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Ulysses by Joyce - Jan 2010 Read-A-Long
Hi Petra and Carol,Loved your comments on Ulysses. Readers of that time, the "average" reader, did not read the book. But most of the cultural intelligentia, like other writers, knew immediately why the book was an instant landmark and fiction and why it was so ground-breaking and important. Modern literature, much of the best of it, simply wouldn't have happened unless Joyce had refashioned the novel to make it something utterly new with a vast new potential. Think of all the books that have adopted, to one degree or another, one or more of Joyce's techniques: stream of consciousness, the pastiche, alternating narrators, lists of things, simultaneity (two or more actions in a book going on at the same time), the minute examination of a microcosm to express macrocosm.
As so many of you Ulysses readers are saying, the book is infinitely more absorbing on a second and third read. Now, about Mina Purefoy. The idea for that section is fine (waiting for the birth), but I wish Joyce had written it in another style. After multiple readings, I still find that section borrrrring. I skim through it or skip it every time.
I haven't heard any comments yet about the Nightown section, the one written as a long play. That's a REAL puzzler without a good guide.
Denny Duck
Hi again,Yes, sure, Joyce meant Ulysses to be read as a novel -- just not an easy-read novel. Think of the sheer teeming life in that book, the cascading images, the gritty characters, the ideas, the emotions. All of life is in that book. I think it would be a great easy-read novel too but not nearly as great as the one Joyce wrote because, as is the case with all of the greatest books, the way the writer "says" it is inextricable from the story, the subject matter. It's kind of like media analyst Marshall McLuhan used to say, "The medium is the message."
Denny Duck
Note for Petra. Sorry, I conveyed the wrong message. At the time of Ulysses' publication, 1922, the novel IN GENERAL was considered dead -- NOT Ulysses. It caused an instant sensation among litrary people, including T.S. Eliot who thought it was one of the greatest advances in the English language since Shakespeare and Milton. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, V. Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound -- all of them were keenly aware of why the book was so great, so important.Denny Duck
Thanks, Dennis, for the very clear explanations. Your comments are making me see the book in a different light and helping greatly with understanding.So this novel was actually a study in style and language and not meant as an average, everyday novel for the average, everyday person. That's interesting. My hand goes out to Joyce for opening the doors to future writers and I thank him for all the wonderful books I've read thanks to his Ulysses.
I am glad that the average, everday person can now read this book (with the help of the available guides) and enjoy it as the story it was meant to tell. I'm supposing here that Joyce actually wanted the story of Bloom and Dedulas to be told and the gritty, everyday behavior of the people to be read. It does take a lot of effort and concentration to make it through, though. It does require a dedicated reader.
I'm re-reading Episode 14 after reading Wikipedia's description of how this segment has been broken up. I've marked my paragraphs off and am looking for the progression of the pregnancy and language developement along the way.
After that, I'll tackle the Nighttown section. That should be interesting as I do enjoy reading Plays. Hmmm.... a "real puzzler"???.....haven't we had some real puzzlers before in this book? LOL! Should I get worried already? :)
Dennis and Petra you both have opened my eyes to things I had not seen or thought about. I appreciate the time you both have invested in this to educate everyone in this piece of work. I have gained insight into Joyce's life and his motivation for this book. I think it is probably one of the greatest pieces of literature of the twentieth century.And yes thank you Sparks and Wikipedia and all the rest of the guides . I count Petra and Dennis as guides also.
Carol, thank you but I can't see how I'd be guiding anyone. I'm completely in the dark myself. I must say that without this discussion, I don't think I would have made it this far along and I almost most certainly wouldn't have seen it as a work of genius (which I now think it is, even if I don't "get it" quite yet).
Over the years it is a book that unfolds for you with each reading. It has helped having someone to guide and discuss with you. I read it by myself, and enjoyed it,. As I said it stuck me as funny. Now I can see the tragic and the comedic aspects of the book. Still for me Bloom is a love ,hate character, sometimes I love him sometimes I hate him. Depending on his mood. Note I said his mood not mine. hhahahahah I want to blame it on Joyce.
