Joyce later claimed that he started work on the book that became Finnegans Wake while staying in Nice in October 1922, eight months after Ulysses was published. In March 1923 he wrote two pages, and by July he was able to send four early sketches to Harriet Weaver for typing. Work on the book continued over the next sixteen years, interrupted by bouts of eye trouble and other illnesses. Versions of some parts of the book appeared in print in magazines like transition or as small limited edition books. The published material appeared as extracts from what was called ‘Work in Progress’ and Joyce kept the actual name of the book secret until the final text was published in May 1939 by Faber & Faber in London, and Viking in New York.

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