No small task.
 

I couldn't be happier - this week I firmly decided that I want to really immerse myself into the dark-humored linguistic labyrinth that is Finnegans Wake. Not just superficially - read-aloud gatherings are jovial exercises in social theater where attendees discover more about the reader than of the text. Instead, I've secured gorgeous hardcover editions of Joseph Campbell's A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake and McHugh's similar Annotations to Finnegans Wake. These are the two most exhaustive analytical and scholarly texts on Joyce's masterwork.


I want to explore the world's least-read great novel and develop a concrete appreciation of Joyce's sharp wit and of the novel's legendary morphemic acrobatics.

This is an exercise I aim to lose myself within. I've an addiction to cerebral projects and find myself ever-searching for the next big challenge. It is in part escapism from the "dumbed-down" mass-culture I so actively avoid. Independent academic ventures are a realm of safety where all knowledge shines brightly and wisdom is the ultimate virtue. But it is also an activity which simply appeals to my core values - my love of learning, challenges, and discovery. I am, as Cage once said, "a student from the school from which we'll never graduate."


riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs...

[EDIT] A side note to fellow readers - Annotations is considered an academic text and as such commands an $85 price from all sellers. Astonishingly, if you visit the John Hopkins University Press website, you can purchase a new copy of the 648pp Hardback for 71% OFF - only $25! (LESS than the price of the paperback!) Today is my lucky day.

I've tried and failed to read Finnegan's Wake all the way through. These days I just flip to a page and read it aloud. The rest of Joyce's books are great as well.

I can't figure out whether or not this is sarcastic.

It's not that I disliked Finnegan's Wake, I just didn't have the follow through on this one. If you could tell from my post I'm actually still reading it.

So basically, you're too pretentious to admit defeat?

I gave up after reading the first sentence. Maybe after the second.

Great Apocalyptic novel.

Reading the first Harry Potter book :cool:

Started this morning and on chapter 8 now, this is good shit.

Read the 144th issue of The Walking Dead. It was insane.

144!!! Which characters are still alive from the first issue?

Reading Anvil of Stars also by Greg Bear which is the sequel to The Forge of God.