As we bask in the wake of completing the Wake, Toby and TJ welcome renowned author, librarian, academic, and bookfluencer George Koors to discuss how to get into the Wake, as well as what to do after it's done. We discuss the benefits and risks of BookTok, Bookstagram, and BookTube, the egalitarian nature of Joyce ensuring that through complexity all readers are rendered the same, and consider the dangers of placing beloved texts on syllabi. We discuss Taylor Swift, Ben Jonson, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, and George hits us with two monumental recommendations that will rattle your brain and strain at your wallet. To top it all, we get the world exclusive scoop on TJ's new play, learn the term "typoglycemia" and consider the weight we can place on art that survives time. We'd like to think WAKE is one of those survivors, as we enter our end-of-series hiatus...
This week's chatters: George Koors, Toby Malone, TJ Young
References
George's website: https://www.georgekoors.com/
George on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gbk7288/
Always the Wanderer: https://www.amazon.com/Always-Wanderer-George-Bernard-Koors/dp/1936135159
Let's Talk About James Joyce's Finnegans Wake
James Joyce's Finnegans Wake In Less Than 2 Minutes
Arno Schmidt Zettels Traum (Bottom’s Dream) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6088384
George’s petition to make Zettels Traum accessible! https://www.georgekoors.com/post/help-me-fight-literary-gatekeeping-let-s-make-arno-schmidt-s-zettels-traum-more-accessible
Carlos Fuentes Terra Nostra https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59415.Terra_Nostra?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=cbUx0TDs2A&rank=1
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
We can't believe it. Can you believe it? We actually finished reading Finnegans Wake. What started out as a podcast to read an "unreadable book" has turned into a journey that has endeared us to a magical community, connected with our family and friends, and reawakened our sense of what art can be. While sometimes it felt like climbing a sheer cliff-face, the toeholds we gained along the way made this a delightfully fulfilling project. For this final episode, Toby and TJ look back on WAKE and consider how you know when a project is over, embracing confusion, and how much we appreciate the spectators at the end of a marathon. We talk Joyce on film, Pinter, the Beatles, Lord of the Rings, and hypertexts, and pinpoint the exact moment the Harry Potter franchise lost TJ. We take on translation, and gimmicks, and mountaineering, and the question of how-fast-is-too-fast-to-read-the-Wake. Then, as we consider the stadium-sized Rubik's Cube that is the Wake, we are visited by the Patron Saint of WAKE for words of congratulations. It's an unmissable end to what has indeed proven to be a surprisingly listenable podcast.
This week's chatters: Toby Malone, TJ Young
Progress: 628 pages complete, 0 pages to go; 100% read.
Contextual Notes
The Patron Saint of WAKE
Michael Ian Black congratulates WAKE!
Referenced Texts
Fadiman, Clifton. “Don’t Shoot the Book-Reviewer; He’s Doing the Best He Can.” The New Yorker. April 28, 1939.
Norris, David, and Carl Flint. Introducing Joyce: A Graphic Guide. London: Icon Books, 2013.
McCreedy, Jonathan. (2022). Joyceradamus: Foretelling the Age of Trump in Finnegans Wake. Joyce Studies in Italy: Joyspace: James Joyce and Space, 23 (2021): 159-74.
Rose, David. Cryptogrammic Cryptograms: Fungi in Finnegans Wake.
Collard, David. Multiple Joyce. London: Sagging Meniscus P, 2022.
Glasheen, Adaline. Third census of Finnegans wake : an index of the characters and their roles.
Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1977.
Benstock, Bernard. Joyce-Again’s Wake.
Turnbull, Caldwell. No Gods, No Monsters.
Wake in the World
Mirko Buffini’s HCE Collection
Hoyne Brewing: Finnegans Irish Stout
Translating the Wake
Reading James Joyce's Finnegans Wake in Korean by Sang Hyun Lee 187
Dai, Congrong. "A Chinese Translation of Finnegans Wake: The Work in Progress." James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 47 no. 4, 2010, p. 579-588. Project MUSE
Nothing’s Impossible: Finnegans Wake Translated into Chinese.
