title: Finnegans Wake

text: Harriet Weaver was among the first to suggest that the dream was not that of any one dreamer, but was rather an analysis of the process of dreaming itself. In a letter to J.S. Atherton she wrote: In particular their ascription of the whole thing to a dream of HCE seems to me nonsensical. My view is that Mr. Joyce did not intend the book to be looked upon as the dream of any one character, but that he regarded the dream form with its shiftings and changes and chances as a convenient device, allowing the freest scope to introduce any material he wished—and suited to a night-piece. Bernard Benstock also argued that "The Dreamer in the "Wake" is more than just a single individual, even if one assumes that on the literal level we are viewing the dream of publican H.C. Earwicker."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Other critics have been more skeptical of the concept of identifying the dreamer of the book's narrative. Clive Hart argues that "[w]hatever our conclusions about the identity of the dreamer, and no matter how many varied caricatures of him we may find projected into the dream, it is clear that he must always be considered as essentially external to the book, and should be left there. Speculation about the 'real person' behind the guises of the dream-surrogates or about the function of the dream in relation to the unresolved stresses of this hypothetical mind is fruitless, for the tensions and psychological problems in "Finnegans Wake" concern the dream-figures living within the book itself."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: John Bishop has been the most vocal supporter of treating "Finnegans Wake" absolutely, in every sense, as a description of a dream, the dreamer, and of the night itself; arguing that the book not only represents a dream in an abstract conception, but is fully a literary representation of sleep. On the subject Bishop writes: The greatest obstacle to our comprehension of "Finnegans Wake" [...has been...] the failure on the part of readers to believe that Joyce really meant what he said when he spoke of the book as a "reconstruction of the nocturnal life" and an "imitation of the dream-state"; and as a consequence readers have perhaps too easily exercised on the text an unyielding literalism bent on finding a kind of meaning in every way antithetical to the kind of meaning purveyed in dreams. Bishop has also somewhat brought back into fashion the theory that the "Wake" is about a single sleeper; arguing that it is not "the 'universal dream' of some disembodied global everyman, but a reconstruction of the night – and a single night – as experienced by 'one stable somebody' whose 'earwitness' on the real world is coherently chronological." Bishop has laid the path for critics such as Eric Rosenbloom, who has proposed that the book "elaborates the fragmentation and reunification of identity during sleep. The masculine [...] mind of the day has been overtaken by the feminine night mind. [...] The characters live in the transformation and flux of a dream, embodying the sleeper’s mind."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Critics disagree on whether discernible characters exist in "Finnegans Wake". For example, Grace Eckley argues that Wakean characters are distinct from one another, and defends this with explaining the dual narrators, the "us" of the first paragraph, as well as Shem-Shaun distinctions while Margot Norris argues that the "[c]haracters are fluid and interchangeable". Supporting the latter stance, Van Hulle finds that the "characters" in "Finnegans Wake" are rather "archetypes or character amalgams, taking different shapes", and Riquelme similarly refers to the book's cast of mutable characters as "protean". As early as in 1934, in response to the recently published excerpt "The Mookse and the Gripes", Ronald Symond argued that "the characters in "Work in Progress", in keeping with the space-time chaos in which they live, change identity at will. At one time they are persons, at another rivers or stones or trees, at another personifications of an idea, at another they are lost and hidden in the actual texture of the prose, with an ingenuity far surpassing that of crossword puzzles." Such concealment of character identity has resulted in some disparity as to how critics identify the book's main protagonists; for example, while most find consensus that Festy King, who appears on trial in I.4, is a HCE type, not all analysts agree on this – for example Anthony Burgess believes him to be Shaun.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: While characters are in a constant state of flux—constantly changing names, occupations, and physical attributes—a recurring set of core characters, or character types (what Norris dubs "ciphers"), are discernible. During the composition of "Finnegans Wake", Joyce used signs, or so-called "sigla", rather than names to designate these character amalgams or types. In a letter to his Maecenas, Harriet Shaw Weaver (March 1924), Joyce made a list of these sigla. For those who argue for the existence of distinguishable characters, the book focuses on the Earwicker family, which consists of father, mother, twin sons and a daughter.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Kitcher argues for the father HCE as the book's protagonist, stating that he is "the dominant figure throughout [...]. His guilt, his shortcomings, his failures pervade the entire book". Bishop states that while the constant flux of HCE's character and attributes may lead us to consider him as an "anyman," he argues that "the sheer density of certain repeated details and concerns allows us to know that he is a particular, real Dubliner." The common critical consensus of HCE's fixed character is summarised by Bishop as being "an older Protestant male, of Scandinavian lineage, connected with the pubkeeping business somewhere in the neighbourhood of Chapelizod, who has a wife, a daughter, and two sons."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: HCE is referred to by literally thousands of names throughout the book; leading Terence Killeen to argue that in "Finnegans Wake" "naming is [...] a fluid and provisional process". HCE is at first referred to as "Harold or Humphrey Chimpden"; a conflation of these names as "Haromphreyld", and as a consequence of his initials "Here Comes Everybody". These initials lend themselves to phrase after phrase throughout the book; for example, appearing in the book's opening sentence as "Howth Castle and Environs". As the work progresses the names by which he may be referred to become increasingly abstract (such as "Finn MacCool", "Mr. Makeall Gone", or "Mr. Porter").


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Some "Wake" critics, such as Finn Fordham, argue that HCE's initials come from the initials of the portly politician Hugh Childers (1827–96), who had been nicknamed "Here Comes Everybody" for his size.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Many critics see Finnegan, whose death, wake and resurrection are the subject of the opening chapter, as either a prototype of HCE, or as another of his manifestations. One of the reasons for this close identification is that Finnegan is called a "man of hod, cement and edifices" and "like Haroun Childeric Eggeberth", identifying him with the initials HCE. Parrinder for example states that "Bygmester Finnegan [...] is HCE", and finds that his fall and resurrection foreshadows "the fall of HCE early in Book I [which is] paralleled by his resurrection towards the end of III.3, in the section originally called "Haveth Childers Everywhere", when [HCE's] ghost speaks forth in the middle of a seance."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Patrick McCarthy describes HCE's wife ALP as "the river-woman whose presence is implied in the "riverrun" with which "Finnegans Wake" opens and whose monologue closes the book. For over six hundred pages, Joyce presents Anna Livia to us almost exclusively through other characters, much as in "Ulysses" we hear what Molly Bloom has to say about herself only in the last chapter." The most extensive discussion of ALP comes in chapter I.8, in which hundreds of names of rivers are woven into the tale of ALP's life, as told by two gossiping washerwomen. Similarly hundreds of city names are woven into "Haveth Childers Everywhere", the corresponding passage at the end of III.3 which focuses on HCE. As a result, it is generally contended that HCE personifies the Viking-founded city of Dublin, and his wife ALP personifies the river Liffey, on whose banks the city was built.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: ALP and HCE have a daughter, Issy – whose personality is often split (represented by her mirror-twin). Parrinder argues that "as daughter and sister, she is an object of secret and repressed desire both to her father [...] and to her two brothers." These twin sons of HCE and ALP consist of a writer called Shem the Penman and a postman by the name of Shaun the Post, who are rivals for replacing their father and for their sister Issy's affection. Shaun is portrayed as a dull postman, conforming to society's expectations, while Shem is a bright artist and sinister experimenter, often perceived as Joyce's alter-ego in the book. Hugh Staples finds that Shaun "wants to be thought of as a man-about-town, a snappy dresser, a glutton and a gourmet... He is possessed of a musical voice and is a braggart. He is not happy in his work, which is that of a messenger or a postman; he would rather be a priest." Shaun's sudden and somewhat unexpected promotion to the book's central character in Part III is explained by Tindall with the assertion that "having disposed of old HCE, Shaun is becoming the new HCE."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Like their father, Shem and Shaun are referred to by different names throughout the book, such as "Caddy and Primas"; "Mercius" and "Justius"; "Dolph and Kevin"; and "Jerry and Kevin". These twins are contrasted in the book by allusions to sets of opposing twins and enemies in literature, mythology and history; such as Set and Horus of the Osiris story; the biblical pairs Jacob and Esau, Cain and Abel, and Saint Michael and the Devil – equating Shaun with "Mick" and Shem with "Nick" – as well as Romulus and Remus. They also represent the oppositions of time and space, and tree and stone.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The most commonly recurring characters outside of the Earwicker family are the four old men known collectively as "Mamalujo" (a conflation of their names: Matt Gregory, Marcus Lyons, Luke Tarpey and Johnny Mac Dougall). These four most commonly serve as narrators, but they also play a number of active roles in the text, such as when they serve as the judges in the court case of I.4, or as the inquisitors who question Yawn in III.4. Tindall summarises the roles that these old men play as those of the Four Masters, the Four Evangelists, and the four Provinces of Ireland ( "Matthew, from the north, is Ulster; Mark, from the south, is Munster; Luke, from the east, is Leinster; and John, from the west, is Connaught"). According to Finn Fordham, Joyce related to his daughter-in-law Helen Fleischmann that "Mamalujo" also represented Joyce's own family, namely his wife Nora (mama), daughter Lucia (lu), and son Giorgio (jo).


