[This is part of a longer series – previous post (II.1) – next post (II.3)] This is the third time I've said this but it's been true each time - this chapter was the most difficult yet.  By the end I decided that its being un-understandable was the point.  There's a sense in which that's true of the whole book … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book II Chapter 2 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.8) – next post (II.2)] I've now reached the part of the Finnegans Wake I've never read before.  It's strange that even though I last read what I had read almost 15 years ago, it was still easier to comprehend.  I realize that now, as the first chapter of Book … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book II Chapter 1 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.7) – next post (II.1)] Chapter 8 ends the first book, which is, by general consensus, the book of the Olympian-type Gods - HCE (chapters 1-4) and ALP (chapters 5-8).  That over-simplifies things, given that chapter 1 also told the story of Finnegan (in the older generation of gods), chapter … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 8 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.6) – next post (I.8)] Chapter 7 is one of the book's more readable, conventionally structured sections.  It's, more or less, a biography of Shem aka "Shem the Penman," twin brother of Shaun aka "Shaun the Postman," both sons of HCE and ALP.  Shem and Shaun are characters around which … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 7 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.5) – next post (I.7)] Chapter 6 is a Quiz with 12 questions (12 being the number of jurors, disciplines, months, etc.).  As you might imagine, this summary is not as helpful as it sounds.  The quiz has been written by a comically bad educator (or set of four I … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 6 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.4) – next post (I.6)] This chapter was somewhat easier that the preceding two, just because its style (mock-academic) is more consistently maintained. I.  Introductory Prayer The gradually accumulating motif of ALP swells to a crescendo as this chapter opens: In the name of Annah the Allmaziful, the Everliving, the … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 5 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.3) – next post (I.5)] Chapter three ended with HCE safely back in his home ("Humph is in his doge" - 74) in spite of his trial on ambiguous charges.  Chapter four is, more or less, a restatement of chapter 3, so far as I can tell, just in a … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 4 →

[This is part of a longer series – previous post (I.2) – next post (I.4)] If Chapter 2 was easier going, chapter 3 gets much harder again. I.  Hosty's Decline and Fall I'm reasonably sure it begins with a voice that's cursing Hosty for his song, and then also bemoaning his (not HCE's) fall from grace: "Chest Cee!  'sdense!  Corpo … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 3 →

[This is part of a longer series - previous post (I.1) - next post (I.3)] This part of the text is way easier-going than the first chapter.  I think to some extent the first chapter is an overture to the book (just like the first 3 lines are an overture to the chapter).  And the … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 2 →

[This is part of a longer series - previous post (project intro) - next post (I.2)] Introduction Whenever you read a book you make assumptions as you go along.  There is some sort of “narrative contract” between you and the author.  Those contracts are all arbitrary and contingent, even in the most “genre-fiction”-type books you … Continue reading Finnegans Wake – Book I Chapter 1 →