V.N. on Joyce's FW

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Ulysses towers over the rest of Joyce's writings, and in
comparison to its noble  originality  and  unique  lucidity
of
thought  and  style  the  unfortunate  Finnegans Wake is
nothing but a formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a
cold
pudding  of  a  book, a persistent snore in the next room,
most
aggravating to the insomniac! I am. Moreover, I always
detested
regional literature full  of  quaint  old-timers  and
imitated
pronunciation.  Finnegans Wake's facade disguises a very
conventional and drab tenement house, and only  the
infrequent
snatches   of   heavenly   intonations  redeem  it  from
utter
insipidity. I know I am going to  be  excommunicated  for
this
pronouncement.

Vladimir Nabokov

http://guernsey.et.tudelft.nl/cgi-bin/html-volapuk/NABOKOW/Inter06.txt