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In addition to the four old men, there are a group of twelve unnamed men who always appear together, and serve as the customers in Earwicker's pub, gossipers about his sins, jurors at his trial and mourners at his wake. The Earwicker household also includes two cleaning staff: Kate, the maid, and Joe, who is by turns handyman and barman in Earwicker's pub. Tindall considers these characters to be older versions of ALP and HCE. Kate often plays the role of museum curator, as in the "Willingdone Museyroom" episode of 1.1, and is recognisable by her repeated motif "Tip! Tip!" Joe is often also referred to by the name "Sackerson", and Kitcher describes him as "a figure sometimes playing the role of policeman, sometimes [...] a squalid derelict, and most frequently the odd-job man of HCE's inn, Kate's male counterpart, who can ambiguously indicate an older version of HCE."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Joyce invented a unique polyglot-language or "idioglossia" solely for the purpose of this work. This language is composed of composite words from some sixty to seventy world languages, combined to form puns, or portmanteau words and phrases intended to convey several layers of meaning at once. Senn has labelled "Finnegans Wake"'s language as "polysemetic", and Tindall as an "Arabesque". Norris describes it as a language which "like poetry, uses words and images which can mean several, often contradictory, things at once" The style has also been compared to rumour and gossip, especially in the way the writing subverts notions of political and scholarly authority. An early review of the book argued that Joyce was attempting "to employ language as a new medium, breaking down all grammatical usages, all time space values, all ordinary conceptions of context [... the theme is the language and the language the theme, and a language where every association of sound and free association is exploited." Seconding this analysis of the book's emphasis on form over content, Paul Rosenfeld reviewed "Finnegans Wake" in 1939 with the suggestion that "the writing is not so much about something as it is that something itself [..] in "Finnegans Wake" the style, the essential qualities and movement of the words, their rhythmic and melodic sequences, and the emotional color of the page are the main representatives of the author's thought and feeling. The accepted significations of the words are secondary."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: While commentators emphasize how this manner of writing can communicate multiple levels of meaning simultaneously, Hayman and Norris contend that its purpose is as much to obscure and disable meaning as to expand it. Hayman writes that access to the work's "tenuous narratives" may be achieved only through "the dense weave of a language designed as much to shield as to reveal them." Norris argues that Joyce's language is "devious" and that it "conceals and reveals secrets." Allen B. Ruch has dubbed Joyce's new language "dreamspeak," and describes it as "a language that’s basically English, but extremely malleable and all-inclusive, a fusion of portmanteau words, stylistic parodies, and complex puns." Although much has been made of the numerous world languages employed in the book's composite language, most of the more obscure languages appear only seldom in small clusters, and most agree with Ruch that the latent sense of the language, however manifestly obscure, is "basically English". Burrell also finds that Joyce's thousands of neologisms are "based on the same etymological principles as standard English." The "Wake"'s language is not entirely unique in literature; for example critics have seen its use of portmanteaus and neologisms as an extension of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Although Joyce died shortly after the publication of "Finnegans Wake", during the work's composition the author made a number of statements concerning his intentions in writing in such an original manner. In a letter to Max Eastman, for example, Joyce suggested that his decision to employ such a unique and complex language was a direct result from his attempts to represent the night: In writing of the night I really could not, I felt I could not, use words in their ordinary connections. Used that way they do not express how things are in the night, in the different stages – the conscious, then semi-conscious, then unconscious. I found that it could not be done with words in their ordinary relations and connections. When morning comes of course everything will be clear again [...] I'll give them back their English language. I'm not destroying it for good. Joyce is also reported as having told Arthur Power that "what is clear and concise can't deal with reality, for to be real is to be surrounded by mystery." On the subject of the vast number of puns employed in the work Joyce argued to Frank Budgen that "after all, the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church was built on a pun. It ought to be good enough for me", and to the objection of triviality he replied "Yes. Some of the means I use are trivial – and some are quadrivial." A great many of the book's puns are etymological in nature. Sources tell us that Joyce relished delving into the history and the changing meanings of words, his primary source being "An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language" by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press; 1879). For example, one of the first entries in Skeat is for the letter A, which begins: "...(1) adown; (2) afoot; (3) along; (4) arise; (5) achieve; (6) avert; (7) amend; (8) alas; (9) abyss..." Further in the entry, Skeat writes: "These prefixes are discussed at greater length under the headings Of, On, Along, Arise...Alas, Aware, Avast..." It seems likely that these strings of words prompted Joyce to finish the "Wake" with a sentence fragment that included the words: "...a way a lone a last a loved a long..."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Samuel Beckett collated words from foreign languages on cards for Joyce to use, and, as Joyce's eyesight worsened, wrote down the text from his dictation. Beckett described and defended the writing style of "Finnegans Wake" thus: "This writing that you find so obscure is a quintessential extraction of language and painting and gesture, with all the inevitable clarity of the old inarticulation. Here is the savage economy of hieroglyphics".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Faced with the obstacles to be surmounted in "understanding" Joyce's text, a handful of critics have suggested readers focus on the rhythm and sound of the language, rather than solely on "meaning." As early as 1929, Eugène Jolas stressed the importance of the aural and musical dimensions of the work. In his contribution to "Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress", Jolas wrote:


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Those who have heard Mr. Joyce read aloud from "Work in Progress" know the immense rhythmic beauty of his technique. It has a musical flow that flatters the ear, that has the organic structure of works of nature, that transmits painstakingly every vowel and consonant formed by his ear.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: "Finnegans Wake" incorporates a high number of intertextual allusions and references to other texts; Parrinder refers to it as "a remarkable example of intertextuality" containing a "wealth of literary reference." Among the most prominent are the Irish ballad "Finnegan's Wake" from which the book takes its name, Italian philosopher Giovanni Battista Vico's "La Scienza Nuova", the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the plays of Shakespeare, and religious texts such as the Bible and Qur'an. These allusions, rather than directly quoting or referencing a source, normally enter the text in a contorted fashion, often through humorous plays on words. For example, Hamlet Prince of Denmark becomes "Camelot, prince of dinmurk" and the Epistle to the Hebrews becomes a "farced epistol to the hibruws".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The book begins with one such allusion to Vico's "New Science": "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: "Commodius vicus" refers to Giambattista Vico (1668–1744), who proposed a theory of cyclical history in his work "La Scienza Nuova" ("The New Science"). Vico argued that the world was coming to the end of the last of three ages, these being the age of gods, the age of heroes, and the age of humans. These ideas recur throughout "Finnegans Wake", informing the book's four-part structure. Vico's name appears a number of times throughout the "Wake", indicating the work's debt to his theories, such as "The Vico road goes round and round to meet where terms begin". That a reference to Vico's cyclical theory of history is to be found in the opening sentence which is a continuation of the book's closing sentence – thus making the work cyclical in itself – creates the relevance of such an allusion.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: One of the sources Joyce drew from is the Ancient Egyptian story of Osiris, and the Egyptian "Book of the Dead," a collection of spells and invocations. Bishop asserts that "it is impossible to overlook the vital presence of the "Book of the Dead" in "Finnegans Wake", which refers to ancient Egypt in countless tags and allusions." Joyce uses the "Book of the Dead" in "Finnegans Wake", "because it is a collection of the incantations for the resurrection and rebirth of the dead on the burial". At one of their final meetings, Joyce suggested to Frank Budgen that he write an article about "Finnegans Wake", entitling it "James Joyce's Book of the Dead". Budgen followed Joyce's advice with his paper "Joyce's Chapters of Going Forth by Day", highlighting many of the allusions to Egyptian mythology in the book.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The Tristan and Iseult legend – a tragic love triangle between the Irish princess Iseult, the Cornish knight Tristan and his uncle King Mark – is also oft alluded to in the work, particularly in II.4. Fargnoli and Gillespie argue that "various themes and motifs throughout "Finnegans Wake", such as the cuckoldry of Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker (a King Mark figure) and Shaun's attempts at seducing Issy, relate directly to Tristan and Isolde [...] other motifs relating to Earwicker's loss of authority, such as the forces usurping his parental status, are also based on Tristan and Isolde."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The book also alludes heavily to Irish mythology, with HCE sometimes corresponding to Fionn mac Cumhaill, Issy and ALP to Gráinne, and Shem/Shaun to Dermot (Diarmaid). Not only Irish mythology, but also notable real-life Irish figures are alluded to throughout the text. For example, HCE is often identified with Charles Stewart Parnell, and Shem's attack on his father in this way mirrors the attempt of forger Richard Pigott to incriminate Parnell in the Phoenix Park Murders of 1882 by means of false letters. But, given the flexibility of allusion in "Finnegans Wake" HCE assumes the character of Pigott as well, for just as HCE betrays himself to the cad, Pigott betrayed himself at the inquiry into admitting the forgery by his spelling of the word "hesitancy" as "hesitency"; and this misspelling appears frequently in the "Wake".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: "Finnegans Wake" also makes a great number of allusions to religious texts. When HCE is first introduced in chapter I.2, the narrator relates how "in the beginning" he was a "grand old gardener", thus equating him with Adam in the Garden of Eden. Spinks further highlights this allusion by highlighting that like HCE's unspecified crime in the park, Adam also "commits a crime in a garden".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: With Dublin, an early Viking settlement, as the setting for "Finnegans Wake", it is perhaps not surprising that Joyce incorporated a number of Norwegian linguistic and cultural elements into the work (e.g., Riksmål references). One of the main tales of chapter II.3 concerns a Norwegian tailor, and a number of Norwegian words such as "bakvandets", "Knut Oelsvinger" and "Bygmester Finnegan" (the latter a reference to Ibsen's "Bygmester Solness") are used throughout. Indeed, most of Ibsen's works, many of his characters and also some quotations are referenced in the "Wake". While Joyce was working on "Finnegans Wake", he wanted to insert references to Scandinavian languages and literature, hiring five teachers of Norwegian. The first one turned out to be the poet Olaf Bull. Joyce wanted to read Norwegian works in the original language, including Peter Andreas Munch's "Norrøne gude- og heltesagn" (Norse tales of gods and heroes). He was looking for puns and unusual associations across the barriers of language, a practice Bull well understood. Lines from Bull's poems echo through "Finnegans Wake", and Bull himself materializes under the name "Olaph the Oxman", a pun on his surname.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: An extreme example of the "Wake's" language are a series of ten one-hundred letter words spread throughout the text (although the tenth in actuality has a hundred and one letters). The first such word occurs on the text's first page; all ten are presented in the context of their complete sentences, below.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: These ten words have come to be known as "thunders", "thunderclaps", or "thunderwords", based upon interpretation of the first word as being a portmanteau of several word-forms for thunder, in several languages. The Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan (with Quentin Fiore and Jerome Agel) made this connection explicit in his "War and Peace in the Global Village", where he identified the ten words as "thunders", reproducing them in his own text. For the purposes of his book, McLuhan appropriated the ten words and interpreted them as symbolizing various forms of human technology, which together with other liberal quotations from the "Wake" form a parallel rhetoric which McLuhan used to discuss technology, warfare, and human society. Marshall's son Eric McLuhan carried on his father's interpretation of the thunders, publishing "The Role of Thunder in Finnegans Wake", a book expressly devoted to the meaning of the ten words. For [Eric] McLuhan, the total letter count of the above ten words (1001) intentionally corresponds to the "One Thousand and One Nights" of Middle Eastern folklore, which buttresses the critical interpretation of the "Wake" as being a book of the night.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The value of "Finnegans Wake" as a work of literature has been a point of contention since the time of its appearance, in serial form, in literary reviews of the 1920s. Initial response, to both its serialised and final published forms, was almost universally negative. Even close friends and family were disapproving of Joyce's seemingly impenetrable text, with Joyce's brother Stanislaus "rebuk[ing] him for writing an incomprehensible night-book", and former friend Oliver Gogarty believing the book to be a joke, pulled by Joyce on the literary community, referring to it as "the most colossal leg pull in literature since Macpherson's "Ossian"". When Ezra Pound, a former champion of Joyce's and admirer of Joyce's "Ulysses", was asked his opinion on the text, he wrote "Nothing so far as I make out, nothing short of divine vision or a new cure for the clap can possibly be worth all the circumambient peripherization." H. G. Wells, in a personal letter to Joyce, argued that "you have turned your back on common men, on their elementary needs and their restricted time and intelligence [...] I ask: who the hell is this Joyce who demands so many waking hours of the few thousands I have still to live for a proper appreciation of his quirks and fancies and flashes of rendering?" Even Joyce's patron Harriett Weaver wrote to him in 1927 to inform him of her misgivings regarding his new work, stating "I am made in such a way that I do not care much for the output from your Wholesale Safety Pun Factory nor for the darknesses and unintelligibilities of your deliberately entangled language system. It seems to me you are wasting your genius."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The wider literary community were equally disparaging, with D. H. Lawrence declaring in a letter to Maria and Aldous Huxley, having read sections of the "Wake" appearing as "Work in Progress" in "Transition", "My God, what a clumsy "olla putrida" James Joyce is! Nothing but old fags and cabbage-stumps of quotations from the Bible and the rest, stewed in the juice of deliberate journalistic dirty-mindedness – what old and hard-worked staleness, masquerading as the all-new!" Vladimir Nabokov, who had also admired "Ulysses", described "Finnegans Wake" as "nothing but a formless and dull mass of phony folklore, a cold pudding of a book, a persistent snore in the next room [...] and only the infrequent snatches of heavenly intonations redeem it from utter insipidity." In response to such criticisms, "Transition" published essays throughout the late 1920s, defending and explaining Joyce's work. In 1929, these essays (along with a few others written for the occasion) were collected under the title "Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress" and published by Shakespeare and Company. This collection featured Samuel Beckett's first commissioned work, the essay "Dante... Bruno. Vico.. Joyce", along with contributions by William Carlos Williams, Stuart Gilbert, Marcel Brion, Eugene Jolas and others. As Margot Norris highlights, the agenda of this first generation of Wake critics and defenders was "to assimilate Joyce's experimental text to an already increasingly established and institutionalized literary avant-garde" and "to foreground Joyce's last work as spearhead of a philosophical avant-garde bent on the revolution of language".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Upon its publication in 1939, "Finnegans Wake" received a series of mixed, but mostly negative reviews. Louise Bogan, writing for "Nation", surmised that while "the book's great beauties, its wonderful passages of wit, its variety, its mark of genius and immense learning are undeniable [...], to read the book over a long period of time gives one the impression of watching intemperance become addiction, become debauch" and argued that "Joyce's delight in reducing man's learning, passion, and religion to a hash is also disturbing." Edwin Muir, reviewing in "Listener" wrote that "as a whole the book is so elusive that there is no judging it; I cannot tell whether it is winding into deeper and deeper worlds of meaning or lapsing into meaningless", although he too acknowledged that "there are occasional flashes of a kind of poetry which is difficult to define but is of unquestioned power." B. Ifor Evans, writing in the "Manchester Guardian", similarly argued that, due to its difficulties, the book "does not admit of review", and argued that, perhaps "in twenty years' time, with sufficient study and with the aid of the commentary that will doubtless arise, one might be ready for an attempt to appraise it." Taking a swipe at many of the negative reviews circulating at the time, Evans writes: "The easiest way to deal with the book would be [...] to write off Mr. Joyce's latest volume as the work of a charlatan. But the author of "Dubliners", "A Portrait of the Artist" and "Ulysses" is not a charlatan, but an artist of very considerable proportions. I prefer to suspend judgement..."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In the time since Joyce's death, the book's admirers have struggled against public perception of the work to make exactly this argument for "Finnegans Wake". One of the book's early champions was Thornton Wilder, who wrote to Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas in August 1939, a few months after the book's publication: "One of my absorptions [...] has been James Joyce's new novel, digging out its buried keys and resolving that unbroken chain of erudite puzzles and finally coming on lots of wit, and lots of beautiful things has been my midnight recuperation. A lot of thanks to him". The publication in 1944 of the first in-depth study and analysis of Joyce's final text—"A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake" by mythologist Joseph Campbell and Henry Morton Robinson—tried to prove to a skeptical public that if the hidden key or "Monomyth" could be found, then the book could be read as a novel with characters, plot, and an internal coherence. As a result, from the 1940s to the 1960s critical emphasis moved away from positioning the "Wake" as a "revolution of the word" and towards readings that stressed its "internal logical coherence", as "the avant-gardism of "Finnegans Wake" was put on hold [and] deferred while the text was rerouted through the formalistic requirements of an American criticism inspired by New Critical dicta that demanded a poetic intelligibility, a formal logic, of texts." Slowly the book's critical capital began to rise to the point that, in 1957, Northrop Frye described "Finnegans Wake" as the "chief ironic epic of our time" and Anthony Burgess lauded the book as "a great comic vision, one of the few books of the world that can make us laugh aloud on nearly every page." Concerning the importance of such laughter, Darragh Greene has argued that the "Wake" through its series of puns, neologisms, compounds, and riddles shows the play of Wittgensteinian language-games, and by laughing at them, the reader learns how language makes the world and is freed from its snares and bewitchment.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In 1962, Clive Hart wrote the first major book-length study of the work since Campbell's "Skeleton Key", "Structure and Motif in "Finnegans Wake"" which approached the work from the increasingly influential field of structuralism. However through the 1960s it was to be French post-structuralist theory that was to exert the most influence over readings of "Finnegans Wake", refocussing critical attention back to the work's radical linguistic experiments and their philosophical consequences. Jacques Derrida developed his ideas of literary "deconstruction" largely inspired by "Finnegans Wake" (as detailed in the essay "Two Words for Joyce"), and as a result literary theory—in particular post-structuralism—has embraced Joyce's innovation and ambition in "Finnegans Wake". Derrida tells an anecdote about the two books' importance for his own thought; in a bookstore in Tokyo,an American tourist of the most typical variety leaned over my shoulder and sighed: "So many books! What is the definitive one? Is there any?" It was an extremely small book shop, a news agency. I almost replied, "Yes, there are two of them, "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The text's influence on other writers has grown since its initial shunning, and contemporary American author Tom Robbins is among the writers working today to have expressed his admiration for Joyce's complex last work: the language in it is incredible. There's so many layers of puns and references to mythology and history. But it's the most realistic novel ever written. Which is exactly why it's so unreadable. He wrote that book the way that the human mind works. An intelligent, inquiring mind. And that's just the way consciousness is. It's not linear. It's just one thing piled on another. And all kinds of cross references. And he just takes that to an extreme. There's never been a book like it and I don't think there ever will be another book like it. And it's absolutely a monumental human achievement. But it's very hard to read.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: More recently, "Finnegans Wake" has become an increasingly accepted part of the critical literary canon, although detractors still remain. As an example, John Bishop described the book's legacy as that of "the single most intentionally crafted literary artifact that our culture has produced [...] and, certainly, one of the great monuments of twentieth-century experimental letters." The section of the book to have received the most praise throughout its critical history has been "Anna Livia Plurabelle" (I.8), which Parrinder describes as being "widely recognized as one of the most beautiful prose-poems in English."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Throughout the seventeen years that Joyce wrote the book, "Finnegans Wake" was published in short excerpts in a number of literary magazines, most prominently in the Parisian literary journals "Transatlantic Review" and Eugene Jolas's "transition". It has been argued that ""Finnegans Wake", much more so than "Ulysses", was very much directly shaped by the tangled history of its serial publication." In late October 1923 in Ezra Pound's Paris flat, Ford Madox Ford convinced Joyce to contribute some of his new sketches to the "Transatlantic Review", a new journal that Ford was editing.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The eight-page "Mamalujo" sketch became the first fragment from the book to be published in its own right, in "Transatlantic Review" 1.4 in April 1924. The sketch appeared under the title "From Work in Progress", a term applied to works by Ernest Hemingway and Tristan Tzara published in the same issue, and the one by which Joyce would refer to his final work until its publication as "Finnegans Wake" in 1939. The sketch appeared in the final published text, in radically altered form, as chapter 2.4.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In 1925 four sketches from the developing work were published. "Here Comes Everybody" was published as "From Work in Progress" in the "Contact Collection of Contemporary Writers", edited by Robert McAlmon. "The Letter" was published as "Fragment of an Unpublished Work" in "Criterion" 3.12 (July 1925), and as "A New Unnamed Work" in "Two Worlds" 1.1. (September 1925). The first published draft of "Anna Livia Plurabelle" appeared in "Le Navire d'Argent" 1 in October, and the first published draft of "Shem the Penman" appeared in the Autumn–Winter edition of "This Quarter".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In 1925-6 "Two Worlds" began to publish redrafted versions of previously published fragments, starting with "Here Comes Everybody" in December 1925, and then "Anna Livia Plurabelle" (March 1926), "Shem the Penman" (June 1926), and "Mamalujo" (September 1925), all under the title "A New Unnamed Work".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Eugene Jolas befriended Joyce in 1927, and as a result serially published revised fragments from Part I in his "transition" literary journal. This began with the debut of the book's opening chapter, under the title "Opening Pages of a Work in Progress", in April 1927. By November chapters I.2 through I.8 had all been published in the journal, in their correct sequence, under the title "Continuation of a Work in Progress". From 1928 Part's II and III slowly began to emerge in "transition", with a brief excerpt of II.2 ("The Triangle") published in February 1928, and Part III's four chapters between March 1928 and November 1929.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: At this point, Joyce started publishing individual chapters from "Work in Progress". In 1929, Harry and Caresse Crosby, owners of the Black Sun Press, contacted James Joyce through bookstore owner Sylvia Beach and arranged to print three short fables about the novel's three children Shem, Shaun and Issy that had already appeared in translation. These were "The Mookse and the Gripes", "The Triangle", and "The Ondt and the Gracehoper". The Black Sun Press named the new book "Tales Told of Shem and Shaun" for which they paid Joyce US$2,000 for 600 copies, unusually good pay for Joyce at that time. Their printer Roger Lescaret erred when setting the type, leaving the final page with only two lines. Rather than reset the entire book, he suggested to the Crosby's that they ask Joyce to write an additional eight lines to fill in the remainder of the page. Caresse refused, insisting that a literary master would never alter his work to fix a printer's error. Lescaret appealed directly to Joyce, who promptly wrote the eight lines requested. The first 100 copies of Joyce's book were printed on Japanese vellum and signed by the author. It was hand-set in Caslon type and included an abstract portrait of Joyce by Constantin Brâncuși, a pioneer of modernist abstract sculpture. Brâncuși's drawings of Joyce became among the most popular images of him.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Faber and Faber published book editions of "Anna Livia Plurabelle" (1930), and "Haveth Childers Everywhere" (1931), HCE's long defence of his life which would eventually close chapter III.3. A year later they published "Two Tales of Shem and Shaun", which dropped "The Triangle" from the previous Black Sun Press edition. Part II was published serially in "transition" between February 1933 and May 1938, and a final individual book publication, "Storiella as She Is Syung", was published by Corvinus Press in 1937, made up of sections from what would become chapter II.2.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: By 1938 virtually all of "Finnegans Wake" was in print in the "transition" serialisation and in the booklets, with the exception of Part IV. Joyce continued to revise all previously published sections until "Finnegans Wake"'s final published form, resulting in the text existing in a number of different forms, to the point that critics can speak of "Finnegans Wake" being a different entity to "Work in Progress". The book was finally published simultaneously by Faber and Faber in London and by Viking Press in New York on 4 May 1939, after seventeen years of composition.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In March 2010, a new "critically emended edition" was published in a limited edition of 1,000 copies by Houyhnhnm Press in conjunction with Penguin. This edition was published in a trade edition in 2012. Edited by Danis Rose and John O'Hanlon, is the "summation of thirty years' intense engagement by textual scholars Danis Rose and John O’Hanlon verifying, codifying, collating and clarifying the 20,000 pages of notes, drafts, typescripts and proofs." In the publisher's words the new edition "incorporates some 9,000 minor yet crucial corrections and amendments, covering punctuation marks, font choice, spacing, misspellings, misplaced phrases and ruptured syntax." According to the publisher, "Although individually minor, these changes are nonetheless crucial in that they facilitate a smooth reading of the book’s allusive density and essential fabric."


