How Long to Read James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque

How Long Does it Take to Read James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque?

It takes the average reader and 57 minutes to read James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque by Eva Forster

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is one of the notoriously most difficult literary works of modernism, "supplying scholars, critics and theorists simultaneously with what is both a Pandora's box and a cornucopia of stimulants". Lacking any kind of traditional concepts of structure, it has an inconsistency and a vagueness that make it hard to pin down a coherent plot or get a definite notion about the characters, who undergo frequent transformations. Of course this "jungle of woods", or "jumble of words" puts a great strain on the reader who is generally used to a consecutive kind of reading process. Therefore it is not amazing that the early reception of the "Wake" has been rather hostile, rejecting it at worst as an "artistic failure". Derek Attridge sees the major reason for this negative attitude towards the "Wake" in "the work's intensive use of the portmanteau word", which destroys the notion of a trustworthy language system, and that of a reliable authorial intention. Yet, the "carnival of linguistic vivisection" and the numerous transformations are precisely the features of the "Wake" which grant it its "humor of the incongruous and the grotesque". Apparently, Finnegans Wake is not only highly indebted to a sixteenth-century metaphysician and an eighteenth-century philosopher (Giordano Bruno's notion of coinciding opposites and transformation as well as Giambattista Vico's cyclical concept of history are important aspects of Finnegans Wake), but also to a mode of writing which has a centuries-old tradition the grotesque. A grotesque style of writing was taken up by many modernist authors, such as Franz Kafka, Elias Canetti, or Djuna Barnes, to name only a few. Joyce had already used grotesque features in Ulysses, in which, next to the continuous depiction of the gross physicality of the human body, especially the Circe chapter contains a wide range of grotesques. The aim of this paper is to track down elements of the grotesque in Finnegans Wake.

How long is James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque?

James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque by Eva Forster is 56 pages long, and a total of 14,336 words.

This makes it 19% the length of the average book. It also has 18% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 1 hour and 18 minutes to read James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque aloud.

What Reading Level is James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque?

James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque is suitable for students ages 8 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque?

James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque by Eva Forster is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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