This post looks briefly at the word “gruebleen” in the Prankquean episode, illustrating how Finnegans Wake can contain meanings specific to individuals as well as more generally to wider audiences.
Continue readingRecently, I’ve been thinking about the song “Rainbow Connection” from The Muppet Movie (1979). My daughter heard it for the first time the other day, and she immediately hated it (ha). But as I listened to it to appreciate her distaste for it, I was struck by the idea that rainbows symbolize a connection between our reality and our dreams and hopes.
The rainbow is a significant symbol in Finnegans Wake, and this post considers it alongside some of the ideas about “storytelling” I’ve been developing on this blog.
Continue readingIn I.1, there’s a brief catalogue of all the goods that go into ALP’s “nabsack.” This includes
boaston nightgarters and masses of shoeset
I always just took this to be a reference to Boston, Massachusetts, a place that many Irish people emigrated to, mixed with garters and shoes.
But it’s also, the annotations inform me, chaussettes, the French word for socks.
Continue readingAmong the gossipers telling tales of HCE, one woman
hoped Sid Arthar would git a Chrissman’s portrout of orange and lemonsized orchids with hollegs and ether, from the feeatre of the Innocident, as the worryld had been uncained.
“Chrissman’s portrout” is at once Christmas present, Christmas portrait, Christmas porter, and Christmas pardon. It also contains the word “trout,” recalling how Finn MacCool gained knowledge by eating a fish (cf. Issy in I.6, “It’s only another queer fish or other in Brinbrou’s damned old trouchorous river again”).
Continue reading
The Suspended Sentence 