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Literary Criticism English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh

Impossible Joyce

Finnegans Wakes

by (author) Patrick O'Neill

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2013
Category
English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, General, General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442646438
    Publish Date
    Dec 2013
    List Price
    $76.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442665682
    Publish Date
    Dec 2013
    List Price
    $65.00

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Description

James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake has repeatedly been declared to be entirely untranslatable. Nonetheless, it has been translated, transposed, or transcreated into a surprising variety of languages – including complete renditions in French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, and Korean, and partial renditions in Italian, Spanish, and a variety of other languages. Impossible Joyce explores the fascinating range of different approaches adopted by translators in coming to grips with Joyce’s astonishing literary text.

In this study, Patrick O’Neill builds on an approach first developed in his book Polyglot Joyce, but deepens his focus by considering Finnegans Wake exclusively. Venturing from Umberto Eco’s assertion that the novel is a machine designed to generate as many meanings as possible for readers, he provides a sustained examination of the textual effects generated by comparative readings of translated excerpts. In doing so, O’Neill makes manifest the ways in which attempts to translate this extraordinary text have resulted in a cumulative extension of Finnegans Wake into an even more extraordinary macrotext encompassing and subsuming its collective renderings.

About the author

Patrick O’Neill is a professor emeritus in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Queen’s University.

Patrick O'Neill's profile page

Editorial Reviews

‘This is a fascinating and singular examination of the many translations of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake…. This volume will be of great interest to specialists interested in Joyce and his challenging novel… Highly recommended.’

Choice Magazine, vol 51:10:2014