"Repose you now! Finn no more!"

(27.31-29.36)  The end of the first chapter is here.  We start off with the mourner continuing to bring Finnegan up to date with what's been happening since his fall.  We learn that Finnegan's wife is doing ok -- she's been singing, gossiping, going to concerts, and keeping up with the news.  She's also kept her looks:  "Her hair's as brown as it ever was.  And wivvy and wavy."  The mourner wraps up his address by telling Finnegan to repose himself and releases him with the words, "Finn no more!," both dissolving and absolving (like the repentant sinner leaving the confessional) him.

With Finnegan disposed, the mourner heralds the coming of HCE as Finnegan's "replacement."  HCE, we are told, owns a pub in the Dublin suburb Chapelizod ("Shop Illicit") and has a wife, twin sons, and a daughter.  Like Finnegan, HCE is both father and universal progenitor:  "Creator he has created for his creatured ones a creation."  He is an immigrant and a sinner who, like Finnegan, experiences a monumental fall, as noted by the chapter's concluding words:  "he who will be untimendly respunchable for the hubbub caused in Edenborough."

And so, two weeks into this endeavor, I've finished reading the first chapter of Finnegans Wake.  It's been challenging but also rewarding, entertaining, and stimulating.  The general consensus indicates that once you make it through the first chapter, the rest of the book is . . . less challenging.  I guess I'll see if that holds true soon enough.