Quiz: Is Reading Finnegans Wake for You?

Week 6, May 3-May 10, pages 68-80

Warning: there is a quiz at the end of this post.

Liverpoor? Sot a bit of it! His braynes coolt parritch, his pelt nassy, his heart's adrone, his bluidstreams acrawl, his puff but a piff, his extremeties extremely so: Fengless, Pawmbroke, Chilblaimend and Baldowl. Humph is in his doge. Words weigh no no more to him than raindrips to Rethfernhim. Which we all like. Rain. When we sleep. Drops. But wait until our sleeping. Drain. Sdops.

Finnegans Wake, 74.13-19

The preceding passage is the last paragraph of chapter three. Read it without context.  Don’t worry about what’s come before in the chapter. Why am I asking you to ignore context? Because chapter three is dense.  This is Finnegans Wake we’re talking about, so if I tell you it’s dense, you know it’s neutron-star dense.

But wait—would having read the 26.5 pages that come before in chapter three make these passage easier to understand? I’ll feel confident in saying “No” to that question. You would have a deeper and fuller understanding, perhaps, but that experience wouldn’t make these seven lines easier, in and of themselves.

Let’s see if I’m right about that.

Liverpoor? Sot a bit of it!

Liverpool is an English city that’s almost directly across the Irish Sea from Dublin.  A “liver poor” is what you have when you drink too much, and a “sot” is a drunk.

His braynes coolt parritch, his pelt nassy, his heart's adrone, his bluidstreams acrawl, his puff but a piff,

Who is the “he”? Well, a safe bet is that it’s our protagonist, our main male character, possibly the man dreaming the dream, HCE in one of his many guises.

What’s he doing? His brains are cold porridge, his skin is wet, his heart is droning, his blood slowly crawls through his veins, and his breath is quiet. Looks like he’s asleep. So far so good.

his extremeties extremely so: Fengless, Pawmbroke, Chilblaimend and Baldowl.

I had to look up those four names, and they are apparently plays on the names of four districts in Dublin. HCE, a man who may be Dublin itself, lies asleep with his four extremities spread across the city.

Humph is in his doge.

HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker) is dosing. A doge was also the name for the ruler of many of the city-states in Renaissance-era Italy.

Words weigh no no more to him than raindrips to Rethfernhim.

Rethfernhim also refers to a Dublin suburbs. Words weigh less than raindrops.  As HCE sleeps, words become as slippery as water.

Which we all like. Rain. When we sleep. Drops. But wait until our sleeping. Drain. Sdops.

Ah, the joy of falling asleep. HCE’s sleeping brain stops.  He’s a sleeping puddle, isn’t he?

What’s the point of going through all that? I’ve been asked, “What’s it like reading Finnegans Wake?” I’d say reading Finnegans Wake is often like what we just did with this passage.  You read on, sometimes with a broader understanding of where you are, but more likely with only the text immediately at hand to help you. You’ve got to burrow in. Feel comfortable reading without context.

Then, you read it again. We’ve broken it all down, and understood at least some of it. So let’s read it again in its entirety. Let the words rush by.

Liverpoor? Sot a bit of it! His braynes coolt parritch, his pelt nassy, his heart's adrone, his bluidstreams acrawl, his puff but a piff, his extremeties extremely so: Fengless, Pawmbroke, Chilblaimend and Baldowl. Humph is in his doge. Words weigh no no more to him than raindrips to Rethfernhim. Which we all like. Rain. When we sleep. Drops. But wait until our sleeping. Drain. Sdops.

Here’s the quiz.

1. Did you enjoy that exercise?
2. Do you like this passage on its own, without feeling like you need to know more about what’s going on?
3. Could you imagine reading an almost endless number of these passages back to back, many of which are more difficult to understand than this one? 
4. Did you like going back and re-reading the passage a second time?

If you answered “Yes” to all four questions, I have good news for you: you should read Finnegans Wake.  And if you answered “No” to any of them, I have even better news: there’s still a chance you’re a normal person!