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Finnegans Wake: A Plot Summary

John Gordon

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Dec 27, 2020 Bob R Bogle rated it liked it

Shelves: all-things-joyce

When, something less than half a year ago, I finally finished reading John Bishop's 1986 book Joyce's Book of the Dark, Finnegans Wake, I felt compelled to take a little time off before continuing my exploration of Joyce lore. Bishop took a lot out of me.

In fact the first three books about Finnegans Wake that I bought were those by Campbell and Robinson, by Tindall, and this one by John Gordon, about which I'm jotting down these scanty notes today, six years after my original purchase. Tindall I When, something less than half a year ago, I finally finished reading John Bishop's 1986 book Joyce's Book of the Dark, Finnegans Wake, I felt compelled to take a little time off before continuing my exploration of Joyce lore. Bishop took a lot out of me.

In fact the first three books about Finnegans Wake that I bought were those by Campbell and Robinson, by Tindall, and this one by John Gordon, about which I'm jotting down these scanty notes today, six years after my original purchase. Tindall I've already reviewed elsewhere, generally favorably, a few years back. Campbell and Robinson I'm presently reading.

The first few introductory chapters of John Gordon's 1986 work Finnegans Wake: A Plot Summary came as a welcome relief in the wake of Bishop. Now here it's interesting to note that I tried to read Gordon several years ago but failed, because his take on what Finnegans Wake is "about" seemed so counterintuitive to me at the time; however, that was before I'd read the Wake myself, or any of a number of other books and articles about the Wake, whether mentioned here or not. In brief, Gordon begins his book by claiming to read Finnegans Wake from a naturalistic perspective: diametrically opposed to the approach of Bishop, who concentrates on the sleepedness of the Wake, Gordon stakes a claim for remaining alert and vigilant to the connections between Joyce's last novel and the real world, not to the phantasmagoria of sleep. The opening chapters ― closer to essays ― which open Gordon's book consume about a third of its bulk and, indeed, it is here that he particularly makes his case for finding naturalistic writing in the Wake.

Afterward, Gordon's book becomes much like so many books concerned with this material: it presents us with the notes and theories the author accrued and developed over years spent dissecting Joyce's novel, with a page-by-page or section-by-section reference to the original source. The truth of the matter is that anyone dealing with Finnegans Wake is always confronted by one single question ― But what does it mean? ― and no matter who we are as readers, we will finally try to relate the novel to the real world we inhabit. All of Gordon's notes and theories are handy of course, although it seems to me that here Gordon's grand naturalistic theory steadily loses ground, and perhaps loses relevance. That is to say, the last two-thirds of his book remain a useful guide for helping one to understand the Wake, but any theory of its naturalistic underpinnings by now seem secondary at best and more often unimportant; indeed, reading the last two-thirds of the book becomes rather tedious unless one is reading it along with the Wake: it's an experience somewhat akin to reading 172 pages of endnotes detached from the original source material.

Which is not to detract from the value of Gordon, but rather to suggest how it is best used. I foresee myself reading chapters of Finnegans Wake and then going back to see what both Tindall and Gordon had to say about the chapters I read, and I don't doubt I'll find value in their opinions, even when they are in disagreement. I don't imagine using Bishop in a similar manner.
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Nov 20, 2012 Ed Smiley rated it liked it

Shelves: read-joyce-and-be-exceeding-glad-fo

Not bad. A unique perspective.
As Finnegans Wake takes place inside a sleeper's head (as much as anywhere else) Gordon emphasizes the surroundings and furnishings. ...more

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Jul 27, 2008 Phillip rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literary-criticism, ireland

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