I still haven't read Finnegans Wake. Though I did meet a film programmer in Santiago de Compostela last year who translated it into Galician! I've been advised it's best consumed alongside an audio book, where the sounds and rhythms of the work take on a real musicality. I'd like to get to it someday. Part of the reason I haven't read much fiction at all in recent years is that everything felt like a disappointment after Ulysses.
Alongside my work as a film critic, I'm a programming consultant for several film festivals, one of which is Bradford International Film Festival (BIFF) in the north of England. Next month, I'll be seeing The Joycean Society at said festival, a doc on a group of Joyce enthusiasts who meet up in Zurich to read Finnegans Wake. Sounds like an idiosyncratic but accessible film; my colleague Neil Young (not that one), who programmed it as co-director of BIFF, wrote about it here. Keep a look out!
I've just started a book on Joe Dante, and am about to begin Simon Winlow's Badfellas.
I didn't know that there were enough people speaking Galician in the world to require a translation, but if one undaunted Galician-speaking person wants to grapple with Finnegan's Wake, so be it.
I'm fascinated by the suggestion of reading it alongside an audio tape to gain a sense of the rhythm and music of the novel. As I was reading some of Bloom's complex stream of consciousness monologues in Ulysses, I sensed a rhythm in the text that made them easier to understand. Some of the passages I read aloud...after my wife and daughter were sleeping.
I look forward to the Joycean documentary. These people apparently have devoted their lives collectively to this work, and I'm eager to hear what they have to say. They have to have stunning streks of madness blended with their brilliance. Best of luck with your ambitious career. If you will be reviewing The Joycean Society, I'll keep my eyes open on Facebook for a link to your review.
