Well, it’s taken me nine months, but I’ve finally finished James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. I think it’s the most difficult book I’ve ever read, and it’s the only one where I’ve depended on guides to make any headway in understanding it. The books I used were:
- A Reader’s Guide to Finnegans Wake by William York Tindall, Syracuse University Press, 1969; and
- A Skeleton Key to Finnegan’s Wake, Unlocking James Joyce’s Masterwork, by Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson, Collected Works Edition, New World Library, 2005
I would have been completely lost without them!
I’d like to thank everyone who’s stayed with me for the journey… although I enjoyed FW for much of the time, there were also times when I might well have given up without your encouragement!
Here’s a link to each chapter, as I read it.
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce (with help from Tindall and Campbell) #1 Getting started
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #2 Chapter 1
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #3 Chapter 2
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #4 Chapter 3
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #5 Chapter 4
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #6 Chapter 5
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #7 Chapter 6
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #8 Chapter 7
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #9 Chapter 8
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #10 Chapter 9
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #11 Chapter 10
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #12 Chapter 11
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #13 Chapter 12
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #14 Chapter 13
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #15 Chapter 14
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #16 Chapter 15
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #17 Chapter 16
- Finnegans Wake, (Folio Edition) by James Joyce #18 Chapter 17
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Congratulations. I’m afraid I didn’t keep up at all. I decided that if I ever decide to read it I’ll come read your posts as I do, but I’m not sure I feel driven to read a book that takes so much energy. My bad!!
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By: whisperinggums on December 22, 2017
at 7:25 pm
Oh, I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s any reason to read it unless it really intrigues you. For me, it was just unfinished business:)
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By: Lisa Hill on December 22, 2017
at 10:18 pm
Yes, I think you’re right re intriguing one. It intrigues me to a degree, but not enough. I think Ulysses, The Dubliners and Portrait of the artist as a young man, all of which I loved, probably satisfy my Joycean desires. But, you never know how I might feel another year.
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By: whisperinggums on December 22, 2017
at 10:36 pm
And there’s always Bottom’s Dream which Tony Messenger is reading!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 22, 2017
at 10:59 pm
Wow! Thank goodness 😁 haha
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By: travellinpenguin on December 22, 2017
at 7:38 pm
You deserve a medal!
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By: ablay1 on December 22, 2017
at 8:21 pm
Just a rest for the brain, I think…
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By: Lisa Hill on December 22, 2017
at 10:19 pm
Ulysses next, as a palate cleanser?! Congratulations
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By: Tredynas Days on December 22, 2017
at 10:24 pm
Well done! :)
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By: kaggsysbookishramblings on December 22, 2017
at 10:31 pm
‘Tis a miracle to be sure, to be sure. Congratulations! I do wonder what kind of comment you might have got from Joyce – maybe your devoted followers would like to have a crack at making up something appropriate??
A friend in Brit wished me a ‘cool Yule’, and I will ‘re-gift’ the sentiments to all the Lovers of Oz Lit.
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By: roscollins on December 23, 2017
at 7:08 am
The only thing I could say with any confidence is that Joyce would have been pleased that I read it at all: he apparently thought that his work could be read by ordinary readers such as myself…
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By: Lisa Hill on December 23, 2017
at 10:47 am
Congratulations!
C
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By: boothsbooks on December 23, 2017
at 9:59 am
Congratulations. I gave up after a few chapters as I didn’t see the point in continuing with it. Surely reading a book in French is easy by comparison?
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By: Jonathan on December 23, 2017
at 11:38 am
Bien sûr! And now that I’m finished I’m going to pick up where I left off with En l’absence des hommes.
But you know, some people like to pursue a PB in sport or climbing mountains, while others create cakes of death-defying complexity. I’d rather play a fiendishly difficult Bach contrapuntal on my piano than a gentle Strauss waltz, and FW has been on my list of personal challenges for ages…
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By: Lisa Hill on December 23, 2017
at 11:55 am
Bravo
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By: Anton Mikofsky on December 23, 2017
at 11:46 pm
*standing ovation* – a massive reading achievement.
So what have you got planned for 2018? ;-)
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By: Kate W on December 26, 2017
at 11:37 pm
Nothing big and incomprehensible!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 26, 2017
at 11:59 pm
[…] I’ve owned Langland’s Piers Plowman since my student days but I think I’d rate it as even more difficult to take in than Finnegan’s Wake. […]
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By: Troubled Bones, Jeri Westerson | theaustralianlegend on February 23, 2018
at 8:26 am
Gosh… well, maybe I can add that to my list of difficult books to try one day! Thanks for the mention:)
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By: Lisa Hill on February 23, 2018
at 10:36 am
[…] Finnegans Wake by James Joyce — and if Joyce is not your cup (of Irish Breakfast) Tea, try […]
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By: Last Stories, by William Trevor (Reading Ireland Month 2020) | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on March 11, 2020
at 10:13 pm
[…] Finnegans Wake by James Joyce — and if Joyce is not your cup (of Irish Breakfast) Tea, try […]
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By: Last Stories, by William Trevor (Reading Ireland Month 2020) | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on March 11, 2020
at 10:13 pm
[…] great work Such is Life, following in the footsteps of Brona (Moby Dick) and Lisa Hill (Finnegan’s Wake), with posts, probably monthly, throughout the […]
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By: Brona’s AusReading Month 2020 | theaustralianlegend on November 5, 2020
at 11:08 am
[…] haven’t read. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself: tell someone you’ve read Finnegans Wake and see what kind of response you get. (Plus, then in you do this meme yourself, *chuckle* you […]
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By: The Last 10 Books Tag, 2020 | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on December 29, 2020
at 3:52 pm
[…] they may not have read); I’m taking my cue from Brona’s Moby Dick and Lisa’s Finnegan’s Wake which both I think worked very well – I hope they don’t mind the […]
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By: Old People | The Australian Legend on June 16, 2021
at 4:08 pm
[…] like to think I’m adventurous: I’ve tackled Finnegans Wake and Ulysses; I love reading B.S. Johnson and Brian Castro and Gerald Murnane; I’ve shared my […]
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By: Danged Black Thing, by Eugen Bacon | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on September 5, 2021
at 9:01 am