UCD 'Wake-end', 21-22 February 2009
Rent from DeepDyve- UCD 'Wake-end', 21-22 February 2009
The first ever (Finnegans) 'Wake-end' (a lovingly crafted two-day celebration of Joyce's most misunderstood novel) took place at UCD, 21 and 22 February 2009. Wakeans from Dublin and beyond flocked to the event like rabid Star Trek fans to a star-studded convention! An intense Wake 'reading group' session kick-started the festivities on Saturday morning. 'Hardcore' Wakeans (Luca Crispi, Sam Slote, Finn Fordham, Wim Van Mierlo, and Roland McHugh, amongst others) sat alongside Joyce students and hyper-curious newcomers to face the set 'assignment' for the day: the 'First Watch of Shaun' episode, or Book III, Chapter 1. Paul O'Hanrahan, from the 'Balloonatics' Theatre Company, acted as official 'reader' and thrilled the assembly with his fluent, unhesitating mastery of 'Wakese'. O'Hanrahan's broad 'Doob-lin' tones rang pitch perfect with Joyce's night language, reminding one of John Cage's words that Finnegans Wake should always be read in a Dublin accent.
We efficiently hacked through III.1's largely culinary obscurities, collectively armed with well-thumbed annotation guides and even one laptop. We read roughly 260 lines of Finnegans Wake during the six-hour session, which depending on your point of view is either a great deal or very little indeed. 'Old chestnut' problems were bravely approached, for example, who is the mysterious 'eye'/'Ay' (FW 404.15) who thematically appears throughout the Wake? Does this eye belong to the Brunian braying ass who may or may not narrate the chapter ('I, poor ass' [FW 405.06])? Or does it refer to us, that is Joyce's legion of readers? Does Joyce suggest in 'lightseyes' (FW 404.14) that we read his prose in a probing 'searchlight' manner? 'Base' textual interpretations, such as how Phoenix Park's main highway represents the crack in HCE's buttocks, were also analysed. By the time we reached 'Greedo! Her's me hongue!' (FW 411.21), we were collectively exhausted. We subsequently retired to the Café Topolis (the 'Topless Bar' as Joyce would put it?) in the city for a well-deserved, leisurely evening meal.
For those who had still not had enough of Joyce's novel, a riveting excursion [End Page 147] to 'Wake Country' was organized for Sunday, the first stop being 'The Mullingar Inn' in Chapelizod for a delicious lunch. The most fanatical and intrepid Joyceans subsequently embarked on an epic Wake hike through Phoenix Park, taking in sights such as the 'Furry Glen', the 'Magazine Wall', and the Wellington Monument/'overgrown milestone'. 'I made do' with visiting the Wakean 'House by the Churchyard' close by the Inn, but the Phoenix Park Wake 'location hunt' lasted all day, so I am told!
This was a successful and entertaining two-day event. Speaking for myself (that is a 'green' Wake student with only a year and a half worth's experience) the 'Wake-end' invaluably shattered my prior research approach to the novel. It taught me that Finnegans Wake CANNOT be read alone and that one must engage with the Wakean community before committing any interpretations and theories to print. Wakean networking, whether by email, Skype, or Facebook, is clearly the lifeblood that keeps all our criticism alive and vital. Here's to a second UCD 'Wake-end' in the near future! Finnegans Wake deserves its time in the limelight. Move aside 'Bloomsday'!
Jonathan McReedy is a Second Year PhD student at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. His thesis, titled The Idea of Personality and Character in the Writings of Joyce, tracks Joyce's development from his supposed naturalism in Dubliners to his supposed use of archetypes in Finnegans Wake.