Eishiro, Ito. Two Japanese Translations of Finnegans Wake Compared: Yanase (1991-1993) and Miyata (2004)
Francois-Victor Hugo’s Shakespeare:
Joyce on Film
Roger Ebert on Bute’s Wake film
Resources
Buffalo James Joyce Collection
Reading Groups:
https://finneganswake.org/ReadingGroups.shtml
Podcasts
Frank Delaney’s Re-Joyce:
Joseph Strick’s Ulysses on Three Castles Burning
1954: The Birth of Bloomsday on Three Castles Burning: https://threecastlesburning.libsyn.com/1954-the-birth-of-bloomsday
Exploring Lucia Joyce (with Joe Chester) on Three Castles Burning: https://threecastlesburning.libsyn.com/exploring-lucia-joyce-with-joe-chester
WAKE
To find TJ: https://www.tj-young.com/
To find Toby: https://linktr.ee/turglife
WAKE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wake.pod/
WAKE on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/WAKEPOD
WAKE on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WAKEpod
WAKE on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/wakepod.bsky.social
WAKE on X: lol, fuck you Elon
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
There's nothing quite like ticking off a bucket list item, and today is the day, where Toby and TJ come to the end of the long reading road to finally finish Finnegans Wake. Before we get there, though, we have superstar guest Neil Wechsler to guide us through his favourite section of the book, along with passionate opinions on Hollywood hypocrisy, problematic shortcuts, and how the unique structure of the Wake is not a joke, nor a gimmick, but in fact proof that the human race is not entirely doomed. Joyce gives us an ending that's worth the wait, and feels well earned, as the pain of the cycle ends in a note of hope. We may have finished with the Wake, but we have a feeling it's not quite finished with us yet.
This week's readers: Neil Wechsler, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Progress: 628 pages complete, 0 pages to go; 100% read.
Contextual Notes
James Joyce Collection at the University at Buffalo: https://library.buffalo.edu/jamesjoyce/
The Wake at the UB collection: https://library.buffalo.edu/jamesjoyce/catalog/vi-finnegans-wake/
A proposed JJ museum through the Buffalo collection: https://library.buffalo.edu/jamesjoyce/pdf/james-joyce-museum.pdf
Joyce-again's wake: An analysis of Finnegans wake, Bernard Benstock: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331509.Joyce_again_s_wake
A Reader's Guide to Finnegans Wake, William York Tindall: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59480.A_Reader_s_Guide_to_Finnegans_Wake
Jeffrey Jarome Cohen: Monster Culture: Seven Theses: https://ptfaculty.gordonstate.edu/rscoggins/Cohen,%20Monster%20Culture%20(Seven%20Theses),%203-20.pdf
Sorry Finn https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/persons/finn-fordham
Benstock, Bernard. Joyce Again’s Wake. https://www.loc.gov/item/65023908/
Neil Wechsler’s website: https://wechslerprojects.com/
Neil on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wechslerprojects/
Our favourite play, Grenadine: https://www.amazon.ca/Grenadine-Neil-Wechsler/dp/0300149921
Neil on New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/37010/neil-wechsler
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
In the grand tradition of Finnegans Wake, WAKE has looped back around on itself to become a self-generating machine, as we welcome back musical innovator and the most reckless of stramashers, Tommy Mackay, to talk about WAKE: the Album! Yes, this very podcast is honoured to be the inspiration for at least half the tracks on Tommy's new (stra)mash-up album of music, smashing WAKE readings into the music of Taylor Swift, Wham!, Devo, and more, with more groan-worthy dad-joke pun titles than you could possibly handle.
There's a sailor on a horse! There's an invitation to suck a sugarstick! There's Gráinne O'Malley's girl power!
Join us for a track-by-track odyssey through WAKE: the Album, in the hope that no takedown notices emerge to ruin anyone's fun.
This week's chatters: Tommy Mackay, Toby Malone, TJ Young
References
WAKE: the Album on the Daily Reckless
Album details:
A collection of stramash-ups by Tommy Mackay drawn from readings of James Joyce's 'Finnegans Wake'
Main sources:
Released April 4, 2025
Clips used by permission from the WAKE podcast by Toby Malone and TJ Young and also the audio-visual book by One Little Goat Theatre Company read by Richard Harte, directed by Adam Seelig.
