tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41670277870235687482024-03-13T12:49:20.372-07:00RejoyceDedicated to my vainglorious self-imposed challenge to read Finnegans Wake. And other things lit'rary.ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-39545630563765453682015-12-20T09:24:00.002-08:002015-12-20T09:40:26.418-08:0014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">I had one goal
for 2015: to read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that and to publish a book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I accomplished both, but today we’re dealing
with the first goal, the one I set for myself in January when I first
calculated the number of pages I would need to read each week in order to
easily get from “<span style="color: #1c1c1c;">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” to the actual start of that
sentence, which famously begins at the end of the book: “a way a lone a last a
loved a long the”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-size: large;">Yesterday, December
19, 2015, I reached that final page, 628.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But as any reader of the <i>Wake</i> knows, there is no end to the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, it’s a circle that begins midsentence,
a fine enough idea for a book though not as mind-blowing as anything between
“riverrun” and “the,” but aside from this rather easy manner in which Joyce created a
never-ending text there are allusions and illusions, references and shout-outs,
digs and puns and portmanteaus packed on every line of every page, enough to
drive any serious reader mad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in
this sense, one’s reading of the <i>Wake</i> is never really finished.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">I
admit the following: I am not a serious reader of the <i>Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not Henry Morton Robinson or Joseph
Campbell or William York Tindall or Anthony Burgess or John Bishop or Roland
McHugh or any of the many literary scholars who devoted significantly
more time and energy to this all-encompassing book of the dark than I ever
will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have dabbled in the work of
these individuals and see that they often agree and almost as often don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>McHugh especially seems to feel that his is the sole correct reading, or maybe that is just my response to
his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Finnegans Wake Experience</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I was too intimidated by his mammoth
annotations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">But
here’s the thing: I was only able to get from the start to the end (though
again, there is no end) of the <i>Wake</i> when I decided to forgo my usual need to
understand what I was reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
not a recommendation for you, if you, whoever you are, are daring enough to
wade through Joyce’s most difficult (and, arguably, best) work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is merely how I managed to overcome my
limitations as a reader: by embracing them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I surrendered to the linguistic
clusterfuck, I found myself enjoying the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Actually enjoying it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anthony
Burgess wrote that the <i>Wake</i> is “one of the few books of the world that can make
us laugh aloud on nearly every page.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This from the guy who wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Clockwork Orange</i>, a truly hilarious book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And guess what: he’s not wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though every page of the <i>Wake </i>created confusion and frustration, nearly every
page provided a delight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are
jokes, though, to be fair, some of them are intentional and some may be of my own making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">Let
me explain. That first line of the book
is packed with a lot of stuff. Let’s
look at it again: “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.” The river here is the
Liffey, the Dublin river that runs past a church referred to as Adam and Eve’s
and then, if one follows it, to Howth Castle. Seems straight forward enough, but what about "commodious vicus"? It was clear to me
upon initial reading that there was a toilet joke in here. A commode, or toilet, also has water running
in a circular fashion, much like the dirty river of Joyce’s “dear dirty
Dublin.” A vicus? A little research informed this reader
that a vicus may refer to an unofficial Roman settlement perhaps populated by
workers who mined outside of Rome in the era of the empire. This makes a bit of sense when one considers
the qualities of Dublin Joyce wrote of: working class people with vast inner
lives (Leopold Bloom in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> and,
in the <i>Wake</i>, H.C.E.). So, we have a
river, some landmarks, the salt-of-the-earth residents of
the city, and a reference to the Roman Empire by way of a shit joke. Oh, and let’s not forget that “vicus”
may also (probably) be a reference to Giambattista Vico, 18<sup>th</sup>
century writer whose <i>Scienza Nuova</i> (New Science) informs much of the <i>Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without getting too deep into the ideas of
Vico, suffice it to state that he saw the world in stages and history as a cycle, and the one of his era as being at the end of the third
stage, the first being the age of gods, the second the age of heroes, the third
the age of men, all to be followed by a return to the age of gods as
symbolized in the <i>Wake</i> by a thunderclap that shakes humans to their core with
awe, humbling them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This cycle provides the framework of Joyce’s text.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, without reading much Vico (I looked
up some stuff online, thumbed through a book), this reader was able to see the
theme of the book (one of them, at least).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What a first line!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">What does this have to do with jokes, Joyce’s or
mine?</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Okay, again—the first line has
references (Dublin, Rome, Vico) and a toilet joke.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">I am fairly confident in this reading.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">But almost immediately I started to see
references and gags that made me smile even though they may not have much to do
with what Joyce was trying to convey.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">On