Hi fellow bookies,Ulysses is, as all the comments testify, a real reading adventure. Difficult yes, a bit like deep underground mining, at first anwyway until all the tunnels are dug and shored up.
Wouldn't it be nice for the next discussion book to be something breezier? I nominate, as that book, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. The book is so entertaining and interesting because Stein wrote it from the perspective of her long-time companion Alice B. So even though Stein wrote it that way, very ingeniously by the way, it's really about Stein herself more than about Alice. In a way, the book is a way for Stein to brag by putting the words in someone else's mouth, Alice's. Sounds off-putting, I know, but it's really a fun-to-read book and does encapsulate those exciting 1920s in Paris when modern literature was taking off into the stratosphere (Hemingway, Pound, Fitzgerald, Joyce and all those geniuses). It's a riveting read and fun all the way.
Denny Duck
I wonder when we start nominating for Feb., or did we do that already and I missed it. You know Dennis you can post a read-along like this one and see how many signs up . I would be interested in reading and discussing "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein" this in April.
Hi Carol and others,Thanks for your advice about how to nominate a book for discussion. I am still gropingly stumbling along, trying to figure out the intricacies of goodreads. I'm a newcomer to all this, having just crawled out of the 10th Century. Bear with me. Does anyone know where to post my choices for 10 worst books?
Denny Duck
Top Ten Books to Avoid You might try there
Denny, I would be interested in a Read Along for Alice's autobiography, if it's a bit later, perhaps in the spring. After Ulysses, I'm reading Wuthering Heights for that Read Along. Have you read Waiting for Gertrude: A Graveyard Gothic? It's set in Paris' Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, which is famous for the Famous People buried there and the large number of cats who reside in the cemetery. The premise is that each of the cats is a reincarnation of someone buried in the cemetery.
Alice B. Tokla, the cat, is waiting for Gertrude. There's a mystery in the cemetery and each chapter is told from the point of view of another cat. Each chapter is written in the style of the Famous Person. Proust's chapter is quite funny.
You'll find the Top 10 Books To Avoid list under TNBBC's Lists. There's also a list for the 10 Best Books.
Petra that sounds funny. I will need to add that one also.
Hi Petra,Of course, there's no rush for the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. It's just that I feel it's a book I think virtually everybody would enjoy. No hand-wringing, no brain-twisting, no duty-bound dedication. Just plain fun. No, I'm not aware of Graveyard Gothic, but I've got to check that one out. What fun it would be to read, especially as I'm a cat fanatic. Pere Lachaise! What grand ghosts haunt that place: As you said, Stein, Proust, not to mention Chopin, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf and so many others. When I was in Paris, twice, I didn't visit it. I could kick myself good. Well, maybe someday. I can just imagine the Proust-cat chapter in Graveyard Gothic. Some variation on the madeleine dipped in lime tea, I'm sure, only a pussy-cat version. I can imagine it's hilarious. Thanks for the tip. I'm re-reading the great vast Remembrance now so I'm eager to read a cat's version.
Denny
Denny, I want to read Remembrance this summer for my classic read for the year. I have tried twice to read it and I get bored.I am in another club on this site so I think I will be reading along with someone who has read it in French and she wants to read it in English.
Hi Carol,Like Ulysses, Rememberance is by no means an "easy" book to read, as you know. Proust can go on and on, hyper-analyzing nuances within nuances, endlessly splitting the hairs of love (which in Proust equals jealousy). One trouble many readers, including me, have with Proust is that they don't subscribe to his views of love/jealousy. It's also a stretch that so many of his characters turn out, in the course of the novel, to be gay and lesbian. Aside from those reservations, however, the novel really is every bit as great as its classic status claims. The most amazing sinuous sentences, masses of vivid details, echoes within echoes, subtle foreshadowings, a real experience of the movement of life, incredible beauty in descriptions of nature and the weathers, a sense of people growing older and changing (as in War and Peace) and, not to forget, the novel's incomparable exploration of time and the unconscious powers of memory as "revenge" against the corrosive cruelties of time and as the basis for works of art. Also, there are many, many hilarious passages in the novel, like the ridiculous pretentiousness of so many of the characters, like Madame Verdurin and her salon creatures. Human vanities at their funniest! It's not many novels that justify undivided attention through 3,000 pages. This one does! Oh, another thing. A guide is good for this book too. It really helps to have a glossary list of the characters because there are so many.