Individual credits in song info.
all rights reserved
Bonus Tracks:
Other references:
Allaster Mckallester: https://www.instagram.com/mckallaster/
ReWiggled: https://open.spotify.com/album/7pMmcRjBt41hvqnFQHqYb2
Finnegans Dreams: https://www.dailyreckless.com/2024/08/15/finnegans-dreams/
McCourt, John. ‘Denti Alligator' or ‘Airtight Alligator': Reading Dante with Joyce and Beckett.
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Book Four is upon us, and it is with mixed feelings, both excited and sad, that we launch into the final segments of Finnegans Wake. Helping us along the way is fan-favourite WAKE veteran, internationally-acclaimed author, Lucy "old rubberskin" Brazier, who helps us get into a typically ribald discussion of Simlish, Instagram thots, tortoise dreams, terrible superhero names, fan fiction, and a plan for a Biddy the Hen statue in Phoenix Park. Come for the reading, stay for our brutal takedown of the Oxford World's Classic: it's more fun than a sailor on a horse!
This week's readers: Lucy Brazier, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Progress: 613 pages complete, 15 pages to go; 97.61% read.
Contextual Notes
Brancusi’s Whirligig https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/ulysses/brancusis-symbol-joyce
AO3 James Joyce Fanfic: https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Finnegans%20Wake%20-%20James%20Joyce/works
Finnegans Wake and Spongebob Fanfic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9436142
Mutt and Jeff https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/comic-art/about-this-exhibition/early-years-1890s-to-1920s/mutt-and-jeff-an-unlikely-pair/
Three Castles Burning on early houses: https://threecastlesburning.libsyn.com/the-dawning-of-the-day-last-orders-at-the-early-house
Lucy Brazier’s website https://portergirl.com/
Finnegans What?: Finnegans Wake - A guide by an idiot https://www.amazon.ca/Finnegans-What-Wake-guide-idiot/dp/1092156100/
Lucy on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brazierlucy/
Lucy on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/@lucybrazierauthor/
Lucy on Twitter https://twitter.com/@portergirl100/
If Movies Ended When Someone Said the Title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DMndH8QiI4
If Movies Ended When Someone Said the Title Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzMsbdAQRg4&t=0s
If Movies Ended When Someone Said the Title 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT41rqh-Udk
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
If sleep is the panacea of all ills, WAKE has found the very experts who can tell you exactly why that’s the case! On this week’s special bonus episode, Toby and TJ welcome internationally renowned neuroscientists, Professors Adrian Peyrache and Arjun Krishnaswamy, to talk about what’s going on inside our brains while we sleep. In an episode that’s part TED Talk and part HCE Talk, we break down insights into the sleeping brain, including how memory relies on good sleep hygiene, sleep paralysis, brain compasses, real-time dreaming, and how mice dream of mazes. We hear Adrien’s critique of the science of ‘Inception,’ position the Wake as the first-ever Large Language Model, and finally gain definitive proof of who the dreamer is. Oh, and with a whole section on erotic dream-infused cave paintings, this is a discussion that will definitely not put you to sleep.
