Finnegans Wake For Fools - Introduction to the Wake
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- This is the first lecture in a series I will be doing on James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" aimed at providing analysis and contextualization for key passages from the infamously opaque novel. These lectures seek to equip the "fool" with some hermeneutic tools for wading through the wake of this ocean of a book and gaining confidence in the ability to string together not only a narrative but a unique interpretation of the themes presented. This lecture provides a brief summary of some of the themes, characters, plot, and pertinent historical information about Finnegans Wake (at least enough to feel confident enough to wade into the waters). Enjoy!
Music is Penderecki's Symphony No. 3: Vivace by the Polish National Radio Orchestra • Vivace
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Finnagans Wake one of my favorites by James Joyce ❤
"All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music.": This famous quote by Walter Pater, freely interpreted, applies especially to Finnegans Wake. Here, the literary language of high modernism approaches Avantgarde music: the (partial) emancipation of radically complex sounds from easily decodable references to the real, which are hidden in puns, cryptic allusions, and esoteric metaphors. Great lecture, Gavin!
Thanks for all this!
Great stuff. My favourite characters are actually CBD and THC (can't forget the incredible sole chapter featuring Joyce's personal favourite, DXM)
Finnegans Wake is probably my second favourite novel (if we call it that) alongside Burroughs' Nova Express.
Finnegans Wake is so fun to read, i still have no idea what people go on about it being hard to read or whatever. It's still a highly complex book and Joyce spent a lot of time writing it, there is seemingly unlimited things one can find in the Wake. It is so rich in religious, mythological, philosophical, symbolic depth (idiosyncraticly embedded linguistically).
Ulysses is fun but I have always gravitated to the Wake far more.
Havent finished your video yet, still listening but great insights so far.
Thank you! Couldn’t agree more
This makes me so excited for what's to follow. Been trying to read Ulysses for quite some time (currently stuck on Lestrygonians) and the Wake seems a daunting book presently. I hope these lectures make it more approachable for everyone!
Good luck on Ulysses! Lestrygonians is up there for favorite chapter for its vivid, fever-dream episode of sloppy, grool-eating Dubliners, which mirrors the cannibalistic Lestrygonians from the Odyssey.
@@gavinyoung-philosophy ah yes, the gustatory, gastronomic references are hard to miss in this episode 😂 but also Bloom's personal asides and reflections on life, relationships, infidelity and most prominently, advertising are fascinating themes here. I personally found this passage intriguing where a troupe of advertising men wearing hats with letters on them that Bloom catches on the street with "Y lagging behind" and crossing Westmoreland street when "apostrophe S plodded by". Joyce's play with language, even orthography is incredible. Also, unrelated, but I discovered this book in the library by Beryl Schlossmann - "Joyce's Catholic Comedy of Language" but I couldn't get the chance to read too much of it.