Denny
Thanks for your input. I feel insignificant, but I am determined to get through it this time. Even if it takes me two or three years. I am going to purchase these books so I won't worry about deadlines.Is there a well written guide that you can suggest?
Carol,WHO has read Remembrance in French?! Is she a French woman or a French teacher? I study French, love the language, but I'm far from fluent in speaking or in writing. Oh, it would be great to read that big novel en francais. I did read parts of Volume I, Swann's Way, in French, with an English version next to it on my table. But even that was tough going. Someday, maybe.
Denny
Whoops, I just realized this is a Ulysses group read site, and I'm getting off subject. I'm still trying to learn how to navigate through goodreads. Is there an introductory page or two that would show me how to adapt to it? I envy people who are computer/Internet savvy.Denny
Hi Carol,Yes, there is a very good one I bought just two months ago via amazon when I launched into Remembrance for the second time. I last read the vast work during the period from 1980-83, but I'd researched the book a lot before I read it. The guide I got two months ago is "Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past" by Patrick Alexander. The book lists good explanations of major and some minor characters, a mini Proust bio, historical background, etc. Very informative, very interesting. Proust was, at least in his early ears, a kind of snob and mama's baby but, oh my God, what a genius he turned into!!
Thank You Dennis for all your help. Now back to Ulysses folks.
...Uh....Me=dumbass
I'm sorry, I'm just not getting into this at all. I'm trying, I really am. Every time I read more than a paragraph, my mind starts wandering, and I start thinking of different things I need to do. Laundry, cleaning the carpets, re-painting the backyard fence...ANYTHING to not be reading this book.
Maybe it's just that I'm reading other books that I'm really enjoying, and Ulysses just keeps getting set aside. I think I'll keep at it though, it's just going to be a slow, slow ride.
I'm in pretty much the same place, Jessica. Reminds me a lot of trying to get through Faulkner.
Jessica and Dan, Ulysses is work to read but it is an interesting piece, to be sure......in it's own way. No matter how I wind up rating this book, it'll always have it's "buts".
Okay......I've reread Episode 14 and found that .....Lo!!!...... I got more out of it the second time than the first. My intension for rereading it was because it was confusing to me and I wanted to see if I could recognize the differentiation in the paragraphs as stated on Wikipedia, which go like this:Paragraphs 1-10 represent intercourse and conception and the beginning of language.
Paragraphs 11-50 represent 40 weeks of gestation (1 paragraph/week) and the changes & developement of language through the ages. At the end of Paragraph 50, the child is born.
Paragraphs 51-60 represent the child and modern english, including slang.
On top of that, the "Homer tie-in" relates to some of Ulysses' gang slaughtering the oxen of the Gods after being told not to. Those in the group who had nothing to do with the slaughter lived, while those who slaughered were killed.
Well, the Homer tie-in is pretty obscure unless you know it's there and you know what to look for. There's talk of bulls and horns throughout the Episode, including a bit about the hoof-and-mouth cattle mentioned earlier in the book. Even the head Doctor's name is Dr. Horne.
The first 10 paragraphs are confusing. I was/am unclear on the intercourse/conception tie-in but liked the medieval English with its castles, dragons and mead and all the flowery, over-the-top phrases.
The next 40 paragraphs did slowly change in language from medieval to middle english to modern. Joyce has an incredible vocabulary. It's a tedious section, at times, with plenty of very long paragraphs. I wondered whether Joyce was trying to convey the times in pregnancy where the woman feels large and uncomfortable. The paragraphs certainly read like that. However, using the 1 paragraph per week analogy, the long paragraphs would be in the 5-7 month range, when a woman feels her best.
