A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake
A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake is a 1944 work of literary criticism by mythologist Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson. The work gives both a general critical overview of Finnegans Wake and a detailed exegetical outline of the text.[1]
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Authors | Joseph Campbell Henry Morton Robinson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | 1st edition: Harcourt Brace 2nd: Viking Press 3rd: New World Library |
Publication date | 1st ed. 1944 2nd ed. 1968 3rd ed. 2005 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 9781577314059 (3rd ed.) |
| OCLC | 57452879 |
| 823/.912 22 | |
| LC Class | PR6019.O9 F57 2005 |
According to Campbell and Robinson, Finnegans Wake is best interpreted in light of Giambattista Vico's philosophy, which holds that history proceeds in cycles and fails to achieve meaningful progress over time.[2]
Campbell and Robinson began their analysis of Joyce's work because they had recognized in The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), the popular play by Thornton Wilder, an appropriation from Joyce's novel not only of themes but of plot and language as well. They published a pair of reviews-cum-denunciations of Skin of Our Teeth, both entitled "The Skin of Whose Teeth?" in The Saturday Review.[3]
References
- Prescott, Joseph (February 1945). "Review of A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake". Modern Language Notes. 60 (2): 137–138. doi:10.2307/2910513. JSTOR 2910513.
- Burgum 1945, p. 135.
- For the texts of these articles, see Joseph Campbell (2004). Mythic Worlds, Modern Words. New World Library. pp. 257–266. For Campbell's story of the "Skin of Our Teeth Affair" and how it led to the publication of A Skeleton Key, see Joseph Campbell (2005). Pathways to Bliss. New World Library. pp. 121–123.
Sources
- Burgum, Edwin Berry (1945). "The Interpretation of Joyce". The Virginia Quarterly Review. 21 (1): 134–144. ISSN 0042-675X.
Further reading
- Campbell, Joseph; Robinson, Henry Morton (1944). A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake (1st ed.). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. OCLC 1153471262 – via Internet Archive.