DON'T PANIC: it's only Finnegans Wake - The Prankquean

An audiovisual representation of two pages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake

[@liamhackett513]

Dermot aynt pronunceeinated Der-mott. Dermot as in Kermit.

[@adamharvey2017]

Ah, the pitfalls that await the Yank reading aloud from Finnegans Wake - no way to avoid offending at times. You’re probably right re: “Dermot,” but in my defense, the decision to pronounce it in ‘neutral American’ was informed first and foremost by the desire not to offend the native Irish ear with anything even remotely resembling a 'Stage-Irish accent', which is the best I can personally do - you surely don't want to hear that. Second, I think there’s a solid argument for even the native Irish reader to consider rounding out that ‘o’ in “be dermot.” For one thing, Joyce doesn’t capitalize it, indicating there’s more than just a name there. Another problem, should the 'Kermit' rule also apply to where Joyce anagramizes the phrase later in the passage (@ 2:25 & 4:19)? The phrases would then sound: “be redtim” and “be dim ter”. These are hard choices, man, and for better or worse, I went with the “Sesame Street” method: show them the word, pronounce it distinctly, and stay as faithful as possible to how it appears on the page - regardless of its author’s nationality.

[@adamharvey2017]

For more on the problems of pronouncing the "Irishisms" in Finnegans Wake, you might have a look at my video on Thunderword #8. That one is BOUND to offend...

[@liamhackett513]

@@adamharvey2017 sorry but it's Dermot as in Kermit. Americans tend to put accents in where they are not needed when they aren't sure. One thing thing that really fcking annoys me is how they pronounce Buddha. Boodah. Truly disgraceful. Makes him sound like a pendulous single testicle dangling in the humidity. I like your reading by the way. You should check out Ronnie Drew's rendition of the song in Fs Wake. It's on the 'At home with the Dubliners" album. It's the song in the book not the popular ballad.

[@liamhackett513]

@@adamharvey2017 KZbin "the Dubliners. Humpty Dumpty" for that rendition I was on about. Maybe you've heard it before. Joyce's word play is fantastic and as a song .....

[@adamharvey2017]

All hail the great Ronnie Drew - that much we can absolutely agree on. Thanks for the link.

[@BrianMoynihan44]

There are thousands of impossible ways of untwirling the meanings of Finnegans Wake. This plays with many words, sounds, ideas, and meanings brilliantly, and I'm that slight bit more intrigued and enlightened. Thanks again!

[@ibbobo5162]

Fantastic stuff Adam - am really appreciating your love of Finnegan's Wake - a work that has always intrigued me - I guess from the time when Indo-European linguistics and psycho-analysis was beginning. Such fun, such love of language and history. I think the big joke though is that our beloved Jimmy J wanted to write something that could never be translated into another language - so it has a kind of inviolable perfection - there can be no other versions of it. Like the Bible should have been before the Babel-onian talk-diaspora.

[@lindalotiel4882]

Beautifully done! We are discussing this episode today in our FW reading group, and this is both art and interpretation. Thank you!

[@mrdProf42]

What fun! Thank you so much--that's a lot of work. Much appreciated.

[@annaliviadanielle]

I've been slowly reading through The Wake annotating everything, and I'm at this part in the book currently, and this is probably the best representation of the novel I've ever seen. Amazing work!

[@mjw12345]

Video and audio little masterpiece - immense. Any slow learner that doesn't rush for her FW recalling she never did get past page 1 should be arrested.

[@Goldenbuilder]

A very great gift to all FW lovers thank you!

[@seyfben1958]

What an artistic reading the of Prankquean! Are there any future plans to record other sections from FW? The Museyroom? The Mookse and the Gripes? Jute & Mutt?... Thank you! ;)

[@StewartCopelandOfficial]

Has anyone catalogued the many iterations of the PQ motif? Any theory about it's purpose and how it pays off?

[@adamharvey2017]

Roland McHugh and Raphael Slepon give about 50 or so P/Q occurrences in their respective FW annotation projects, but neither include the actual word "PrankQuean". In fact, it hadn't occurred to me until just now. Thanks for that. Strangely, P's and Q's are at times interchangeable in certain Gaelic dialects. Add to this the "mind your p's and q's" quip, and you've given Joyce yet another pretext to distort the language, which of course was his first order of business when writing FW.

