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Ulysses by James Joyce Readalong & Re-Readalongs (2014, 2016); Audio Listen-Along (2017)
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Angela M
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Nov 10, 2014 10:24AM
That would definitely be so much fun !
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sorry for just butting in here but I thought I'd share Colum McCann's praise of Ulysses with you. It's a video interview with him on one of my favourite sites for art and literature: http://channel.louisiana.dk/video/col...
@Jenny , there's no such thing as butting in here . Thanks for the link . I have read a couple of things by McCann and really enjoy his writing . Hope to read more by him .I loved everything that McCann had to say here ! Thanks again Jenny .
Much easier going than the last episode! I really liked how each scene overlapped with multiple others, a glimpse of a person or the cavalcade, etc, which showed how our communities are linked together. Six degrees of separation, so to speak. I especially liked the last scene, with the cavalcade passing nearly everybody we had glimpsed thoughout the episode. I read that section twice, looking for Stephen and Leopold, but I couldn't find any mention of either of our protagonists, even though both made appearances throughout this episode.
Great interview Jenny! Thank you for sharing.
Jenny wrote: "sorry for just butting in here but I thought I'd share Colum McCann's praise of Ulysses with you. It's a video interview with him on one of my favourite sites for art and literature: http://channel..."Omg, Jenny. I just listened to the interview for the third time and just love,love what McCann had to say! I especially loved when he said that Ulysses was " at the pulse of the moment, a compendium of human experience. It's raw, alive, clever and beautiful" I certainly can't think of a better way to describe it.
I really loved when he said "Literature allows us to become ourselves by becoming somebody else." I will always remember that. So beautiful!
Glad you liked it! So did I. Reading your posts here really makes me wish I had waited a little longer and read Ulysses with you guys rather than on my own, I think it really helps being able to talk it through as you go. Enjoy the rest of it!
Jenny wrote: "sorry for just butting in here but I thought I'd share Colum McCann's praise of Ulysses with you. It's a video interview with him on one of my favourite sites for art and literature: http://channel..."Oh, Jenny, it's the website for the open air gallery I talked about in the thread about favourite artists. Is this another Sebaldian coincidence?! The McCann interview is great. I'm going to have a look at the other things now. Thanks a lot!
Jenny wrote: "sorry for just butting in here but I thought I'd share Colum McCann's praise of Ulysses with you. It's a video interview with him on one of my favourite sites for art and literature: http://channel..."That was very good! I just treated myself to the video after reading chapter 10.
Cosmic wrote: "Jenny wrote: "sorry for just butting in here but I thought I'd share Colum McCann's praise of Ulysses with you. It's a video interview with him on one of my favourite sites for art and literature: ..."It was really interesting, wasn't it, Cosmic?
That really is a great interview. Thanks, Jenny! s Angela says, three's no butting in here. This thread belongs to all of us.Percoset, morphine...and Ulysses.....oh, my! :D
That truly is a combination, don't you think? LOL!
Some comments that stuck out to me:
”The blood that moves through me right now is my great grandfathers blood, but the reason I know him, is because I read Ulysses”
"compendium of human experience"
"The writer in Ireland has always been celebrated, going right back into time."
"Your relationship to a text comes from a place you originally come from."
Dubliners is free today for kindle . There are several editions but if you get it on Amazon it's choice #8. It's also free at B&N and for Kobo .
I'm going to be out of town for the next few days. I'll be back on Monday to post some links for Episode 11. You can all start the discussion and post your thoughts on Episode 11 at any time; just thought to let you know that I won't have internet access until after Sunday. :(
Thanks , Petra. I'll be away part of the weekend too so I probably won't list any thoughts until early next week either .
Gill wrote: "Cosmic wrote: "Jenny wrote: "sorry for just butting in here but I thought I'd share Colum McCann's praise of Ulysses with you. It's a video interview with him on one of my favourite sites for art a..."Yes. I thought it was interesting how he related to his great grandfather through Bloom. I do not feel a connection to the characters. I feel like I am looking at a fish bowl kind of experience.
