Here's the opening line:
Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.
But it isn't nearly as evocative as the opening of Finnegans (or Finnegan's) Wake:
Tuesday 16 June 2009
I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so unhappy.
Well, today is Bloom's Day, the annual celebration of James Joyce, named after his character Leopold Bloom of Ulysses fame. If you're in Dublin, as a couple of my readers are, you should be tracing the route he took today, from toilet to pub. I'm expecting to hear from Zoot Horn today, as he's Wolverhampton's - and thus the world's - premier Joyce expert.
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14 comments:
Re. that second one - should you not open with a capital letter?
No capitals need in Finnegans Wake - nor possessive apostrophes. Many thanks for the laurels Vole. Now off to buy a pork kidney.
Blooms Day so famous it was referenced in an episode of the Simpsons. If I ever missed my meat eating days it would be on a day like today.
Mmm pies. Don't forget the famous toilet scene.
Zoot got there first - Joyce didn't believe in grammar. Perhaps all those essays I marked are merely paying homage to the great man.
Have some gorgonzola (is that how you spell it?) instead. Seedcake figures pretty large in the novel too. Also lashings of alcohol of course. I'm celebrating by getting beaten up by some squaddies later. "Single to Nottingham please..."
Also, re: punctuation: the lack of it turns Finnegans Wake into an imperative - wake up mythic citizens of Ireland!
I was about to leave a smart-alec comment about there being no apostrophe, unless you're referring to the pub in Northampton, the landlord of which unilaterally decided to include one. But I notice that someone got there before me, so my one opportunity to utilise my MA in Beckett Studies passes me by. Can't wait for the next one.
Apparently some editions add the apostrophe and others don't.
No no, there is no apostrophe. Ever.
It's one of the few books in literature that sticks to the same exact typographical layout as it had when it was first published.
Someone brought out a critical edition that included, say, notes for page 94 *on* page 94, where, if it's that bit about a critics being Jung and easily Freudened, which occurs in the middle of the page, then the critical note would point to that part of page 94.
Beckett's 'How It Is' is similar, except never reached the level of exposure, and has never had a critical edition.
God almighty.
I know modern editions don't have the apostrophe, but I read this morning about an early printing which did render it Finnegan's Wake. Probably thought Joyce was a big illiterate eejit.
Must read that Beckett - but a whole MA. That's going it. Has it stood you in good stead?
It's stood me in no stead at all -- which is about right and proper.
Of people wishing to study his work, Beckett said "If people want to have headaches among the overtones, then let them. And provide their own aspirin."
So there I have it: an MA in 'headches among the overtones'.
An MA in Beckett studies eh? Now that's impressive. Where is it that has the Beckett archive? Reading? Did you do it there? I think we ought to offer an MA in Irish punk, and call it headaches among the...
I'll get my coat
Ha ha! A Beckett punk joke! A first for me. I did the MA at Reading, yes, under James Knowlson. It was a great year, because Knowlson's authorised biography came out that September, so all sorts of people were milling around, like Edward Beckett and the guy who played the original Lucky in Godot, doing his 'definitive' speech for anyone who'd ask. Happy days...
That sounds like lots of good honest scholarly fun. I wish we had some of that at our university.
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