Finnegans Wake | Finnegans Wake

At a glance:

Author: James Joyce
First Published: 1939
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Fantasy
Time of Work: A cycle of history
Setting: Chapelizod, Dublin, Ireland
Genres: Long fiction, Dream vision
Subjects: History, Mythology or myths, Twentieth century, Marriage, Restaurants, bars, taverns, or pubs, Guilt, Dreams, Nightmares, Drinking or drunkenness, Consciousness, Ireland or Irish people, Psychoanalysis or psychoanalysts, Subconscious
Locales: Dublin, Ireland

Finnegan, the title character, whose name is derived from Finn MacCool, for two hundred years the legendary captain of Ireland’s warrior heroes; the name change is coined in a Joycean pun “Mister Finn, you’re going to be Mister Finnagain.” Finnegan, a hod carrier, has fallen from a ladder and is apparently dead. The fall is symbolic of the various falls (with implied corresponding resurrections) of humankind. At the wake, Finnegan’s friends become noisy and unrestrained, and in the course of the festivities, at the mention of the Irish word for...

Finnegans Wake | Finnegans Wake

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

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