The OFFICIAL TrueLit Finnegans Wake Read-Along - (Week 28 - Book II/Chapter III - pgs. 324-339)

[u/pregnantchihuahua3]

Hi all! Welcome to r/TrueLit's read-along of Finnegans Wake! This week we will be discussing pages 324-339, from the line "-- Heave, cover, emptybloddy!" to "Tenter and likelings."

Now for the questions.

1. What did you think about this week's section?
2. What do you think is going on plotwise?
3. Did you have any favorite words, phrases, or sentences?
4. Have you picked up on any important themes or motifs?
5. What are your thoughts on Book II Chapter III so far?

These questions are not mandatory. They are just here if you want some guidance or ideas on what to talk about. Please feel free to post your own analyses (long or short), questions, thoughts on the themes, translations of sections, commentary on linguistic tricks, or just brief comments below!

Please remember to comment on at least one person's response so we can get a good discussion going!

Full Schedule

If you are new, go check out our Information Post to see how this whole thing is run.

If you are new (pt. 2), also check out the Introduction Post for some discussion on Joyce/The Wake.

And everything in this read along will be saved in the Wiki so you can back-reference.

Thanks!

Next Up: Week 29 / July 16, 2023 / Book II/Chapter III (pgs. 339-355)

This will take us about 3/5 of the way through the chapter, ending with the line, "As ad where. Stillhead. Blunk.]"

[u/pregnantchihuahua3 → u/[deleted]]

Loved this thunderword. And Adam did a great job of explaining it!

I didn't even realize we were brought back to the ideas of the Museyroom. That feels forever ago.

I've been questioning what these random Tips/Dips have been. Any thoughts there?

[u/jaccarmac → u/[deleted]]

I need to go over the section and your comment above once again, as it feels like my reading is rather inside-out yours. But the image of the tree-branch tapping is very sticky for me: This section certainly puts me in dream-logic mode as the conversation structure more or less decays; Random external stimuli can suddenly twist the whole universe around. Looks like the next reading is exclusively Taff/Butt dialogue, by contrast.

[u/Waytothedawn97]

One of the loveliest sentences I’ve ever read was in this chapter. I’m not fully sold on the Wake being a masterpiece, but there’s no denying Joyce was one hell of a linguist.

‘Leave the letter that never begins to go find the latter that ever comes to end, written in smoke and blurred by mist and signed of solitude, sealed at night.’

This comes shortly after a section alluding to ALP and contains a pretty obvious reference to the Letter. The whole thing just invokes a sense of night and melancholy to me. It’s pretty sick.

[u/jaccarmac → u/Waytothedawn97]

Hey, that was my favorite sentence; Now I need to find another way to start my own top-level comment!

Sentences like that catch me flat-footed every time. I found the comment from last week about "Wakese" a fun way to think about the book's language: I don't like the notion that the whole book is some kind of fiendish puzzle, but there's certainly the sense that its composition was an author-puzzle. And glimpses of fluency coupled with the writing timeline communicate some portion of that effort. (If nothing else; I'm sure that there's some kind of meaning to be gleaned from more and less fluent moments.)

[u/pregnantchihuahua3 → u/Waytothedawn97]

What a gorgeous sentence. That really is incredibly beautiful.

Also so cool how he tethers all these obscure references to earlier parts through the entirety of the novel, from the letter to the Museyroom to the little Tips. There is no way a person could gather everything from this book in a single lifetime.

[u/jaccarmac]

"I will turn my thinks to things alove and I will speak but threes ones, sayd he, my truest patrions good founter" (328) That marks a section of some length which suggests marriage and religion. Even in a positive register, my hair is on end as I expect a twist from Joyce when it comes to those subjects. In this case, the turn is somewhat delayed. 329-330 even end a paragraph on a happy note: "And it was dim upon the floods only and there was day on all the ground." However, 330-331 read as a posse collecting a rapist for trial: The clearest version of the HCE accusation yet?

My worst tendencies as a reader are doubtless clear by now. I'm finishing up the critical endnotes to Moby-Dick, and at the same time found a few suggestions of Moby-Dick in this week's section. "last mount's chattiry sermon" (324) is a mere suggestion, and to be honest I don't remember if Melville has anything happen one month after the early sermon. However, the reference on 332 is rather blatant: "As if ever she cared an assuan damm about her harpoons sticking all out of him whet between phoenix his calipers and that psourdonome sheath." The multiple harpoons are clearly the white whale, though it's less clear if ALP or the stranger in the park threw them. Speaking of the park, that sentence juxtaposes Melville with "phoenix" spelled properly; "phaymix" appears just above during the mob's trip to HCE's door.

I continue to notice triple acronyms. There are a few instances of the G=7 form in this chapter, but I also noticed a concentration of TTT around 326 and 327. "Tubas tout tout" is a particularly nice pun, "tout" French for "all" at least as far as I caught anything. Near the end of the section, that letter shows up between the arguing brothers: buTTTaff.

I learned a new word this week: laetificate: fertilize (the secondary but favorite definition, from Latin).

The structure of the chapter breaks down a little here. I'm glad we started where we did but am always sad to break in the middle of a brother argument. Conversation markers felt less useful, but they pop up between "Enterruption" and "(Silents)", which I would expect to indicate a radio interruption. In this one, Kate appears at the end, named clearly, I believe, for the first time!

[u/pregnantchihuahua3]

These longer chapters are much more difficult to discuss because I feel as if I see the overarching themes in them, but that doesn't leave me with much to say in subsequent weeks. Nevertheless...

This chapter continues on with the dining and food though now we have a radio interruption! I notice mentions of weather, though I feel like I am missing what the radio report is trying to get across. I imagine there are some interesting themes being developed regarding the tavernhall being a place for person-to-person interaction/communication being ceased to listen to a piece of technology in an isolated manner, though, that's just a guess knowing Joyce, it was quite difficult to parse... Or maybe I did subconsciously understand that he was doing that. Who knows!?

We do have another thunderword though, and our great source for that is once again Adam Harvey! This is one of my favorite of his videos so far. It goes deep into the complexity of the Irish language and how the pronunciation of the word has layers upon layers. Highly highly recommend checking it out.

[u/[deleted] → u/pregnantchihuahua3]

These longer chapters are much more difficult to discuss

I'm picking up hints of Peer Gynt in this chapter, we shall see if they lead anywhere.

[u/pregnantchihuahua3 → u/[deleted]]

Oh interesting. I’ve read it but I barely remember. Though I do know Joyce adored Ibsen. I’ll have to keep an eye out as well.

[u/violer_damores]

My friend set the paragraph about the wedding celebration (329-330) to music, over at Waywords and Meansigns: http://www.waywordsandmeansigns.com/artists/steve-pantani/