[@margarett.newman7574]

Really clever and interesting. None too easy to execute. Congrats! Thank you for a contrasty bas relief on some of FW.

[@lawnmower4191]

Boy, you are good. Such fun.

[@Brewmaster757]

Amazing.

[@oldmanfromscenetwentyfour8164]

This reminds me of when Rindercella ran off and slopped her dripper.

[@tricycle222]

Another great addition to the xplanication of FW.

[@TheBullhannigan]

It's like Miles Davis' Bitches Brew

[@Wandering_Rocks]

Please do more readings of The Wake, this was so good. Maybe ALP’s soliloquy?

[@adamharvey2017]

That's a good one, to be sure. Right now though, I'm focusing on 'Shem the Penman' (pp. 169-195). The first four pages are done: part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4i2lautjdqZqaM part 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2WVgGVumq5gm7s Part 3 will be ready soon.

[@Wandering_Rocks]

I’ve already watched them! By the way, great stuff. I presume you’re a descriptivist in regards to your views on language?

[@adamharvey2017]

By default alone if nothing else. If you're going to attempt Finnegans Wake, you pretty much have to check your prescriptivism at the door.

[@Wandering_Rocks]

Adam Harvey Oh, definitely! And I feel that’s where people go wrong with The Wake, going in expecting ‘a goahead plot’ so to speak. I’m not sure whether I signed my death warrant choosing this as my chosen text to study for A-Level Language.

[@wheedler]

@@Wandering_Rocks How did it go?

[@wheedler]

Am liking it.

[@LemonCircuits]

This is a fantastic reading! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're the only one to have attempted a reading like this on KZbin. Any plans to record more sections of the Wake?

[@adamharvey2017]

+LemonCircuits Yes, but the passage I've chosen has some mighty challenges attached to it. It's in the works, but it'll take a bit of time...

[@alicekliewer]

Adam Harvey Are you still doing it? It's been a while

[@adamharvey2017]

Oh, yes. Stay tuned...

[@alicekliewer]

Adam Harvey Wow, that was fast. Well, thanks. This novel is so extraordinarily fascinating, I am glad someone will continue to explore it farther.

[@adamharvey2017]

Oh yes. Stay tuned...

[@tylerbrown9797]

In the colors section where the list of colors recited matches the list of "articles of clothing" but reordered that order is purposefully ROYGBIV right?

[@jelenalez2240]

Three quarks for Mr.Marco @ Murray Gell - Mann 1964.

[@dububro]

What software do you use to make these?

[@adamharvey2017]

For this video: Garage Band for the audio, Sceenflow for the editing and Powerpoint for the animation. The Shem videos were a little more complicated, but the take-away here is that big high-powered software isn't always the answer.

[@lucassiccardi8764]

IMHO this is your best video. I don't mean the bass player did a bad job, still, I think that the soundscape of this video is much fitter, leaving room for the articulating voice to resound. The musical accompaniment shouldn't be continuous and rely on an incongruously-characterized timbre (always IMO). This video is, musically speaking, much more varied (in a good way) than the Shem ones.

[@lucassiccardi8764]

PS: were you inspired by Freud's "mystic writing-pad"?

[@renskecocquyt1512]

pffff Jarl Van hoother, so typical Jarl Van Hoother

[@cmacdhon]

It sounds more like an excerpt from Pootie Tang.

[@nelsonperez1]

'Prankquean’ passage (FW pp. 21-23

[@skatingnj]

and they all drank free

[@The_British_Museum]

what does that mean translated into normal english?

[@adamharvey2017]

Couldn't say exactly, but here's a little something I wrote about it that might help: joycegeek.com/2015/04/15/prankquean/

[@thegrievancegordieshow9882]

Part Jazz and Part Brion Gyson William S Burroughs cut-up magik collage word-smithing years in advance of the public knowledge of such things

[@tierfreund780]

who is the Dummy?

[@Sahwin]

Issy.