Randy Wilson’s Reviews > Finnegans Wake > Status Update

‘Osso de Basco de pesco de bisco’ - can’t be read it must be spoken. Finnegans Wake is like scat

Joyce intentionally uses alternate words like meny for many. Are there several alternatives for one word? I will pay attention to that

I’ve decided to engage more with the text. Is there no narrator, one narrator or multiple narrators? I ask because I can’t follow the story and it makes me wonder if a novel has no story is there narration and if not then is there a point of view? Another thing - is there just event and descriptions or are their opinions?

Not exceed the limits of language but test where the breaking point is for language to still be powerful and beautiful. With this book, I would say so far the power isn’t here but beauty is.

I’m currently reading this aloud one page a day. Joyce isn’t writing a narrative for people to follow. As far as I can tell he is most interested in all the possible sounds the English language can make even though many words aren’t English and some are made up words. One challenge it seems he posed for himself was, can I exceed the limit of language and still create something original and beautiful?

Reading this out loud I notice sound and idea patterns and clusters but narrative meaning?? Not so much…

Is this a tight rope act? How much many words can I obscure and still make myself understood? If that is the method, why? I hope I’ll be able to get an answer by the time I finish.

Reading this real slow and out loud - Even though I get only a sliver of the words it still makes sense and is quite funny