Monday, 22 October 2018, Pages 502 - 505

Our reading stopped at "... all sides out of him, ..." (505.5)

An interrogation is taking place in Earwicker's dream. The focus is again on that infamous incidence in the Phoenix park.
A witness (?) is describing the place/day/time when the illassorted first couple first met with each other. Accordingly they met at a place fairly exposed to the four last winds (fully exposed to the wind?) There was a flagstone and a sign proclaiming 'Trickpissers will be pairsecluded" (Tresspassers will be prosecuted!) A somewhat long description of the trees, birds etc that are around there follows... to be continued in the coming reading session.

Our Exagmination Round His Factification....

"Your exagmination round his factification for incamination of a warping process."
(Finnegan's Wake, 497.2)

Wikipedia has a special webpage on 'Our Exagmination Round His Factification....' Accordingly it is a collection of essays and two letters published in 1929 and is on the subject of Finnegans Wake. Edited by Samuel Beckett, the essays were by people who knew him personally and followed the Work in Progress.

The book itself can be downloaded here!

Monday, 15 October 2018, Pages 499 - 502

Our reading stopped at "... Foxrock to Finglas." (502.35)

We covered almost 3 pages as what we read consisted mostly of single sentences and occasionally very short paragraphs.

An enquiry /examination is still going on. Many voices are speaking. Their exclamations/comments are intercepted again and again with the 'word' Zinzin. Well, I again consulted Joseph Campbell's book as to its meaning. He writes: 'This theme is associated throughout with the noise of jubilee at the wake; it accompanies the Fall theme; it is the sound of a dry leaf scratching Earwicker's bedroom window.'

The section we read hints at Tristan and Isolde and Wagner. Lewd's carol (Lewis Carroll or Xmas carols) is also alluded to. It is fun to decode the popular xmas carols from the following:
1. jusse as they rose and sprungen (502.7)
2. Lieto galumphantes (502.10)
When the above can be decoded it is easy to decode the sentence, 'Hail many fell of greats!' (502.22)

By the way, today was the 6th anniversary of our starting to read FW. Some of us celebrated the event in style here after the reading!

Monday, 8 October 2018, Pages 497 - 499

Our reading stopped at "Watch!" (499.29)

Apart from learning from McHugh that the paragraph starting with 'Bappy-go-gully' contains 29 words for death in at least 15 different languages, (don't ask for their significance! All I know is that Finnegan's Wake deals with wake i.e., death), we recognised that the four old men are still at their cross examination of Shawn, whose voice has by now been taken over by ALP, who is defending her husband against the rumours of the Phoenix park incidence.

We also thought we recognised Finnegan at his wake (Funnycoon's wick/p. 499) BUT Joseph Campbell says "... the scene is strangely amplified and magically transformed; the body on the bier seems to be, not Finnegan of primeval times, but HCE in the full glory of his empire." (P. 250 in A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake)

Monday, 1 October 2018

Apologies for not posting anything about what we read on October 1. When I synced my iPad with my Mac last week, I lost my copy of Finnegan's Wake on the iPad!