Joyce's Kaleidoscope: An Invitation to Finnegans Wake PDF
Preview Joyce's Kaleidoscope: An Invitation to Finnegans Wake
Joyce's Kaleidoscope This page intentionally left blank J O Y C C 'S X A L C l D O S C O Pe An Invitation to Finnegans Wake Philip Kitcher OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 20O7 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2007 by Andrew Kitcher Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kitcher, Philip, 1947- Joyce's kaleidoscope : an invitation to Finnegans wake / Philip Kitcher. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 13: 978-0-19-532103-6 i. Joyce, James, 1882-1941. Finnegans wake. I. Title. PR6oi9.O9F593555 2007 823'.912 dc22 2006031551 To Christ's Hospital with gratitude for the opportunities it offered to me and to countless others. May they prosper who love it. This page intentionally left blank Thou hast nor youth, nor age, But as it were an after-dinner's sleep Dreaming on both . . . This page intentionally left blank ACXNOWLCDGMCNCS I am extremely grateful to five generous friends who read an earlier draft and who provided me with excellent advice: the suggestions of Regenia Gagnier, Dick Kuhns, Cynthia Rettig, Bruce Robbins, and Jim Shapiro have led to many improvements (and it was helpful that these sensitive readers often rec- ommended the same things). Two thoughtful anonymous readers responded with a firm sense of what I was trying to do and, rather than trying to persuade me to write a different book, made constructive proposals for improving the one I had envisaged; I appreciate both their good advice and their patience with someone outside the academic Joycean community who wanted to at- tempt a different approach to Finnegans Wake. My editor at Oxford University Press, Shannon McLachlan, has been extremely supportive and has offered excellent counsel both on general issues and on points of detail. I would also like to thank Christina Gibson of Oxford University Press for helping with many facets of the book's production, and Keith Faivre for his exceptional care in overseeing the final editing and printing. David Albert was in at the beginning, as we started to read Finnegans Wake together. His keen intellect and his abundant generosity have been expressed in numerous conversations, from which I have learned enormously. His re- sponses to my ideas, both in inchoate form and in drafts of this book, have greatly improved the final version. I have also been extraordinarily lucky to have, as colleague and friend at Columbia, Michael Seidel. Michael has offered support, encouragement, and his own expertise as a leading Joyce scholar. In his unfailingly constructive comments on my drafts, he has led me to see some large matters in a new light and has guided me on any number of smaller issues. Without his help, this book might well not have existed, and it certainly would be far more flawed than it is. It is a joy to record my thanks and appreciation and to reflect that I have benefited so much from people who exemplify the Joycean virtues.
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