Andrew Norman

Peter Sansom, from “Careful What You Wish For”.

…they had been malttreating themselves to their health’s contempt.

Two months on. I can’t see Finnegans Wake replacing Ulysses in my affections, but I may well read it again without the audiobook accompaniment.

Finnegans Wake p549 - a premonition of Patrick O’Brian?

An afternoon of modern culture coming up.

@that_wazzock … “It is stated that this class are at present the largest purchasers and that the number of receivers in public houses now exceeds those in the large departmental stores.”

@that_wazzock 1937: “Among recent purchasers of television receivers are large numbers of owners of licensed premises who are finding them a profitable attraction.” …

More than halfway through “Finnegans Wake” and in Tindall’s “Reader’s Guide” he makes a big deal about Joyce incorporating TV into the book even though there was no such thing when he was writing it… (1/4)

Joyce was hugely interested in the new technology including how it worked, I don’t know if he ever saw one though. (4/4)

19,000 TV sets sold in the UK by the start of WW2, also catching on elsewhere in Europe, only 5000 sets in the USA at the end of the war. They did catch up pretty quickly after that. (3/4)

22% of Finnegans Wake read/listened to in the last week and a half. Some of it on Brandon Hill this afternoon, where I first read Pomes Penyeach more than forty years ago.

Do you know who I wouldn’t want defending me in these circumstances?

This is the year I’m finally going to finish this thing. (What’s really helping is reading it while listening to Barry McGovern & Marcella Riordan’s recording).

721 pages into the Cantos, Ezra Pound finally makes some sense.

Wayne Shorter, my best friend, left us with courage in his heart, love and compassion for all, and a seeking spirit for the eternal future. He was ready for his rebirth. As it is with every human being, he is irreplaceable . . .

@mhoulden @Scarfolk The @EffinBirds book sometimes appears in the ornithology section of bookshops.

One of these Penguin Clothbound Classics is not like the others.