Contributor's Bios

Liesbeth van Gool

My name is Liesbeth van Gool, I live in Antwerp, Belgium. Together with Bob Williams I host the FW-read list now that Charles Cave temporarily has given over his command to us.

Am I a Joycean? Well, I have read Joyce's works and Finnegans Wake in particular for about 10 years now, and I admit that this takes up a lot of my time. I am no scholar, I stopped going to school at 18 but I always followed courses in the most diverse directions. I went to night school and learned a few languages, I did a few A-levels in English Literature, Psychology, and Philosophy (as an overseas student).

All this plus the range of subjects that interest me have helped me a lot in "trying" to understand the Wake.

As you may have seen on our arts page, what I read filters down to my other brain half and occasionally results in a drawing, woodcut or block print. I host a reading group in Antwerp for which I make the files that you can find on our essay-page.

We are a bit short in members as we are now only three so anybody in the neighbourhood of Antwerp, feel free to join us. And if any of you ever visit Antwerp, contact me and follow a session of our group.

Bob Williams

Retired to my books from employment that was boring but whose high spots included copy writing and proofing and art work. I live in a large old house in a small Iowa town with a wife, a dog, a cat and several thousand books. With the discovery of the Internet I found a renewed interest in Joyce and his works. I enjoy making a modest repayment of the many advantages that the Internet has provided in the form of wonderful information and fellow Joyce fanatics.

Robert Amos

Robert Amos is an artist who lives in Victoria on the far west coast of Canada. He discovered Ulysses in 1970 and for many years subsequent thought it was just about as interesting as reading the clues of crossword puzzles. A patient friend gave him the opportunity to read it aloud and after two times through it began to make sense.

At about the same time he discovered Finnegans Wake and was never able to make hide nor hair of it, though another patient friend allowed him to read some aloud. In 1998 Amos discovered a Victoria group of Joyceans and attended meetings in hope of finding some one who would read Finnegan with him. To no avail - no one in the group had ever read the book, despite their professed love for Joyce

Through the group he discovered the Finnegan Read Page-A-Week group on the net and began at page 144. Since that time he has become rather involved in the text. Though no scholar, and without intentions to be one, he has been working on the text by breaking up the congealed mass of verbaige into phrases and sentences, making a new layout "as poetry" which gives a visual component to the grammar.

With the encouragement of David Peacock of Victoria and Liesbeth van Gool of Antwerp he has been using his artistic skills to create a few images inspired by Joyceana. These are offered for your amusement.