Tuesday, September 5, 2017

1st reading of Finnegans Wake - Completed 9/5/2017

Today I completed a 48 year goal - to read Finnegans Wake by James Joyce!

I have to say that this gave me a feeling like none other. As I read the final pages (the all-encompassing soliloquy of Anna Livia Plurabelle), a sense of great well-being came over me, a sense of the connectedness of all things - as trite as that may sound,  It seemed that I was ideally located in time and having a wonderful life with a wonderful wife and a wonderful family.  I felt really, really good.

The book, being absorbed with cycles has me contemplating my next passes through Finnegans Wake. I feel now that I have a nominal sense of the book, how to approach it, how to read it and mainly, how to enjoy it as a phenomenon of reading pleasure (on many levels).

My next move will be to listen through the book on Audible.com free trial (it is available there.)
Beyond that, I now have favorite parts and chapters to revisit at will.

Happy day!

Also, I finished 10 days ahead of my schedule and just in time for my start back to school tomorrow (two advanced poetry classes.)