Hey /lit/ Irish student here. I'm doing higher level English

>>9346484
>"You're on your own"

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>>9346484

http://fractiousfiction.com/finnegans_wake.html

>>9346484
>"You're on your own"
Hah! Not bad advice, actually
But I can give you some ideas

The book is conceived to be a book of the night, the dream of the sleeping giant, the monomyth of the world, the narrative of the subconscious, the story of all stories embodied in words that can possess as many as five different kalaedescopic meanings at once. The rise and fall of human civilisation, Finn (end) egen (again) wake (begin). A funerall, a fun-fer-all celebration of the death, the absence of consciousness of the person as they sleep. The story of Here Comes Everybody and his wife Anna Livia Plurabell.

The way to enjoy the book is to read it aloud to yourself slowly, and forgoe any attempt to 'understand what is happening', and soon enough you'll discover that you have subtle intimations of what is occurring that are beyond your ability to express in words, but you feel it. Also its just a real pleasure to hear

>>9346525
>>9346525
>>9346525
Yeah I guess I could read it aloud. I noticed some very pleasing rhythms and wordplay, like "Mister Finn, you're going to be Mister Finnagain!".

>>9346484
You know how they tell you to take the markers into account and give them something original to gain points for alleviating boredom? They didn't mean this. You'll take a hit for just being a dick, and if you come across as enough of a dick, they'll check your quotes and dock for every slip.

>>9346484
It's the leaving cert, anon, they'd be impressed by Dubliners.

>>9346484

I can relate to this a lot. Two years ago I was entering a prestigious PhD program and focusing on Joyce because I loved Dubliners, Portrait, and Ulysses. To my shame, though, I'd never read the Wake. I'd never even tried, as hard as that was to admit. It was this huge blind spot and area of vulnerability for me. Whenever it'd come up with my colleagues I'd just smile and nod, smile and nod, hoping they wouldn't ask me anything specific about it. "The musicality of it," somebody would say, and I'd say, "Oh God, yes, it's like Beethoven." Finally, though, I had to dive into it, and let me tell you it was tough going. Joseph Campbell's guide helped a lot. Reading it out loud helped. I listened to other people read it, read online commentaries. Eventually it started to make some sort of sense. It was like I was learning to read for the first time again, and in a way this was enjoyable. I got better at reading the book. Soon I was reading entire paragraphs without trouble, getting the puns, laughing at the jokes. I could sort of follow the story, it was like a blurry picture resolving into clarity, or like I was drunk and I was sobering up, I could actually understand it. As I became more and more adept at reading the Wake, I began putting myself to the test, initiating conversations with my colleagues about it, but specific passages this time, specific parts of the book. You can probably guess what happened. After a number of these conversations it became blindingly obvious that I understood the book a lot better than they did, they who I thought were the experts. It eventually became sort of embarrassing for them and I stopped trying to talk about it. And at the end of the day I would pack my things, catch the bus home, and settle into my apartment to read the Wake. It had surpassed all of Joyce's other works in my estimation. Ulysses, the book months earlier I would've named as my favorite of all time, the best book ever written, was now #2 to the Wake. So majestic, so ambitious, so wide-ranging, erudite, glorious, incredible was it that I couldn't believe that it was the work of one man. Best of all, the heart of it isn't complicated at all. What did I get from the Wake, what are its lessons? First of all, be yourself. Second of all, put one foot in front of the other. And lastly, just do it for crying out loud, time's a wastin'!

>>9346759
What the fuck, this isnt the pessimistic, nihlistic tone that I get from the rest of /lit/.

>>9346770
the power of the Wake is real
>>9346759
fantastic post

>>9346484
Change to something else if you can. Dubliners, Portrait, and Ulysses all have to be read before Finnegan's Wake, and not just to acclimatize you to Joyce's style. They take place in the same version of Dublin and Finnegan's Wake references the others extensively. You goofed bad.

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>>934648
OP ffs just read Gatsby and Hamlet on a daily basis and get your marks.
Worry about that nonsense over summer when you're finished

>>9346759
weird

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Campbell's Skeleton Key seconded. The Wake is insane and wonderful, but listening to sections as read by Joyce and reading Campbell's Key are a great start (also knowing all 64 languages Joyce makes puns in, but let's be realistic).

>>9347736
I'd recommend Joyce's Book of the Dark the most
and then Joyce's Kalaiedescope
and then skeleton

JBotD is incredible

>>9346759
Thank you for this post!

>>9346759
>"Oh God, yes, it's like Beethoven."
every time