WAKE: Cold Reading Finnegans Wake – Details, episodes & analysis

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!

The attacks come thick and fast on HCE in this week's reading of WAKE, from court appearances to name-calling, from canoodling to gun violence, it's amazing that he's able to rest at all. This week TJ reads the palimpsest that is Finnegans Wake, along with Toby and Toby’s brilliant 12 year old daughter, Bridie Malone, as we confront our growing international audience by producing little of actual use. This week's readers: TJ Young, Toby Malone, Bridie Malone Progress: 74 pages complete, 554 pages to go; 11.78% read.

Contextual Notes

One Little Goat’s Finnegans Wake project: https://www.onelittlegoat.org/finneganswake

One Little Goat’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/james-joyces-finnegans-wake/id1743344183 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!

Thanks to a ringing endorsement from heroic bookcaster and comedy legend Michael Ian Black, WAKE has gone communal! That is, we've found a place to discuss the verbal maze that is The Wake. Join us at www.patreon.com/WAKEpod!

Also, listen to Obscure: https://www.patreon.com/michaelianblack/posts

Joyce promised 'Sdense' in 1.3 and boy did he deliver! This week Toby and TJ learn their lesson for being overly confident last time with a dose of reality. For the first half of this challenging chapter, we discuss Wake-inspired tattoos, how to handle critics and slanderers, and find a use for sharkskin smokewallet!

This week's readers: Toby Malone

Progress: 61 pages complete, 567 pages to go; 9.7% read.

Contextual Notes

Stephen Crowe’s Wake in Progress:  http://www.wakeinprogress.com/

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 gets musical! We welcome our first guest, musical genius Meg Logue, who has arranged and performed potentially the most melodious cover ever of The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly. We discuss gravelly voiced Irishmen, German opera, singing at wakes, and agree that we'd all like a sip of whatever Poolbeg's on.

This week's readers: Meg Logue, Toby Malone

Progress: 47 pages complete, 581 pages to go; 7.4% read.

Contextual Notes

Anthony Burgess singing “Persse O’Reilly”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QemsM_ROWSo

The Dubliners, “Humpty Dumpty”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc15EGklXQ0

Useful Resources

The music of Joyce: www.james-joyce-music.com

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 rolls on like so many thunderwords, as we explore the first part of Chapter 1.2 of Finnegans Wake. We consider the slanders heaped on poor old HCE (Here Comes Everybody), tiptoe around racially problematic language, and ponder whether speedcasting Joyce on a treadmill is an incentive for cardiac health.

This week's readers: Toby Malone

Progress: 44 pages complete, 584 pages to go; 7% read.

Contextual Notes:

On Thunderwords: https://www.finnegansweb.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Thunderwords

https://hatterscabinet.com/pages-fw/fwtheme-thunderwords.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!

Against all odds, WAKE chugs along, and we finish chapter 1! Toby and TJ discuss Wake-inspired band names, typography, and bring the dramatic in a performance of Mutt and Jute.

This week's readers: Toby Malone, TJ Young

Progress: 29 pages complete, 599 pages to go; 4.62% read.

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 WAKE reading begins in earnest, with the first half of chapter 1! Join Toby and TJ as we discuss thunder, museyrooms, and Joyce casually dropping poetic gems on the first page.

This week's readers: Toby Malone

Progress: 16 pages complete, 612 pages to go; 2.55% read.

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 is a cold reading of Joyce's Finnegans Wake, just because. Today, in a preamble episode, we start by unravelling some of the history of the book, before the reading starts.

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!