Reviews

A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake: James Joyce's Masterwork Revealed by Henry Morton Robinson, Joseph Campbell, Edmund L. Epstein

drkottke's review against another edition

3.0

Helpful in deciphering Finnegan's Wake on my first trip through it. On its own, I derived meaning, but as a key to unlock the Wake, it didn't exactly make it any easier to read. More telling me what's going on than empowering me to figure it out.

jbrown2140's review against another edition

3.0

I used this book the way you might use a travel guide when visiting an unfamiliar city. At first it seems an indispensable text against which to compare my perceptions with its reality. But as I went further into Finnegans Wake itself, I realized that there was no one "reality" for me as a reader to "figure out." The trouble with the Skeleton Key is that it presupposes such a reality. Again, like with a travel guide- sometimes they get annoying, as you find that you disagree with their assessments of various restaurants, hotels, etc. It was the same here - the more I got to know the world of Finnegans Wake, the more I started to feel dissatisfied with the Skeleton Key's assessments. Also - I realized as I went along that one of the central arguments of Finnegans Wake is against the possibility of the sort of static interpretation that the Skeleton Key provides. It places such work in the derivative and limited third age - that of the most verbal clarity and the least dynamism and insight. By the end, I found my readings diverging almost entirely from Campbell and Robinson's.

fionnualalirsdottir's review against another edition

The parts that announced the themes were very useful but I couldn't see the point of paraphrasing entire chapters - I chose to read Joyce's original instead.

lanceschaubert's review against another edition

4.0

Rather than write a review of this man's life work, I'd rather just cite the various posts I've written about him in the past:

• Monomyth Definition: A Defense of The Hero’s Journey
• Hindu Monotheism : The Upanishads and Vedanta
• Follow Your Bliss : Results of Joseph Cambell’s Advice
• The New
Hero: Tolkien and Subversion
• Joseph Campbell Religion :: Did Joseph Campbell Believe in God?
• Joseph Campbell Religion :: Did Joseph Campbell Believe in God?
• Was Joseph Campbell atheist?

And because I like having fun, the Zero with 1,000 Faces

Mark: Got a new lighting rig and arrangement that I want to test out, but I need something that changes and moves around a bunch. You up for a challenge?

Lancelot: [silence. I’m thinking…]

Mark: Day… in the… studio?

Lancelot: New lighting set up?

Mark: Yeah, it’s–

Lancelot: What if I tapped into my old thespian and modeling skillset and tried to give you as many faces as possible?

Mark: So… you’d… wait. Like trying to get me to mix it up as you mix it up?

Lancelot: Yes. You’ll keep me on my toes, making sure the faces are all different. I’ll keep you on your toes so you switch your style.

Mark: Sounds fun.

Lancelot: We’ll call it… [Dr. Evil voice] THE ZERO WITH 1000 FACES.

Mark: [Quiet for awhile, then:] Okay.

Well we got into the studio and I brought exactly four billion props and costumes.

asanisimasa's review against another edition

2.0

This attempt to make sense of Finnegans Wake by contorting it into a linear plot with defined characters is the equivalent of rendering a realistic portrait of someone by studying their likeness in a Picasso. Mostly futile and completely missing the point.

pizzamcpin3ppl3's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

jasminenoack's review

2.5

I didn’t think it added much. 

omnibozo22's review against another edition

4.0

Finished reading this... which was more difficult than reading the original FW, as I was trying to keep in mind the thousands of connections Campbell kept throwing out. While reading the original I had already decided to just read for the joy of the language in each sentence, and not to worry about all the bigger scale references. That was already plenty to track. I know I'll read sections of FW again, as I'll read Ulysses again. The Skeleton Key, probably not.

coruscate68's review against another edition

5.0

Joseph Campbell's book was my lifeline through Finnegans Wake. There's no way I would have survived without it. The basic approach of A Skeleton Key was to translate Joyce's enigmatic language into English and provide sporadic commentary to help the reader along. I wish he would have provided more commentary! His introduction and conclusion are masterful expressions and explications of what Finnegans Wake seeks to express.