Chapter 2 The at Wickerworks and the Case for Mute Authorisation
In: James Joyce and Genetic Criticism
Author:
Robbert-Jan Henkes
Robbert-Jan Henkes
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Abstract
Joyce was not a professional proofreader. In his sixteen years of composing Finnegans Wake, many errors of transcription crept in—and stayed in. Despite efforts to repair the text (e.g. in the Rose and O’Hanlon edition), close inspection of Joyce’s writing habits—“revise-and-complete”—reveals that he was not always averse to adopt transcription errors, which can be shown by his adapting them in subsequent stages. There is a case to be made for silent approval of mistakes made by typists and typesetters, which makes the task of editing a corrected Finnegans Wake all the more daunting.