Off the Shelf #2 FW Teems of Times

I am developing a serious spinal crush on the book series European Joyce Studies. Currently, the edition with the theme of time is causing a thrill. "Teems of Times", it's subtitled, taking the famous phrase from the Washerwoman section of the Wake.

Although my focus isn't exactly "on time" (punctuality, always a challenge) when it comes to FW, the essays are enjoyable. I'm particularly dwellng on the penultimate chapter by Simon Carnell. Not only has it pointed out an Australian reference (always a treasured rarity in Joycean studies), it has yielded juicy quotationals:

 "The evidence of Joyce's response to events in Ireland leading up to the establishemnt of the Free State is caracteristically limited, and typically ambiguous." p148, Carnell.

Off the Shelf #1 Inventing Ireland

Inventing Ireland is an absorbing book from Declan Kiberd. It's the go-to tome for first principles on Irish identity in a post-colonial frame. Very readable and broad in scope.

The chapter on Oscar Wilde (chapter two) is great. Even if it contains some ricketty academicky speke such as ... "So every dichotomy dichotomises". p40

H, C and E = S, E and C?

Last night on the radio, a recording of ex-Crowded House Neil Finn in interview mode prompted an interesting comment about music-making. Finn said that you occasionally have to go through hours and hours upon ages of working through a huge body of material in order for the most naturally simple song or piece of music to emerge. That is how he and brother Tim came out of many hours of playing with the foundation chords and melodies for "weather with you".

Tim Finns are clearly partyng in my subconscious: or my "subnesciousness", as Glugg experiences on p177 of the 2010 edition of Finnegans Wake. After ages of Finning around and starting work on my thesis, something juicily obvious emerges from Campbell's famous "Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake". On page 121 Campbell interprets the children's games chapter, and explains that Glugg sweaths a Dedalus-like oath to Silence, Exile and Cunning. Seeing the three words thus reprised in a Finn context makes you reread with Finn-wise eyes. I'm asking, suddenly, if the names HCE doesn't harken humorously somehow to the SEC of Stephen Dedalus's mantra.

It's that, and it's also just a result of basic overdosing on anything Joycean.