Finnegans Wake stands as the academ

Finnegans Wake stands as the academic’s version of the Bible: It is the book that most literary critics own, that some revere, and that few actually read. That disparity' between possession and apprehension does not simply grow out of intellectual lethargy, however, for formidable hermeneutic barriers discourage efforts to engage Joyce’s final work. Because the book’s organization and content systematically frustrate explication through established critical procedures, a widespread inability to derive pleasure from reading Finnegans Wake matches the near universal sense of its grand significance.Of course, not all readers feel daunted by the work. William York Tindall, Anthony Burgess, John Gordon, Danis Rose, and John O’Hanlon—to name just a few—have offered their strategies for comprehending Finnegans Waked However, to judge by the reactions of some critics, these studies have served only to highlight the various and fragmented responses people have had to Joyce’s work.2 More often than not, the reviewers who have criticized these guides object to what they see as oversimplifications of the book. While that argument certainly has some validity, it is hard to imagine — given the dominant features of traditional criticism —any other results when critics rely upon conventional methods to articulate their sense of Joyce’s final work.