Riverrun to Livvy: Lots of Fun Reading the First Page of James Joyces Finnegans Wake.

Riverrun to Livvy: Lots of Fun Reading the First Page of James Joyce's " Finnegans Wake," by Bill Cole Cliett. n.p.: Bill Cole Cliett, pp. $
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Joyce's Book of the Dark: About the Author Bill Cole Cliett is the co-author of the Allley Alligator series of controlled-vocabulary readers for elementary school students and author of two books on the uncontrolled vocabulary of James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake. Print edition purchase must be sold by Amazon. Thousands of books are eligible, including current and former best sellers.


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Riverrun to Livvy: Lots of Fun Reading the First Page of James…

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Cliett out for all the same reasons other reviewers do, including unpretentious authority, accessibility, audience-awareness, relaxed yet precise writing, etc. Cliett the high compliment of saying you read Joyce with the curiosity, imaginative breadth, and suppleness of a child, albeit a worldly and well-educated one. First, the winces then the wonders in BCC's five star "riverrun to livvy. The winces are 1 loose editing that has permitted here and there excessive repeats of insights and 2 a few quotation errors suggesting that can be like Thurber's 13th stroke of the clock.

The wonders include 1 the happy framework of discussing the first page of Finnegan's Wake in lusty, vivid depth, 2 introducing what may be new leitmotifs to many of us such as Vico's cosmology the better to know the Wake, 3 bringing to the shores of playfulness in discovering your own Wake, and 4 being almost as much fun to read aloud or silently as the Wake itself. For the low, low price, it is high high value for those who are fascinated by Gerard Manley Hopkins' word creations, Lewis Carroll, Lear's runcible spoon and others, as well as James Augustine Joyce's great, glorious "Finnegans Wake.

Now and then, when BCC achieves a specially intriguing interpretation or insight, the same appears over and over and over again. Some of this illustrates how certain themes recur in the Wake and probably are necessary. Some seem hauled in. Cumulatively, this can make the book seem padded: How about a chapter on Joyce and science? Some chapters giving summaries of beyond page 1? Oh, and bring in some of those insights here, here, and here.

The book has a few quotes that are not correct. As examples, BCC often cites and appropriately indeed Gertrude Stein who was experimenting at about the same time and in much the same way as Joyce, as in "A rose is a rose is a rose.

The meaning was Rose this particular person is herself like a rose, and I will emphasize the idea by repeating it: The Duchess of Windsor may well have said "If you can't say anything nice about a person, come sit by me. An ARL more than a WW quote, although like "Standing on the shoulders of giants" most splendidly tracked to its origin by sociologist Robert Merton, the "come sit by me" invitation has been repeated by many after ARL.

This stuff is hardly a fatal flaw.

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Adds to the fun in a way. Just rremember to read some of the explications light-heartedly. Not because it is so impenetrable, but because it is so penetrable, opening our minds to possibilities that are worth thinking about. BCC shows this in passages such as p. As BCC dscusses, here Joyce immerses us in the sounds, the flow, the rhythm of the waters and how he intentionally wove scores, hundreds, of river names from across space and time into this chapter. We go with the flow, across time and space, in BCC's good company.

BCC is readable, channeling a bit--well, muchof Joyce's delight in wordplay. Thus--a few examples of what is so wondrous about BCC's "riverrun to livvy'. I'll be reading it for years to come, along with the Wake, and I hope you will too. Even the most astute and serious reader of Joyce's "Wake" needs to approach that gentle beast of a book with not only a thoroughly researched handbook but also with the right attitude.

Cliett provides both in this immensely satisfying and entertaining guide through the tricky waters of the first page. If you've read Joyce and particulary if you've tried to brave the "Wake" alone, you know that Joyce's work is jam-packed with word play and obscure references. Cliett shows that Joyce was not simply pulling a joke on the reader or just trying to be the most clever writer of all time. Once you become accustomed to the currents, strap on the appropriate personal floatation device, and allow the waves to waft you where they may, you will indeed have lots of fun spinning through his eddies and cascading down Joyce's rapids.

What's more is Cliett's delightful style. That he gets great joy from Joyce is evident; more importantly, he demonstrates how you can as well. I remember going to summer camp where the swimmers had to use the buddy system. If you take this riverrun, choose Cliett as your swim buddy. I somehow managed to devour this book in just a few days. The writing and the material is just very smooth and readable. The author always maintains a humorous attitude throughout the whole thing while covering pretty much every introductory angle of Finnegans Wake.

Despite the catchy title, it's much more than just a book about the Wake's first page. He gives a very thorough and engaging introduction to the Wake as a whole, Joyce's composition of it, the reception it received, and the cultural icon that it remains. There's even a great chapter about the Wake's influence on contemporary culture. The scholarship is simply staggering, he's really covered all the bases as far as soaking up the academic literature and studies of the Wake and yet there's not a single sentence in this book that reads like dry academic prose. He does an excellent job of weaving all of the scholarly perspectives on the Wake into his writing.

riverrun to livvy lots of fun reading the first page of james joyce s finnegans wake Manual

It's also striking how widely read the author is, every page has illuminating quotes from other authors or famous figures. If you have any interest in the Wake, whether you're looking to see what it's all about or preparing for your twelfth reading of the dark book, this is an essential book to read. Loaded with facts, lots of fun, and very digestible. The thing about McHugh's book The Finnegans Wake Experience , which I'll put up a review for at some point that I'm not so crazy about is that he's so strict about what can be extracted from a word or passage.

He kind of derides the personal, subjective interpretation of the book which is an important part of the wonder of the whole thing. Umberto Eco wrote of FW: I wasn't enamored with his short book, though. The funny parts stemmed I thought from the perfect self-righteous nerd image McHugh paints of himself, going to Joyce conferences and dismissing all the scholars as wrong, or taking part in reading groups that thoroughly comb the words of FW searching for all the meanings Joyce intended, dismissing any he didn't.


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    7. I am about three guarters of the way through Riverrun to Livvy and it is thoroughly enjoyable reading. Having read the Wake through twice, I also own and have read a couple dozen books on the Wake and found Cliett's book to be the most enjoyable.

    Riverrun to Livvy: Lots of Fun Reading the First Page of James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake."

    I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written book published by CreateSpace, not known for high-quality productions. It's certainly a terrific introduction to the page 1 and would be excellent for a newcomer to the Wake. I was extremely fortunate in college to take a semester on the Wake with the superb Dr. Michael Sexson who opened the door to an obsession with FW. I was tickled to find Cliett mentioning the importance of the hen who found the letter in the litter because my final paper for the class centered on her.