The language is heavy and tedious and doesn’t get to the more easily read modern English until paragraphs 35-37-ish. After that, the reading is much easier for awhile.
This section has so much going on in regards to births. As a reader, if I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t be sure whether Mrs. Purefoy gave birth to 1 son or 4 sons. Baby boys keep being born and it takes awhile to determine that it probably isn’t Mrs. Purefoy’s baby.
Had to laugh at “You too have fought the good fight and played loyally your man's part. Sir, to you my hand. Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” when talking about Mr. Purefoy being at home and going to bed while his wife is in the hospital going through her 3rd day of labour.
The last 10 paragraphs are supposed to be all about the baby......terms and terms of "baby", mainly in modern slang English. I didn't get that. I understoond it to be about the boys (Stephen, Buck, Bloom, etc.) stumbling, drinking and puking their way through the streets towards the Red Light district. It’s interesting that Joyce uses slang not only from Ireland but also America. He’s definitely a well versed & learned man.
All in all, I think one can pick out what Joyce intended but, man oh man, without a guide I still think it's pretty impossible to do. And, even knowing what you're looking for, it's hard reading.
Not being able to get into Ulysses does not make you a dumbass, silly. :oP I don't care if we're talking about Ulysses or Twilight - if it doesn't capture your interest, it's a chore to read. The fact that A.) you're not getting a grade for this, and B.) you have lots of other interesting reading at your fingertips, only makes the mountain seem that much higher. You (general you) can be the most well read person on earth and Ulysses would still take a hell of a lot of work. I don't know about you, but if I put that much effort into something, I expect some sort of payoff. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to pick the book up if they feel they're not getting anything worthwhile from it.
I won't be able to add anything intellectual to the discussion, but I do have a few random thoughts:
- I cannot read just a page or two at a time. It takes at least a few pages for my brain to get into the rhythm of the book. I try to read an episode at at time if I can.
- The best time for me to read is after 8 p.m. when my kids are in bed. That way I have no distractions whatsoever.
- I've found Recovering Your Story: Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner, Morrison by Brown professor Arnold Weinstein to be an immense help. Honestly when I first started reading it, I was very cynical. Whenever I would hear people talk about how amazing Ulysses was, my brain always translated it into "I have no idea what the hell he's saying, so it must be brilliant!" But the author of this guide really opened my eyes. After reading certain explanations or interpretations of his, I found myself thinking "damn, that Joyce is a clever bastard". Through Weinstein's observations I also learned the best way (for me) to read the stream of consciousness chapters - which surprisingly have turned out to be my favorite. It's hard to describe, but I read it like my own interior monologue sounds - fading in and out, mumbling here and there, speeding up and slowing down... like I said, it's hard to explain. But I've found that I love Bloom as a character (maybe it's the underdog thing) and I absolutely love being inside his head. The other thing I love about this guide is that it doesn't just regurgitate the plot. I guess a general plot synopsis can be helpful in making sure you understand what the basic action of the episode was, but (in my opinion) it doesn't do much to help you appreciate the story. The synopsis can tell you that Stephen went to the beach, watched a dog, picked his nose, and peed on a rock. Um... great, so what? Without knowing the motivation of the characters and the significance of certain actions, events, or phrases, the synopsis is useless to me because I won't care.
I will continue to use this guide when I attempt to read Swann's Way and The Sound and the Fury later this year. Dan you've made me nervous, lol.
- I am just about to start Episode 14 (oy). My favorite episode so far is Episode 6 (Hades), hands down. Episodes 9-11 bogged me down and I found myself losing interest in the book. However, things picked up again for me with Episodes 12 (go Bloom!) and 13 (which was not only fascinating to me, but gave my brain a much needed rest - it was so easy to read compared to the rest of the book). I'm actually looking forward to picking up again tonight. Even so, I will breathe a big sigh of relief when this book is finished. What an endeavor!