page 418, my dog makes an appearance.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">
</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Seriously, Haru pops up on that page, and while I tried for a bit to
decode Joyce's use of this word, which has significant meaning for me, what I found
interested me less than what the word made me think of: my lovely dog who was,
actually, sitting at my feet as I found him in the </span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Wake</i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">. (And, like the people of the <i>Wake</i>, my dog was sleeping, dreaming of everything and perhaps becoming everyone.) This sort of thing happened a lot during my
year of reading.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Haroun shows up early
in the <i>Wake</i>.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">This is not all that
significant save for the fact that (as I blogged previously) last year I spent
the summer reading Joyce while my wife read Rushdie, author of </span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Haroun and
the Sea of Stories</i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Again, not much of a coincidence, but these sorts of personal connections are fun.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I may have already stated this elsewhere, so
forgive me (but since no one is reading this, who cares?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i>Wake</i> is like that tree in <i>Empire
Strikes Back</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You find in it what
you bring with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have a dog
named Haru, he will be in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you have a wife reading Rushdie, a Rushdie title will emerge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If one can just go with the idea that they as
a reader are reflected in the text, the reading will yield singular
delights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many books can do that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Speaking of <i>Star Wars</i>, my lovely wife bought me a book of Joyce criticism written by John Gordon called </span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Joyce and Reality: The Empirical Strikes Back </i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">(great pun!)</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">. Significance: </span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The Empire Strikes Back</i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> is my favorite of the <i>Star Wars</i> movies. And: <i>The Force Awakens</i> premiered this week. Though I loved <i>Star Wars</i> as a boy, in my 40s it's not the force I want to wake but the <i>Wake</i> I want to read. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">It
is likely I will return to the <i>Wake</i> because, like I keep insisting, I am not
finished even after reading each word on each page.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">I may not return today, but I can see myself
dipping back into this river before long.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">
</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">I have a month to read a few other books </span></span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">(written by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Lydia Davis, and Christopher Hitchens to name a few writers I'm aching to get to)</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "\22 times new roman\22 "; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> before my semester begins and I get back
to reading student essays, though</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">I may
have to spend this month looking over more plot-driven (though the
</span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Wake </i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">has a plot), direct pieces of writing.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Anything claiming to be experimental now
seems precious.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Nothing is more
experimental than the </span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Wake</i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">, and nothing is as successful.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">There are ambitious, challenging books
written by capable writers, but they seem lesser than the </span><i style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Wake</i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Because they are written by lesser writers?</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Probably not—they just don’t connect with me
at the moment.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">Joyce has spoiled
me.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";">If I’m going to wade through some
seemingly impenetrable prose or poetry, it better be as fun and engaging as
Joyce’s.</span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">A tall order, to be sure. Really, impossible to fill.</span></span></div>
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ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-72651206407311821582015-08-29T11:53:00.001-07:002015-08-29T11:59:36.636-07:0013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I’m
about seven pages away from finishing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dublinesque</i>
by Enrique Vila-Matas, one of the books I’m reading this year along with my slow
wade through the verbal mud that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans
Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My plan was to read some books
during the times I was taking my break from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, my other
plan was to read 13 pages of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>
a week, which I did for a while, then stopped doing, then played catch up over
the summer allowing me to now be ahead of schedule, slightly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all know that making plans is the surest
way to make god laugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Dublinesque</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> seemed an ideal
book to read during this my year of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It focuses a lot on Joyce, Dublin, Beckett,
and, mostly, the state of publishing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Still, I am not very excited by this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do love other books by Vila-Matas, though my fondness for them alternates. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bartleby & Co</i>. is fantastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I immediately followed it up with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Montano’s Malady</i>, which I found rather
