The Book Club: Jonathan Coe

Finnegans Wake is James Joyce's final and most complex work, written over a period of seventeen years. The novel is set in a dream world where the protagonist, Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker (HCE), and his family—wife Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP) and their children Shem, Shaun, and Issy—undergo various transformations and identities. The book is known for its innovative use of language, combining elements from multiple languages and creating new words through portmanteaus and puns. It explores themes of identity, history, and the cyclical nature of life, drawing on Irish mythology, biblical narratives, and personal experiences. The novel's structure is circular, ending with the sentence that begins the book, creating a continuous loop.