on Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Howth Castle and Environs
Discovered in p3:
riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
Humpty Dumpty says:
“Norse Vikings first invaded the eastern shore of Ireland, 819, & then began to build the settlement of Dublin. The name Howth is considered to be made up of the Old Norse hǫfuð “head” in English & related to the Contemporary Norwegian hode. Now, the peninsula on the north side of Dublin Bay is called “Howth Head.” On this peninsula, looking like the head of HCE, Howth Castle stands. Who is HCE? Hero in Finnegans Wake! But I don’t know about him exactly yet now. The word environs means “surroundings” in an aspect, but Joynglish words always have many faces in general. For example, environs seems the 2nd verb of this sentence (the 1st is, of course, brings), which can probably be paraphrased: riverrun brings... back to HC and environs us. Read as you like, anyway. Finnegans Wake is not a scientific paper but a literary work. “