Cosmic wrote: "Yes. I thought it was interesting how he related to his great grandfather through Bloom. I do not feel a connection to the characters. I feel like I am looking at a fish bowl kind of experience. ..."
Perhaps that is what McCann means? We get to know Leopold in a fairly intimate way (the minutiae of life, so to speak) that we get to know the life of a man in Dublin in the early part of the century. Maybe McCann is saying that he knows the life of his grandfather and, therefore, the man his grandfather was, through the fish bowl that we're watching Leopold in?
Well, I'm off. Just finishing my coffee and am then on my way. See you all on Monday. Have a nice weekend.
I don't feel especially connected to any of the characters either but yet I feel as if I am getting to know Bloom since we are privy to his innermost thoughts . And in that vein , I "feel" for him having lost his son and feeling as if he's loosing Molly .I agree with Cosmic - it's like looking at these people through a fish bowl , especially in this episode .
I am really glad that we are taking this book slow.I am reading a lot of things written around the time Ulysses was being written and it just adds to my own experience. I am not saying that these were what influenced Joyce but I think all truth is relevant and I think that a certain people growing up in a certain time will see the world through a certain lens. Kafka said that we all see through a keyhole and so we need to keep the keyhole clean. This is my way of doing that...is to read from several points of view.So I have been n listening to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz today. I wondered if he was he influenced by Homer, since he had an interest in the theater. His story is a journey.
Then I am listening to The Trial as I work in the kitchen.
I am still readingWilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. I am on book 3 of that book. It is also a traveling book...but it's main attraction is that it will retell hamlet and it has an initiation into a secret society. I also listened to a discourse about Ulyssesand the Freemasonary. This seems to a big theme in the coming Chambersburg we saw a hint of it in the chapter 9
I am also listening to Alice in Wonderland which I think complements all the books well.
Evelyn wrote: "Fishbowl, great analogy Cosmic!"Thank you.
I was inspired to see it this way after listening to the free clip on audible of this book and what the author said about Ulysses.
The Art of the Novel
The way the different characters move in and out of sight through the streets and buildings of Dublinis like a symphony, or like jazz, which was just getting started. Looking at other arts of the time, there were all kinds of experiments in music, art and theater. Surrealist poets and cubist artists would take apart a sentence or a picture and put the elements in new places. This fits with the "modern" aesthetic of the times that just reproducing something photographically was no longer interesting enough.
I hope to comment in the next day or so . I'm rereading this episode now . I found all the conversation in the beginning a bit confusing so I'll try again .
Oops, sorry! I forgot that I was to post today. I'm in "vacation mode" and not following a schedule...with anything, it seems. LOL!Episode 11 Blog entry:
http://somanybooksblog.com/2011/09/12...
Episode 11 from the Department of English of the University of Western Ontario powerpoint presentation:
http://instruct.uwo.ca/english/4520f/...
Like Angela, I may read the first few pages over again. I rather like how this chapter was written. It's confusing, for sure....but isn't
What I found interesting was Bloom's attitude towards Boylan. At the library, Bloom ducked inside to avoid him, here he enters the restaurant to watch him. He's getting closer.
Once again, I felt sorry for Bloom and his relationship with Molly. He seems to care for her a lot. He's not very forceful about it.....I can see where Molly may not see that he cares for her....but we see his thoughts & sadness and they seem to point towards him being hurt about this possible (very likely) relationship.
I have to admit that I just didn't get much from this episode , other than once again feeling sorry for Bloom as the meeting of Molly and Boylan approaches. The conversation in the beginning was a bit confusing to me.I'm know that the music is supposed to be important here but maybe since I'm not musically inclined I didn't get it right away .
I'm hoping that some of the other impressions to be posted here will shed some light for me .
Maybe I need to reread it again !
I feel better that it's mentioned in the analyses that the beginning is confusing. Glad it's not just me being slow on the uptake here !
Guys, sorry for dropping in and out of here without notice. It's been busy lately. Just to check: I read Angela's talking about music being important to this episode, so you're in the Sirens ep?
