We had wanted to unmask Finnegans Wake . But Finnegans Wake does not wear a mask. If Finnegans Wake bears any resemblance to a secret agent, then it is a secret agent who does not have to keep up the pretence that he is, in fact, a secret agent. Its employer is language. Proving that language, in general, and more specifically, that every single sentence written in one language can always be read according to different codes, takes on different meanings in different contexts.
Meaning is unlimited because context is, in principle, multiple.
An infinite number of possible worlds can be projected. The number of possible meanings knows no limits. Finnegans Wake fulfills its mission brilliantly through portmanteaus and puns. The portmanteau word challenges two myths on which assumptions about the efficacy of language rest. A secret agent has a carte-blanche, a licence to kill.