This week's chatters: Adrien Peyrache, Arjun Krishnaswamy, Toby Malone, TJ Young
References
Adrien’s bio: https://www.mcgill.ca/neurology-neurosurgery/adrien-peyrache-phd
Adrien’s lab: https://www.peyrachelab.com/research
Arjun’s bio: https://www.mcgill.ca/physiology/directory/core-faculty/arjun-krishnaswamy
Arjun’s lab: https://www.swamylab.com/
Sleep’s Hidden Superpower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbpidNKc5cw
What a Sleep Specialist Has to Say About the Dreaminess of Finnegans Wake https://lithub.com/what-a-sleep-specialist-has-to-say-about-the-dreaminess-of-finnegans-wake/
Joyce’s Book of the Dark, John Bishop: https://archive.org/details/joycesbookofdark00bish
The Nighttime madness of “Finnegans Wake” https://argumentativeoldgit.wordpress.com/2021/10/13/the-nighttime-madness-of-finnegans-wake/
The Bluesky account recreating the Wake on LLMs
https://bsky.app/profile/funferall.bsky.social
The Lascaux cave painting of a dream (including the erection)
Stan Carey’s Putting language to sleep in Finnegans Wake
https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/putting-language-to-sleep-in-finnegans-wake/
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Flushed with their firestuffostered friendship, WAKE celebrates St. Patrick’s Day by exploring all of the many ways that Finnegans Wake refers to whiskey: Ireland’s beloved, potent créatúr. Joined by world whiskey historian and former Sweny’s volunteer Fionnán O’Connor, we explode some myths regarding monks, St Patrick, and potatoes, brush off our pub stool wisdom, prepare the worm on our darling little stills, and consider the role trust plays in what is simultaneously the oldest and youngest whiskey industry in the world. So, tuck yourself into a snug in your local shebeen with a ball of malt, and don’t forget to get in on a round: we bet you can’t stay for just one. Happy St. Paddy’s!
Today's chatters: Fionnán O'Connor, Toby Malone, TJ Young
References:
The Amber Isle Teaser https://vimeo.com/1029613764
James Joyce’s whiskey connections https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/culture/25971/james-joyce-s-whiskey-connections/
Ulysses Whiskey https://www.ulysseswhiskey.com/our-story
Dave Broom https://thewhiskymanual.uk/James Joyce’s whiskey connections | Scotch Whiskyhello-everyone/
Finnegan’s Wake and Joyce
https://steemit.com/finneganswake/@harlotscurse/finnegan-s-wake-and-joyce
The Fall and Rise of Irish Whiskey: https://liquorstore.com/blog/the-fall-and-rise-of-irish-whiskey/
A Sense of Place: a journey around Scotland’s whisky https://the-right-spirit.com/2023/10/06/book-a-sense-of-place-by-dave-broom/
Fionnán’s forthcoming Créatúr: https://creatur.ie/
Fundraising for Créatúr: https://whiskymag.com/articles/irish-whiskey-historian-launches-fundraiser-for-new-book-creatur/
Fionnán gets emotional: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVbkxCU6BV4
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
With stubbornness and defiance, WAKE welcomes the wonderful Igor Belokrinitsky, representative of the Ukrainian Wake in Progress Finnegans Wake reading group! Igor joins Toby and TJ for a wide-ranging conversation about the true meaning of indomitability, where Joyce stands in to tell prescient lessons about colonialism, independence, identity, language and exile, which speak directly to the plight of the brave, besieged Ukrainians. We talk about Thomas Pynchon, Nestor Makhno, Monty Python, Joseph Cornell's boxes, and the brilliant mind maps created by Linda Lotiel for each Ukrainian reading session. In war, schadenfreude is necessary, so take your shots at the Russian General if you're a true Wake Otaku, and gird your wedgewords for an episode that is just as generative as it is consumptive. WAKE stands with Ukraine!
This week's chatters: Igor Belokrinitsky, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Contextual Notes
A note from Igor:
...And as you graciously offered to support our mission, please point your listeners to uafirstaid.com/en specializing in first aid kits and tourniquets.
We have no rare earth minerals to offer in return, but would happily unearth a limerick!
A man who was orange in hue
Held a rather peculiar view
That his fire department
Could rob our apartment
Which was "merely getting his due"
Monty Python’s Summarise Proust Competition: https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Summarize_Proust_Competition
Linda's mind maps can be seen at maybeday.net/night/mind_maps.html
The Mind Map Linda made for the reading that Toby joined! https://bsky.app/profile/wake-in-progress.bsky.social/post/3limtxbb65k2y
The puzzles from Toby’s episode: https://bsky.app/profile/wake-in-progress.bsky.social/post/3liabhj3jzk2x
Episode 22 with Bobby Campbell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNs9hcLTl4
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Ever have trouble remembering things? Phone numbers? Grocery lists? Names of casual acquaintances? If so, get ready to feel very self-conscious, because on this week's WAKE, we meet the indomitable Neal Kosaly-Meyer, a musician who decided, entirely of his own volition, to spend seventeen years memorising and performing the entirety of Finnegans Wake. Seriously. Toby and TJ caught Neal as he prepared to take on the punishing 'Tales From the Inn' chapter (premiering December 2025!), where we discuss memorisation, how the Wake is like music that most people neglect to play, rhythm, and, of course, offer WAKE's first and definitive opinion on Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl. Don't forget: it's a new WAKE!
