ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a few basic ideas relating to the music of and in the Wake. It explores the circular form of this novel, and the musical implications of this circularity for the Wake. The chapter summarizes scholars' explorations (with mixed results) of the musical references and procedures in Joyce's last novel. It offers Finnegans Wake, a method for—if not for explaining and labeling each reference—at least for getting through a reading of the novel. At least a couple of critics have seen the repetition of Finnegans Wake, not as musical, but as mathematical. Despite the abundance of musical references in Finnegans Wake, there has been only a small amount of research into the musical elements within the Wake. The chapter offers musical experience of the Wake, drawing on a common way of experiencing contrapuntal music.
