3rd Paragraph of Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce

          Sometimes when I feel ambitious, and have nothing to do, I sit down and make my 1 billionth attempt to read through, in my opinion, the most difficult book ever. Soon I would admit defeat and fail to read the book for the billionth time. And that book, is 'Finnegans Wake', by James Joyce. When I say that this book is hard, I mean it, is, hard. Iam not entirely sure what makes it so hard, the fact that the author uses multiple dialects or the fact that it takes hours of research to interpret a single paragraph. In this post I will make an attempt to interpret the 3rd paragraph in the book. 

This is the 3rd paragraph.

The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur — nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later on life down through all christian minstrelsy. The great fall of the offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan, erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes: and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the knock out in the park where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev-linsfirst loved livvy.

          I will start my interpretation with a disheartening defeat, because I have absolutely no clue as to what 'bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur' means, although 'nuk!' seems to mean 'not!', in English. 'Of a once wallstrait oldparr', is indicative to a certain individual. 'Wallstrait', was originated from Greek Orthodox, or is a calque of a Roman language. Many interpret this word as 'Wall Street', however, I take it to mean 'well-straight'. 'Oldparr', is commonly thought to be an allusion to Thomas Parr, an old man in England who supposedly lived until 152 years old. 'Oldparr' is much more understandable when it is voiced aloud, giving it the meaning, 'old pa', or 'old father'. A minstrelsy is a music and poetry of a medieval minstrel. So the first sentence, translated into a somewhat English setting would be, 'The fall of a once well and straight old father is now in bed through all the christian minstrelsy'. And that was one sentence.

          It seems the word 'pftjschute', has stumped a lot of people, some say it is an ideophonic word which depicts the fall of Finnegan. Others say it is an alteration of 'prosciutto' which is etymological for femina, or suckle, which depicts the sexual matters of Finnegan's fall. I for one believe it to be an onomatopoeia, because the word 'pfft' is a french interjection of scorn or indifference. The part of 'humptyhillhead of humself', is an allusion to the common nursery rhyme, 'Humpty Dumpty', who once sat one a great wall, only to fall from it and shatter beyond recovery. 'Prumptly sends an unquiring one', can interpreted as 'promptly sends an inquiring one'. The 'tumptytumtoes', is an allusion to Finn MacCool, who is a giant who slept with his giant feet sticking up. This allusion seems fitting since it seems that Finnegan is named after Finn MacCool. So, the sentence can be interpreted as, 'The fall of Finnegan happened at such a short notice, that the fall of the erse solid man, that the head himself sends an inquiring one to the toes'. All in all emphasizing the suddenness of the fall of Finnegan.

          The word 'upturnpikepointandplace', is composed of 5 words, up, turn, pike, point, and place. Many seem to agree that under context, these 5 words are referring to the the 5 toes mentioned earlier. The phrase 'since dev-linsfirst loved livvy', is an allusion to the Genesis 6:1-4, where 'it came to pass, that the sons of God saw daughters of men that hey were fair. There were giants in the earth in those days'. This is when the devils seduced the Daughters of Men and the offspring were the giants, which is again an indirect reference to Finn MacCool, Finnegan's name sake. Overall, this sentence emphasizes the fact that Finnegan has been in bed for a long time.

Today, Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce is considered by some to be a literary master piece, while others see it as an abomination, and a joke to the English language, mainly because of the fact that Joyce uses multiple languages, such as Gaelic, German, Danish, French, Roman, Hebrew, Latin American, Irish, etc. Not to mention that fact that hours of research is required in order to follow every allusion and identify every language in a single page.

Honestly, a billion attempts and all I could reach was the 3rd paragraph.

If you want to take a shot at this book, try it out.

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/joyce/james/j8f/episode1.html