Book description
Finnegans Wake is the most bookish of all books. John Bishop
has described it as 'the single most intentionally crafted literary
artefact that our culture has produced'. In its original format,
however, the book has been beset by numerous imperfections occasioned
by the confusion of its seventeen-year composition. Only today, by
restoring to our view the author's intentions in a physical book
designed, printed and bound to the highest standards of the printers'
art, can the editors reveal in true detail James Joyce's fourth, and
last, masterwork.
This edition is the summation of thirty years' intense engagement by
textual scholars Danis Rose and John O'Hanlon verifying, codifying,
collating and clarifying the 20,000 pages of notes, drafts,
typescripts and proofs comprising James Joyce's 'litters from aloft,
like a waast wizzard all of whirlwords' (fw2, 14. 16-17). The new
reading text of Finnegans Wake, typographically re-set for the
first time in its publishing history, incorporates some 9000 minor yet
crucial corrections and amendments, covering punctuation marks, font
choice, spacing, misspellings, misplaced phrases and ruptured syntax.
Although individually minor, these changes are nonetheless crucial in
that they facilitate a smooth reading of the book's allusive density
and essential fabric.
Danis Rose is principal editor of the forthcoming critical edition
and electronic hypertext of Finnegans Wake. His publications
include The James Joyce Archive: Volumes 28-63 (New York,
1977-78; with David Hayman and John O'Hanlon); The Index
Manuscript (Colchester, 1978); Understanding Finnegans Wake
(New York, 1982, with John O'Hanlon); The Lost Notebook
(Edinburgh, 1989; with John O'Hanlon); The Textual Diaries of James
Joyce (Dublin, 1995); and Ulysses: A New Reader's Edition
(Mousehole, 2004). He was born in Dublin, where he now lives.
John O'Hanlon has collaborated with Danis Rose in most of the
Joyce-related projects undertaken by him, in particular in the
preparation of the extensive electronic hypertext of Finnegans
Wake. His expertise is in mathematics and logic, and he has been
primarily responsible for the origin (or adaptation) and coherence of
the programs and protocols essential to Rose's hypertext constructions.