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Despite its linguistic complexity, "Finnegans Wake" has been translated into French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish (by ), Dutch, Portuguese, Turkish, and Swedish (by ). Well-advanced translations in progress include Chinese, Italian, and Russian.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: A musical play, "The Coach with the Six Insides" by Jean Erdman, based on the character Anna Livia Plurabelle, was performed in New York in 1962. Parts of the book were adapted for the stage by Mary Manning as "Passages from Finnegans Wake", which was in turn used as the basis for a film of the novel by Mary Ellen Bute. Danish visual artists Michael Kvium and Christian Lemmerz created a multimedia project called "the Wake", an 8 hour long silent movie based on the book. A version adapted by Barbara Vann with music by Chris McGlumphy was produced by The Medicine Show Theater in April 2005 and received a favorable review in the 11 April 2005 edition of "The New York Times".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: André Hodeir composed a jazz cantata on Anna Plurabelle (1966). John Cage's "Roaratorio: an Irish circus on Finnegans Wake" combines a collage of sounds mentioned in "Finnegans Wake", with Irish jigs and Cage reading his "Writing for the Second Time through Finnegans Wake", one of a series of five writings based on the "Wake". The work also sets textual passages from the book as songs, including "The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs" and "Nowth upon Nacht". Phil Minton set passages of the "Wake" to music, on his 1998 album "Mouthfull of Ecstasy". Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" uses many devices from "Finnegans Wake", such as a family that represents the totality of humanity, cyclical storytelling, and copious Biblical allusions. In recent years Olwen Fouéré's play "riverrun", based on the theme of rivers in "Finnegans Wake" has received critical accolades around the world. Adam Harvey has also adapted "Finnegans Wake" for the stage. Martin Pearlman's three-act "Finnegan's Grand Operoar" is for speakers with an instrumental ensemble. In 2015 "Waywords and Meansigns: Recreating Finnegans Wake [in its whole wholume]" set "Finnegans Wake" to music unabridged, featuring an international group of musicians and Joyce enthusiasts.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In the years 2014–2016, particularly many adaptations of "Finnegans Wake" saw completion in Poland, including publication of the text as a musical score, a short film "Finnegans Wake//Finneganów tren", a multimedia adaptation "First We Feel Then We Fall" and K. Bartnicki's intersemiotic translations into sound and verbovisual.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In October 2020, Austrian illustrator Nicolas Mahler presented a small-format (ISO A6) 24-page comic adaptation of "Finnegans Wake" with reference to comic figures Mutt and Jeff.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: "Finnegans Wake" is a difficult text, and Joyce did not aim it at the general reader. Nevertheless, certain aspects of the work have made an impact on popular culture beyond the awareness of it being difficult.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Similarly, the comparative mythology term "monomyth", as described by Joseph Campbell in his book "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", was taken from a passage in "Finnegans Wake". The work of Marshall McLuhan was inspired by James Joyce; his collage book "War and Peace in the Global Village" has numerous references to "Finnegans Wake". The novel was also the source of the title of Clay Shirky's book "Here Comes Everybody".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: Esther Greenwood, Sylvia Plath's protagonist in "The Bell Jar", is writing her college thesis on the "twin images" in "Finnegans Wake", although she never manages to finish either the book or her thesis. According to James Gourley, Joyce's book features in Plath's "as an alienating canonical authority".


title: Finnegans Wake

text: In music, the American composer Samuel Barber composed a piece for orchestra in 1971 entitled "Fadograph of a Yestern Scene", a quote from the first part of the novel. The Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu used several quotes from the novel in his music: its first word for his composition for piano and orchestra, "riverrun" (1984). His 1980 piano concerto is called "Far calls. Coming, far!" taken from the last page of "Finnegans Wake". Similarly, he entitled his 1981 string quartet "A Way a Lone", taken from the last sentence of the work.


title: Finnegans Wake

text: The German New Age musical group Tangerine Dream composed in 2011 an album called "Finnegans Wake", with each track named after a quote from the book.


title: Enema of the State

text: Enema of the State is the third studio album by American rock band Blink-182, released on June 1, 1999, by MCA Records. After a long series of performances at various clubs and festivals and several indie recordings throughout the 1990s, Blink-182 first achieved popularity on the Warped Tour and in Australia following the release of their second album "Dude Ranch" (1997) and its rock radio hit "Dammit." To record their third album, Blink-182 turned to veteran punk rock producer Jerry Finn, who previously worked on Green Day's breakthrough album "Dookie" (1994). "Enema" was the band's first album to feature second drummer Travis Barker, who replaced original drummer Scott Raynor.


title: Enema of the State

text: The group recorded with Finn over a period of three months at numerous locations, including their hometown of San Diego and in Los Angeles. Finn was key in producing the fast-paced, melodic mixes, creating pop-punk with a more radio-friendly, accessible polish. Lyrically, the album is inspired by adolescent frustration and relationships. Guitarist Tom DeLonge and bassist Mark Hoppus primarily culled stories from friends and autobiographical situations to craft summer-related tracks revolving around breakups, suburban parties and maturity, as well as more offbeat subject matter such as UFO conspiracy theories. The cover artwork for "Enema of the State" features porn star Janine Lindemulder famously clad in a nurse uniform, and the title is a pun on the term enemy of the state.


title: Enema of the State

text: "Enema of the State" was an enormous commercial success, although the band was criticized as synthesized, manufactured pop only remotely resembling punk, and pigeonholed as a joke act due to the puerile slant of its singles and associating music videos. The album sold over 15 million copies worldwide, catapulting the band to become one of the biggest rock bands of the turn of the millennium. "What's My Age Again?", "All the Small Things", and "Adam's Song" became hit singles and MTV staples, generating heavy radio airplay. "Enema of the State" had an extensive impact on contemporary pop punk, reinventing it for a new generation and spawning countless tributes and accolades. With a runtime of 35 minutes and 17 seconds, "Enema of the State" is Blink-182’s shortest album to date.