This week's chatters: Neal Kosaly-Meyer, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Contextual Notes
Neal Kosaly-Meyer on Waywords and Meansigns: https://www.waywordsandmeansigns.com/artists/neal-kosaly-meyer/
Neal on NPR: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/24/791045690/seattle-man-plans-to-memorize-and-perform-joyces-finnegans-wake
Neal on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nealkosaly/
The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/theater/2019/12/04/42157754/the-seattle-man-who-is-memorizing-an-unreadable-novel
Neal in performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HumFP8dLffk
Gavan Kennedy, Finnegan Wakes: a Machine of Memory and Meaning https://journal.burningman.org/2018/08/black-rock-city/participate-in-brc/finnegan-wakes-a-machine-of-memory-and-meaning/
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Peter O’Brien is an artist, a visionary, and a life-long Joycean, with the energy to not only dream up one major Finnegans Wake-centric artistic offshoot, but is busy scheming about how to top it. We first became aware of Peter as a brilliant artist, using “letterism” to artistically annotate the pages of Finnegans Wake. Exhibited around the world and widely published, most would be satisfied with that: but not Peter, who is now pouring his unmatched attention into a new opera despite (by his own admission) knowing little about music. Join us on this fascinatingly palimpsestuous discussion that touches on the nature of genius, memorisation, Glenn Gould, Virgil, nudity, and Wagner, and shows us that you may think you can be finished with the Wake, but it’s never really finished with you.
This week's chatters: Peter O’Brien, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Contextual Notes
Peter’s Wake-inspired art: https://www.peterobrienart.com/about.html
Limited edition Wake prints: https://www.peterobrienart.com/store/c2/LOFWFW_-_LIMITED_EDITION.html
Peter’s Globe and Mail article on his art: https://tpob.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/obrien-on-lofwfw-in-globe-and-mail-5.pdf
O'Brien, P. (2018). Drawing Upon Finnegans Wake. Art/Research/International:/A/Transdisciplinary/Journal, 3(2), 196–215. https://doi.org/10.18432/ari29381
Pitch deck for Plurabelle: https://tpob.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/p-l-u-r-a-b-e-l-l-e-pitch-27-oct-2023.pdf
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
It's an episode to savour, as Toby and TJ look back on the always entertaining Book 3 of the Wake, and all the fun we had along the way. With great guests, amazing community, purist support, and laughs aplenty, Book 3 has been all the fun you'd expect from the segment of the Wake set just before the dawn. With discussions that include global simulacra, along with legendary Wakeists like Bernard Benstock, Simon Loekle, Ben Watson, and Richard Harte, we throw the doors wide to encourage you to access the inaccessible here on Wake, where the Tap-Out button is no longer welcome.
This week's chatters: Toby Malone, TJ Young
Progress: 590 pages complete, 38 pages to go; 93.95% read.
Contextual Notes
Brandon Nicklaus’s blog From Swerve of Shore to Bend of Bay
Benstock, Bernard. Joyce Again’s Wake.
Collard, David. Multiple Joyce. London: Sagging Meniscus P, 2022.
