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Ulysses
Please don’t think I’m an insufferable literary snob if I tell you I’ve read Ulysses several times. But in fact I have, and I think it’s indeed a masterpiece, and not at all as hard to read and understand as you may have been led to believe. (See My Love Affair with James Joyce)
Now I must I confess I first read James Joyce’s celebrated novel in a college course with a wonderful professor guiding us through it – and I became addicted. I went on to read all his works – although I couldn’t get through his experimental novel Finnegan’s Wake – that one IS near impossible to read!
Ulysses, as you may know, follows a fictional Jewish Dubliner named Leopold Bloom through a June day in 1904 as he makes breakfast for his wife Molly; attends a funeral; works as an advertising canvasser; buys a bar of lemon soap; eats lunch in a crowded pub; visits a maternity hospital, a church, and a museum; watches a fireworks display; almost meets his wife’s lover; does meet a young history teacher named Stephen Dedalus, the son of an acquaintance, and invites him home; and finally gets into bed with a sleepy Molly.
But Joyce does more than walk us through the plot of the novel – he brings us inside the hearts and minds of Bloom and the other characters he meets in his Dublin wanderings. And Joyce constantly astounds us with his wit and his encyclopedic knowledge of languages, and philosophy, and science, and history, and so well understands the complexities of human nature.
Ulysses inspired me to read more great literature and to write more stories myself. Called the best book of the 20th century, it‘s been in print since its publication in 1922, and has been translated into over 20 languages including Icelandic, Chinese, and Arabic – a testament to Joyce’s skill and vision, and to the universality of the story he tells.
If you haven’t read Ulysses, I urge you to get a copy and be inspired!
St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Dana,
OK, you’ve got me hooked! Ulysses it is and, unless its memory has faded from my sometimes-forgetful brain, I was never assigned it as school reading. I do remember Beowulf, though, hard as I might try to forget it. Reading the classics I’ve missed is on my bucket list and I hope it never transfers over to that similar sounding list that begins with an “F.” Too many pending things have already wound up on it!
Good Jim, here’s hoping you get ALL the things on your bucket list, including Ulysses!
Nudge, nudge! I still have not read Ulysses, but your enthusiasm still burns brightly and I am even more tempted after this description.
Good Khati, and now that you’re retired you have all that lovely free time!
I have only read snippets. And like some other of your followers here, I am feeling a serious nudge to digging into it another time. It was your matter-of-fact description of the narrative that did that for me! Took it out of the clouds, or shrouds, and made it seem palpable and accessible. Thanks for that!~
Thanx Dale, I’m glad to have un-clouded and un-shrouded Ulysses a bit for you!
Knowing you and your lit background I’m sure you’ll appreciate Joyce’s absolute mastery of interior monologue, characterization, humor, pathos, encyclopedic knowledge, and above all style – what more can one ask of a novel?
Beautiful encapsulation of a very complex and significant piece of writing, Dana. You coulda written the Cliff Notes for this book! I read it as well, without the tutelage of a wonderful professor. He sounds like he was an inspired teacher. Soon after I read Ulysses, I tackled War and Peace, and loved every page. You’ve inspired me to tackle Solzhenitsyn
Thanx Chas!
I’ve been told there’s a place in heaven for those who’ve read Ulysses, see you there!