Blog posting claptrap setup over, I can start posting as necessary.

Some decisions I made are:

1. I think that my study of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales this semester at Rutgers will help in reading of FW (Finnegan's Wake).  The texts bear some similarities: they are part English-as-we-know-it, part 'foreign' English and part other languages, some lost to us.  With Chaucer, I have access to Middle English dictionaries, the Oxford English Dictionary, text glosses, books and articles.  All of this is helpful as an aid to the actual reading of the text.  The reading is the main thing - let your brain assemble, assimilate and synthesize the material.  Use the adjunct materials to inform the reading.

I will use this sort of material in reading FW.  At my disposal, I have online dictionaries, the Rutgers University Library (BIG Joyce and FW section.)

At first, I thought I would read FW first and then abet the reading. This seems inadvisable. I have tried this in the past, and while this has its charms, it doesn't bode well for a totally meaningful absorption of the material.  I need to bring tools along on the expedition.

Instead, I will read up first - texts that reflect on general approaches to FW - like A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake, the Finnegan's Wake Experience and the Decentered Universe of Finnegan's Wake. These general outline sort of works will help me prepare a word list, some understanding of the structure and an idea of the general plotting of the book.  Then, I will begin reading.

2. Parallels to Middle English study seem appropriate.  Much of the charm of FW is its Sound and language, punning, wordplay and merging of languages.  Therefore, all of the things I found in Chaucer's text - the variance between the reading experience to the recitation experience to the listening experience will come into play here.  (time to start looking for sound files of FW).  The mixture of reading, reciting and listening to FW will create an environment for understanding it - I hope.  Both texts require some degree of blind faith in order to tackle them.

3. Assuming that FW is legible, given the proper strategy and tools.  Also, I am assuming this is a task worth doing.  I noted that Ulysses, by Joyce was well worth the effort. For it, I combined reading with a complete book on tape - hearing the language was essential in that case. Things that didn't gel on the page were totally comprehensible when heard.

I will reflect on these assumptions in the blog as I proceed.