In the 1980s I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, while, over the same period, listening to the music of John Cage and reading his books. The two came together in a few performance projects which, for a variety of reasons, weren’t realized for several years. They were published by the The Abiko Quarterly in the early 1990’s. Versions of both can be found on bend of bay’s“projects” page.

bend of bay is now setting up realizations of Projects Finnegans Wake. We are starting with Section II. This section calls for participants to read assigned sections of the text at a specific time. The reading is performed at a location of the participant’s choosing. Participation doesn’t require any particular knowledge of Joyce or previous experience with Finnegans Wake.  All that is required is interest in taking part in an event that attempts to bring Finnegans Wake to the world in as inclusive a manner as possible. Its premise is that Joyce meant the work to be read and enjoyed. Participants will also be asked to provide some form of documentation of their performance. This should be submitted along with an indication of the location at which the reading took place. Documentation will be made available here.

If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment on this page and we will add you to the project’s mailing list. Performance dates and time will also be announced on our home page. Comments will not be published without your permission so feel free to ask as many questions as you like. You can also use bend of bay’s contact form or write info@bendofbay.org.

If you have never read Finnegans Wake, the full text is available here.

More about Finnegans Wake on bend of bay.

Finnegans Wake in our bookstore. (bend of bay’s commissions benefit this program).

- apc