dull.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few years later, I decided to
give EVM another shot and read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Never Any
End to Paris</i>, a great read that got me excited for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dublinesque</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here I am
blogging instead of reading seven pages that will allow me to begin a new book
and more the hell on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">To
be fair, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Montano’s Malady</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dublinesque </i>are fine books, certainly
worth reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They, like all of the
Vila-Matas works I’ve read or read about, are very much for literary geeks, springboarding
from the works of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Savvy readers
will recognize that “Dublinesque” is the name of a poem by Philip Larkin.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are certainly a lot of fun in that
regard, though my ambivalence for some of his books may stem from this nagging
feeling I’m having lately that interesting, cerebral ideas are not always enough
to really make a book sing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I want
to hear music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Finnegans Wake</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> is the goddamn
top example of a wild idea brought to its most extreme conclusion, the grandest
instance of the infinite possibilities of the novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dare say that even detractors have to
admire the audacity of the thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Considering my admiration, awe, and, I’ll say it, love for this book,
other literary experiments by other writers should be as pleasing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, of course, these other writers are not
Joyce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
applaud ambition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of my favorite
books are wild and maddening and require a degree of patience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These books—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three Trapped Tigers, Vilnius Poker, The Obscene Bird of Night, The
Master and Margarita, The Sound and the Fury</i>—are “difficult” in the sense
that they break from linear story telling or are comprised of multiple narrators
or they rely heavily on linguistic tomfoolery and couldn’t care less about
plot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But… I have to admit that there’s
a lot to be said for straightforward books with engaging stories and well
developed characters. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Writers like
Pynchon and Perec are fantastic when they are fantastic, but (and this feels
like a shocking confession) I find the ideas that drive their books to often be
more interesting than the books themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans Wake</i> are larger than the
conceptual underpinnings that have made them famous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One gets the idea behind <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> pretty early: It all takes place on one day, the thoughts
and experiences of these Dubliners are as epic as Homer— okay, fine, but that
alone wouldn’t sustain readers for 700 and some pages.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans Wake</i> is spoiling
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a challenge but the rewards
make it worthwhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may only comprehend
the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg, but every page has provided
amusement as well as bemusement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
more than a well-executed experiment; it is a total work of art, an
all-encompassing book with no beginning and no end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it has forced me to read in a way that
no other book has, showing me my own possibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Subsequently, rather
than look for another book along these lines, I feel compelled to read more
conventional books, as no other literary experiment will ever match the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>.</span></div>
</div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-46405178314385257722015-06-19T16:04:00.002-07:002015-06-19T16:09:11.177-07:0012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">While making
dinner earlier this week, I decided to check out <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thinky Pain</i>, Marc Maron’s comedy special.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> While cooking, </span>I usually watch some comedy videos via Netflix streaming and
it was more than time I checked out Maron’s neurosis parade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my favorite bits had to do with
Captain Beefheart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maron claims
Beefheart’s music has always loomed over him, this intimidating thing he knows
he is never going to understand, never going to posses the largeness of mind (paraphrase) to really comprehend, but he feels now, in his late 40s, that it's time to dive into the
mad world of Beefheart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">This is how I
feel about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To borrow Maron’s phrase, I will never,
ever have the largeness of mind to fully get what Joyce is up to in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s fine—I knew that going in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when Maron said that, well, I felt
a kinship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are things in
this world we will never fully <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get</i>,
but that’s no reason to steer clear of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Frankly, I feel sad for anyone who avoids the inexplicable. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">I’m about done
with book I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s that goddamn
chapter 6, the quiz
chapter, that really threw me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order
to assail that fucking wall, I returned to the toolkit: the critical texts, the internet,
all the efforts all these years devoted to decoding the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve done well just reading the book
without resorting to a lot of guides, but that chapter was too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the guides proved helpful, but I’m
determined to continue without them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think reading the book first then reading critical texts will prove
more enjoyable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll likely miss
