How to Read Finnegans Wake
Some Notes for Would-Be Readers of Joyce's Novel
What Finnegans Wake is About
I’ve spoken with a number of people over the years who’ve expressed an interest in reading Finnegans Wake. I decided to try and offer a bird’s eye view of the novel’s plot and characters.
There is a family living in turn-of-the century Chapelizod (Dublin). The patriarch is a pub-owner named Humphrey Chimpdon Earwicker (HCE). His wife is Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP). They have three children: Shaun, Shem, and Issy.
Talking about these five figures as “characters” is problematized by the fact that they morph into other archetypes from history, geography, myth, and literature. HCE will be called “Haveth Childers Everywhere” (and a thousand other names). ALP will become various rivers.
In so far as there’s a plot involving the Earwickers, here it is: one evening, HCE exposes him to a prostitute (or perhaps masturbates in front of her). Rumors of this spread throughout Dublin; he denies them. HCE is accosted by a cad in Phoenix Park & incriminates himself.