Finnegans Wake volume that includes annotations?

April 14, 2010 12:07 AM

Is there a physical (not online) edition of Finnegans Wake that includes any sort of annotation in the same volume with the novel?

I'd like to read Finnegans Wake. I've researched what books are respected as sources for understanding the novel, but they all seem to be stand-alone volumes that you can read side-by-side your copy of Wake, matching page numbers.

I'd really like a single book that combines both the entire (not abridged) novel, and annotations (it's okay if these are pretty basic, or not the "best" annotations; any layout is okay, too: footnotes, marginalia, sidenotes, etc.)

I know there are online resources for this, but I am not interested in staring at a computer screen while making my slow progress through the book, so no online recommendations, please.

posted by ollyolly to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

I don't have it here in NY with me, but my plain-old paperback "penguin classics" or whatever copy has the notes in the back of the book. I got it at a Barnes and Noble, I think, a few years back.
posted by ctmf at 2:14 AM on April 14, 2010

I took a JJ course when I was studying in Ireland from a professor named Roland McHugh. 99% sure that his book is what you are looking for.

Google Books link

McHugh was (is?) a mutant for sure. In class, we would read him a random line from FW and he could tell us the page number.
posted by omnidrew at 7:01 AM on April 14, 2010

McHugh's book isn't quite what you're after; if you want an annotated text, you'll probably have to wait until 2012, when copyright expires in the EU and Stephen Joyce has his fingers prised from his grandfather's literary estate.

(There was a brief lapse of UK copyright between 1992 and 1996, and Penguin among others came out with editions of Joyce, some with endnotes, though better Joyceans than me will be able to confirm whether those reprints were of the corrected edition.)
posted by holgate at 9:22 AM on April 14, 2010

I'll retract my recommendation then... guess you'll have to wait until copyright expires.

Roland McHugh remains a mutant. I still have my self-annotated Ulysses from his course at the School For Irish Studies.

Thanks for the link, holgate.
posted by omnidrew at 8:06 PM on April 14, 2010

This does not qualify as an answer to your question but I want to suggest you read The Wake the first time without consulting any explanatory texts. And really the best way is to read it out loud, so the magic in the sounds of the words comes out. I read The Wake out loud to myself about eight years ago and it was an amazing experience. You won't get this if you are consulting notes after every sentence.
posted by Pranksome Quaine at 4:30 PM on April 15, 2010