Petra wrote: "Okay......I've reread Episode 14 and found that .....Lo!!!...... I got more out of it the second time than the first. My intension for rereading it was because it was confusing to me and I wanted t..."Thank you so much for that! It will be an immense help to me tonight.
Cait wrote: "I am just about to start Episode 14 (oy). My favorite episode so far is Episode 6 (Hades), hands down. Episodes 9-11 bogged me down and I found myself losing interest in the book. However, things picked up again for me with Episodes 12 (go Bloom!) and 13 (which was not only fascinating to me, but gave my brain a much needed rest - it was so easy to read compared to the rest of the book). I'm actually looking forward to picking up again tonight. Even so, I will breathe a big sigh of relief when this book is finished. What an endeavor! ..."
Cait, thanks for mentioning that book. I'll see if my Library has it. It would be interesting to look through.
My thoughts on Episode 12 & 13 are the same as yours, as my earlier postings said. 13 was really refreshing and an easy-peasy breeze to get through.
Bloom is an interesting character, for sure. While there is definitely more to this story to appreciate than any guide could tell you, I do appreciate the guides. This being my first time through the book, I get lost in all the words and lose the story sometimes. I like to read a guide to make sure I got at least most of it.
Petra, I agree with you. I can't imagine reading this book without a guide; that would be a nightmare for me! I also have Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Living, which is a very accessible guide. He goes more in depth with the Homer/Odyssey counterparts though, and like you that's just not something I'm focusing on with my first read through. My brain has enough to deal with as it is! :o) Another guide that I've heard recommended is The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses. I really wanted to check that out, but my library doesn't have a copy. Same with Ulysses Annotated.
Wow, thanks Cait. You've made me feel so much better about the whole thing. Things are the same here, there is NO WAY I could even pick this one up without my kids in bed and asleep! :)I'll keep my eyes open for the books you mentioned, it sounds like it'll make a big difference.
Jessica don't belittle yourself. You are going to get through it. And believe it or not you will find yourself remembering certain parts of the book, many years later. I know I do. It is not easily forgotten,on the whole.
I'm really enjoying Episode 15. It's totally bizarre and funny. A real pleasure and relaxation after the "heavier" Episodes.I was picturing this being done on stage. It would be rather difficult with all the sudden costume changes. :-)
Cait,Glad to see you derived insight into Ulysses from Dr. Arnold Weinstein's book. I did too. I also have Weinstein's "Teaching Company" CDs. More than 80 half-hour lectures on American Literature and World Classics, including Ulysses. The guy's a genius of a teacher. I wrote him a letter and he was kind enough to write back. You should check out the Teaching Co. Just google it online.
Denny
I have a question for all of you multiple-time readers of Ulysses:Are there any particularly good versions of Ulysses? Ones that stand out from others for any reason whatsoever?
I'm thinking that this may be a re-read for me in years to come. My current copy was bought second-hand about 15+ years ago. Although I may be the first person reading it (it sure looked new), the glue is now cracked and the spine is warping, pages buckling out, etc. So, I'm thinking of buying another copy and perhaps a good guide.
I had a look at the James Joyce Reading Group here on Goodreads and they mention a "Gabler text" as being a good version. I found one on-line and had a peek at the first few pages. The wording is the same as mine (as expected....although the JJRG made mention of a few small differences) and the lines are numbered by chapter (each chapter starts at line 1).
I currently have a Penguin edition.
So, if you have a favorite edition/verion of Ulysses, could you please let me know what and why?
Also, if you know of a good, useful guide (I only want to get one), please include that, too.
I think I'll also be reading a biography on Joyce soon. His writing is really brilliant. I wonder where he got his "smarts". He must have known 4 languages, at least, I think: Latin, French, German, English, as well as an amazing amount of vocabulary and slang.
I will be reading a biography some time this year also. My copy is the original one I bought in the sixties. I am sure there are better copies now. The episodes are not even numbered in mine. I have to go with divisions that I made over the years.
