
Impossible Joyce
Finnegans Wakes
Patrick O'Neill(Author)
University of Toronto Press
3rd Edition
Published on 6. December 2013
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-4426-4643-8 (ISBN)
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
'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.' - C.S. Kalish (Choice Magazine, vol 51:10:2014)More details
Edition
3rd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
636 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-4643-8 (9781442646438)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
12/2013
1st Edition
University of Toronto Press
€56.95
Available for download
Person
Patrick O'Neill is a professor emeritus in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Queen's University.