title: Enema of the State

text: By 1997, Blink-182, consisting of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Scott Raynor, began to receive mainstream exposure as their sophomore record, "Dude Ranch", shipped gold and the lead single "Dammit" began to be added to rock radio playlists across the country. The band entered an extended period of touring beginning that summer, which included each date of the worldwide 1997 Vans Warped Tour, a lifestyle tour promoting skateboarding and punk rock music. The trio would only return to their home of San Diego, California for days at a time before striking out the next tour. "When we did our longest tour stretch, it was right when I started dating my fiancee," recalled guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge in 2001. "We were all new and in love, and I had to leave. It was just, 'Hey, I'll see you in nine months.' It was really hard." Hoppus felt increasingly lonely; while the other members had longtime girlfriends to return home to, Hoppus was single. In addition to the hefty touring schedule, the trio grew tired of other commitments, including interviews and TV appearances due to the success of "Dammit."


title: Enema of the State

text: Desperate for a break, the overworked band began to argue and tensions formed. Raynor, who was at the center of this drama, had been commenting of his desire to attend college for years, and had been taking homework out with him on tour to try and complete his high school diploma. The tension came to a head in February 1998 as the band embarked on SnoCore, described as "a winter version of the Warped Tour." Sharing the stage with Primus, the band was enjoying more success than ever before, but the drama between the musicians had grown substantially. The band reached a low point when the band engaged in a fight on a Nebraska date after SnoCore's conclusion. Raynor would depart following SnoCore, and the ensemble recruited Travis Barker, drummer for the opening ska punk group The Aquabats, to fill in for Raynor. Barker, who had not had time to prepare or practice with the duo, learned the drum tracks for the 20-song setlist in only 45 minutes before the first show and performed them flawlessly thereafter. "I remember Travis rehearsing backstage for an hour or two, then playing with them during sound-check," said Adam Deibert of the Aquabats. "A few of us were standing behind the stage and vividly remember the feeling of "this is the new Blink". We should have looked for a new drummer right then because it was obvious what band he belonged in." Shortly thereafter, the band embarked on a short minitour along the western coast, most notably Southern California, the band's favorite place to play. The tour ended with the band headlining a sold-out show at the Palladium in Hollywood, California, where the band had dreamed of performing for years. Raynor returned for the band's Palladium performance, but the band became increasingly uneasy and arguments grew worse. To offset personal issues and a "tragic loss," Raynor began to drink heavily and it began to affect the band's performances.


title: Enema of the State

text: Following a largely successful Australian tour in the spring, Hoppus and DeLonge presented an ultimatum: quit drinking or go to an in-patient rehab. Raynor agreed to both and informed the band of his decision after taking the weekend to mull options. According to Raynor, he was fired through a phone call despite his agreement to rehab. Despite this, he felt no malice toward his former bandmates and later conceded they were "right" to fire him. The band would minimize the impact of the situation in future interviews and remained vague regarding his departure. Initial news reports explained that Raynor had "reportedly returned to school." DeLonge would later explain the drinking problem that led to his expulsion: "One show he dropped his sticks 10 times. It was so disturbing to see someone ruining himself." The addition of Barker inspired DeLonge and Hoppus to "play better" and keep up with their new member, whom DeLonge called "perfect."


title: Enema of the State

text: MCA gave the band its first professional recording budget, and Blink-182 began work on "Enema of the State" in October 1998. The trio had not been in a studio in two years and were anxious to record new material. Blink-182 returned to DML Studios to write new songs, where the band had previously spent time writing songs for their second record, "Dude Ranch". The three spent much more time in the studio than on previous records, allowing them to try many different things. Barker would drive down each day from Riverside to take part in the writing process. Very satisfied with the results, the band completed writing in two weeks. Though Barker helped write the songs on "Enema of the State", only Hoppus and DeLonge received songwriting credits, as Barker was technically a hired musician, not official band member. Don Lithgow, owner and operator of DML Studios, recalled that the trio's celebrity had increased considerably during the recording process: "[It] was different than their other sessions — girls hanging around outside, calling their friends on cell phones. All the kids wanted autographs. ... They'd unlock the doors and let kids into the studio, which most bands would never do." Due to the success of "Dude Ranch", the label and band management had high expectations.


title: Enema of the State

text: When the band completed writing and recording demos for the songs, the three headed to Los Angeles to record drum tracks at Chick Corea's Mad Hatter Studios in January 1999. Barker recorded the majority of his drum tracks in eight hours. The recording process for the album was completed over a period of four months, and production was handled at several production facilities in southern California, including Signature Sound and Studio West in San Diego, Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, and Conway Recording Studios and The Bomb Factory in Los Angeles. For Barker, the album was "fueled by black coffee and Marlboro Lights"; he was hopeful for the album as the band were well-rehearsed and no time would be wasted. To record "Enema of the State", Blink-182 turned to punk rock producer Jerry Finn, who previously worked on Green Day's breakthrough album, "Dookie" (1994). Hoppus and DeLonge were impressed with his work when they recorded "Mutt" for its placement on the "American Pie" soundtrack. Finn was harder on the trio to record better takes, and Hoppus credited Finn with knowing a great deal about punk rock music, but also helping the band establish a more pop-inspired sound. Finn came with an array of amps, effects and equipments; previously the band were forced to rent such equipment. Barker kept attempting to irritate Finn by sneaking in vibraslaps, which Finn hated. In addition, the band had so much fun with Finn that there were days when very little work was accomplished: "Recording can get pretty monotonous, but at least we could laugh with Jerry," recalled Hoppus. "A pretty typical day would involve multiple takes for one part of one song, and then everyone would get naked and jump on Jerry." The band chose "never to work with anyone else again," and Finn would produce their next three releases.


title: Enema of the State

text: Recording completed in March 1999 and all parties involved were enormously proud of the record. "When it was done, we were so stoked. It was like a masterpiece for our band," remembered DeLonge. "We knew this was going to be the best thing we ever did." Hoppus felt the band achieved the purest, cleanest sound on the record that they had been striving for. Finn felt similarly, proud of his work on the record and believing in retrospect that the album would appeal to the masses. As the album was recorded on analog tape, the trio put enormous trust into Finn to give the record the polished pop sound they wanted, recalled DeLonge in 2012. "The Party Song" was the final song to be completed, and the three were mixing the song coincidentally when lead single "What's My Age Again?" premiered on Los Angeles-based radio station KROQ. In 2013, Hoppus referred to "Enema of the State" as "the heart of Blink-182's musical sensibilities," singling out "its simplicity, its purity, its singularity of purpose between the three of us." According to Barker, the album's title stemmed from DeLonge, who was worried about his diet at the time and using enemas. It could also be a reference to the 1998 film "Enemy of The State", which came out a year before the album.


title: Enema of the State

text: At the end of recording, Finn suggested they utilize keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., best known for his work with Beck. Hoppus was initially reluctant, noting that most of the band's fans up to that point were hardcore punk rock fans that might not be receptive to keyboard parts. In the end, the group were open to his inclusion: "They welcomed all my ideas and they were super supportive and that’s why it was so much fun working with them," Manning later remembered. For Tom Lord-Alge, the main mixing engineer on the album, the band had one goal: "Make it sound as aggressive as possible." Lord-Alge's mixes were completed at his space, South Beach Studios, located in Miami, Florida. Lastly, the album was mastered by Brian Gardner at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood.


title: Enema of the State

text: "Enema of the State" is considered by critics as pop-punk and skate punk. The songs on "Enema of the State" are fast-paced songs regarding "adolescent aimlessness, broken hearts and general confusion over the care and feeding of girls." Summarizing the album's content, "The New York Times" called "Enema of the State" a sampling of "ecstatic, goofy numbers about teenage uselessness, with a smattering of tender introspection." The songs are mainly autobiographical, or are inspired by stories from friends' experiences. "Enema of the State" largely revolves around age and maturity—"more specifically, their lack of it, their attitude toward their lack of it, or their eventual wide-eyed exploration of it." The band decided to emphasize arrangements, harmonies and melodic ideas rather than the fast-paced nature of "Dude Ranch"; the change was brought about by the band, rather than the label. Barker hoped to give the songs varying tempos, something missing in the group's prior recordings. "I told Mark and Tom, 'It's going to be repetitive if all our songs have the same punk-rock beat all the time. Why don't we try some different tempos?'" DeLonge noted he was open to his proposals, and responded, "Dude, I just play guitar and write melodies. You own the beats. If you have an idea, that's what you're supposed to do." DeLonge later reflected on his desire for a more "pop" sound:


title: Enema of the State

text: "Dumpweed" kicks off the record, and explores sexual frustration. The song is based around the hook "I need a girl that I can train," as in dog training. DeLonge, the song's primary lyricist, explains the song in a 2000 tour booklet: "Girls are so much smarter than guys and can see the future as well as never forget the past. So that leaves the dog as the only thing men are smarter than." The song is a "callow complaint about girls not always doing exactly what you wish they would," and is followed by Hoppus' "Don't Leave Me," a song about a breakup, in irony. Hoppus wrote the song in ten minutes. The guitar swell preceding the second chorus is actually a digital reversal of the delaying guitar preceding it. "Aliens Exist" originates from DeLonge's interest in UFOs and conspiracy theories. "Going Away to College" was written in ten minutes by Hoppus while at home sick on Valentine's Day 1999. While watching the movie "Can't Hardly Wait", Hoppus began to think about "how much it sucks when people are in love in high school" and are forced to be separated after graduation by different colleges in different cities. Since it was recorded late in production, the band had to go back to Los Angeles to record Barker's drum track.


