Finnegans Wake: An Intro from Another Fellow

James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is unlike any other book that has ever been committed to paper. Difficult, impenetrable, opaque, its unreadability is not a fault to be apologized for but a challenge to be flaunted in the reader's face. Its language occasionally reminds one of the English of Ulysses or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but most of the time it bears little resemblance to any language known to mankind. Finnegans Wake is a book that one must first learn to read: understanding comes later, if it comes at all. As we approach the centenary of the publication of Finnegans Wake, interest in the book continues to grow, both in the halls of academia and among the public at large. The Internet and social media have only accelerated this trend. The number of books that have been written on Joyce’s crowning masterpiece also continues to grow, with no sign of abating. It is becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to say anything original about Finnegans Wake. Every writer who puts pen to paper does so with a library of relevant texts at his elbow. The author of An Intro from Another Fellow is no different. A Dubliner, Brendan Ward has been reading, studying and enjoying Joyce's works for over forty years. In writing this book, he has provided the first-time reader with a Virgilian guide through the labyrinthine anfractuosities of Joyce's comedy.