According to Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin's (dangerous) idea also applies
to cultural products: "Man is designed and is a designer, and all his talents
as a designer, all the products thereof must emerge non-miraculously from
the blind, mechanical process of Darwinian mechanisms of one sort or another."
(Dennett, 130) The idea of the creative process as an algorithmic evolution
rather than the product of divine inspiration seems to be reflected in
Joyce's idea to let James Stephens finish his Work in Progress.
He must have known, though, that no matter how algorithmically the writing
process may be conceived, the resulting work of art will always be unique.
Just as any other cultural product, Finnegans Wake is the result
of "exploiting and amplifying the contingencies of history that shape its
trajectory; getting there is much more than half the fun." (Dennett, 140)
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