out on a lot this way, but I have the rest of my life to dig back into the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just want to get through it once before I set about the
lifelong task of trying to make a modicum of sense out of this clusterfuck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">PS: I tried listening to Beefheart while Reading the <i>Wake</i>. Big mistake. That's flying too close to the sun. </span></div>
</div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-54733581334329482332015-02-04T06:03:00.003-08:002015-02-04T06:03:31.173-08:0011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Two chapters finished-- more thoughts to come, but I figured I might benefit from a break form the <i>Wake</i>, so, to honor JJ on his birthday, I read the opening pages of "The Dead", which is often regarded as not only his best story but the finest ever written (in English). But I couldn't get through it. It's great stuff, but the prose was too straight forward. The <i>Wake</i> is poisoning me against standard prose. </div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-8009732405402670312015-01-25T18:46:00.002-08:002015-01-25T18:46:23.724-08:0010<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This week’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans
Wake</i> adventures have been nothing short of fun and a wee bit clarifying as
well as, of course, confounding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chapter
one of the first book has been read and reread, so there’s that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My goal of 52 pages a month is almost met, so
that’s even more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And more still: the
second chapter is noted by many critics and scholars as considerably more
approachable, so I feel as though the hard part is over. (Hilarious—the hard
part has not yet begun.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I don’t claim to understand much of this but I laughed at
least once a page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> There's plenty to laugh at among the puns and neogolisms and layers upon maddening layers. </span>And I managed to
follow a good bit of it thanks to Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson,
John Bishop, and Ronald McHugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much has
been made of Joyce’s use of Vico’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">La
Scienza Nuova</i> as the structure of the book, and McHugh especially does a
nice job of elucidating the influence, but one other point of his struck me as
fascinating (though I admit it is perhaps the least fascinating aspect of all
this): FW can be cut in four.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
and third books compliment each other, as do the second and fourth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That balance seems to adhere with other Joycean
tricks, so I’m willing to believe McHugh, but let’s say that Joyce was intent
on using Vico’s idea of the four stages of civilization as his model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would mean that the first and third
sections, being corollaries, are representative of the theocratic and
democratic stages, while the second and fourth stand in for the aristocratic stage and
chaos, with the end wrapping back to the start and the old thunderclap coming
to bring man back to the wonder of god/theocratic stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m certain there’s something to these balanced books and something more
to be found in viewing the stages and their corollaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know what, but it’s more food for
thought in this grand feast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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More coming, god willing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-74254175195940626892015-01-21T06:38:00.000-08:002015-01-21T06:38:03.209-08:009<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">As I dive deeper into some scholarship on The Wake, I'll try to keep these words by Patrick Kavanagh in mind:</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">“Who Killed
James Joyce?” </span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who killed James Joyce? <br />
I, said the commentator, <br />
I killed James Joyce <br />
For my graduation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What weapon was used <br />
To slay mighty Ulysses? <br />
The weapon that was used <br />
Was a Harvard thesis. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How did you bury Joyce? <br />
In a broadcast Symposium. <br />
That’s how we buried Joyce <br />
To a tuneful encomium. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who carried the coffin out? <br />
Six Dublin codgers <br />
Led into Langham Place <br />
By W. R. Rodgers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who said the burial prayers? – <br />
Please do not hurt me – <br />
Joyce was no Protestant, <br />
Surely not Bertie? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who killed Finnegan? <br />
I, said a Yale-man, <br />
I was the man who made <br />
The corpse for the wake man. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 19.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And did you get high marks, <br />
The Ph.D.? <br />
I got the B.Litt. <br />
And my master’s degree. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did you <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">get money</span><br />
For your Joycean knowledge? <br />
I got a scholarship <br />
</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To Trinity College. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I made the
pilgrimage <br />
In the Bloomsday swelter <br />
From the Martello Tower <br />
To the cabby’s shelter.</span></div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-81240758880646822712015-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:002015-01-20T11:08:04.814-08:008<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last night I read chapter one of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Finnegans Wake</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very soon I noticed the name Haroun mentioned,
which struck me as odd because earlier that day I had a conversation with my
wife about the Salman Rushdie book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Haroun
and the Sea of Stories</i>, which I rather liked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We decided to decide to keep that book (this
was during a four hour pruning of our library) though it nearly got added to the sell pile. After I told her that
Haroun popped up in The Wake, remarking on the coincidence, she reminded me that while
I spent last summer reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i>,
she was reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Satanic Verses</i>.
