WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake

We pause the reading of the Wake this week to look back on Book One: HCE, ALP, Shaun, Shem and Izzy have led us on a wild, rumour-filled ride, and we want to process that before we move on! In a free-wheeling conversation, we consider Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, theatre riots, The Magus, Beowulf, the prophetic dream lucidity of Buffy Summers, Cain's Jawbone, I Think You Should Leave, and The Midnight Gospel's Dada roots. Come for the typical lack of analytical depth, stay for the soon-to-be-regretted promise that the podcast will culminate not only with tattoos, but with a stage adaptation about TJ's hero, Festy King.

This week's chatters: Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 216 pages complete, 412 pages to go; 34.39% read.

Contextual Notes

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hvCd41o7Bs

The Magus and its variations https://www.goodreads.com/questions/464864-has-anyone-here-read-the-original-version

Cain’s Jawbone https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/12/26/solving-cains-jawbone-murder-mystery/

I’m Thinking of Ending Things https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80211559

I Think You Should Leave https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80986854

The Midnight Gospel https://www.netflix.com/title/80987903

Playboy Riots https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/sep/23/playboy-western-world-old-vic

Rite Riots https://www.classicfm.com/composers/stravinsky/news/rite-and-the-riot/

Ubu Riots https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/08/an-inglorious-slop-pail-of-a-play/

The Lady of Shalott https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott_(painting)

Let James Joyce Jazz up your Vocabulary! https://www.amazon.ca/Finnegans-Wake-Lextionary-James-bulary/dp/146358945X

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

It's the most watery episode of WAKE so far, as we cruise past the 1/3 complete mark and tackle the legendary 1.8: "Anna Livia." Toby takes hubris to a whole new level by attempting to read the entire chapter, cold, without breaks, or assistance, as TJ furiously circles all of the river-name puns. We discuss remarkably knowledgeable washerwomen, the fine line between gossip and mythology, how Joyce would react to ChatGPT, and get to hear the voice of the man himself.

Water you waiting for? Dive in!

This week's readers: Toby Malone

Progress: 216 pages complete, 412 pages to go; 34.39% read.

Contextual Notes:

Chapter 1 Draft of 1.8:  https://www.reddit.com/r/jamesjoyce/comments/14qzjvy/the_first_draft_of_the_anna_livia_plurabelle/

Edna O'Brien: how James Joyce’s Anna Livia Plurabelle shook the literary world: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/edna-obrien-how-james-joyces-anna-livia-plurabelle-shook-the-literary-world

Anna Livia on Peter Chrisp’s Joyce blog From Swerve of Shore to Bend of Bay: https://peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-rivers-of-anna-livia-plurabelle.html

The 1117 rivers listed in Raphael Slepon's Finnegans Wake Extensible Elucidation Treasury: http://www.fweet.org/cgi-bin/fw_grep.cgi?i=1&o=1&c=1&a=1&b=1&s=_C,Rivers_

FinWake.com’s illuminated 1.8 with river images:  https://www.finwake.com/ch08/ch08.htm

Joyce reading the chapter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCFzBRMMBCw&t=79s

More on the recording:  https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/ulysses/recording-anna-livia-plurabelle

Not mentioned in the episode but still interesting…

Fionn O Marcaigh’s All About Anna Livia: https://storiesfromthewaterside.ie/stories/all-about-anna-livia/

Anna Livia Plurabelle-inspired tattoo: https://www.facebook.com/fantinitattoo/posts/is-there-any-fans-of-james-joyce-herethis-tattoo-is-my-interpretation-of-anna-li/2668790800036198/

Anna Livia Plurabella (sic) was an actress in porn films in the 1970s… https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2193280/?ref_=tt_cl_t_2

“We need an ALP statue. Make it a lady, but also make it a river.” The sculpture Anna Livia by Éamonn O'Doherty, in Croppies Memorial Park, Dublin, Ireland, known as the ‘Floozie in the Jacuzzi’ and the ‘Hoor in the Sewer’: originally it was a water feature with waterfalls in the main street of Dublin, but people vandalized it and dumped washing liquid into the water feature, flooding the streets with soap: http://www.olddublintown.com/anna-livia-sculpture.html

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

TJ is back, and WAKE, the podcast of the history of the future, rolls on its unstoppable way! This week, we consider just why siblings are generally awful to one another as Shaun reads Shem to filth to round out chapter 1.7. We discuss Toby's favourite bookstore (Lane Bookshop Claremont, represent!), Latin stories of bowel evacuation, the Mighty Ducks, Moby-Dick, and Alan Ayckbourn: so, in general, a normal day at the office.

