bend of bay features a changing selection of prose, poetry, images and other projects. It takes its name from the opening line of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce:
riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
“How far my efforts agree with those of other philosophers I will not decide.
Indeed what I have here written makes no claim to novelty in points of detail; and therefore
I give no sources, because it is indifferent to me whether what I have thought has already
been thought before me by another.”
I’d like to thank everyone who took part in today’s reading of Book IV of Finnegans Wake. Please be sure to contact me to confirm the location where you read, and share your thoughts regarding the experience. This information will be summarized and made available on the Project: Finnegans Wake page.
I read the opening of Book IV in New York’s Central Park, on the path that runs by the pond by Central Park South. It was a beautiful day. This is a fairly quiet spot, but I did have a steady stream of tourists, dog walkers and office workers out for lunch.
October 20, 2009. 12:30 PM NYC
Depending on the feedback I receive from today’s reading, I hope to organize additional, more ambitious readings with an eye toward completing performances of the entire book. Please leave a comment on this page if you would like to receive updates by email. (Comments are read, but not published without your permission).
There will be a partial performance of Section II PROJECT Finnegans Wake on October 20, 2009. This version will be confined to Book IV and will start at 5:15 GMT (12:15 in New York). Be on the lookout for our readers. They can be anywhere.
Update for October 12, 2009:
Since we announced the October 20 reading, we have had more people interested in participating. The chart we are using is below. If you send an email or leave a comment on this page, we will send you a section. That, or just choose your own and let us know which section you have selected. You should practice to be sure you can complete your section in 10 minutes. We expect to have Book IV covered and doubling up should be fine.
Scenes from 1967 film adaption of Ulysses by James Joyce, directed by Joseph Strick. After viewing, buy the book here and bendofbay will take anything we earn and use it in this program.
Martin Heidgegger died before completing his attempt to overturn the entire philosophical tradition. On the way, though, he did come up with a new way of thinking about “being” that has largely been incomprehensible to anyone without a properly functioning Department of Philosophy to hold their hand and guide them through specialized language, questionable translations, and impenetrable prose.
Until now.
The University of California at Berkeley has made Hubert Dreyfus’s class on Heidegger available as a podcast. Professor Dreyfus has also provided some useful notes and a reading list. One of the books he recommends, William Blattner’s Being and Time, A Reader’s Guide, is particularly lucid. That particular book and Professor’s Dreyfus’ lectures compliment one another very well.
That said, the kindest thing that can be said about Heidegger as a human being is that he was deeply flawed man. Rüdiger Safranski’s biography is also a good introduction to Heidegger while addressing his behaviour in Nazi Germany.
Did you miss Bloomsday, the day on which the action of James Joyce’s Ulysses takes place? If so, don’t worry. You can relive the experience of a full reading thanks to the good people at LibriVox. Full details about the recordings and other disclaimers related to copyright are available here:
Don’t forget to buy the book and stock up on useful commentaries and studies by visiting the Ulysses page in the bend of bay store. Our commissions go straight to charity.
bend of bay magazine includes versions of two performance scenarios for Finnegans Wake that were originally published by The Abiko Quarterly in 1993. I was pleased to find a comment on this post from Tatsuo Hamada, the publisher, informing me that the Abiko is still going strong as an annual. The 2007 issue, pictured below, is now available. If you would like a copy, send $20 cash or an international money order to:
Tatsuo Hamada
Hananoi 1787-28,
Kashiwa-shi 277-0812
Japan
Some time ago, Ralph Lichtensteiger sent a message to SILENCE, the John Cage mailing list, requesting ”… stories about your experience with the phenomena of Silence and noise …”
The result is Silence/Stories, a print ready 66 page pdf file that includes the stories, images and bios of the contributors. Contributors represent a wide array of backgrounds. Some worked with John Cage. Others wrote about him, or used some of his methods and ideas in their own work. (Full disclosure – this post was written by a contributor, although not one of those referred to in the previous two sentences). Some stories include anecdotes or responses to John Cage, and others describe “Cage influenced listening.” You can downdoad the PDF here or here.
This post provided some suggestions for first time readers of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. It also included a reading list. However, Clive Hart’s Structure and Motif in Finnegans Wake is out of print and has also vanished from at least three public libraries. Fortunately, the James Joyce Scholar’s Collection has put Hart’s book online. You can access it directly here.
All the books in the James Joyce Scholar’s Collection are out of print, but below are links to a few you might explore after getting through my original recommendations.
All this assumes, of course, that you have actually read Finnegans Wake, the book. If you haven’t bought a copy, the full text is available here, courtesy of Trent University. You can find an interesting, annotated version of Finnegans Wake at finwake.com.
bend of bay has been giving away books since 1999. Most are paperbacks. Their condition varies. Some are like new, while others date from the 1960’s with yellowing pages and disintegrating bindings.
If you are interested in distributing some of these books, write us at the email below or complete this contact form. Please be patient awaiting a response. You will need to reimburse us for the cost of shipping via U.S. Mail, but we will tell you the cost before sending them off to give you a chance to change your mind. There will be no charge for the books themselves, and we will not send more than 5 small paperbacks or two trade paperbacks.
You will need to eventually leave these books in public places. Each will have the following label on its cover:
Free book from bendofbay! Read it,
then pass it on. For info:
www.bendofbay.org/books books@bendofbay.org
For those of you who either do not have or do not wish to part with the money for the excellent boxed set of the Tales of Anton Chekhov published by Ecco Press, all 201 stories in the Contance Garnett translations are also available at http://chekhov2.tripod.com/.
It is recommended that you read one Chekhov a day for the next 201 days. If you read them online, email a thank you note to the site’s creator. The address is at the bottom of the home page.
Around 200 additional paperbacks are set to be distributed under the free books program. Watch for them. Last year, someone picked up Bleak House by Charles Dickens at Narita airport in Japan. It began its journey on a commuter train in New Jersey.
All books are left in public places. Each has the following label on its cover:
Free book from bendofbay! Read it,
then pass it on. For info:
www.bendofbay.org/books
books@bendofbay.org
you generate a little money for charity. We give all our commissions away as described on our 
