A Shorter Finnegans Wake

By James Joyce

Book Overview

Ulysses and Finnegans Wake are usually found in most lists of the great classics of the twentieth century. But, as Burgess points out in his introduction: "they are highly idiosyncratic books and 'difficult' books, admired more often than read, when read, rarely read through to the end, when read through to the end, not often fully, or even partially, understood. This is of course especially true of Finnegans Wake. ...This present reduction of Finnegans Wake to the length of an ordinary novel-garnished with an introduction and a running commentary- is my own attempt to bring a great masterpiece to a larger audience..." [the reduction is to that of about 1/3 of its original length].

It took Joyce 17 years to create this extraordinary book (and his final work), written in Paris after the publication of Ulysses. It is written not so much in English as in a language which combines, very often as puns, English with several other languages.

Burgess was a huge admirer of Joyce's work and a great interpreter. His introduction to the shortened version throws a massive light on the structure and meaning of the work and perhaps, most importantly, its position in the literary canon as a great comic book.

" Before we start reading we ought to put off the mask of solemnity and prepare to be entertained. This is one of the most entertaining books ever written". [Burgess]

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1912916932
• ISBN13: 9781912916931
• Release Date: April 2023
• Publisher: Galileo Publishers
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

It is not unreadable, & not that difficult with a little help, c'mon!

Read the good key by Joe Campbell and don't try to understand every single blasted drunken reference, as surely Joe did not...(tho granted he probably got 98% of them) above all, this book must be read aloud, to oneself and/or to others...with a good fake Irish brogue (or a real one if you're Irish); using this method, it is amazing how many times an incomprehensible reference will be brought to light! don't read the abridged version, read what the man wrote, all the way through, and then again, for corn's sake! USQUEBAUGH!

The unreadable masterpiece

Joyce has written the unreadable masterpiece a book which will continue to be discussed and speculated about without anyone ever having been able to read it. Whether this is a great accomplishment I do not know but it does it seems to me fit in with Joyce's pattern of knowing how to take the inner structure and development of his own work to and through its ultimate end no matter what the consequences. There is a logic in the development of Joyce's work from the first epiphanies on oval leaves all through Dubliners and Portrait and then the climax in Ulysses and the great final beallandendall of the Wake. The Wake is a book which puts its reader to sleep and though Joyce demands we read all the years of the nights only literary scholars will. It is a great fake and hoax an onrunning punning funning thing at times - but please oh please do not let me have to give much time to it in my own small future. Which is not to say I do not love the lyric of certain lines certainly the opening of riverrun past bend of bay through swerve of shore and also of course the carry me along taddy as you done at the toyfair a way a lone a long a last the What a slice of blarney this dear little thing its