30 pages • 1 hour read
James JoyceFinnegans Wake
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1939A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Super Short Summary
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce follows a pub landlord in Dublin, Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker (HCE), who dreams of many identities, including mythological and historical figures. HCE experiences a fall from grace related to an incident involving indecent exposure. His wife, Anna Livia Plurabelle, tries to defend him, but her letter is never delivered. Their children, Shem, Shaun, and Issy, contribute to the narrative's complexities, exploring themes of identity and redemption. The book contains references to incidents of sexual misconduct.
Reviews & Readership
Review Roundup
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce is a polarizing literary masterpiece. Admirers praise its innovative language and complex structure as a high point of modernist experimentation. Critics, however, argue that its dense and impenetrable prose makes it nearly unreadable. While some see it as Joycean genius, others find it disjointed and frustrating.
Who Should Read Finnegans Wake?
A reader who would enjoy Finnegans Wake by James Joyce is likely someone who appreciates complex, avant-garde literature, values linguistic innovation, and enjoys deciphering layered, intertextual narratives. Comparable to readers of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and Virginia Woolf's The Waves, they relish challenging, non-linear storytelling.
RecommendedReading Age
18+yearsBook Details
Classic Fiction
Irish Literature
Fairy Tale / Folklore
Identity: Language
Natural World: Appearance & Reality
Emotions/Behavior: Memory