Finnegans Wake

>>9847158
Start with John Bishop's book

and then read the text itself over and over until it becomes second nature

Read this two months ago, and I can say that the most important thing I had read prior was the Bible, especially the four Gospels being a main motif. The second most important to my understanding was Beckett because you can trace a lot of devices and techniques that Beckett later adopted and sort of reverse engineer them when you read FW and start recognizing them. Obviously you should read Joyce's other stuff, and Ellmann's Joyce biography is pretty major too, and in fact its what made me comfortable with the idea of reading FW. You should have read the usual Canon stuff of course (Shakespeare, Dante, Herodotus, Ibsen, etc), be familiar with some philosophy (Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer get direct mentions, Joyce was big on Aquinas, Vico plays a huge role in the actual composition of FW). It can't hurt to read up on Irish history and Irish folklore. But it may sound crazy after everything I wrote above, but the text itself is the most important part of the text; it's an extremely original thing that Joyce wrote, one of a kind, something that ebbs and flows within itself, and getting its rhythms down and understanding its structure are far bigger breakthroughs than any outside influencing text could provide. Good luck anon, and also have fun with it. You know you won't understand everything your first time so don't worry over every detail. I'd recommend the copy OWC publishes.
Oh and hang on to that chart, it is pretty helpful.

>>9847256
I've read bits of Dubliners and A Portrait, which might be my favorite book. Where should I start with Beckett? I'm embarrassed to admit that I am not very familiar with him.

Isn't the commodius vicus bit a Vico pun?

>>9847312
Murphy and then his trilogy. Also How It Is if that stuff clicks for you. He's famous for Godot and Endgame but his plays are so removed from his joycean roots that they aren't going to be as useful.

>>9847158
>I think that simply attempting to amass the linguistic and literary knowledge needed to begin to comprehend such a work sounds like an entertaining way to become decently self educated
>to become decently self educated
>decently
>self
>educated
If you actually had the knowledge necessary to decipher Finnegan's Wake you would be one of (if not the) most educated person alive. And a prodigy as well. It is safe to assume that you are not the latter, and the former you shall never become.

>>9847158
Pretty much all of literature (including mythology) and philosophy up to the middle of the 20th century. Languages? Fluency in at least ten major European ones, plus Greek and Latin.

how long does it take to read finnegan's wake? took me ~2 months to read ulysses

>>9848162
desu basic phrase recognition is all you need for most, Italian, French, Latin, and Gaelic are the major ones and they don't come up that often. The book is written in English.

>>9848209
Took me two weeks senpai. gotta sit down and dedicate time, can't just read 5 pages and say that's it for the day.

>>9848209
Finnegans*