Every telling has a taling, and that’s the he and the she of it
Finnegans Wake, I.8
In many ways, Finnegans Wake is a book about storytelling. It’s a collection of stories. In some places, full stories are told from beginning to end; in other places, they abruptly start and stop, get interrupted, meld into other tales, or get lost in confusion (like the history of HCE in I.2-4).
Continue readingThis post reflects on my last post and briefly offers an alternate way of conceiving the equations that I discussed there.
Continue readingThe math problem comes in Finnegans Wake II.2 occurs right after Shem/Dolph shows his brother how to draw the two interlocking circles that I discussed in my last post. This post explores the math problem itself.
Continue reading“Shem is as short for Shemus as Jem is jokey for Jacob.”
Thus begins James Joyce’s parody of himself, which is an exploration of how “Shem the Penman” is a gross, smelly weirdo whom no one likes.
Shem is one half of HCE, the introverted and artistic side of human nature. His brother, Shaun, is the extroverted and practical side.
Continue reading
The Suspended Sentence 