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/lit/ - Literature

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10899734 No.10899734 [Reply] [Original]

Realistically, what prior knowledge (books, language, theory) do I need to get anything out of reading Finnegans Wake?

>> No.10899737

>>10899734
you need to have the same schizophrenic episode James Joyce was having while wrting it.

>> No.10900055

>>10899734
Some knowledge of Irish history and mythology, the Bible, etymology, Qabalah and a passing acquaintance with as many Indo-European languages as possible. There are also several readers' guides available, which you may find useful.

But really, you could spend a lifetime doing background reading and still never be ready. It's the breadth, not the depth, of your knowledge that matters. This is a novel for generalists. The only specific prerequisite I can think of is a solid understanding of Ulysses. This is your entrance exam for the Wake.

If you've got that under your belt, plus a good general knowledge and 20-30 years of adult reading, I say just jump in. You'll soon find out if you're going to sink or swim. You'll need to read it several times before it comes together, so you might as well get started now. Think of it as starting a lifelong acquaintance, rather than just reading a book.

>>10899737
Kill yourself, you fucking pseud.

>> No.10900074

Nobody has ever read finnegan's wake, so you can just say you've read it and it will be the same as everyone else who says they have, like >>10900055

>> No.10900152

>>10900074
>finnegan" ' "s
yikes

>>10900055
eh, what this guy said but its just a less scarier way to say the whole damn cannon up to joyce, lots of theology, lots of languages. But ultimately, as anon said, just read ulysses, and I also recommend Striking and Picturesque Delineations of the Grand, Beautiful, Wonderful, and Interesting Scenery Around Loch-Earn, its a short but very good read, and some say its a preponent to the style used in the wake

and dont take it too seriously, its a criticism joyce himself said, that "the problem is people will try to find a meaning on what I wrote, but there is not one single serious line I've wrote". Look it up on wikiquotes.

>> No.10900165
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10900165

>>10900074
>finnegan's wake
Anon confirmed as fecally incontinent retard.

>> No.10900168

>>10899734
Fukkin dubblin'

>> No.10900204

>>10899737
It does sound like schizophrenia, I've read passages from it, it's just fun to read, words come and go, they make sense sometimes and sometimes they don't. I don't get the mental masturbation of going over books and analyzing them, basically murdering art. Just read it.

>> No.10900626

It’s a pretty simple fucking book when you get down to it. Joseph Campbell first cracked it in 1944.

>> No.10900641

>>10900074
literal retard

>> No.10901674

>>10900152
the quote is "The pity is the public will demand and find a moral in my book — or worse they may take it in some more serious way, and on the honor of a gentleman, there is not one single serious line in it." and it's about Ulysses

also i just learned that his last words were "Does nobody understand?", take that into account OP

some other quotes since i'm there already:
"The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole Life to reading my works."

"If I gave it all up immediately, I'd lose my immortality. I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that's the only way of insuring one's immortality."

"I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book."

>> No.10901698

>>10900055
>It's the breadth, not the depth
It's both breadth and depth. Joyce had ridiculous knowledge about anything literature-related. Unless you're as smart as him you'll never fully understand it.

>> No.10902877

Does McLuhan's reading of it hold any weight?

>> No.10902959

>>10900204
I don't see how analyzing art is bad. You shouldn't have to, don't denigrate those who do and say they're "murdering art." It's not so simple as "you either get it or you don't," anyone can come to understand things they didn't get at first, and why insult them for doing so?

>> No.10903114

>>10902877
About equal to Joseph Campbell's, minus the masonic memery and loligagging.

>> No.10904122
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10904122

>>10903114
>loligagging

>> No.10904182

>>10902959
I mean don't try to do it while you're reading it to make yourself feel "smart".

>> No.10905632

What if Finnegans Wake actually contains the meaning of life or answer to philosophy or something like that but everyone is just too much of a brainlet to understand it.

>> No.10905784

>>10904182
You literally have to do just that if you want to get any meaning out of it at all.

Try reading the whole thing instead of just "passages."

>> No.10905810

>>10902877
yes, Finnegan’s Wake is hermetic and a commentary on language

>> No.10905832

>>10899734
just use fweet dot org

>> No.10905839
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10905839

>>10900074
>>10905810
>’

>> No.10905842

>>10905839
deal with it irony faggot

>> No.10905848

>>10905842
kill yourself pseud