And here was another Joyce-Rushdie connection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whoa. It was almost as if
Joyce was drawing a connecting line between himself, this future writer named Salman
Rushdie, and the future readers of these writers: us: me, my wife, our summer of reading, our days at the beach with these thick books in hand, the pleasure of letting the hours pass while we read and soaked up some sun and tried not to get hit by footballs flying over our heads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, of course this is not exactly possible. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still, this coincidence
does confirm what I’d already assumed: the reader of The Wake will find in it
what they bring. Since Joyce spent so many years packing the book with
everything he could think of (and why wouldn’t he think of Haroun, a prophet of
Islam) written in every language within reach (and he reached far and wide) then of
course the book will reflect something of your experience back at you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the best means of encouragement for
the early reader of The Wake (that’s me!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Abandon the need to get every reference and joke and delight in the
surprising amount of things you find that speak to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See
yourself in the text.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Engage with the
book rather than insist that it engage you. Marvel at the connections the book makes to all of time, past and future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So there, on page 4, I had my mind blown. Can't wait to see what the other 624 pages bring. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More soon.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-19754453173406470452015-01-18T13:00:00.000-08:002015-01-18T13:17:02.900-08:007<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
So this
barista at Starbucks asks me what I’m reading, possibly out of interest or in
order to work me for a tip. I show him the book,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Never Any End to Paris</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>by Enrique Vila-Matas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
“What’s
it about?” he asks. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
After a
bit of pondering, I simply say: “Everything.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Now, the
book is not about everything, though it is a wonderful, plotless book full of
literary references and digressions along the lines of the other Vila-Matas
books I’ve read and enjoyed. (If I were to write a novel, it would be in
this vein, loitering and loose and fun, a true response to other
literature.) But I couldn’t possibly describe the entirety of the book to
a barista in Starbucks what with all the people waiting to order. So I
left it at that, dropped some coins in the tip cup, and took myself,
Vila-Matas, and my tea the hell out of there. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
This is
my long way of stating that I don’t care if I can’t explain a book to
someone. I had a teacher in high school who said that no book should take
you more than two weeks to get through and that if you couldn’t summarize the
plot when you were finished, you weren’t paying attention. Now that I am
older I know that this— along with so much of what one is told in high school—
is bullshit. (Now that I think of it, my junior year English teacher was
overly fond of mystery novels.) While I see the importance of plot, and
while I love a compelling narrative, I also know that there are different types
of books just as there are different types of people. This is a good
thing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The type
of books that Vila-Matas writes are not exactly what Joyce was up to, but I
made a connection between the two writers this morning after the
encounter at Starbucks. Stands to reason: I have been thinking about
how to tackle<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Finnegans Wake</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in the year 2015 and killing time with
smaller books, like<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Never Any
End to Paris</i>. Having put out the call for fellow travelers on
Facebook, which I assumed would be ignored, and which, amazingly, netted me one
other sucker crazy enough to give this a go, Mr. Chad Post, I
concocted a plan of attack. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>52
pages a month (or 13 pages a week however you slice it). <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>This will allow for a slow yet steady
read of The Wake in one calendar year. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So,
after some emails and a few thoughts and a little pre-reading reading of
critical texts and intros, I decided that the best way to read The Wake is to
just read the damn thing. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Sure,
some overview of the “plot” and characters and themes will help ground me as I
wade through the puns and neologisms, but I’m not so much looking for a way
into the book as MY way into the book. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And
fuck it if I can’t describe the thing to anyone else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">I’m a big fan of the reader response critics and the phenomenologists,
so the idea of an individual reading of any one book appeals to me greatly.