This week's readers: Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 195 pages complete, 433 pages to go; 31.05% read.

Contextual Notes:

The Lane Bookshop, Claremont https://lanebook.com.au/

James Joyce: A Life, by Gabrielle Carey https://lanebook.com.au/products/james-joyce-a-life?variant=45528314642591

Joyce helping sufferers of OCD: https://www.tiktok.com/@ocdbrain/video/7125822447533837611?lang=en

ChatGPT’s translation of the Latin:

The text you provided is a highly stylized and somewhat archaic Latin passage. Here's a rough English translation:

"First, the craftsman, the high creator, to the fertile and all-powerful earth, without any shame or pardon, having taken on a rainy cloak and with his loins girded, as though born with naked buttocks, approached himself, weeping and groaning, and evacuated into his hand. Later, having relieved himself of black waste, he struck the classic horn and placed his own excrement, which he called his 'dejections,' into a vessel once honorablefor sadness, and under the invocation of the twin brothers Medard and Godard, he joyfully and sweetly poured it out, singing a psalm that begins: 'My tongue is the pen of a swift writer,' chanting with a great voice. Finally, from the vile dung, mixed with the pleasantness of the divine Orion, cooked and exposed to the cold, he made an indelible ink for himself."

This translation aims to capture the literal meaning, though the text seems to be filled with symbolic and possibly satirical elements.

Absurd Person Singular: http://absurdpersonsingular.alanayckbourn.net/

Cake eater! https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/da0a1b16-a580-4e19-b78e-4dd09ddd06c7

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

It's a WAKE of firsts: the first episode recorded in Australia, the first episode with two guests, and, most difficult of all, the first episode without TJ! When schedules don't mesh, there's nothing for it but to plough on, for the Wake waits for no man (or musical workshop). This week comes to us from the echoey comforts of Toby's parents' house in Perth, where Mick and Jo Malone unveil their roles as the people most responsible for getting Joyce into Toby's head. We talk sibling rivalry, Irish revolutionaries, and whether Shem has reason to be upset about his treatment. Inconvenient, David!

This week's readers: Toby Malone, Mick Malone, Jo Malone

Progress: 182 pages complete, 446 pages to go; 28.98% read.

Contextual Notes

Mick Malone online: https://www.mickmalone.com.au/

Two Ranks on the Road: https://www.mickmalone.com.au/product-page/two-ranks-on-the-road-35-years-of-australian-special-forces-service

The Secret Army (IRA):  https://www.routledge.com/The-Secret-Army-The-IRA/Bell/p/book/9781560009016

Joseph Campbell’s Skeleton Key: https://archive.org/details/skeletonkeytofin0000jose/mode/2up

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

We would never consider ourselves mooks, nor would we gripe about the task in front of us, but finishing 1.6's Quiz (along with the needlessly complicated tale of the Mookse and Gripes) made us wonder whether Joyce might learn a little from Sad Girl Lit. We get a call from the other side of the planet and welcome Toby's hugely accomplished arts administrator sister, Georgia Malone, to talk about the book that "everyone owns and no one reads", the use of Joyce as a medal of honour among moody young blokes, and lay out our credentials for the knowledge of useless facts. Georgia gives us a refreshing take on how best to enjoy WAKE (come for the preamble, skip the Joyce bit), calls Joyce a wanker, and considers the place of Australian accents, Aesop, and Magic Eye pictures in understanding the work.

This week's readers: Georgia Malone, Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 168 pages complete, 460 pages to go; 26.75% read.

Contextual Notes

Commentary on Wyndham Lewis’s Time and the Western Man: https://campuspress.yale.edu/modernismlab/time-and-western-man/

The Mookse and the Gripes from The Suspended Sentence: https://thesuspendedsentence.com/2023/07/20/the-mookse-and-the-gripes-part-1/

The Mookse and the Gripes as Aesop: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41063554-the-mookse-and-the-gripes

Georgia on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/georgiathroughlife

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

For this week's perzacto episode, we are joined by world-changing director and all-round delight Aili Huber, as we consider the first half of the least user-friendly quiz in literary history. We have our first ever tap-out (it's easy to get lost on the page if your eye wanders), consider Dr Seuss, the gish gallop, and e.e. cummings, before we bring it all home by considering how Finnegans Wake might fit within the parameters of Aili and Toby's 2021 book Cutting Plays for Performance. In short: don't know; none; infinity.

