Alchemy and Finnegans Wake
Author: Barbara DiBernard
Publisher: SUNY Press
Published: 1980-01-01
Total Pages: 188
ISBN-13: 9780873953887
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the first full-length study of Joyce's direct and indirect use of alchemical allusions, DiBernard shows how an awareness of the alchemical metaphor guides a reader through the richness of Finnegans Wake. For example, the alchemical transmutation of lead into gold parallels the transmutation of the dross and commotion of ordinary life into a work of art. This study shows how the themes of Joyce's novel--death and rebirth, the conflict between physical and spiritual, incest, colors, forgery, and the reconciliation of opposites--relate to the alchemical process. The author then presents a theory, based on alchemical metaphor, on the much debated subject of Joyce's view of the artist.