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Finnegans Wake

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Finnegans Wake

By: James Joyce
Narrated by: Barry McGovern, Marcella Riordan
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About this listen

"Riverrun past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs...."

So starts Finnegans Wake, the greatest challenge in 20th-century literature. Who is Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker? And what did he get up to in Phoenix Park? And what did Anna Livia Plurabelle have to say about it? In the rich nighttime and the language of dreams, here are history, anecdote, myth, folk tale and, above all, a wondrous sense of humor, colored by a clear sense of humanity. In this exceptional reading by the Irish actor Barry McGovern, with Marcella Riordan, the world of the Wake is more accessible than ever before.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©1975 The Trustees of the Estate of James Joyce (P)2021 Naxos AudioBooks Classics European World Literature Ireland Witty

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The narrators did a magnificent job here, they made it a great experience for me. I would have found it difficult to read myself.

Wonderfully narrated

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Beautifully read by Barry McGovern. I've been looking for a way into the Wake for 40 years and very happy to have found it. McGovern sweeps you into the novel's extraordinary flow. A masterpiece, pure and simple.

Excellent

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I couldn’t have read Finnegans Wake without these 2 amazing performances from Barry McGovern and Marcella Riordan. The clarity, warmth and humanity they bring to the text made it live and breathe. Anna Livia and Humphrey come to life (again). “First we feel. Then we fall.”

Essential, incredible performances

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A work of art does not need to be understood, more experienced. So said Christopher Nolan when talking about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and like that work of art, Finnegans Wake is basically evocative of the cyclical births and rebirths of humanity. Joyce's work, all of it, deserves to be heard read aloud, and the Wake is the apotheosis. Endlessly rhythmic and musical, at times it seems like the listener is carried away by multiple overlapping and interwoven conversations late in a never ending night in an unnamed pub in Chapelizod, and as the streams of whiskey flow and carry the steams of talking and thinking to the Irish sea of oblivion, it forms a dream within a dream of a dream ad absurdum deliriously detailing the fall and rise of humanity told through all its mythologies concurrently. When listened to and read from the book, dipping in and out at leisure, in and out of consciousness, this forms an experience of a work of art quite unlike any other.

Onetwo moremens more...

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Surely the greatest achievement in the history of audio books. Congratulations to all of those involved.

Wonderful

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Finnegans wake as an audiobook, who thought it could be possible!? Magnificent performance, beautifully read.

Amazing!

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The performance is brilliant and takes alot of the work away from interpreting the sound of the text.

Great interpretation of a work that has a reputati

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I have been waiting for years for this. The abridged recording with Jim Norton was brilliant, but you struggled to read along with it because of the abridgment. From what I have listened to so far, Barry McGovern reads in a more restrained manner than Norton, but equally effectively. Marcella Riordan does ALP in her characteristically languid manner, which is most effective in the final monologue. The BIG issue I have is that the audible release has only four chapters, one for each section - not even the chapters within each section, unlike the CD release which is properly tracked. For a 29 hour recording in Wakese, this makes finding individual sections impossible. Hopefully this can be rectified at some stage - or at least a timing list provided. [Edit]: this has been rectified, there are now chapters for each section within each part. Thank you.

Finally! Allmaziful!

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When I first started reading Finnegan’s wake, the main advice I received was ‘read it aloud and get a feel for the rhythm, I found it difficult to decipher the text amongst all the portmanteau words and dense phraseology and could not find that rhythm however I stuck at it and finally started to unravel its mysteries. to me Finnegan’s wake is a book of great importance, even just in an experimental capacity no other author has come close. I just want to say a big thank you to all who endeavoured to take on the leviathan challenge of turning it into an audio book. I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and it has helped me untangle some of the web of Finnegan’s wake. My advice to anyone starting out would be yes listen to it, take full advantage of the audiobook , it’s a very good start but also get a copy and read it as well, and don’t go in alone! take the ‘skeleton key of Finnegan’s wake’ or ’a readers guide to Finnegan’s wake by William York Tindall ‘ thank you once more, an adoring fan of all that is Joyce x

Untangling the web of Finnegan’s wake.

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Hard to believe that there is now an audiobook version of this most ‘difficult’ of movies. And the performances - of both the main narrator, Barry McGowan, and Marcella Riordan are nothing short of terrific. Just wonderful to allow Joyce’s soundworld wash over you.

A tour de force that will never be equalled

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