The Abnihilisation Catastrophe

Finnegans Wake

This flow traces the book's sudden sonic explosion as an imagined catastrophe that ruptures order and is absorbed into the narrative's cycles.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A World Approaches Rupture A World Approaches Rupture from "Finnegans Wake". A World Approaches Rupture Pressure gathers in language The narrative builds toward a violent change through its accumulating names, sounds, and conflicting…

A World Approaches Rupture from "Finnegans Wake". A World Approaches Rupture Pressure gathers in language The narrative builds toward a violent change through its accumulating names, sounds, and conflicting…

A World Approaches Rupture Pressure gathers in language The narrative builds toward a violent change through its accumulating names, sounds, and conflicting claims. Instability prepares the break The world seems ready to collapse into a new arrangement.

The Thunderous Word The Thunderous Word from "Finnegans Wake". The Thunderous Word Sound becomes event A long, thunderlike word enacts a world-shaking explosion in language.

The Thunderous Word from "Finnegans Wake". The Thunderous Word Sound becomes event A long, thunderlike word enacts a world-shaking explosion in language.

The Thunderous Word Sound becomes event A long, thunderlike word enacts a world-shaking explosion in language. Speech carries force The catastrophe is heard as well as imagined, making sound itself a dramatic agent.

The World Fragments The World Fragments from "Finnegans Wake". The World Fragments Places answer the blast The imagined shock travels across cities and landscapes, scattering a world of objects and beings.

The World Fragments from "Finnegans Wake". The World Fragments Places answer the blast The imagined shock travels across cities and landscapes, scattering a world of objects and beings.

The World Fragments Places answer the blast The imagined shock travels across cities and landscapes, scattering a world of objects and beings. Destruction multiplies perspectives No single viewpoint contains the catastrophe as its reverberations move outward.

Confusion Becomes a Chorus Confusion Becomes a Chorus from "Finnegans Wake". Confusion Becomes a Chorus Speakers react together A chorus of fragments responds with alarms, cries, and competing interpretations.

Confusion Becomes a Chorus from "Finnegans Wake". Confusion Becomes a Chorus Speakers react together A chorus of fragments responds with alarms, cries, and competing interpretations.

Confusion Becomes a Chorus Speakers react together A chorus of fragments responds with alarms, cries, and competing interpretations. Rupture becomes communal The catastrophe reorganizes voices without granting them a shared explanation.

The Cycle Absorbs Disaster The Cycle Absorbs Disaster from "Finnegans Wake". The Cycle Absorbs Disaster The narrative resumes The explosion gives way to further stories and voices rather than a definitive aftermath.

The Cycle Absorbs Disaster from "Finnegans Wake". The Cycle Absorbs Disaster The narrative resumes The explosion gives way to further stories and voices rather than a definitive aftermath.

The Cycle Absorbs Disaster The narrative resumes The explosion gives way to further stories and voices rather than a definitive aftermath. Destruction prepares renewal The catastrophe becomes part of the book's recurring fall-and-return pattern.

Immediately before the Abnihilisation passage

At the instant of the explosive utterance

Immediately after the explosion

During the voices following the blast

After the catastrophic scene