If we are all in different, sometimes overlapping interpretive
communities, we can see how a work of art that challenges, and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Finnegans Wake</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>certainly does, is less a dirty
modernist trick and more an invitation for self-discovery, as new agey as that
sounds</span>. I have no idea if I will
actually discover anything by reading The Wake, but it may happen. As I
try to explain to my ENG 101 students, reading is about self-discovery in the
sense that you get to react to things you read. These reactions tell you
something about yourself. The important thing is not to love or hate a
piece of writing but to address why you love or hate it. What does your
reaction mean? How can you articulate that and what might be uncovered
during the articulation? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Self-discovery
was not my intention when starting this blog but, now that I’m reconciled to a
lifelong misunderstanding of The Wake, I shall try to use this space as a means
of exploring whatever comes up during this reading. <o:p></o:p><u1:p></u1:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">And I really don't give a damn if I don’t understand anything
so long as I never stop trying to understand everything. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
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ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-72370744278366995592014-08-13T08:56:00.003-07:002014-08-13T08:56:51.420-07:006<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTO9R73gjEsNaNa320mZOcwPPImU0Xkva6AHHsqHvt7uc1gIfH1-oGCqObAVTQ84CSfBl_y2-eNfJLa5XKgf6NXSsW9VblfCWSAk_VWTTnzZ9YiqE-X11bUM1MuYw5H66wykt_DFkaIPA/s1600/Photo+on+2014-08-13+at+10.54+%232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTO9R73gjEsNaNa320mZOcwPPImU0Xkva6AHHsqHvt7uc1gIfH1-oGCqObAVTQ84CSfBl_y2-eNfJLa5XKgf6NXSsW9VblfCWSAk_VWTTnzZ9YiqE-X11bUM1MuYw5H66wykt_DFkaIPA/s1600/Photo+on+2014-08-13+at+10.54+%232.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Postcard found in my (used) copy of <i>Ulysses</i>. </div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-3906338658359777922014-08-13T08:37:00.000-07:002014-08-13T20:06:46.546-07:005: The Balance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I
finished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i>. To those not
aware of the magnitude of that undertaking, this is my literary equivalent of
finishing a triathlon. I state this knowing that the two are quite
different, but still… the fucking thing took a lot of training, effort, dedication,
patience, resolve, tears, frustration, fear, and did I say effort? I
know, I know… this is a more straightforward book than The Wake, which is the
book I said I wanted to read (and the reason this blog was created). But
I also said that I wanted to warm up with the saga of Leopold Bloom and Stephen
Dedalus and their odyssey around Dublin on that famous June day. I was
anxious to get through it all and to Molly’s famous chapter at the end, which I
did the other day while sitting on a Rogers Park beach, which is where I read a
good chunk of Joyce’s masterpiece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hurray for beach reads.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And it is
a masterpiece, a convoluted clusterfucked masterpiece. There can be no
doubt about that. Well… maybe there can be some doubt. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I spoke
with a friend about the task that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i>
and, while doing so, realized that a laborious chore might not make for fun
reading. So why the hell was I doing this to myself? My friend
assured me the endeavor was worth undertaking, that he enjoyed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dubliners </i>considerably more, but
that the satisfaction of finishing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses
</i>was well worth the time and mental energy. (He had not, of course,
been so crazy as to ever try to read The Wake.) And it is a satisfying experience and I am happier to have read the book in its
completion (not a line skipped), even though I fully admit to not getting
everything happening in the tome, for the effect of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> is part of its, er, charm. I had guides and
annotations to help me along the way, but in the end I opted to get though the book largely on
my own and try my damnedest to see what Joyce was up to in each episode.
