Finnegans Wake by James Joyce Part II, Chapter 3
Performed with acute attention to musical detail, by Neal Kosaly-Meyer
The gargantuan eleventh chapter of James Joyce’s final novel, performed in its entire 4 1/2 to 5 hour length (including multiple intermissions), in an adventurously wild and musical performance, taking full advantage of the dramatic and liturgically suggestive qualities of the Chapel space.
Since 2014, Neal Kosaly-Meyer has been performing the successive chapters of James Joyce’s final novel Finnegans Wake, with careful attention to the book’s special musicality. Performances have been presented annually at the Chapel, and around the world, including Portland, Antwerp, Mexico City, Dublin, Glasgow and Basel. This year he presents the extraordinary and central Part II, Chapter 3, one of the two very longest chapters in the book. Any Joyce chapter is masterfully composed, and performed live communicates a cumulative and symphonic flow, hence the decision to present this enormous chapter in its entirety on a single evening. Three intermissions will be observed to insure everyone’s survival.
This eleventh chapter of the Wake delivers the experience of a long noisy evening at the Mullingar Pub, complete with wild yarns told, and radio and T.V. blaring in the background. Like the patrons and proprietor of the pub, we’re all likely to experience delirious exhaustion before it’s all over, but stay to the end if you can manage it: James Joyce has a magical way of winding up an episode, and this chapter is no exception to that rule.