, farce, and religion mixed - "guenneses had met their exodus" - Guinness/Genesis, exit/exodus, Finnegan is peeing in the tub?; pentschanjeuchy - pentateuch, Punch & Judy, Jean-Jeudi (french, penis), panschen (water & wine)
3rd grade me likes "take up your partner" / "tuck up your part in her"
(FW 5:15) "earwitness to the thunder of his arafatas" - Mt. Arafat, Our Fathers, Vico's thunder, 'thunder of his farts'
Lots of Islamic imagery on p. 5
And we're off...
I'm happy to see us reaching 40 members! I hope we're all relaxing and mentally gearing up for June 1st. I thought I'd highlight some things to keep in mind, a bit of perspective for the journey ahead. This is above all an egalitarian read, with no one rightfully claiming purchase to the correct reading, interpretation, or understanding of the whole or even part. There's still so much we (readers, critics) don't know about the book, and untold secrets on every page. And there's no right or wrong way to read the text - whether dipping in at random, reading for the musicality and poetry, studying each word and sentence for puns, references and symbols, or trying to grasp the larger themes. Treat it as a sacred bible or read it in the bathroom. And we should by all means lean on the rest of the group to get as much as we can out of the reading! Here's a few quotes that resonate with me while I'm preparing myself:"If one surrenders the need to be master of everything – or even most things – in this strange and magnificent book, it will pour forth lots of rewards. As it says in the Irish American ballad from which Joyce derived his title, after all, 'There's lots of fun at Finnegan's Wake.'" -John Bishop
"Many readers have compellingly argued that the best and most valuable way to read Finnegans Wake – perhaps the only way – is in a group, collectively, where the individualized expertises of all participants can be made to enliven and illuminate the text, and where the text in turn can illuminate for the benefit of everyone else the peculiar talents and idiosyncrasies of each participant (ask anyone to interpret a paragraph of Finnegans Wake and you will learn a lot about that person)." -John Bishop
"The best way to approach Finnegans Wake is in a group. It has to be stalked like a wild animal, and you need a hunting party... it's best in groups with several six-packs of Guinness on the table. The more you drink, the clearer Finnegans Wake gets!" -Robert Anton Wilson, http://youtu.be/5QEps8JvtlA
"Finnegans Wake should not be read like a 'normal' book. If you are looking to make immediate sense of the language and narrative, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration. It is best to approach the Wake with a relaxed mind, one receptive to the sudden metamorphoses and logical slippages common to dreaming. (Think about those precious moments before sleep – the hypnogogic state where images flow through your mind, relaxing and delicate, full of hieratic meaning – a 'sense' that immediately dissolves upon waking.)... Though I realize I’m about to sound like a cultist, when comprehension comes, you can feel silent detonations of understanding ripple through your subconscious. It’s impossible to “get it” in rigid, wake-a-day language: the Wake breaks down the barriers between the structured, rules-oriented mind and the slippery, protean subconscious." -Allen B. Ruch, http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/jo...
"There are several schools of thought on the best way to read Finnegans Wake. Some believe you should arm yourself with a complete set of reference books and annotations, and set into the text like an archeologist on a dig. Others think it’s best to just read it casually, passing over what seems like nonsense and savoring the passages you find striking. Others feel you should read the book out-loud, like poetry, taking delight in the puns as they roll trippingly off the tongue. Rather than make any reading suggestions of my own, I’d rather just offer a small piece of advice: take into the Wake whatever it is you wish to take out. If you want to spend a year immersed in its pages like a monk, you’ll find many companions to help you, from friendly guidebooks to online communities. If you’d rather just skim through happily reading whatever you find charming, that’s fine, too. After all, most people who start the Wake never finish it, and certainly no one claims to understand it completely. Take it at your own pace, and remember that most of all, Finnegans Wake is meant to be enjoyed." -Allen B. Ruch, http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/jo...
You're free to use any edition you prefer! There are pros and cons to each of them. This reading schedule is tied into the standard Penguin/Viking edition (the same pagination is used with the Wordsworth Classics, Penguin Classic and Oxford versions.)