I did consult a few websites to follow the format and see how it all mirrored <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Odyssey</i>, which I haven’t read in
well over two decades, but my ultimate enjoyment was in figuring out the tricks
and intentions to the best of my ability. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So
obviously I ought to tackle The Wake next, right? Nope. I need a
bit of a break. And yes, it took me so long to read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> because I was cheating on it constantly with other books,
mostly poetry. And I started reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boss</i>
by Mike Royko last night and am looking forward to a conventionally narrated
book of some 200 pages. I need that variety. We all do. With
all the data, media, and gadgets vying for our attention, it may be a good idea
to mix up the literary diet, get some lean protein with the carbs, maybe a
little fiber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay, let’s move on
before this analogy gets any more strained.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">***</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Some
thoughts I had while reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i>:
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">How
the fuck does Joyce get away with this shit?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did
the guy even have an editor?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nora
must’ve been a little pissed over the Penelope episode.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thank
god this was done in 1922 and that no one need try something like it again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am
in awe of this episode that recreates the history of English, even if it is a
frustrating bunch of pages.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
opening (Telemachiad) and the closing (Nostos) sections are amazing pleasures
to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The middle (the Odyssey)
is an amazing feat that comprises most of the book and is impressive but more
than once made me want to dig up Joyce and smack his corpse, what’s left of it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It
must’ve been fun to have a polyglot over for parties.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is a book to be admired and enjoyed, though I am not sure if I enjoyed it as
much as I admire it or if that really matters.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is surely the antidote to Twitter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anything
is possible in literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joyce
proved as much. But just because something is possible does that mean it is worth doing?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s
no way this book should be placed above <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Sound and the Fury</i> on anyone’s list of greatest English language novels.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: .5in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why
aren't we reading this is school?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Or did I go to bad schools?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">***</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
I wrote earlier that reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i>
was the equivalent of completing a triathlon, but that is a false analogy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are very different experiences, I safely
assume.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I used such a lazy comparison
because, 1. It is effective, 2. It makes the point to those who have no real
idea what the hell <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> is or why
reading it is a big deal (to me).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that’s the society we live in, one that automatically recognizes,
quite correctly, the amazing physical effort that goes into training for and
completing a big, crazy athletic event but… </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was going to write about the modern world and its lack of appreciation for big,
difficult novels, but what the fuck—was everyone reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> in 1922?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>1932?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1948?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1966?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1971?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even with computers and
iPhones aplenty, nothing has really changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So maybe I ought to back off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">***</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
finished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boss</i> last night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Essential reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I might argue that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ulysses</i> is as well, but I would be less prone to recommend it over
Royko’s unauthorized bio of Richard J. Daley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why mention them in the same blog post?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, again, the balanced diet is
important and because they represent two very different books that I think
everyone should familiarize themselves with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as I think people should read Bulgakov, Calvino, Ciaran
Carson, Neil Postman, Reinaldo Arenas, G. Cabrera Infante, W. B. Yeats… I think
everyone ought to read a lot and a lot of different things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all essential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
have a friend who read fifteen romance novels in a week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her husband said that she reads too
much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I admit, my first reaction
was, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Romance novels</i>?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But hell—at least the woman is actively
literate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many people have I
met who employ the loathsome term “post-literate” to describe their lack of
interest in books, as if using such a term exonerates them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It doesn't. You need to read, all the time, everyday, as much as you can, even if what you read is what some might consider fluff. </span>Then again, as
I argued via Facebook of all goddamn places, reading anything is good but one
ought to try a challenge once in a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is this important?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I should have a better answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My canned response would be something
along the lines of the brain is a muscle and one must exercise or lose muscles,
again using a fucking athletic analogy to make this simple goddamn point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But is this the case?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve seen studies that imply that the
reading most done in 21<sup>st</sup> century America— Facebook, Twitter,
scrolling marquees at the bottom of Fox News broadcasts—is still reading, still
communication via the inorganic means of symbols representing words, words