title: Enema of the State

text: The track segues directly into "What's My Age Again?," also penned by Hoppus, who created it partially as a joke to amuse friends. It was originally titled "Peter Pan Complex," referencing the subject matter: one who refuses to grow up. "Dysentery Gary" leads off the second half of the album, and was written by DeLonge about a crush that instead chooses someone else. Left with "nothing better to do," the devastated friend chooses to mock her boyfriend. It was one of the first songs the band wrote with Barker, who incorporated a "Latin groove" into his drumming. "Adam's Song," the piano-laced seventh track of the record, was written primarily based on the loneliness that Hoppus experienced during the unending days of touring the previous year. When Hoppus brought the song to the band, the trio reacted positively but showed reluctance to add it to the record, believing the dark subject matter might off-put listeners. Although usually vocals would take many alternate takes to complete, Hoppus completed the vocal track for "Adam's Song" in a single take. The power pop-inspired "All the Small Things" was composed by DeLonge as both an ode to his girlfriend and one of his favorite bands, the Ramones. During the recording process of "Enema of the State", DeLonge came home to find roses at the top of the stairs from his girlfriend, which inspired the line: "She left me roses by the stairs; surprises let me know she cares."


title: Enema of the State

text: "The Party Song" was inspired by when Hoppus attended a "jock-infested" party at San Diego State University and met some students who thought highly of themselves. Disinterested in the party, he felt he would much rather be at home, which found its way into the song's lyrics. "Mutt" was written by DeLonge for his friend Benji Weatherly and his appearance in the Taylor Steele surf video "The Show". An early version of "Mutt," with Scott Raynor behind the drum kit, was recorded with producer Mark Trombino and appears on the film's 1998 soundtrack. The title of "Wendy Clear" comes from Hoppus' boat, named "Wendy," and how boaters end transmissions by letting other boaters know the channel is open for use, or "clear." Hoppus wrote the song while on tour with MxPx about having a crush on "someone that you are not supposed to like." Lastly, "Anthem," the final song on "Enema of the State", is about being trapped in the suburbs, longing for freedom and the age of 21. It is based on when DeLonge was in high school and told his peers that his band would be playing at a friend's house. The party was later busted by the police and a "giant fight broke out." Hoppus felt it a perfect summary of the album's themes: "lots of youthful angst, energy, and suburban unrest."


title: Enema of the State

text: The cover artwork features porn star Janine Lindemulder dressed in a nurse uniform, pulling on a rubber glove. The band—semi-nude—appear on the back cover with Lindemulder preparing for some sort of injection. The trio was oblivious to the fact that Lindemulder worked in the porn industry until informed by producer Jerry Finn. The record company had delivered a stack of photos of potential cover girls, and the band members happened to pick Lindemulder. "So it's kind of funny that they've been lumped in with Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit, who play up that kind of pimp lifestyle, because Blink is so not that," remarked Finn. According to Mark Hoppus, they always intended to have a sexy nurse on the cover, and the women considered included models from both "Playboy" and Janine's employer Vivid Entertainment. David Goldman was the photographer behind the shoot, held March 12, 1999, and did not know the trio before shooting. In 2012, he stated the glove was inspired by the album's working title. "Up until the very last minute, the album was going to be called "Turn Your Head and Cough"," he said. "And that's why I came up with the idea of the glove. Obviously an enema is not really a glove type of thing. I thought it was a good visual." Lindemulder is also featured in the music videos for "What's My Age Again?" and "Man Overboard."


title: Enema of the State

text: There are three different versions of the cover art. The first release has a red cross on the nurse's hat and a capital B in the Blink-182 logo. The band preferred the lower-case b in the band name, and the second version features the red cross and a lower-case b. In a Reddit comment on June 2, 2013, Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus claimed that the American Red Cross pressured the band to remove the red cross from their artwork, stating that if they did not, they would be in violation of the Geneva Conventions. The band complied and, thus, the third iteration of the album cover features a plain white nurse's hat. This third version is the only version to bear a Parental Advisory label for profane lyrics in "Dumpweed" and "Dysentery Gary." Hoppus said the controversy some had with the cover was exaggerated as "it is just a picture of a girl." Art direction for the album was headed by Tim Stedman, with Stedman and graphic designer Keith Tamashiro designing the package. The album cover has since been called iconic by many publications. In 2015, "Billboard" ranked the cover among the top 15 "greatest of all-time," calling it "an image that was burned into the mind of every "TRL" viewer, one that became instantly iconic."


title: Enema of the State

text: To promote "Enema of the State", MCA Records released three singles in support: "What's My Age Again?," "All the Small Things," and "Adam's Song." The singles were bigger than anyone in the band expected, crossing over into Top 40 radio format and experiencing major commercial success. "What's My Age Again?" became an "airplay phenomenon," achieving mass success on both radio and television. Its television success made it into an MTV staple. It achieved the highest success on "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart, where it peaked at number two. It registered within the top 20 on UK Singles Chart as well, peaking at number 17. The music video for "What's My Age Again?," directed by Marcos Siega, famously depicted the band running naked through the streets of Los Angeles. A clip of the band streaking opened the 1999 "Billboard" Awards and the band's affinity for nudity would be referenced in interviews for years to come.


title: Enema of the State

text: "All the Small Things," released in early 2000, became an even bigger success — it crossed over from alt-rock radio to contemporary hit radio, peaking at number six on "Billboard" Hot 100 and number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. This track stayed at the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart for eight weeks and remained in the top 10 for 20 weeks. It also peaked at number two on the official UK charts, and within the top ten in Italy, Ireland, Austria, Sweden and Australia. The music video for "All the Small Things" parodies boy bands and contemporary pop videos, and features the trio participating in choreographed dancing and dressing up as members of Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, and 'N Sync. "I was a little surprised it went over so well," recalled Marcos Siega, director of the clip, commenting that he felt it would offend viewers of "Total Request Live" ("TRL") and boy band fans. "I think we had the opposite effect. In some ways, I think that video put Blink at that sort of pop level with those other bands. We were making fun of them, but it kind of became [what it was making fun of]." At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, it was nominated for Video of the Year and Best Pop Video, and won Best Group Video.


title: Enema of the State

text: The third and final single, "Adam's Song," performed less substantially than the first two but still managed to peak at number two on "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart. The band was engulfed in controversy when Greg Barnes, a survivor of the Columbine High School massacre, set "Adam's Song" on repeat on his stereo and committed suicide in May 2000. Hoppus was very upset when he got the call from band manager Rick DeVoe explaining what happened, as he intended the track as an anti-suicide song. "Rolling Stone" later compared the controversy to that of Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution." Despite that controversy, it managed to connect deeply with fans of the band, who wrote letters to the band remarking the track saved their lives during difficult situations. The constant airplay of the three videos on MTV and "TRL" cemented the band's image as video stars, amid a climate of teen pop and boy bands.


title: Enema of the State

text: By May 1999, the group was nearing platinum status for "Dude Ranch" and sales targets were higher for "Enema of the State". The "Los Angeles Times" ran a Sunday feature on the band two days prior to release, noting that "The musicians are sanguine about chances to repeat or exceed the sales of "Dude Ranch", noting the always-shifting sands of pop culture and that they've already done better than they'd ever anticipated." Momentum began to build when US radio stations received advance copies of "Enema of the State". MCA issued "Enema of the State" on June 1, and the release peaked at number nine on the U.S. "Billboard" 200. The album chart was gripped by the Backstreet Boys' "Millennium", but "Enema of the State" still managed to move 109,000 units that week. The band was supporting Lagwagon in Europe when MCA executives phoned the trio about rising record sales. Joey Cape, frontman of Lagwagon, remarked that "They were selling, like, 90,000 records a day [...] I was saying things like, 'What are you doing here? Go home! Why do you want to be on tour with Lagwagon right now?" At a show shortly following the release of the album, DeLonge was approached by Noodles from The Offspring to congratulate him. "He looks at me right in the eyes and he goes, 'You're next,'" remembered DeLonge, who blushed and shook off the compliment.


title: Enema of the State

text: The major-label debut sold strongly and nearly four times as fast as "Dude Ranch", and shipped gold to stores, unlike its predecessor, which took seven months to achieve that certification. "Enema of the State" went platinum in October 1999 and went triple platinum in January 2000; in February 2001, the album was certified five times platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America. The record performed well in international markets as well. "Enema of the State" went quadruple platinum in Canada and triple platinum in Australia. It peaked at number seven on the Canadian Albums Chart, but peaked the highest worldwide on the New Zealand Albums Chart (number two), where it was certified double platinum. It was also certified double platinum in Italy, platinum in the United Kingdom, and gold in six other territories (Austria, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Switzerland). In Europe, the album sold over one million copies. To further promote "Enema of the State", the trio made a cameo appearance in "American Pie", a teen comedy released several weeks following the album release. Hoppus, DeLonge and Barker appear in a scene in which they are interrupted rehearsing to see a webcast on a computer. Music from "Enema of the State" was also used in the film and on its soundtrack. The cameo appearance was well-received, with "New York" Nitsuh Abebe commending the common sensibility and humor between the two: "green grass, sun, swimming pools, teen boys obsessed with and mildly terrified by sex, jokes about having sex with things that are not other humans, and a healthy side of toilet-oriented gags."


title: Enema of the State

text: As of 2014, "Enema of the State" remains the highest seller in the band's catalogue, moving 4.54 million units to date in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. Combined sales from international markets estimate the album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.


title: Enema of the State

text: In an early review, "Billboard" called the record "short, to the point, and bristling with attitude," and predicted it would poise the band for commercial breakthrough. In a less enthusiastic review, "Rolling Stone" Neva Chonin wrote, "It's all harmless but still gnarly enough to foment the kind of anti-everything rebellion that spawned rock & roll way back in the day." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described it as a "fun record that's better than the average neo-punk release." "Kerrang!" wrote that the album includes "enough energy, attitude and cracking songs here to ensure that blink will be remembered for more than just onstage nudity." The catchy, pop sensibility of the album was praised by Stephen Thompson of "The A.V. Club", describing the band as finding success within a "well-worn genre" (punk rock). "The New York Times" also designated the record its 'Album of the Week'. The record did have its detractors: British music publication "New Musical Express" (NME) gave the record a very poor review, calling the record despicable, "wholly toothless and soulless" and deriding the band as "as bad, as meaningless, as the cock-rockers and hippy wankers punk originally sought to destroy."


