Finnegans Flotsam: What is a Modernist Text? A Special Collections Exhibition
The following text is from an exhibit curated by Dr. J. Matthew Huculak in Special Collections at the University of Victoria. You can view the exhibit during these hours:
Monday-Friday
8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (September-April)
10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (May-August)

Did you know that Special Collections at the University of Victoria has a rich collection of James Joyce material?
What makes this collection particularly unique is its gathering of facsimile “avant-textes,” which comprise the manuscript material of a given work (not shown), as well as its near-complete compilation of periodical and special-edition versions of Joyce’s work.This exhibit highlights some of Special Collection’s material pertaining to Finnegans Wake (1923-1939). By the time Joyce started writing Finnegans Wake 1923, he was already famous internationally for the “Scandal of Ulysses,” when his magnum opus was banned and declared obscene in the United States and Great Britain.[1]