Anyone still reading? I just finished Episode 15 (the brothel episode). Wow! That one took me all over the map! It was so chaotic. Here, there, everywhere.
I did find that Joyce's sense of humour came out quite often (either that or I have a twisted sense of humour). I found some portions of this episode very funny and a lot of it a good chuckle.
There's so much action and so many characters coming and going that the effect, for me, was quite busy and hallucogenic, in a way. At first it was fun and then, after a while, it got almost confining and I wanted to be finished with the craziness and get back to more realistic writing and scenes.
All in all, I did enjoy this episode. It was so different from the other denser, more serious episodes and a bit of a break....and then not so much of a break either. Quite conflicting.
I am finished and sated for a while. This has been an enjoyable group . I came away with a renewed admiration for James Joyce. I hope all have a sense of accomplishment, this was a difficult book to read. Enjoy it many more times over the years.
I hope you don't leave me here alone, Carol. Drop in and help me to the end of the book. I hope to be done by the end of next weekend, now that I'm in the final stretch.The thing I've found most surprising about this book is how Joyce draws us in. It's a whirlwind of a ride. I hadn't expected to feel so beaten and confused and elated and glad for a pause/rest, etc. Joyce brings so many feelings and emotions into play by the movement and actions of Bloom. For example, there's the Beach scene, which was so restful, and the Brothel scene, which made me feel tossed around and beaten and just glad to be out of it.
Episode 16 has started sanely and slowly and with a sense of much more peace than Episode 15 had. It's another restful, peaceful pause so far. For a book that covers the course of one day only, it's rather humerous to think that the Reader needs "rest breaks".
He gives you peace then you get a whopper. It is a rollercoaster. I won't leave you alone. I am resting in the park . I want others to give their opinion of the book.
I'd like that, too. It's a daunting book...well worth it but daunting....and just being able to discuss things here has been very helpful for me. It may even have given me the energy to finish the book. I find that the appreciation for this book comes as one reads. It wasn't there in the beginning for me, anyways. I thought of putting it aside a couple of times but this group helped keep me going and then....it seemed to start coming together and I started to see the appeal and the intricacies.
As you accumulate more knowledge through out the years you can really get a chuckle out of the book. We are prone to take everything so seriously in our youth. Righteous indignation comes naturally to the young.
I'm still plugging away at this too, although it seems like I'm behind a lot of you. I'm currently working on Episode 8. I was getting a little frustrated, actually, because I've been having a terrible time distinguishing thoughts from actions from passing snippets of conversation, but I found an awesome website and it helped me pick back up: Ulysses: A marked up version. It's got all the chapters color-coded, so that you know what's internal monologue and what's outside description and so on. Some of the chapters also have annotations. If you're reading online, it's a huge help. Cait, I agree that it's really hard to read just a few pages of this. It does take time to get into the style. I think that reading Ulysses is kind of a skill, not because the subject matter is difficult, although sometimes it is, but because Joyce is so focused on the trivial. Sure, it makes sense that stream of consciousness writing would be that way. Our minds go through a million thoughts a day, and a lot of them are about completely trivial things. You'd think it'd be easier to keep track of, since it's what we do, but when it's our thoughts, those trivial things are all within our frame of reference. When it's someone else's frame of reference, it's really hard to follow. I keep getting tripped up by Bloom's recurring thoughts of Molly cheating on him, for example. Sure, it's of vital importance to him, but to me, it's nowhere near as big of a deal, and a lot of times it takes me a second to come back around to realizing, "Oh, he's thinking about Molly again," when for paragraphs before that he was on something that seemed completely unrelated to me.
I also can't help thinking that as hard as this is to read, it must have been at least as hard to write. No wonder it took Joyce years upon years to do! How do you get your mind into the mindset of a completely different person? I wonder which character was easier for him to write: Stephen or Bloom? I would guess Stephen, since he's pretty well based on Joyce himself. Which is ironic, because I feel like Stephen was so much harder to read and understand than Bloom, who's generally relatively straightforward.
