This post extends my discussion of gaps in Finnegans Wake, which I first wrote about here. I want to look at a few instances of the word “blank,” as well as another instance of horseracing that describes HCE in terms of absence.
Continue readingThis post looks at the Enlightened Nonsense of Finnegans Wake, in sharp contrast to boring and childish citations and recitations of discourse.
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 