David Proud

The Recollection of Forms of Spirit in James Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’

Biography

My academic background is principally in philosophy.
MPhil (Open University), thesis: ‘The Free Will Problem’.
MA (Sheffield University), thesis: ‘A Logical Deduction of Particular Spirit: Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature’.
BA (Leeds University), Philosophy.
I completed my MRes at the University of Liverpool. My dissertation, for which I was awarded an Irish Studies prize, was a reading of James Joyce’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ through the lens of the philosophy of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in particular attending to a crucial concept in Hegel’s philosophical system, that of Erinnerung, recollection, whereby all the contents of philosophy, whether recollected from natural science, history, mathematics, religion, art, or Irish literature, are relevant only insofar as they assist in coming to know knowing itself. Philosophy gathers up life for thinking in such a manner that it becomes thinkable.

Research Interests

My current research builds on my MRes work, focusing on the musicality of 'Finnegans Wake', inspired by Hegel's view that speculative philosophy is akin to musical thinking.  It is a distinguishing feature of philosophy that its content is inseparable from its form, which is the condition of music. My objective is not to follow a method as such in the presentation of arguments, but rather to deliver a performance, turning toward an entire developing movement of a piece, the narrative of the Wake, rather than its isolated accented moments, noting changes of rhythm, and harmonic tensions within in the text, albeit the accent of every moment counts,  not independently from each other, but collectively, flowing with the tempo of Anna Livia, the River Liffey, into the Irish Sea.

My MRes dissertation, alongside other articles of mine, can be read at: https://liverpool.academia.edu/DavidProud