The Wake in pictures, Peter Quadrino
Katarzyna Bazarnik JOYCE, LIBERATURE AND WRITING OF THE BOOK
Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce: A Critical Edition
Documents from Furina:
i. Christmas Eve, written in Trieste in 1904 as attested to his brother Stanislaus; a short story (finished but fair copy incomplete) intended for Dubliners but withdrawn due to unknown reasons; a fragment was later reincorporated into Clay.
ii. The Cat of Beaugency, dit The Cat and the Devil, written on 10 August 1936 in Villers-sur-Mer in a letter to his grandson, the late Stephen James Joyce; epistolary, infantile fable.
iii. The Cats of Copenhagen, written on 5 September 1936 in Copenhagen's Turist Hotel in a postcard to his grandson (one may perhaps consider it a sort-of 'sequel' to the previous entry), the late Stephen James Joyce; epistolary, infantile fable.
iv. The incipit of the holograph manuscript of The Dead, from the collections of Yale University.
v. The original version of the short story The Sisters, as published (under the pseudonym Stephen Dædalus) in the "Our Weekly Story" section of The Irish Homestead on 13 August 1904; as commissioned by George William "Æ" Russell, who later appeared in Ulysses.
vi. An extract from a letter (dated 14 August 1925) to Harriet Shaw Weaver: a poem called The Waste Land; a parody of T. S. Eliot's chef d'œuvre of the same name.
vii. An extract from a similar, earlier letter (dated 13 June 1925) to the same recipient: a poem called Canto; a parody of Ezra Pound's modernist epic - it is not a parody of any particular canto but a general jab at the style.
viii. The history and evolution of the poem "Tilly", the first and 'bonus' poem of Pomes Penyeach; written in Dublin in 1904.
ix. A remastered and enhanced version of Joyce declaiming John F. Taylor's oration from the seventh episode, 'Aeolus', of Ulysses.
x. A recording of Joyce's only other musical composition (aside from The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly) - Bid Adieu - setting the eleventh entry from his début collection of poetry, Chamber Music. The singer is tenor Kevin McDermott and the pianist is Ralph Richey.
xi. The full text - part I and part II - of Finn's Hotel; eleven 'epicleti' which were sketches of the Work in Progress, written in Paris and Bognor Regis in 1923. .pdf available here.
xii. C. K. Ogden's 1932 translation of the last four pages of the Anna Livia Plurabelle closing chapter of Book I, as supervised by the artist, intoBasic English, along with the translator's preface.
Ben Watson: Finnegans Wake vs. Theory
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
It's an episode of WAKE to make Grim Grandma Grunt, as Toby and TJ return from a long reading break to finish up Book 3! With three special readers providing their dulcet tones, we discuss whether there is any actual use to academic summaries of the text, see Joyce's perspective on parenting, puzzle over more cricket innuendo than you could ever possibly need, and agree that without the Wake, there's no Star Wars. Join us for the thunderslog!
This week's readers: Toby Malone, TJ Young, Nikhil Krishnaswamy, Patrick Robinson, Bridie Malone
Progress: 590 pages complete, 38 pages to go; 93.95% read.
Contextual Notes
The Inseparables: https://newplayexchange.org/script/2031424/the-inseparables
The Great Guinness heist: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/31/great-guinness-heist-thieves-stole-truck-carrying-20000-pints
Three Castles Burning: https://threecastlesburning.libsyn.com
Save Sweny! https://www.dublinbypub.ie/misc/save-swenys/
Sweny’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/swenyspharmacy/home
The Anna Livia tattoo: https://www.facebook.com/fantinitattoo/posts/is-there-any-fans-of-james-joyce-herethis-tattoo-is-my-interpretation-of-anna-li/2668790800036198/
Multiple Joyce: https://www.saggingmeniscus.com/catalog/multiple_joyce/
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Often, when you show the Wake to an uninitiated reader, the first reaction will be “that’s weird.” Today we embrace the weird and lean into the unconventional, with a delightful, insightful chat with the overseer of the Weirdoverse, Bobby Campbell. For this bonus non-reading episode, we discuss the major role of Robert Anton Wilson in Joyce culture, psychedelics, language creation as class warfare, and ponder the questions over whether the Wake is written in English, whether Joyce had syphilis, whether Joyce was psychic, and whether Joseph Campbell was citing his insider sources. As we consider the mile-long Alka-Seltzer tablet that is the Wake, we settle on questions of the work’s place as a sacred text, whether Modernism remains unsolved, and gather our courage to brave the intimidating but friendly purists on Reddit.