Spot on analysis Tani. That web site is awesome.
Wow...I'm tired. It's been a long, Bloomin' day. After the Brothel scene, I quite enjoyed Bloom and Stephen's time together. They seemed to have covered a lot of ground, found out a lot about each other. Joyce leaves everything a bit up in the air, doesn't he? Will Stephen and he meet again and form a friendship? Will he and Molly stay together? And yet, there's a positive note and feel to it. I hope that positive note occurs.
I'll wait a day or two to read Molly's side.
All in all, I'm very glad I read this book with you all. There's so much more to this book than I had originally thought.
Tani, it is hard to keep track of things in this book with the stream of consciousness method of writing. At the beginning of the book, I wasn't a fan of it but as I got used to it, I found it quite effective in telling the story......a bit difficult, too. As you said, the triviality of what goes on in our heads would be confusing to others without the points of reference.
What I found interesting about Joyce's writing is how he can make the Reader feel in the same sense as his characters. The Reader feels pummelled and tired and confused and in need of a rest, etc. Joyce seems to have total control of these feelings and puts the pauses (easier episodes) right where they are needed to allow the Reader to recuperate and go on.
Everyone's comments have made this book bloom(a little pun). We need to have an archive, in case others feel compelled to tackle Ulysses in the future. I do not know how to do that. Petra I like what you said about being right there with the characters. That is so true. Joyce makes you interact with these characters. I think this is what makes the novel unique. You walk with them and listen to their conversations. You are there in the moment with them.
That is a great book. Joyce is a legend.
MG, tell us more. As a Newbie to Ulysses and Joyce, I'd be interested in all takes and thoughts. I think the more one knows about Joyce, his thoughts, other people's thoughts & interpretations, the more one can understand and appreciate Joyce's works. A couple of things that keep popping into my head. They probably don't have anything to do with how the story is interpreted but I thought I'd ask everyone's thoughts and opinions on them.
1. In Episode 15 (Circe) the setting is unreal and halucogenic. The idea is that everyone is extremely drunk. Could there have been more than drink involved? It seems so drug-orientated, in a way. Did Joyce intend to imply drugs, do you think?
2. Why do Bloom and Molly sleep head to toe? Marriage disputes? Or a habit of the times? Or something odd to Bloom & Molly?
I was reading the analysis from The Sheila Variations on Episode 17 (The Ithaca) and she states that in this episode the Reader is "catapulted into space, staring down, way way down, on Bloom and Dedalus". I found that surprising because I didn't get that feeling about the episode. I took it as a way of telling us of their conversation without the expense of added words...short snippets to let us know of how they spent their time, of their thoughts, agreements/disagreements in subjects, etc. I thought of it as a short-hand version of their time together. Not of an "omniscent voice asks questions. And another omniscent voice answers".
Bloom and Dedalus are suppose to represent father and son . Many father and son's do not communicate but have dialogues such as the ones in epidode 17. Ummm the drugs I didn't get that feeling. But definitely the drinking can alter words and actions,but mushrooms were common as were other opiates. Now you have me curious, I don't think Joyce was a drug user,but he could have experimented . Especially since he died of liver inflammation. I assumed he was a heavy drinker. Does anyone else know?
Oh, I'm not implying that he used drugs. Just that he may have tried to convey substances beyond alcohol with the ghosts and talking clocks & dogs and quick custume changes, etc. It leant a feeling of disconnectiveness and surrealism. I'm not sure if alcohol can get a person to that level so I just wondered. Joyce may have only been trying to communicate a very deep drunkenness and had nothing else in mind but that and he used the surrealism to portray a very inebriated state of mind.
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Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits (other topics)Ulysses Annotated (other topics)
Ulysses and Us (other topics)
The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses (other topics)
The Sound and the Fury (other topics)
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I have a new take on the book , maybe it really is a textbook of a sort. It is definitely a study in language, style, and content of literature. I never though of the book in that light before.