ABSTRACT
Although more than a year has elapsed since its completion, James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake appears to be no more familiar to the reading public than it was during its fifteen years’ fragmentary appearance as Work in Progress. The history of Ulysses is being repeated with all indications that the same initial failure to comprehend will be followed by the same gradual enlightenment, acceptance and ultimate acclaim, but at a much slower pace. The work is yet known only to the few who extend their hunt for literary fare beyond the beaten path…. [discusses the critical reception]
It is not to be wondered that the book is unknown to otherwise voracious consumers of the fiction market. The reviewers have told them it is unintelligible. That the reading of Finnegans Wake is plenty tough is undeniable. That it is unintelligible is not true. ‘Given time to read it,’ is a sine qua non. Statements like these are the result of a prodding, tyrannous deadline. Magazine reviews on the whole have been somewhat, but not much, better than newspaper reviews. The best have appeared in academic journals.
