Rewriting Finnegan's Wake

 So, inspired by a chapter in Kenneth Goldsmith's Uncreative Writing, I'm pursuing a project in which I will re-type all of James Joyce's modernist masterpiece (and impossibly dense work) Finnegan's Wake. You can check out Goldsmith's book for more information on the purpose of this exercise, but basically we can say for now that it is a form of extreme close-reading. 

My goal is to post 1 page (from my Penguin Classics edition of the book) per day. I should note, however, that I am not typing these pages in order from page 1 - page whatever the heck. Instead, I'm following a reading plan by the scholar Sebastian D.G. Knowles in a conference presentation ("Finnegan's Wake: For Beginners Only"). Knowles' methodology is to read the book in the order that the sections were composed, at least according to scholarly consensus on the composition process, the idea being that a more "coherent" narrative (to whatever extent there is one) emerges. It also has the added benefit of reproducing some features of the epic genre that Joyce is drawing on; for example, the "Mamafesta" chapter begins with an invocation to the muses, tradition in epic lit. So, before I post the first bit, here's the order of reading:

I-5: "Mamafesta" (p. 104-25)

I-6: "Riddles" (126-68)

I-7: "Shem the Penman" (169-95)

I-8: "Anna Livia Plurabell" (196-216)

II-4: "Mamalujo" (383-99)

III-4: "Dawn" (555-590)

IV: "Ricorso" (593-628)

I-1-4: "HCE" (3-103)

II-1: "Children's Games" (219-59)

II-2: "Nightlessons" (260-308)

III-1-3: "Shaun" (403-554)

II-3: "The Pub" (309-82)

All right then, next post: page 1 (which means, page 104)