Questions About Finnegans Wake

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Answered Questions (5)

Why read Finnegans Wake, when I know I will not understand anything? I ask those have read this literary behemoth, what was your motivation, and what did you finally grasp?

Alper Yılmaz Accepting that you won't understand anything relating to a story is the first step to enjoying this book. Just lose yourself in the play of words, the…moreAccepting that you won't understand anything relating to a story is the first step to enjoying this book. Just lose yourself in the play of words, the atmosphere - sometimes vivid enough for a painting - they establish, and let loose. A tip that helped me endlessly in enjoying it is to read it out loud when you're by yourself. It'll take forever if you intend to finish it, but I found this book worthwhile. (One neat trick the book pulls, if you read it out loud, is forcing you to read most of it in an Irish accent through its bizarre, Irish-ized spelling of certain words!)(less)

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Is this book as unreadable as this cartoon implies? https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/joyce

Zenpvnk Yes. Yes it is.

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word of 100 letters--what is the word?

Derek Pyle there are ten 'thunderwords' in finnegans wake :

http://peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2014/...
…morethere are ten 'thunderwords' in finnegans wake :

http://peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2014/...
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Would I understand more of this book if I was from Ireland or knew more of Ireland's colloquialisms?

Jay No. James Joyce writes in an increasingly private idiom in this novel, using invented words, words borrowed from several languages, obscure and arcane…moreNo. James Joyce writes in an increasingly private idiom in this novel, using invented words, words borrowed from several languages, obscure and arcane words, and with the most fiendishly complex word games yet dreamed of. He is trying to rewrite the code of human consciousness and the the universe by forging a new language. I have observed that you need several languages to get the jokes; none of those are Gaelic.
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If I spend 40 hours a week for 4 weeks, while using guides and secondary sources, could I perceivably reach a strong understanding of this book?