Finnegans Wake was published by Faber and Faber, London, on 4 May 1939, in a first printing of approximately 3,500 copies priced at 25s. The American edition (Viking Press) appeared simultaneously. Joyce had worked on the book for seventeen years (1922–1939), publishing fragments as “Work in Progress” in various journals throughout the 1920s and 1930s. His eyesight was failing; his daughter Lucia was descending into schizophrenia; his friends (including Ezra Pound and his brother Stanislaus) were bewildered and alarmed. Europe was on the brink of war. The book appeared to almost universal incomprehension.
The Work
Finnegans Wake cannot be summarised because it operates outside the conventions of narrative, character, and referential language. It is written in a portmanteau language — a fusion of English, Irish, French, German, Italian, Latin, Sanskrit, Japanese, and dozens of other languages into a new synthetic idiom that generates meaning through pun, allusion, rhythm, and multilingual wordplay. “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.” The opening sentence (which completes the final unfinished sentence of the book — the work is circular) announces both method and subject: a flowing river of language that recirculates endlessly.
The “plot” — insofar as one exists — concerns the Earwicker family of Chapelizod, Dublin: HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker, the father — also Here Comes Everybody, Haveth Childers Everywhere), ALP (Anna Livia Plurabelle, the mother — also the River Liffey), their twin sons Shem and Shaun, and their daughter Issy. HCE has committed some obscure transgression in Phoenix Park (possibly voyeurism, possibly exhibitionism) that is investigated, tried, and retried throughout the book. But these characters dissolve into archetypes, myths, and historical figures — HCE is also Adam, Finn MacCool, Humpty Dumpty, Napoleon, and every fallen father; ALP is also Eve, Isis, the Liffey, and every renewing mother.
The book is structured as a dream — specifically, the dream of a sleeping figure (probably HCE, possibly the reader) whose unconscious mind processes the entire history of humanity through puns and transformations.
Reception and Legacy
Initial reception was almost uniformly baffled. Readers who had struggled with Ulysses found Finnegans Wake impenetrable. Even admirers — including Samuel Beckett, who helped Joyce during the writing — struggled with the work’s demands. Joyce predicted that the book would “keep the professors busy for centuries” — a prediction that has proved accurate.
The book’s influence has been immense but largely indirect: it demonstrated that the novel could do things nobody had imagined — dissolve identity, fuse languages, collapse linear time — and this demonstration liberated subsequent writers (Beckett, Burroughs, Pynchon, Derrida) even when they did not imitate Joyce directly.
Collecting Finnegans Wake
First edition (1939, Faber and Faber, London): Approximately 3,500 copies, priced at 25s.
Identification points:
- “First published in May Mcmxxxix” on the copyright page
- Published by “Faber and Faber Limited”
- Red cloth boards with gold lettering
- Dust jacket: distinctive typographic design
First edition (Faber and Faber):
- Fine/Fine in dust jacket: $10,000–$25,000
- Near Fine in jacket: $5,000–$10,000
- Without jacket: $1,000–$3,000
First American edition (1939, Viking Press):
- Fine/Fine in jacket: $3,000–$8,000
- Without jacket: $500–$1,500
Signed limited edition: Faber issued a signed, limited edition of 425 copies on handmade paper. These are among the most desirable Joyce collectibles: $20,000–$60,000.
Fragments published as “Work in Progress”: Various limited editions published during the 1920s and 1930s (including Anna Livia Plurabelle, 1928, and Tales Told of Shem and Shaun, 1929) are separately collected: $1,000–$10,000 depending on title and condition.
Value trajectory (2016–2026): Approximately 1.5× for the trade first; approximately 2× for the signed limited. Less aggressively collected than Ulysses (which commands the Joyce market) but steadily appreciated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this actually readable? Not in the conventional sense. It requires abandoning the expectation of linear meaning and surrendering to rhythm, sound, and association. Many readers find sections (particularly the “Anna Livia Plurabelle” chapter) extraordinarily beautiful once they stop trying to “understand” in the normal way.
How does this relate to Ulysses? Ulysses is the book of the day; Finnegans Wake is the book of the night. Ulysses uses experimental techniques to represent waking consciousness; Wake uses even more radical techniques to represent dreaming consciousness. Together they form Joyce’s complete vision of human experience.
Why no apostrophe in “Finnegans”? The title refers both to Tim Finnegan (the Irish ballad character who “wakes” at his own funeral when whiskey is spilled on him) and to all the Finnegans — all the dead who will rise. The absent apostrophe makes it plural rather than possessive.