This week's chatters: Bobby Campbell, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Contextual Notes
Robert Anton Wilson: https://nocturnalrevelries.com/2018/07/23/robert-anton-wilson-the-last-great-irish-modernist/
Maybe Night: https://www.maybeday.net/night/
https://www.maybeday.net/night/WTF.html
r/JamesJoyce: https://www.reddit.com/r/jamesjoyce/
r/WAKEpod!: https://www.reddit.com/r/WAKEpod/
Linda Lotiel’s Mind Maps: https://www.maybeday.net/night/mind_maps.html
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
I hope you have your alarm set, because the dreamer is stirring! Toby and TJ welcome old friend Jason Rothery--acclaimed playwright, novelist, and fellow theatre survivor--to to help us read 3.4: 'Dawn.' In typical incisive form, Jason unleashes insight and enthusiasm as James Joyce acquires himself a brand new fan. From considerations of Finnegans Wake comprehension akin to the Suzuki method of music instruction, to the Jabberwocky, the Marx Brothers, and André 3000's flute album, no topic is off limits, as we skim the surface, ponder translation, and think about how Joyce teaches us to "mean differently."
This week's readers: Toby Malone, TJ Young, Jason Rothery
Progress: 572 pages complete, 56 pages to go; 91.08% read.
Contextual Notes
Jason Rothery online: https://jasonpatrickrothery.com/
Privilege: https://www.amazon.ca/Privilege-Jason-Patrick-Rothery/dp/1773370227/
Reg: https://www.amazon.ca/REG-Jason-Patrick-Rothery/dp/B0DJK3QPLB/Jason on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonpatrickrothery/ The Jabberwocky: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42916/jabberwocky FWEET: Finnegans Wake Extensible Elucidation Treasury: http://www.fweet.org/
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
What happens when you put an erudite Canadian-Australian in a room with a verbose Australian-Canadian? This week, as TJ suffers through a department meeting at work, Seth Austin of the "hold my beer" W.A.S.T.E Mailing List joins Toby to take on the maelstrom that is HCE's defensiveness masking desperation. With perspectives on Giambattista Vico, father-son power struggles, and Oedipus Rex, we allow ourselves to be surprised by the text, where turnintaxis pop up where you least expect them.
This week's readers: Toby Malone, Seth Austin
Contextual Notes
W.A.S.T.E Mailing List on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wastemailinglist/
W.A.S.T.E Mailing List on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6TqI_9Rj0jWXsAGTnNmodw W.A.S.T.E Mailing List on Substack: https://wastemailinglist.substack.com/
W.A.S.T.E Mailing List on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5miLzV90JolgEsfCudyMU2
Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2794.The_Crying_of_Lot_49 Vico’s New Science: https://fpa2014.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/vico-the-new-science.pdf
Finnegans Wake: untangling its histories of humans, the animal world and the environment in the Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/12/16/finnegans-wake-untangling-its-histories-of-humans-the-animal-world-and-the-environment/
Richard Ellmann: James Joyce, New York,1959,1982.
On Ellmann: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/09/specials/joyce-ellmann.html
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
After months of pondering the motivations of those who choose to take up the mantle of the Wake, and particularly those who get together with like-minded individuals to drink and read and discuss, we finally decided to get to the bottom of the phenomenon. Zoe Patterson is a PhD Candidate at Trinity College Dublin, whose doctoral studies centre on James Joyce reading groups. We talk about the varying usefulness of reading guides (which of course we here at WAKE pretend don't exist), people who jump on the "Joyce Train" halfway through the journey, how reading groups can resemble both Bible Study and Addiction meetings, and end on the earth-shattering revelation that this very podcast has now become academically relevant.
This week's chatters: Zoe Patterson, Toby Malone, TJ Young
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Numerologists rejoice: WAKE has hit the master number, and to celebrate, our old pal JJ has chosen to drop the subtlety and let his freak flag fly! Leonard Cohen may have said there was a crack in everything, but we don't want to know what people would accuse HCE of doing with it. Join us to discuss the Smashing Pumpkins, one man shows, adaptation theory, Yinzers and their Jawns, hundred year old pornography, and whether or not Toby and TJ have become... gasp... purists?