This week's readers: Aili Huber, Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 148 pages complete, 480 pages to go; 23.57% read.

Contextual Notes

Aili Huber’s website: https://ailihuber.com/

Silk Moth Stage: https://silkmothstage.com/

Cutting Plays for Performance: https://cuttingplays.com/

Aili on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nilatti/

Silk Moth Stage on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silkmothstage/

Cutting Plays on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuttingplays/

My Father Moved Through Dooms of Love, by e.e. cummings: https://poets.org/poem/my-father-moved-through-dooms-love

Heather Cox Richardson and the Gish Gallop: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-27-2024

The Universal Language, by David Ives: https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=33

Finnegans Wake, A Dream Play, by Craig Walker: https://pwcenter.org/play-profile/finnegans-wake-dream-play

The Ballad of Finnegans Wake, by Craig Walker: https://soundcloud.com/craig-walker-514428032/ballad-of-finnegans-wake

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

Neil is back, and we are going to hear some opinions! TJ and Toby welcome the brilliant Neil Wechsler back to the pod to finish reading 1.5 and then get into some analysis of what we've heard over the last two episodes. We'll talk about the unexpected benefits of reading aloud, find out what feels just like a really good university course, and establish the Neil Wechsler drinking game to get you sauced.

This week's readers: Neil Wechsler, Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 125 pages complete, 503 pages to go; 19.9% read.

Contextual Notes

Neil Wechsler’s website: https://wechslerprojects.com/

Neil on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wechslerprojects/

Our favourite play, Grenadine: https://www.amazon.ca/Grenadine-Neil-Wechsler/dp/0300149921

Neil on New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/37010/neil-wechsler

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

The purists are here! The purists are here!

Contextual Notes

Neil Wechsler’s website: https://wechslerprojects.com/

Neil on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wechslerprojects/

Our favourite play, Grenadine: https://www.amazon.ca/Grenadine-Neil-Wechsler/dp/0300149921

Neil on New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/37010/neil-wechsler

This week is the total piece of work that Wagner dreamed of, with GMWKS co-creator Jordan Morille joining Toby and TJ to take on the Wake! With a baby on his hip, and delving deep into his actor's experience, Jordan popcorn-reads from the second half of 1.4, where we meet disguised ex-nuns, Dirty Daddy Pantaloons, and TJ's 'Wake' tattoo quotation. Then, we consider the gesamtkunstwerk, Dada, Sigur Rós, and the immortal question: just what is Joyce's deal?

Progress: 103 pages complete, 525 pages to go; 16.4% read.

Contextual Notes:

Grown Men Watch Kid Stuff: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gmwks/id1509334531

Jordan Morille’s plays: https://newplayexchange.org/users/2631/jordan-morille

() by Sigur Rós: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7A4qrq3lM4

Finnegans Wake 1.4: Songs at the Wake, Goats-at-Play https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLZXLIgSsoK3lCcRObJ-QZfO_47x6j8DHq

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!

WAKE loves guests! This Bloomsday week, Toby and TJ welcome the incomparable Dr. Natalie Hoskins, professor of communication, to give us her professional perspective on pleasure reading, broadcasting thoughts, and desperately looking for meaning in the subtext. Also, Natalie joins us to read from 1.4 of the Wake, where Festy King defends himself, HCE hides in a coffin, and Kate Strong seeks more tips. Will we make sense of it? Spoiler: nope, but we make up for it with plenty of ambient construction noise!

This week's readers: Natalie Hoskins, Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 90 pages complete, 538 pages to go; 14.33% read.

Contextual Notes

Bloomsday:

On the 120th Bloomsday in New York: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/16/arts/bloomsday-women.html

In Dublin: https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/06/16/in-pictures-bloomsday-2024/

And in my home town of Toronto: https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/down-a-guinness-on-the-danforth-ogle-a-statue-at-the-rom-or-simply-gaze/article_4fd57b86-28d3-11ef-bcfd-97d4a4c9ab2c.html

John Durham Peters’ Speaking into the Air https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3656803.html

For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/wakepod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!