Block Quote by Toni Morrison
“Sometimes Joyce is hilarious. I read Finnegans Wake after graduate school and I had the great good fortune of reading it without any help. I don't know if I read it right, but it was hilarious! I laughed constantly! I didn't know what was going on for whole blocks but it didn't matter because I wasn't going to be graded on it. I think the reason why everyone still has so much fun with Shakespeare is because he didn't have any literary critic. He was just doing it; and there were no reviews except for people throwing stuff on stage. He could just do it.”
About This Quote
Source Book: Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, 1939
The quote expresses personal enjoyment of a complex text despite not fully grasping it, highlighting humor and freedom from academic pressure.
In simple terms: Enjoying a difficult book can be funny even without full understanding.
Key Takeaway
Embrace confusion and find joy in the experience.
Themes
humor
literature
learning
freedom
subjectivity
Mood
playful
nostalgic
Type
personal
reflective
When to use this quote
- college reading
- self‑study
- literary clubs
- creative writing workshops
Key Concepts
modernism
stream of consciousness
playfulness
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you ever enjoy something you don’t fully understand?
- How does lack of grading affect your engagement?
A Different Perspective
The humor may stem from misunderstanding, not the text itself.
![“I think [James] Joyce sometimes enjoyed misleading his readers. He said to me that history was like that parlor game where someone whispers something to the person next to him, who repeats it not very distinctly to the next person, and so on until, by the time the last person hears it, it comes…” quote by Sylvia Beach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/22f/sylvia-beach-69793_books_i-think-james-joyce-sometimes-enjoyed-mi_432119.jpg)
