iONs Wake

Payday

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5 April 2014

iON reads from Finnegans Wake.

1st Segment

The great fall of the offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan, erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself promptly sends an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes: and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the knock out in the park where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev-linsfirst loved livvy.

2nd segment

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.

Sir Tristram, violer d’amores, fr’over the short sea, had passen-core rearrived from North Armorica on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe Minor to wielderfight his penisolate war: nor had topsawyer’s rocks by the stream Oconee exaggerated themselse to Laurens County’s gorgios while they went doublin their mumper all the time: nor avoice from afire bellowsed mishe mishe to tauftauf thuartpeatrick not yet, though venissoon after, had a kidscad buttended a bland old isaac: not yet, though all’s fair in vanessy, were sosie sesthers wroth with twone nathandjoe. Rot a peck of pa’s malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.

The fall (bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthur — nuk!) of a once wallstrait oldparr is retaled early in bed and later on life down through all christian minstrelsy. The great fall of the offwall entailed at such short notice the pftjschute of Finnegan, erse solid man, that the humptyhillhead of humself prumptly sends an unquiring one well to the west in quest of his tumptytumtoes: and their upturnpikepointandplace is at the knock out in the park where oranges have been laid to rust upon the green since dev-linsfirst loved livvy.

3rd segment

Bob: Just pretend you’re in a finnegans wake new york society meeting, and it’s your turn to, sort of, say what’s going on.
iON: We would never be included in a Finniganese book reading wrote right rip bop…They don’t know nothing; they cant get nothing; they sound like us, Bob. You…find out, somebody tells you something, you spend the rest of your days trying to un-know what they told you that you didn’t know…fr’over the short sea, had passen-core rearrived from north armorica on this side the scraggy isthmus of Europe minor, to wielderfight? Come on.

  1. Shalakazoo a Mexica boo
    A bibbiity bobitty boo
    Put it together
    And what have you got?
    Bibitty bob- itty
    Oh what a bobitty
    Bibitty bobbity boo!

  2. Murray Gross writes (PartOne):

    Suspending any doubts I may have, it is both challenging and delightful to
    try and analyze the reply of iON to Bob's question. iON, who may be a
    non-human entity with vastly higher intelligence, has certain necessary
    similarities with other language users: he will always convey more than his
    words. Just as a quick example – the last two words of his reply "Come on."
    could be read as a simple comment on the Wake text – "don't be stupid enough
    to think the text is serious" – or similar feelings. But it could also be a
    closing to his comments – his name. "Come" can be co + me . Of the many
    possibilities – two stand out – 'co' as abbreviation for 'company' and a
    mathematical 'complement' – that which is added to make a whole. Does not
    the 'I' with 'me' makes both company together and a whole. This leads, of
    course, to 'I' + 'on' = iON.
    iON is not only polite enough to sign his name – he gives us a little more.
    Information on the makeup of the 'I' and recalling the end of Bob's question
    "going on'. iON responds with a dialectically opposite 'come' – Perhaps our
    friend Hegel is nudging iON's ribs.

    Speaking of 'ribs' – but wait – I anticipate. Let us look at the first part
    of iON's reply –
    "We would never be included in a Finniganese book reading wrote right rip
    bop…"
    "We" – at first sight the meaning seems to be iON and Bob – but we know that
    Bob is a member of a Wake reading group so the 'We' seems to refer to iON
    and his kind. Is he saying that his kind would never appear in such a book?
    or just not in a reading group. Does it get more serious – "We would never
    be" – does the very existence of iON depend in some manner on the book?
    "Included" has imbedded the word 'clue'. The book has a clue. It is odd that
    iON calls the book "Finniganese". The last part of the word 'ganese' seems
    to taunt us. If we add 'man' we get 'mangenese' – a black mineral used in
    glass making. A wonderful image of the Wake, being black and opaque yet in a
    way clear as glass. That is to say iON is telling us that the Wake is a
    'man' book not for the likes of his kind. He seems to also desire to point
    out the oral/writing aspect of the book.
    "book reading wrote right rip bop"

  3. Murray Gross continues (Part Two):

    He is quite clear in the oral aspect with "Finniganese" spelling. If we
    extract the real title word – 'Finnegans' we are left with 'I' and 'e' – the
    abbreviation of id est – itself an abbreviation of 'that is to say'.
    "bop" has many interesting aspects – it points to the continuous nature of
    the Wake as coming back on itself from 'riverrun' to 'the' and back again.
    Written on a piece of transparent paper, if inverted and rotated, gives us
    'dog', and 'god' – fruitful areas to pursue. To me the final 'p' looks like
    a 'b' that fell over. The syntax seems to work with 'bob' as being the
    person iON is talking to. Using that 'b' in just previous word 'rip' gives
    us 'rib' brings us back by a recirculating to the beginning of my extended
    comments. The 'rib' that God took from Adam to fashion Eve – the first to
    fall, like the 'b' to 'p' and hinted to when iON used in the 3rd word of his
    reply – "never". Note he says "right rip" or as we translate "right rib". In
    Genesis 2 there is no mention of which side the rib was taken from Adam.
    Milton suggests the left (see Paradise Lost, Book 8 line 465) as does
    Michelangelo in his depiction on the Sistine Chapel. Now we know it was the
    right side – thank you for that, iON.

    The sound advice with the next part of iON's reply:
    ".They don't know nothing; they cant get nothing; they sound like us, Bob. "
    by evoking the song Old man River – to just keep on rolling along. Notice
    the double negatives – we, the reading group people are knowing and getting
    something out of the Wake in the same way that iOn and Bob get it.
    The next part:
    "You…find out, somebody tells you something, you spend the rest of your
    days trying to un-know what they told you that you didn't know…" , the
    "trying" is to get rid of the idea that we did not know. Sort of what Bob
    quoted to our Wake group at the last meeting – the Platonic idea that
    knowledge is remembering what we already know.

    This has been my "short sea" that is a short see, a sort of squint at iON's
    reply. Just imagine what we would find with our eyes wide open.

    Disclaimer: Lest anyone think I was anything but earnest and serious in my
    response are wrong. I have had lots of fun doing this but it is not ironic
    and as Bob said at the beginning of the email "believe it or not" – this is
    the way to read.

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