Follows a man's thoughts and dreams during a single night. It is also a book that participates in the re-reading of Irish history that was part of the revival of the early 20th century. The author also wrote "Ulysses", "Dubliners" and "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man".
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Follows a man's thoughts and dreams during a single night. It is also a book that participates in the re-reading of Irish history that was part of the revival of the early 20th century. The author also wrote "Ulysses", "Dubliners" and "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man".
Read Less
"The most unintelligible [writing] that anyone can understand," is a "wake-up call" to anyone interested in western culture, and/or entertained by deeply resounding wordplay, let alone pleased and astounded, reassured and frightened by the epiphanies and puzzles that arise out of dream fragments. FW is psychedelics out of a book - keep the bottle on your shelf. An alternate title might have been "My, My, My, What a Wonderful Fall." It helps to read the narrative aloud, as phrases tumble into rhythms that conjure meaning on the second or third bounce, not unlike nursery rhymes that even with the words changed are still recognizable for their cadence. Beyond the sounds and stories you will endure, there is history, speculation, editorial comment, and alternate takes, intermingled in a kaleidoscopic tumbling that leaves the reader literally breathless. Excerpt any passage, I challenge you, and perform it along with a light show, a soundscape, a chance choreography, and the collage will meld together better than the sum of its parts. FW is a handbook for the study of the brain as art. Thank you, Sean the Penman.
Maggy
Oct 21, 2007
Difficult, but Worth the Effort
Have you ever had a dream where you can remember the main idea, but you just can't remember the details? This novel is exactly like that. It's darn tough to read, but if you can get over the circular structure, foreign languages, Joyce-isms, and apparent indecipherability, you'll like it. If you need to understand every single thing in a book, don't read this; only James Joyce fully knows what every single detail signifies. The main idea: a dream, or a representation of nighttime.
