Illustrated by: Thomas McNally

‘Spiky, trippy, beautiful … Nice but nasty, funny and frightening, scary but sweet, all applied; a true goldmine.’ –Sam Coll on The Ondt and the Gracehoper

• A companion volume to The Ondt and the Gracehoper (2014)
• To be launched on Bloomsday Eve 2018
• Acts as a fun, accessible introduction to Finnegans Wake
• Over 100 full colour illustrations
• Introduction by Fritz Senn

Finnegans Wake is often described as one of the most impenetrable literary works ever written, but great riches and humour bubble beneath its opaque surface for all to enjoy. The Mookse and the Gripes is the peculiar and hilarious re-telling of Aesop’s ancient fable of ‘The Fox and the Grapes’, as presented in Joyce’s 1939 classic.

This sequel to The Ondt & the Gracehoper (Lilliput, 2014) by Irish artist Thomas McNally features over one hundred full colour illustrations. Each one is based on a line from the fable and helps to interpret and illuminate the work. Almost eighty years on from the original publication, this illustrated edition of Joyce’s fable offers to readers a comedic, much needed entry-point into Finnegans Wake, and to its appreciation.

The book also contains an introduction by McNally and an essay by great European Joyce scholar, Fritz Senn, providing further guidance to readers in their exploration of Joyce’s masterwork.