unreadable lol

I made it! Finally! My first journey through the published fiction & poetry of James Joyce has finally concluded after 22 years, almost 21 of which were spent sitting at base camp atop [b:Ulysses|338798|Ulysses|James Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428891345l/338798._SY75_.jpg|2368224], [b:A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7588|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554800429l/7588._SY75_.jpg|3298883], [b:Dubliners|11012|Dubliners|James Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334138184l/11012._SX50_.jpg|260248], and [b:The Complete Poetry of James Joyce: The Collections Chamber Music, Pomes Penyeach and Other Poems from the Author of Ulysses, Dubliners, Finnegans Wake & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|28812885|The Complete Poetry of James Joyce The Collections Chamber Music, Pomes Penyeach and Other Poems from the Author of Ulysses, Dubliners, Finnegans Wake & A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1454248809l/28812885._SY75_.jpg|7427823], staring up at the massive mountain that is Finnegan's Wake and gathering the energy to take it on. When Read Harder 2021 put "read a book you've been intimidated to read" at the very top of this year's challenges, I figured it was finally time to take this on. Many sherpas were called into service to support this climb up literature's Everest: [b:A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake: James Joyce's Masterwork Revealed|59478|A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake James Joyce's Masterwork Revealed|Joseph Campbell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388352260l/59478._SY75_.jpg|57898]; [b:Finnegans What?: Finnegans Wake - a guide by an idiot|45014555|Finnegans What? Finnegans Wake - a guide by an idiot|Lucy Brazier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554902560l/45014555._SY75_.jpg|69680653]; [b:Introducing Joyce: A Graphic Guide|26247494|Introducing Joyce A Graphic Guide (Introducing...)|David Norris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441665252l/26247494._SX50_.jpg|306275]; multiple recordings of the Irish drinking song "Finnegan's Wake" by the Irish Rovers, Dropkick Murphys, and the Dubliners (including their live album "Finnegan Wakes"); a recording of two chapters performed by actors Cyril Cusack and Siobhan McKenna (available on Audible!); a recording of the entirety of Book One performed by The Most Ever Company (a thinly veiled incarnation of The Residents); CourseHero's online chapter summaries for the book; Tangerine Dream's album, "Finnegan's Wake"; and The Residents' "Walter Westinghouse." That's the largest collection of supporting texts I've ever mustered into the service of working through a single core text in my life. And for all that? Well, reading Finnegan's Wake is like reading a transcribed score of improved atonal anti-melodic modern jazz. As Joyce himself advised, when in doubt, read aloud, preferably in a Dublin accent, and that does help with catching a lot of the puns, which range from the dad joke variety ("salvocean," in the context of discussing healing waters) to the New York Times Sunday Crossword multilingual smarty-pants ilk ("Sin Showpanza" for a lean Sancho Panza, possibly), but most frequently of the dirty uncle Playboy Party Joke kidney (instead of workman's compensation, "Wolkman's Cumsensation"). The overall experience is a shower of words, so many of which are neologisms and wordplay both erudite and pervy, and which strike the eye and ear briefly before flowing on down the drain. I confess that I did not get the sense of character or narrative that Joseph Campbell claims can be derived from the book with careful reading, but it wasn't a wholly meaningless and absurd experience either. So, it defies the Goodreads star-classification system, and I'll leave it at that. 'Twas an experience indeed.

Well, I made it through this experimental classic! There were many humorous passages and very inventive techniques for expressing thoughts; however, I am in awe and amazed that the author was able to compile and contrive such a extensive work without the aid of our contemporary computers or wordsmithing tools!
I cannot imagine how this published work can be translated to other mediums such as audio books or eBooks because there is so much that is conveyed via typeface fonts, varying sizes and orientation? I know that Joyce could have used contemporary emoticons (smileys) >-) and what a wonder if perfume advertising methods of scratch and smell inclusions!
I know that I will never forget that long "simplecalifrag..." from "Mary Poppins" or that LongNameNoCanSay "NikiNikiTimbo..." about that Chinese boy in a favorite LP recording from about the late 1960s but I have found no favored contrived long word from this work!
I find that Brits have curious linguistic characteristics such as omitting "the" when they state such as "In hospital" and I was dismayed by a Welch gentlemen telling me about pearls when I thought he was talking about pills, but I found the Irish pub-like lilt to much of the writings in this work somewhat enchanting.
I am pleased to have been exposed to this "Classic" and expect to try his "Ulysses' to see what that is all about.

Literally unreadable. Hardly even a book. And yet there is so much I love about this book to enjoy when I’m not slinging it across the room in frustration.

Giving up after almost two (long) chapters. It's clearly genius and very funny, but it's also extremely long and dense, and I just don't see myself finishing it in this lifetime. I wish I had read it in college when I had the time and energy for this kind of thing.