title: Enema of the State

text: Jon Blisten of Beats Per Minute wrote a retrospective review of the album in 2011, regarding "Enema of the State" a seminal album of Generation Y and "one of those rare records that allows you to relive [adolescence], a record where every song conjures up a specific memory or emotion that you could have only felt when you were a teenager." "Billboard" described the album as a "classic" in a retrospective review, calling it the "catchiest batch of songs the band had ever written," and commending the leap in quality both in production and vocals in comparison to its predecessor.


title: Enema of the State

text: The success of the album, as well as its cleaner sound and the group's appearances on MTV, caused many longtime fans to accuse the band of "selling out." Many commentators stated that the band's polished pop sound only remotely resembled punk music. Although the video for "All the Small Things" was filmed as a mockery of boy bands and teen pop, "fame [didn't] discriminate based on origin: soon the group was as famous as those it was parodying." "Blink now had the backing of a major record company ... just like the synthesized pop acts they were spoofing," said British journalist Tim Footman. "In what way were they less 'pop' than Sugar Ray and 98 Degrees?" Matt Diehl, author of the book "My So-Called Punk", called the basis for satire thin: "To seasoned ears, Blink-182 sounded and looked just as manufactured as the pop idols they were poking fun at." The band faced a backlash shortly after "Enema of the State" was released from several punk and emo acts who wished to not be associated with their music.


title: Enema of the State

text: Tristin Laughter, employee of Bay Area record label Lookout! Records, wrote in an issue of the influential zine "Punk Planet" that the band would have a genuinely negative impact on punk and accused the band of misogyny. DeLonge responded to the accusations, commenting, "I love all those criticisms, because fuck all those magazines! I hate with a passion "Maximumrocknroll" and all those zines that think they know what punk is supposed to be. I think it's so much more punk to piss people off than to conform to all those veganistic views." While ska veterans Blue Meanies tried to empathize ("I think they [Blink] are just trying to get in the mindset of a teenager, which means a lot of curiosity about sex,") others, such as John Lydon, frontman of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd, dismissed the band as a "bunch of silly boys ... an imitation of a comedy act."


title: Enema of the State

text: The record proved very influential on the pop-punk genre. With the release of the record, Blink-182 became celebrities and the biggest pop punk act of the era. The glossy production instantly set Blink-182 apart from the other crossover punk acts, such as Green Day. In 2011, "The New York Times" credited the record with "[taking] punk's already playful core and [giving] it a shiny, accessible polish," calling it "among the catchiest music of the time." Matt Diehl, author of "My So-Called Punk", writes that mainstream acolytes of their sound led to profound effects on the "pop punk" genre, such as the deracination of regional scene identity—due to its wide popularity, pop punk bands became commonplace outside the genre's origins. Jon Blisten of Beats Per Minute writes that ""Enema" success perpetuated pop-punk's viability on mainstream radio, which is where Blink's progeny — bands like Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, and New Found Glory — would receive a decent amount of airplay." "Rolling Stone" Nicole Frehsée wrote that the album influenced emo fans, while MTV News credited the album, alongside the Get Up Kids' "Something to Write Home About" (1999) as pioneering emo pop, calling them "some of the scene's most influential records."


title: Enema of the State

text: "Enema of the State" has been called an accurate representation of middle-class teenage life, especially at the time of its release. "Entertainment Weekly" called it the "perfect encapsulation of the American adolescent male mind-set circa 1999." Nitsuh Abebe of "New York" describes the immense popularity of the record with adolescents in an article measuring its influence: "After you figure in singles, videos, CD-R burns, copies on repeat in friends' cars and finished basements, this was apparently enough to create blanket immersion among America's twenty-some million teenagers." "Alternative Press" has ranked "Enema of the State" among Jerry Finn's top production work, and UK-based music magazine "Rock Sound" rated it number 2 on their list of "101 Modern Classics" in 2012, writing, ""Enema" didn't just bring pop-punk to the masses, it marked a complete shift in how music television, radio and the world at large viewed it." In 2014, Ian Cohen of "Pitchfork" noted the album's extensive influence: "In a literal sense, many indie bands evolved not from Velvet Underground or Sonic Youth, but "Smash", "Dookie", or "Enema of the State"—records that served as beginner's manuals and inspired musicians in great numbers to buy their first guitar." Likewise, Scott Russo of the band Unwritten Law remarked that, following the album's release, he would receive CDs from fans that mimicked the glossy sound the album made famous. "It was revolutionary, it was equally as revolutionary as Green Day when it hit, they just didn't get the credit," Russo remarked in 2009.


title: Enema of the State

text: In 2014, "Alternative Press" ran a special in celebration of the album's fifteenth anniversary, which contains reflections from members of bands influenced by the album, including The Maine, The Story So Far, Mayday Parade, and Yellowcard, among others. "When I heard how massive and epic "Enema" was for the first time, my mind was blown. It definitely made me want to be a better songwriter and make bigger-sounding records," said Ryan Key of Yellowcard. In the article, the magazine credits the album with "single-handedly changed the face of mainstream rock." Property of Zack also gave the album a fifteenth anniversary feature, commenting, ""Enema of the State" has become the single most important album in our overarching community since its release in 1999. It is more important, to this current generation and the one preceding it, than "Dookie", or "Smash", or whatever you want to put on that pedestal — and it will likely never give up that spot at the top of the standings."


title: Enema of the State

text: With massive radio and video play, Blink-182 played to larger crowds when they began touring in support of "Enema of the State". The Loserkids Tour commenced in the autumn of 1999 and was the band's first arena tour. The band was forced to postpone remaining dates of a spring European tour in 2000 when both DeLonge and Barker came down with strep throat. The band played to sold-out audiences and performed worldwide during the summer of 2000 on The Mark, Tom and Travis Show Tour. The tour was staged as a drive-in movie, with a giant retro billboard suspended from the ceiling, and films were projected on the screen behind the band – including vintage gay porn as a joke. The tour was one of the most anticipated rock tours of the season and the band headed out on the road with Bad Religion and Fenix TX. Barker broke one of his fingers during an altercation with two men who kept flirting with his girlfriend in Ohio, and Damon Delapaz, guitarist of Fenix TX, stepped in on drums for Barker. Hoppus recalled an overwhelming emotional feeling when the band sold out the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles.


title: Enema of the State

text: The band also performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2000. To celebrate the success of the tour, the band released a limited edition live album titled "The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!)", which featured snippets of the band's between-song dialogue. Released in November 2000, the band returned to the studio with Finn to complete a song left off the final track listing of "Enema of the State": "Man Overboard." The final tour in support of "Enema of the State" was the 2001 Honda Civic Tour, for which the band designed a Honda Civic to promote the company.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Jade Amelia Thirlwall (born 26 December 1992) is an English singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence in the 2010s as a member of Little Mix, one of the world's best-selling girl groups. With Little Mix, she released six studio albums and achieved five number-one singles on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In addition to her solo work, Thirlwall signed a songwriter's publishing deal in 2019 with Sony/ATV Music, and shares songwriting credits for Little Mix, Twice, Billy Porter, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea, and Nayeon. Aside from music and songwriting she is an ambassador for Stonewall, and noted for her political reviews and social activism, advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, ban against transgender conversion therapy in the UK, Black Lives Matter and her involvement with charity work which earned her the "Gay Times" Honour for Allyship in 2021. In 2022, she signed a solo record deal with RCA Records.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Jade Amelia Thirlwall was born on 26 December 1992 and raised in the Laygate area of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, north-east of England, to parents Norma Badwi and James Thirlwall and has an older brother named Karl. She has Egyptian and Yemeni descent from her mother's side and English descent from her father's side. Thirlwall’s grandfather Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Badwi moved to South Shields from Yemen in 1943, and worked as a firefighter in the merchant navy, and as a laborer for the docks. It was in South Shields that he met his wife Amelia, whose father was from Egypt.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Thirlwall, between the age of 8 and 10, lived close by a mosque where she attended a Muslim school every Saturday to learn how to read and write in Arabic and attended church every Sunday. In her teenage years she attended performing arts college at South Tyneside, where she studied a range of courses. Thirlwall identifies as being mixed-race, and in a 2020 article for "Vogue Arabia", revealed that she is learning to embrace her Egyptian-Yemeni heritage more. In the interview, she stated that she is learning to connect more with her Arab side and its language in hopes of travelling more to the Middle East.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Thirlwall began her music career after auditioning for "The X Factor" in 2008, singing "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" by Whitney Houston, but was later eliminated at the bootcamp stage. She then returned in 2010, but missed out for a second time. Thirwall came back for a third attempt in 2011, auditioning with the song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles, and earned four "yes" votes and went through to bootcamp. After she failed the first bootcamp challenge Thirlwall was then placed in a three-piece group named "Orion" alongside Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson were in another group called "Faux Pas". Both groups were eliminated and called back by the judges and later formed into the four-piece group Rhythmix, and they progressed to judges' houses. They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos. On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the group named had changed to Little Mix. On 11 December 2011, Little Mix were announced as the winners, becoming the first group to do so on the British version of the show.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: With Little Mix Thirlwall has released seven albums; "DNA" (2012), "Salute" (2013), "Get Weird" (2015), "Glory Days" (2016), "LM5" (2018), "Confetti" (2020), and the Greatest Hits album "Between Us" (2021). In 2019, Thirlwall became an official songwriter after signing to Sony/ATV via joint venture TwentySeven. On 31 October 2019 she was a guest judge on the "Girl Group Battle Royale" episode in "RuPaul's Drag Race UK". In May 2020, it was announced that she would be hosting an MTV web series, titled "Served!".


