In the USA, book club members spent 28 years reading a novel, the text of which is considered one of the most difficult in history

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In the American state of California, members of a book club have been reading the novel “Finnegan’s Wake” by the Irish writer James Joyce for 28 years.

The book contains about 628 pages and is known for its experimental writing style, reports The Guardian.

It is noted that since 1995, 10 to 30 people have come to book club meetings at the local library every month.

At first, they read two pages a month, but then they slowed down to one, as discussions and debates took up a lot of time.

Finnegan’s Wake Reading Group in 2008. Photo: Alfred Benjamin/The Guardian

The last page was read in October.

It is noted that during the work on the book, the reader had many contradictions regarding where and when the action of the novel takes place and who are its heroes.

The book is written in a mixture of recycled words, puns and allusions with references to approximately 80 different languages.

From yes, the participants took more time to read than the writer wrote the book. It is known that James Joyce wasted 17 years on the novel, 4 of which he spent in a creative crisis when he did not write at all.

Book club members now meet online.

The club was created in 1995 by experimental filmmaker Jerry Fialka from the city of Venice, California.

A group of Finnegan’s Wake readers at a discussion in Austin, Texas. Photo: Peter Quadrino/The Guardian

“There is no next book. We read only one book. Forever“– he said.

It is known that the writer James Joyce called the ideal reader of “Finnegan’s Wake” a person who “suffers from perfect insomnia“.

Joyce also said that “indemands from his reader that he devote his whole life to reading his works“.

We previously reported that libraries in Finland are conducting an experiment to promote reading.

Read also: 5 books that are read during the war

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