- The Writers Voice -

[Harry]

One of the joys, (and frustrations) of my reading life has been slogging my way through Joyce’s, “Finnegan’s Wake.”

From its very beginning, you know you’ve got a tiger by the tail; and not just any tiger. An Irish tiger!

>>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.<<

It grows denser and denser as you get into it, (or intuit) as he might say.

>>It may half been a missfired brick, as some say, or it mought have been due to a collupsus of his back promises, as others looked at it.<<

Until finally he leaves you hanging on the ropes when he brings in Finnegan’s girl friend.

>>Arrah, sure, we all love little Anny Ruiny, or, we mean to say, lovelittle Anna Rayiny, when unda her brella, mid piddle med puddle, she ninnygoes nannygoes nancing by.<<

If I had a dime for everyone who’s started Finnegan’s Wake and not finished it, I’d be a wealthy man.
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We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
Ernest Hemingway

[DaveR]

"Finnegan's Wake" has probably scared more readers from Joyce than you can imagine. It might be a good idea for young writers out there to start with Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." With a little effort, this book is readable by mere mortals. Same with his short story "The Dead."

Both demonstrate the awesome potential of the "written word."

[Harry]

I'm afraid Joyce's early work, including "The Dubliners" doesn't adequately prepare anyone for the revolutionary "Ulysses" and 'Finnegan's Wake."

They are both written for a generation that has yet to emerge. They are truly electrifying novels covering every emotion the human soul can muster in a language that is every bit as incomprehensible as mankind itself.
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We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.
Ernest Hemingway

[Heidi]

I agree with most of the things said here. I think that our Senior English class is going to read James Joyce's Potrait of a Young Man or was it Artist towards the end of the semester. May I recommend reading John Ciarardi's (spelling?) translation of Dante's Infero? It's very easy to understand compared to what I've read in my English class so far and actually makes sense in regular and poetic language. I'm actually enjoying reading The Infero which suprises me a little. I guess it's because the topic is something I'm interested in and have often thought about Anyway that's my 2cents worth on the subject. t.t.y.l.
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It isn't the fame itself that makes you famous but what you do with that fame that does.

[Paul Grimsley]

I've read Dubliners and Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man and I admit to having started Ullyses and not having finished it a couple of times now, and Finnegan's Wake has been sitting on my shelf taunting me for a while.
I will one day read them both because I hate those people who have shelves full of books that are only there to be dusted and displayed like ornaments. I've found that William Burrough's Ticket That Exploded, The Soft Machine and some of his other cut-up novels are considered equally difficult. I'm not suggesting any kind of playing field where they are on equal terms, but I do like them and find that they sometimes enliven thw words by changing the way they are used in the same way Joyce does. Jeff Noon's Cobralingus and Needle In The Groove have a similar kind of technique where structure plays games with meaning and you have to retool your head to be able to get a grip on what's going on.
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The word is a prism through which the two beams shot from heart and head are refracted into the colours of the Universe.