Renato, yes, we're discussing the Sirens episode. We're happy to have you pop in whenever you have time. Angela, when we were first discussing this book and someone asked about reading The Odyssey before reading this one, I had said that it probably didn't matter. I hadn't read The Odyssey before first reading Ulysses and made it through okay.
I have since read The Odyssey and had forgotten enough about Ulysses that I still believed it wouldn't make a big difference. But, as we're reading along, I'm realizing that having read The Odyssey is making the connections between the two books quite clear and that these connections help with understanding Ulysses.
I think having read the Sirens episode of The Odyssey makes it easier to recognize that aspect of this episode in Ulysses.
In The Odyssey, the sirens lure/tempt the sailors to the rocks and their demise. They are dangerous and beautiful and irresistible. Their singing lured men, uncontrollably, to danger and death.
No man can avoid them. Odysseus made his men lash him to the mast so that he could not steer the boat to the sirens as they passed. He wanted to hear the song of the sirens, yet not jeopardize his crew and ship. He then made his men pour wax into their ears so that they could not hear the sirens sing.
From Sparknotes (The Odyssey):
Summary: They approach the island of the lovely Sirens, and Odysseus, as instructed by Circe, plugs his men’s ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the mast of the ship. He alone hears their song flowing forth from the island, promising to reveal the future. The Sirens’ song is so seductive that Odysseus begs to be released from his fetters, but his faithful men only bind him tighter.
Analysis: Even Odysseus’s experience with the Sirens is a study in temptation, a temptation that Odysseus keeps in check through foresight. The picture that Homer paints of Odysseus strapped to the mast, begging to be released, is symbolic of many of his and his crew’s experiences on the seas. Immediate, visceral desires distract him from his nostos, or homeward journey, but a deeper longing and a more intellectual understanding of his mission’s importance keep him tied to his course.
I think, in this episode, Joyce is saying that women can be dangerous and distracting to men and (perhaps) lure them to places they (the men) do not want to go and where they would (perhaps) be better off not going.
In particular, Boylan. He's lured by Molly and he cannot resist her "song" and he goes to her.
The barmaids are portrayed as fetching and tempting and "singing" to the men for their attentions.
Bloom seems to be.....I'm not sure....he's perhaps stuffing himself with food (wax in the ears??) but, if he's Odysseus, then he should be hearing the sirens' songs, being tempted but not succumbing in the end.
However, this episode is all about temptations, fulfillments and resisting temptation.
Thanks , Petra . I read Sparks notes and other analyses as well and yes it makes more sense after reading those and the parallels to the Odyssey but I never would have figured it out by just reading without those analyses . I usually read them after I've read it .
The professor said that Joyce spent five months writing this chapter. The first time I read it I felt like I was reading a word list. A friend told me that she and a boyfriend used to read passages together and enjoy them. I read Alice in Wonderland this week and have started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both of these books kinda remind me of this chapter.That Joyce was inspired with the word play like Carol. Then in the first pages of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close you can read it here....
http://www.amazon.com/Extremely-Incre...
I haven't finished the chapter. My problem with Joyce's book is that I get through with the chapter and I can't really sink my teeth into anything memorable. It feels slippery. But if I had read it as much as Joyce did I bet that patterns would emerge.
What was your favorite line? Word? Pun? In this chapter?
Cosmic ,Like reading a word list is a good way to describe it . I'm glad others are feeling the same way as I did . I kept thinking - maybe it's me and I just don't get it . Glad it's not just me.
I loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ,
I also loved Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.I'm not quite finished this episode either. What I am enjoying about it (confusing as it may be) is the quips of overheard conversation interspersed with Bloom's observations and thoughts (rather chaotic, hateful, hurt....depending on the situation). It's the sort of thing that happens when one is sitting in a restaurant/pub/public area. One overhears quips and the mind laughs, rolls the eyes, agrees, disagrees, shrugs, etc. I think Joyce did a marvelous job in capturing this sort of everyday situation.
I also like the wordplay in this episode.
Cosmic, that's interesting that Joyce took 5 months to write this episode. I wonder if it meant a lot to him. He obviously had a vision for it.
I will think about my favorite line, word or pun. There were a few but I don't think I highlighted them (and don't think I could find again if I went looking).
