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outtyn1nja t1_jdikb8o wrote

Reply to comment by GomerStuckInIowa in I read Finnegan's Wake so you don't have to by machobiscuit

I've always suspected that people who 'enjoy' or 'get' Finnigan's Wake are exactly the type of people the author wished to expose for being twats.

I could be wrong.

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CrassDemon t1_jditadb wrote

This was how I felt about "Blood Meridian", but I kept trying to 'get' it myself, then one day it just clicked and I understood. I think "Finnegan's Wake" is probably the same. There's probably more there than I'll ever see without the patience to keep at it.

Edit: lol, people downvoting me for having trouble understanding a books appeal, and sharing my enjoyment in finely connecting the dots with the praise for it.

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GodlessCommieScum t1_jdizql1 wrote

Where did Blood Meridian click for you? I'm just over half way through and am really enjoying it. Definitely much easier to get into than Finnegans Wake

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CrassDemon t1_jdjgib4 wrote

About my fourth attempt. The rhythm and prose just hit me right. I don't normally stick to a book if I don't like it, but something about Blood Meridian wouldn't let me give up. I loved "The Road" by the same author, I love westerns, I love bleak settings, but the writing style never clicked, until it did. Once I noticed the way paragraph structure was used and how sentences were supposed to flow, it brought the book to another level.

I have this discussion all the time on reddit about audiobooks vs reading. You get a different experience actually looking at the words on the paper than having them read to you, and blood meridian is the perfect example of this.

I tried Finnegan Wake, I don't think I'll ever pick it up again. It's just not for me, but I'm sure there are people out there that get it.

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Unusual-Wash4227 t1_jdkm3jf wrote

Unless the author publishes a detailed paper on what they wanted to communicate in their work, you never really "get" a book.

You only get your subjective perception of the book. Now, I'm not saying that the author can't communicate a message to the reader, but not all authors try to do that.

Some authors just want to write a a bunch of characters and events and stories and don't really care if the reader understands the point or meaning. Some works of art don't have a true meaning.

Just because a book doesn't have an understandable meaning, however, doesn't mean that it's bad or unenjoyable. Goodness and enjoyability are just subjective to the reader.

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Disparition_2022 t1_jdn3x1w wrote

I've read quite a bit of Joyce's work including his private letters and "exposing types of people for being twats" especially in the context of books didn't really seem like something he was really into or about, in general. I'm curious how you got that impression.

Like do you really think he spent seventeen years writing a novel just to make a rather petty comment that could have just as easily been done with a pamphlet?

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