Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract Vico and Bruno are the central philosophers of Finnegans Wake. The conclusion explains why Joyce embraced Vico’s cyclical conception of history and Bruno’s principle of the coincidence of contraries. At the same time, it also shows that, in considering how those ideas operate within the Wake, one must look carefully at how Joyce adapted and contextualized them. The conclusion then proceeds to demonstrate that Joyce used the characters of Shem and Shaun to align the Wake’s other major philosophers for or against Vico and Bruno. Those associated with Shem are connected to Vico and Bruno and, thereby, Joyce. Those related to Shaun are defined as standing against the key philosophical ideas of the Wake. In expanding and refining this basic opposition, Joyce created a network through which he defined his relationships to all the philosophers who feature prominently in Finnegans Wake.