I think often in this book it reminds you of overhearing conversations, in the street, in a bar etc etc. I also like the way internal thoughts of people intersperse with outside conversations.
Gil ,I feel like that too - sort of an outsider passing by and hearing what these people are saying . Then all of a sudden we are in someone's head and not so much an outsider .
Angela wrote: "Gil ,I feel like that too - sort of an outsider passing by and hearing what these people are saying . Then all of a sudden we are in someone's head and not so much an outsider ."
So in a way we are voyeuristic. Is this supposed to be the kind of audience Joyce is writing to. Ones that seemed to just watch but were emotionally detached?
I am reading The Trial by Kafka. He said something like that. That the accused were at the mercy of the court. They talked above him but not to him. Around him because they understood each other but he was treated as a child.
Well in a way when I was a child I had to be quiet and things were confusing and my mind wandered and then would come back. Things would go over my head and I didn't "get" a lot of the meaning that were talked about in the adult world.
I have enjoyed Joyce's shorthand writing. I have tried to incorporate it in my writing when copying things in my journal.
I think I will spend some time listening to chapter 11.
Oh, wow--I wish I'd known you all were reading this. Then again, it's probably good I didn't.I tried reading this in the summer of 2013 and it took me like two weeks to make it like 100 pages IIRC, lol! Quite humbling for a person who's been known to read two novels--almost three--in a single day.
It's tough. I knew it was going to be tough too, and I was not going to quit "no matter what." I guess I didn't officially quit, I just never kinda got back to it, ha-ha.
I didn't read the whole thread. But in case anyone hasn't posted this, here's a free audiobook version of ULYSSES that I thought was pretty excellently narrated. The files quality isn't the best, but you may find it helpful:https://archive.org/details/Ulysses-A...
Chuck wrote: "I didn't read the whole thread. But in case anyone hasn't posted this, here's a free audiobook version of ULYSSES that I thought was pretty excellently narrated. The files quality isn't the best, b..."Thank you!This is better than the version bought.
Chuck, you can still join in, if you wish. We're reading an episode a week. At your Ulysses pace (:D), you can catch up in a couple of weeks and we would revisit the earlier episodes with your posts. Come on.......it's fun with the group.
Thanks for the link. I have an audio version of Ulysses but haven't listened to it yet. I had kind of chickened out, thinking that Ulysses would be harder to follow in audio (making it rather impossible & frustrating), but now I think it would make a good audio book because of the rhythm, poetry, musical themes, etc.
Petra wrote: "Chuck, you can still join in, if you wish. We're reading an episode a week. At your Ulysses pace (:D), you can catch up in a couple of weeks and we would revisit the earlier episodes with your post..."Chuck, I have started in with this group revisiting the chapters that I have already read. I think that reading it one chapter a week is better. It will feel good to say I read Ulysses in 2014.
Petra, one of the beauties of the mp3 recordings of Ulysses that Chuck has linked to is that there are more than one actor reading it. It reminds me how much punctuation is missing and how this is contributing to the "word list" feeling in the book. I would suggest you give it a try. I thought the quality was quite good. Also the actors are American which is easier on my ears, though not as true to the author. In listening to this recording I was reminded of my friend reading it with her boyfriend and how it might sound...because there are male and female parts, especially in this chapter.
I was having difficulties with Episode 12 (wondering who the narrator is and how he ties into the story). I had a peek at The Sheila Variations and found this:(in spoiler tags because it's about Episode 12. It isn't a plot spoiler but a technique explanation):
Here, Sheila is confused about Episode 12 and asks her father (a Ulysses whiz) to explain it to her)
(view spoiler)
I'm only about a dozen pages into this episode. Now I'm going back to the beginning to see if this info makes a difference.
Thanks for the kind invitation, Petra. Unfortunately, I'm just too overloaded with reads at the moment. Cosmic wrote: "Petra, one of the beauties of the mp3 recordings of Ulysses that Chuck has linked to is that there are more than one actor reading it. It reminds me how much punctuation is missing and how this is contributing to the "word list" feeling in the book. I would suggest you give it a try. I thought the quality was quite good. "
Yeah, that's what I was using it for; it makes it a lot easier to follow IMO. Especially the stream-of-consciousness thing.