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In December 2020, she won the Equality Award at the Ethnicity Awards 2020 with group member, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, in recognition for their work towards racial equality in the United Kingdom. On 29 January 2021, it was announced that Thirlwall would be appearing as a contestant on the fourth series of "The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off," which aired on March later that year. She was announced as the winner and was crowned as the "Star Baker" of her episode. In November 2021, she appeared on NikkieTutorials YouTube channel, to promote her Beauty Bay Palette. In January 2022, she is set to appear on "RuPaul’s Drag Race", special "UK vs The World" series.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In November 2019, Thirlwall opened her own cocktail bar, Red Door, in South Shields, the name of which was later changed to Arbeia in February 2020. Residents praised Thirlwall for improving the town's nightlife. In March 2020, her new nightclub, Industry, launched next door to Arbeia. In June 2020, she collaborated with Skinnydip London, a British clothing brand, with the money from the face masks being donated to help struggling families in South Shields. On 10 September 2021, she was announced as the new face of the Italian sportswear brand, Ellesse and launched her "Autumn/Winter" collection the same day, in partnership with Ellesse, with exclusive products being available on ASOS and JD Sports.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: On 4 October 2021, Thirlwall announced that she will be releasing her own 42-colour eyeshadow palette in collaboration with beauty products company, Beauty Bay, and it was launched on 11 October 2021. The palette is celestial-themed and was inspired by her passion for crystals, spirituality and astrology. The palette features 42 metallic and matte shades, with the names being referenced to her musical career, her hometown, and her love for crystals.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: On 10 March 2022, Thirlwall signed a solo deal with RCA Records. In August 2022, Thirlwall took a break from the music industry, and plans to release her solo music in 2023. In the same month a collaboration between her and Jax Jones was teased with a date release set to be announced. As of November 2022, Thirlwall estimated net worth is 17.5 million, appearing on the Sunday Times Rich List, for the first time.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Between 2016 to 2019, Thirlwall was in a relationship with Jed Elliott, a member of the English rock band The Struts. Since 2020, she has been dating British singer Jordan Stephens. The pair started dating in May 2020 and were first spotted together at a Black Trans Lives Matter rally in central London.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Thirlwall has multiple tattoos. On her spine, she has an Arabic tattoo that reads "Anyone can achieve their dreams if they’ve got the courage" as a tribute to her Egyptian and Yemeni ancestry, as well as a tattoo on her ribcage that means "queen" in Arabic. She also has tattoos located on her feet, and in 2019 revealed a henna-style design on her right foot. In 2021, she got a tattoo on her leg to commemorate the day Little Mix were formed in celebration of the group's 10 year anniversary.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Thirlwall has been open about her experiences with body image, racism, bullying, and eating disorder. As a teen, she experienced bullying and racism for her ethnicity and the loss of her grandfather contributed to her suffering with anorexia for five years. She later began her recovery and left the hospital weeks before she auditioned for "The X Factor" in 2011. In 2020, she was featured in a documentary titled "," where she spoke about the times that she wanted cosmetic surgery after discovering her images were heavily edited to make her look as "white as possible" during her earlier days in Little Mix.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In 2020, she called out the media after journalists had mistaken her for Little Mix group member Leigh-Anne Pinnock. The journalist had used an image of her in an article that was focused around Thirlwall. In the interview she revealed that journalists often confuse the pair during interviews and that photographers often shout Pinnock's name at her whenever she is attending events.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In July 2020, she signed an open letter to the UK Equalities minister Liz Truss calling for a ban on all forms of LGBT+ conversion therapy. In 2022, she wrote an open letter for the Gay Times, Sink The Pink book in which she spoke about her experiences of being bullied and how she learned to use the "insults as fuel."


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: Thirlwall is known for advocating on a number of issues, including Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ rights, Trans rights, and other social issues including her involvement with charity work. In May 2014, she donated a haul of clothes, with all of the proceedings going to the homeless. In 2017 she donated another collection of her clothes to help raise money for Cancer Connections. In the same year she helped raised money for Stonewall at her drag-themed 25th birthday party. In May 2018, she spoke at the Stonewall Youth Awards about what it meant to be an ally and encouraged more artists to do the same. In 2018 she became an LGBTQ+ rights ambassador for Stonewall and in August 2018 attended the Manchester Pride, with LGBT charity Stonewall, and 50 young LGBT people at the front of the parade.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In 2019, alongside Michelle Visage, raised £10,000 for the Mermaids UK. That same year, together with band member Leigh-Anne Pinnock, and other British celebrities, they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day. In December 2019, she spent her birthday raising money for cancer connected charities which has become a yearly tradition for her. In 2020, she attended a march with Stonewall during Manchester Pride and took to social media to call out someone who questioned the importance of pride month.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In June 2020, she attended the Black Lives Matter protest in the United Kingdom, that surfaced due to the death of an African-American man George Floyd. In the same year she attended the Black Trans Lives Matter march in London. In July 2020, she called out the brand L'Oréal, for not supporting the black trans community after their treatment towards model Munroe Bergdorf. In March 2021 she then partnered up with Unicef to learn more about the war in Yemen.


title: Jade Thirlwall

text: In November 2021, Thirlwall was awarded the "GAY TIMES", Honour for Allyship and was featured on the cover of "GAY TIMES" Magazine. In an interview with the latter, she spoke of her commitment to being an LGBTQ+ ally, saying: "I think the more that I learn about my allyship and what I can be doing and how I should be doing those things, the more passionate I’ve become in using my voice and using it in the right way". In 2022, she teamed up with a renowned designer to create a limited edition community shirt for a North East football club, for all donations to be donated to charity Cancer Connections. In the same year, Thirlwall attended the Not Safe To Be Me protest at Downing Street to ban transgender conversion therapy in the UK, following the government's reversal on the issue.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The Lamborghini Urus is a high performance luxury SUV manufactured by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini. It was unveiled on 4 December 2017 and was put on the market for the 2018 model year. The name comes from the urus, the ancestor of modern domestic cattle, also known as the aurochs. After four years, Lamborghini hit a major milestone, producing 20,000 of these SUVs, making the Urus the company's best-selling model in the shortest time.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The Lamborghini Urus concept was unveiled at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show on 23 April 2012. Later, the SUV was also shown at Pebble Beach in 2012. Powered by a 5.2 L V10 engine shared with the Gallardo, the engine generated a theoretical maximum power output of and was accompanied with an all-wheel-drive system. The Urus was reported to have the lowest carbon emissions as compared to its stablemates (i.e. the Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga and the Audi Q7). The Urus was conceived as a perfect daily driver unlike the other offerings from the brand. The sharp-lined exterior design of the SUV takes heavy influence from the company's V12 flagship, the Aventador. The production version of the SUV was introduced in 2017 with major changes done to the exterior and featuring a different powertrain than that of the concept.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The Lamborghini Urus does not use Lamborghini's hallmark of naturally aspirated V10 (as used in the concept) or V12 engines. Instead, the Urus is powered by a 4.0 L twin-turbocharged V8, a modified version of Audi's 4.0 L V8. This engine has application in other VW Group cars, including both the Porsche Cayenne and Panamera, as well as some of the Audi S and RS models, the A8, the Bentley Continental V8 and the Flying Spur V8. The engine has been heavily reworked for the Urus, and is uprated by and of torque more than the Cayenne Turbo, with changes such as new cylinder heads. The engine is assembled at a Volkswagen plant in Hungary and is shipped to Lamborghini's assembly plant. Urus accelerates from 0 to in 3.6 seconds and reaches a top speed of .


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The Lamborghini Urus is much lighter than most of its competitors (i.e. the BMW X6 M, Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan, but not the Porsche Cayenne) at less than as quoted by the manufacturer mainly because of the extensive usage of carbon fibre reinforced polymer, although it is based on the same platform as the Audi Q7, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne, and Volkswagen Touareg.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The engine is rated at a maximum power output of at 6,000 rpm and maximum torque of at 2,250–4,500 rpm. The Urus has a front-engine, all-wheel-drive layout, and a top speed of making it one of the world's fastest production SUVs. The Urus can accelerate from 0– in 3.6 seconds and 0– in 12.8 seconds.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: Lamborghini has developed the world's largest set of carbon ceramic disc brakes for the Urus, with discs in the front and discs in the rear using ten-piston callipers at the front and single-piston calipers at the rear. The all-wheel drive system of the Urus under normal driving sends 40 percent of the available torque to the front wheels and 60 percent to the rear wheels. It also uses torque vectoring to send as much as 70 percent to the front or 87 percent to the rear, when necessary. The SUV also features rear-wheel steering and an air suspension system that can provide a maximum of of ground clearance for off-road use. The SUV is available with an optional off-road package, which includes modified front and rear bumpers that are better suited to the task.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: An unadorned Urus comes standard with a turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 (, of torque), an eight-speed ZF 8HP automatic transmission, all-wheel drive, 21-inch wheels, carbon-ceramic brakes, a rear-axle torque-vectoring system, and four-wheel steering. On the inside, the Urus comes with a simulated suede headliner and leather seating surfaces. The front seats feature 12-way power adjustment, position memory and seat heating. And the driver gets to gaze upon a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel. The rear seats can be configured as either a three-person bench or two-person sport seats, and four-zone automatic climate control is standard.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The Urus, like all of Lamborghini's current offerings, features a selection of driving modes, which adapt the suspension to improve the car's performance in various driving conditions. The Lamborghini Urus features Strada (street), Sport, Corsa (track), Terra (dirt), Sabbia (sand), and Neve (snow) driving modes, with the latter three possibly only available on the off-road package offered. The Urus has a seating capacity of four to five people.


title: Lamborghini Urus

text: The Urus Pearl Capsule is a variant of the standard Urus. Customers who buy the Urus Pearl Capsule can customize it to the fullest, with options including being able to choose the colours for two-tone Alcantara seats, to the paint colours. Lamborghini states that there are three pearl paint options available — Verde Mantis, Arancio Borealis and Giallo Inti — providing a modern interpretation of the original solid colours united with Lamborghini tradition. The Black Gloss is painted lower bumpers, rocker covers and roof to create a dramatic two-tone effect, while the 23-inch Taigete alloy wheels in Shiny Black match the colour accents chosen. Technical specifications of the Urus Pearl Capsule such as power and torque remain the same as the standard Urus.