This week's readers: Toby Malone, TJ Young
Progress: 532 pages complete, 96 pages to go; 84.71% read.
Contextual Notes
Thirty-three by the Smashing Pumpkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYSbztCCTlA
Billy Corgan’s insane podcast Thirty-Three: https://podbay.fm/p/thirty-three-with-william-patrick-corgan
That numerology page we read from: https://www.worldnumerology.com/numerology-master-numbers/master-number-33/
WAKE on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wakepod.bsky.social
フィネガンズ・ウェイクを読む https://bsky.app/profile/finneganswake-jpn.bsky.social
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
There are few things more synonymous with Ireland as a creamy, rich pint of Guinness. Plenty of time has been spent on James Joyce’s relationship with the black stuff, yet few have really considered just how much of a role Guinness plays in Finnegans Wake. Through dozens of allusions, references, and cunning puns, the pride of St. James’s Gate bears out an outsized presence through the dream-life of HC Earwicker, and for this special New Years Eve episode, Toby and TJ take a break from reading the Wake to clean a glass, pour to the harp, let it settle, top it off, then try to split the G. Our hearts are full, and our glasses are too: let’s raise a glass to Joyce, the Wake, and a potential future Guinness sponsorship for the podcast! Sláinte!
This week’s readers: Toby Malone, TJ Young
References:
Peter Chrisp on Joyce and Guinness: https://peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-frothy-freshener-james-joyces.html
Dannen, Catherine Gubernatis. “The Facts and Fiction Behind ‘the Free, the Flow, the Frothy Freshener’: The Guinness Company and the Story of Joyce’s Lost Ad.” James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 4, 2011, pp. 711–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24598886. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
Break out Mr. Tunney the grocer’s Christmas almanac, clear your schedule for Edwin Hamilton's Christmas pantaloonade and the Christmas pantomime Sinbad the Sailor, it’s time for a twelfth night feast dance with the Morkan Sisters, with the chrism for the christmass: in other words, it’s the WAKE Christmas episode! As we take a break on the reading for the holiday period, Toby spends a little bit of time considering how James Joyce approached Christmas in all four of his major works, through the eyes of wistful schoolboys, red-faced drunken uncles, dreamers and roamers, with quaintly underwhelming gifts, half-hearted sobriety pledges, and epiphanies on mortality. Happy holidays from everyone at WAKE: we hope you get your holly and ivy for him and for Christmas!
This week's chatters: Toby Malone
References
Peter Chrisp: https://peterchrisp.blogspot.com/2022/12/james-joyces-christmas-eve-1904.html
Mark Wallace: https://thevictoriansage.wordpress.com/2023/12/21/james-joyce-at-christmas-the-dead-1913/
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!
It’s always a treat when your smartest friend can join you for a chat: especially when it's the kind of smartest friend who makes you feel smarter yourself. Yes, award-winning visionary Neil Wechsler is back with us again to read a part of 3.3, roll past the 500 page mark, and to get deep into the weeds on meaning, immersion, expectation, and whether or not it’s actually a bad thing to be pretentious. It’s likely a good thing that we gave ourselves a pass on pretentiousness, because then we immediately get right into name-checking Socrates, Freud, Borges, Albee, Camus, and Lorde as we consider what it looks like as denizens at ‘the middle’ of the Wake. Come listen to our exagmination of the facts “thus being reduced to nothing,” and then, when all is said and done, stop to consider what it all would sound like... underwater.
This week's readers: Neil Wechsler, Toby Malone, TJ Young
Progress: 516 pages complete, 112 pages to go; 82.17% read.
Contextual Notes:
Neil on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wechslerprojects/
Zinzin, the business: https://www.zinzin.com/our-story/our-name/
Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress (1929):
For early drops, community and show notes, join us at our free Patreon, at patreon.com/wakepod, or check out our Linktree, at https://linktr.ee/wake.pod. We welcome comments from everyone: even, nay, especially, the dreaded purists. Come and "um actually" us!