It is quite good, but it's a shame they weren't encoded at higher bitrate.
Episode 12 (Cyclops)The Sheila Variations Episode 12 Cyclops:
http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=7595
Homeric Parallels:
In The Odyssey Odysseus describes his adventures with the one-eyed giant and loutish Cyclopes. One of them, Polyphemus, trapped Odysseus and his men in a cave, and began devouring them at the rate of 2 a day. Odysseus plies Polyphemus with wine, telling him that his name is 'Noman', and when the cyclops falls asleep he drives a burning stake into his eye. Polyphemus screams that 'No-man' has blinded him and his neighbours, taking him literally, refuse to help.
Odysseus and his men escape by hiding beneath Polyphemus' sheep, but once safe aboard their ship, Odysseus tells Polyphemus his real name and shouts taunts, and the Cyclops then locates them and wrecks their vessel with a rock.
Summary:
Bloom is going to Barney Kiernan's to meet Martin Cunningham and discuss the affairs of the Dignam family. The unnamed narrator (a debt collector) chats with Joe Hynes, and they meet the Citizen, a fierce nationalist with a dog called Garryowen.
Several characters enter the pub, including Bloom, behind whose back the Citizen starts throwing insults. The talk turns to capital punishment, a topic which Bloom, still in and out looking for Cunningham, discusses rationally. Bloom discusses Dignam and the plight of the Breens, among other things, sympathetically, but the citizen rejects Bloom's attitudes. The Citizen starts to speak about the unwanted presence of "strangers" in Ireland, a remark clearly aimed at Bloom.
After the Citizen's speech about Irish history, Bloom tries to define a nation, implying that he is Irish because he was born in Ireland. As an Irish Jew, however, his position in this debate is unstable, and his advocacy of "love" in the face of "Force, hatred, history, all that" makes things worse.
After Bloom leaves, Lenehan believes that he's gone to pick up his winnings from "Throwaway", the horse that he (supposedly) tipped to Bantam Lyons in LOTUS EATERS (it won at 20-1). Bloom's closeness about this alleged stroke of fortune inflames the Citizen more. Cunningham and John Power enter and defend Bloom, but when Bloom returns the Citizen gets violent and chases him from the pub, Garryowen hot on his heels.
Comment:
Bloom reveals his Jewishness to the Citizen, just as Odysseus reveals his actual name to the Cyclops. The final chase from the pub is narrated as Bloom's ascent into Heaven.
The passage also has 3 narrators. The third narrator is referred to as the Citizen. Like the Cyclops, the Citizen has one-dimensional vision. He is bigoted, intolerant and violent. The gigantism of the episode inflates him and mocks him — but it mocks everyone (including Bloom).
From Sparknotes:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ulysses...
I really liked this episode. I didn't get all the interspersed stories. There's a lot of Irish-ness in them and I don't know enough about Ireland or its history. However, I still enjoyed the stories for what I got out of them.My favorite of these was the one with Digman's ghost.
The Citizen is a real piece of work, isn't he? So opinionated and bigoted. He's so anti-Jew and verbally attacks Leopold. I felt sorry for Bloom again for walking into a public place and being outcast and rebuffed.
I hope to finish reading later today and will come back here with comments .
I have gotten behind. I need to chapter 11.Note to self...."finish chapter 11 before picking up another book to read."
I will get on track soon.
I've gotten behind too, need to finish a book for my book club tomorrow, and then I will get back on track
There's no being "behind" in this read. We'll always be here to comment. One thing I found out about Ulysses is that you have to read it at your own pace (yet it helps to have a schedule to follow, too, to keep you going). We can slow down until everyone is caught up, if you like. We'll see how it goes throughout this week.
Just enjoy Ulysses. Joyce meant for his readers to have a good time.
I was at an event today and when people applauded, I found myself thinking "clap clippy clip clap" which was somewhere in Chapter 11 ( or something like it). It portrayed what applause really sounds like.
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