representing ideas and events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just as I no longer lament that the internet is making us lazy and stupid
(a lazy and stupid conclusion), I can also accept that literacy is literacy is
literacy however it is practiced.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .1pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1pt; mso-para-margin-bottom: .01gd; mso-para-margin-left: 0in; mso-para-margin-right: 0in; mso-para-margin-top: .01gd;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
fuck that.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
is the same as saying that eating is important to live, so it makes little
difference what one eats so long as they are eating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is stupid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Obviously eating nothing but McDonald’s may have serious health
consequences (We don't need Morgan Spurlock to tell us that).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously one ought to balance their
diet a bit and eat some green leafy vegetables as well as pizza. (Last night I
did this—stopped at the corner store and purchased some tomatoes and spinach
to make a nice, simple salad to go along with the frozen pizza I planned to
devour because I fucking love pizza and was very hungry and had spent the
entire train ride home thinking about pizza in ways that are perhaps not
natural or sane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
assuaged the wee bit of guilt over eating an entire goddamn pizza by first
making that simple salad and getting some iron in my diet along with the dairy
and starch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See how that works?)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
read romance novels or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twilight</i> or any
other books that some tweed-wearing douche would dismiss as sub-literate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But maybe try to balance that from time
to time with a more challenging book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It feels
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s good for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may force you to consider lives,
ideas, and occurrences outside your comfort zone, but that is also good for
you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It creates empathy,
understanding, a more thoughtful mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
to those who solely read big, difficult books translated from Hungarian
containing more commas than periods per paragraph: maybe lighten up once in a
while and remember those early days when you first read for pleasure and how
much fun a well crafted, nicely plotted book can be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The goddamn balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okay,
more soon, like next year, as that is how long it may take me to read ten pages
of The Wake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-58036332483921849302013-10-11T14:22:00.001-07:002015-01-18T07:11:59.041-08:004<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So far, I've finished the intro to Bishop's book on The Wake, which was very interesting and provided a revelation or two, though I'd sooner discuss all that after I've dug deeper into the thing.<br />
<br />
I'd hoped to have more read, but, ya know, there's papers to grade and all that, so, it being a very busy week, I'm behind on my self-imposed schedule. <br />
<br />
But I want to post with something like regularity, so here's a Wake related item:<br />
<br />
I admit much of my interest in the tome comes from my love of the band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum who took a piece of <i>Fiinegans Wake</i> and wrote a metal song around it. 'Tis rockin'. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELyco68w5ks" target="_blank">Watch it here.</a><br />
<br />
See if you can keep your head from banging.</div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-59483764303014832332013-10-11T14:16:00.001-07:002013-10-11T14:16:17.420-07:003<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Congrats to Alice Munro who I have not been able to read much of. A good friend described her prose as "pedestrian." Sums it up, but what do I know? </div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-35724602581532677402013-10-04T19:30:00.002-07:002015-01-18T07:12:13.549-08:002<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today in the mail: <i>Joyce's Book of the Dark</i> by John Bishop, the first book on <i>Finnegans Wake</i> I will tackle. Bishop's book looks like a good place to start. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328828414l/218348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328828414l/218348.jpg" height="320" width="253" /></a></div>
Some reviewers claim this book is good but ignores important aspects of The Wake. Others say it is quite accessible and indeed a good door into the famously inscrutable tome. I'll be posting thoughts soon.<br />
<br />
For the record, I am indeed reading about The Wake before actually reading The Wake. Baby steps...<br />
<br /></div>
ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167027787023568748.post-14684661325139358332013-10-01T15:54:00.005-07:002013-10-01T15:54:52.934-07:001<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
Begin at the start, right?<span> </span>No… Joyce didn’t
always do so.<span> </span>The Wake itself has no
real beginning or end, despite most readers beginning on page one.<br />
<br />
I first read Joyce in college. A teacher assigned<i> A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</i>. I had heard tell of its importance. I wasn't very impressed, but I was a young man with stubborn ideas about literature and in no mood for this particular book. <br />
<br />
It didn't help that the teacher was new to the school and not aware of the quarter system. She, being used to semesters, assigned more books than one could logically get through in ten weeks, unless of course, one were to tear through them with little discussion or digestion of their ideas. Which is what we did. So, lacking the discourse one assumes will accompany a higher ed lit course, I didn't connect with the book or its author.<br />
<br />
Then I read<i> Dubliners</i>. I preferred it, though I didn't see what all the fuss was about. Some good tales, to be sure, but I wasn't awed. Chalk it up to another case of being too young to understand.<br />
<br />
My uneasy relationship with <i>Ulysses</i> has been discussed at various points <a href="http://www.zombiedante.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Suffice it to say: I am ambivalent about this book, though I have not finished it and am, in fact, still making my way from "Stately" to "yes" having just purchased a pocket edition to carry with me at all times. And when I am not engaged with the events of June 16, 1904, I will investigate this long assumed unassailable literary clusterfuck called <i>Finnegans Wake</i>. <br />
<br />
Thus this blog. <br />
<br />
All my attempts shall be documented here, as will any other somewhat relevant thoughts. I started this page as a form of motivation. If I have a blog, I have responsibilities, or at least imagined ones. It is possible (probable) that no one will read it, but it will exist, and if it exists it has to be fed. So I'll fed it what I can when I can. <br />
<br />
My first post (aside from this intro) will come this week. It will be less meandering. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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ZombieDantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12583632184971937637noreply@blogger.com0