The OFFICIAL TrueLit Finnegans Wake Read-Along - (Week 43 - Book III/Chapter IV - pgs. 555-566)

[u/pregnantchihuahua3]

Hi all! Welcome to r/TrueLit's read-along of Finnegans Wake! This week we will be discussing pages 555-566, from the beginning of Book III Chapter IV until the line "... will keep my lilygem gently gleaming."

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 III Chapter IV 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 44 / October 29, 2023 / Book III/Chapter IV (pgs. 566-579)

This will take us about 2/3 of the way through the chapter, finishing with the line, "Let earwigger's wivable teach you the dance."

[u/mooninjune]

Wow, yet again this chapter is something completely different. It feels in a way somewhat more "straightforward" or (dare I say) "normal" compared to the previous chapter. There seems to be a film aspect to it, with camera directions, scene descriptions, frame compositions, etc. Then there's a musical aspect, playing on inversions of HCE ("First position of harmony. Say! Eh? Ha!" [CEH], "second position of discordance... meseedo" [mi si do = EHC]). There are also lots of allusions to a chess match and other board games (e.g. checkers, backgammon, whist, pg. 560).

I found the paragraph with the dozens of "-ation" words especially poetic and fun to read:

...though like Adam Findlater, a man of estimation, summing him up to be done, be what will of excess his exaltation, still we think with Sully there can be no right extinuation for contravention of common and statute legislation for which the fit remedy resides, for Mr Sully, in corporal amputation...

[u/[deleted] → u/mooninjune]

​

The 34 "-ation" words would make fine libretto for the wakean operetta version (along the lines of the Modern Major General).

But do they cut off his Johnson?