I've just popped over to Amazon's dark interior and discovered that two hundred people claim to have read James Joyce's final novel,
Finnegan's Wake. Well, there are 200 reviews posted, ranging from the measly 1 star, to the absolutely ridiculous 5 stars, so that would infer 200 people have actually taken the trouble to read it. I tell you what, dear reader, I don't believe a single one of them. Not any of them. So far as I can tell, only two people have ever read it - Joyce himself and Samuel Beckett, a genius, who published quite a defensive essay on the novel. This, too, of course, was pointless as no one could ever read the source text from which the criticism was drawn. I don't think Beckett would care though, to be honest. The same can't be said of Joyce, however, who regularly talked of his "ideal reader". Martin Amis, a man of massive intellect, so much so that he no longer needs to demonstrate it, at all, never finished it, claiming it was "a triumph of style over substance". Neither did Clive James, a man who learned seven languages beyond his native English in order to read foreign authors in their original tongues. Even if the reviewer on Amazon has OXON slotted in after his name I don't care, he hasn't read it, and neither will I, nor will you. You can try, dear reader; open the first page and see how long you last. Venture past page twelve and you're a better man than I.
Amazon reviewers did throw up a few laughs though. One of them had clearly only read the chapter summaries in the book's glossary, and another had the following to say:
It's hard. Yes, that's right, hard. But hard can be fun. Just like sex.
(Finnegan's Wake does take longer though).
I've just popped over to Amazon's dark interior and discovered that two hundred people claim to have read James Joyce's final novel, Finnegan's Wake. Well, there are 200 reviews posted, ranging from the measly 1 star, to the absolutely ridiculous 5 stars, so that would infer 200 people have actually taken the trouble to read it. I tell you what, dear reader, I don't believe a single one of them. Not any of them. So far as I can tell, only two people have ever read it - Joyce himself and Samuel Beckett, a genius, who published quite a defensive essay on the novel. This, too, of course, was pointless as no one could ever read the source text from which the criticism was drawn. I don't think Beckett would care though, to be honest. The same can't be said of Joyce, however, who regularly talked of his "ideal reader". Martin Amis, a man of massive intellect, so much so that he no longer needs to demonstrate it, at all, never finished it, claiming it was "a triumph of style over substance". Neither did Clive James, a man who learned seven languages beyond his native English in order to read foreign authors in their original tongues. Even if the reviewer on Amazon has OXON slotted in after his name I don't care, he hasn't read it, and neither will I, nor will you. You can try, dear reader; open the first page and see how long you last. Venture past page twelve and you're a better man than I. Amazon reviewers did throw up a few laughs though. One of them had clearly only read the chapter summaries in the book's glossary, and another had the following to say:
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