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Ulysses
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Chunky Read ULYSSES with reading schedule
I finished the first three episodes and yes, the biblical references abound. As I read the stream of consciousness parts I could not help but think of William Faulkner and had to wonder who influenced who? It did turn out that Faulkner as a young man lived fairly close to Joyce, but being a very shy fellow, would never speak to Joyce, but was ultimately influenced by him. I then wondered about Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis which seems to be what is going on in the novel (at least to me) and yes, Freud did, through his writings and theories, open up new horizons to authors. Joyce did own copies of Freud's writings and it seems did incorporate them especially focusing on the parental aspects of Freud's analysises. Both Joyce and Faulkner were poor as dirt and both lost a parent at a fairly young age, Joyce a mother and Faulkner his father. So it was evident that these losses appear in their writings. He hated the church yet participated. How contrary, he attended services though vigorously attacking the church in his writing.
Obviously the Catholic element, was another major influence on Joyce. Joyce was born into the religion and although he went to mass, he never sat in a pew but stood far removed from the congregation. He was sacrilegious in his writing and the beginning of this story where a drunk Stephen and Mulligan are ritualistically "celebrating" mass is often referred to as a concept of a black mass. He hated the church, yet, could not remove himself from its presence. I find that fascinating.
Absolutely fascinating. It's this strange love/hate relationship - Joyce had it with the church, and also with Dublin. I love the comparison to Faulkner.
Thanks Becky. Did Joyce really expect an average reader to understand all of these references or was he intending an elite audience? I completely missed the antisemitic comments. Obviously, I don't understand everything that he is saying.
Yesterday, I read the section on Mr. Bloom and was just as confused as I was by Ch. 3. This also felt pretty stream of consciousness. There are so many sections that felt as if they rambled, phrases just strung together, languages switching mid paragraph, lists of sights or sounds. It seemed as if the high point of Mr. Bloom's morning was a visit to the out house to take a dump and the receiving of a note from some girl who appears to want to be his mistress, but who he hardly knows. Does Joyce think that all of his fellow Irish are depressed, pathetic losers with no direction in life? As a reader, am I supposed to like any of these folks? So far, the little I can understand, I don't like.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilrei...This was the 1922 NY Times review of the book. It was interesting and I loved the first paragraph and this...
Finally, I venture a prophecy: Not ten men or women out of a hundred can read "Ulysses" through, and of the ten who succeed in doing so, five of them will do it as a tour de force.
Right now reading it all I can think is that Joyce was an extremely angry man.
Mod
I think I feel more distane than anger in these pages. I get the feeling that Joyce sees most people and most human institutions as vastly inferior to him or his own intellect.
I think Joyce requires patience, generally. I know that later in this book he just drops punctuation for a while, and when I first read those chapters I was really tempted to give up. However, perhaps having the whole Ulysses experience will make it all worthwhile.I agree wholeheartedly with the Faulkner mention--I had Sound and the Fury flashbacks during chapter 3. Also, Stephen just seems really sad, resigned, and... I guess beaten down. He seems to have stepped out of life in favor of letting people like Buck and Deasy walk all over him. Personally, I will be rather glad to move onto Bloom. I was getting tired of Stephen's "blah" attitude.
Why does Stephen seem so amazed that little Sargent could have been once loved by a mother? just because he is a slow student? does that equate to unlovability?
I think Stephen is just looking at the students and noting that he doesn't really like Sargent, and how amazing it is that everyone, even those we don't like, comes from a family, (hopefully) is loved by their mother, and has many people in their lives.
I have finished the first bit about Bloom and have to say I had a repulsive/fascinated concept about the eating of the organ meat. I was not aware and thought incorrectly that Jewish people were not permitted to eat organ meat. They are only if it has been throughly cleaned (cleaved) of all blood. It seems that knowing the tenor of the time in Europe and that antisemitism was rampant, that the presentation of Bloom as a major character was another "in your face" move by Joyce. He seems to like to do that, ruffle your feathers, tic you off, make you disgusted, angry etc. Not a lot of happiness yet, is there?
Some have said that there is no "understanding" of his works, that he was just "having the reader on." He did like to push quite heavily against all our sensibilities I think. Was he a genius or just a frustrated man who railed against everything that made one a human, an Irishmen, a Catholic?
I know that we are not assigned to discuss Bloom until week's end, but I was confused. I thought he was on his way to a funeral. But then he ends up at a Catholic Mass. That Mass has no reference to being a funeral Mass, no mourners, no casket, just some sodality girls kneeling at the Communion rail. Did I miss anything?
Irene wrote: "I know that we are not assigned to discuss Bloom until week's end, but I was confused. I thought he was on his way to a funeral. But then he ends up at a Catholic Mass. That Mass has no referen..."I am not up to that part yet, Irene, but yes, he was going to go to a funeral....not sure if it was an "Irish" wake or an actual mass yet...or both...(strange though for Jew of that time to attend a mass though...)
I suddenly realized that Bloom was not really Jewish in the true sense of what I understand Judism to be. His mother was not Jewish and it is through the mother that Judism is passed I believe. So, it would be natural I think for him to be in a Catholic church since he was baptized a Catholic.
And, I read more and he got to the funeral, I think it is a graveside service. I could not find any service in a church. I have read for several more hours. I have no idea how far into the book I am because my computer copy has no chapter or page numbers. This book is disorienting enough as it is. I don't need such markers to be missing. I tell you, I have little idea what is going on. I can get specific actions such as riding in a carriage to a cemetary or eating a cheese sandwich. But, all the dialogue/monologue between these moments of action is absolutely unintelligible to me. I have no idea why anyone would want to ban this book. No one except some scholar could possibly understand it. It could not corrupt anyone's morals. However, I have discovered that it is an excellent cure for insomnia.
Mod
Irene, you crack me up!
Won't you feel proud of yourself when you actually finish this one though and can honestly say "Yes, I have read Ulysses."
That self awarded gold star is my only motivation to continue right now. I have been admitting my frustration and bewilderment to some friends locally and they all question why I would continue reading a mamith volume that I found incomprehensible. I am stubborn is my only answer.
I got the gold star when I finished War and Peace. I have to say though that compared to that, this one is not as bad.....
Marialyce - I must say that I found War and Peace much harder than Ulysses That one I did trudge through to get the gold star.Each chapter is in a different style - that also makes it a little hard to approach - some chapters were much easier for me than others.
Irene - I wonder if another Kindle version with chapter #s might help? I just looked at my Penguin edition which cost $0.95. It has numbers for the sections, and a little line for the chapters. I probably only knew the chapter because of my other references I was using. It's set up in a way that is nicely readable.
As far as obscenity - we haven't gotten to Molly Bloom yet of the infamous soliloquy which is in the last chapter... "yes I said yes I will Yes."
Becky, I am not reading a Kindle version. I am reading a Book Share version. I think a good part of my problem is the lack of plot. We just seem to ramble on and on and get no where. I just finished a description of a ludicrous hanging in which the crowd acts as if they are at a sporting event, the girlfriend acts as if she is in the middle of a romantic commedy only to go off with some stranger who appears with an engagement proposal and the date of St. Patrick day is decided by adding together the dates of two feuding groups. That seemed to be in the middle of a bar conversation and I have no idea what it was doing there. And we are back at the bar in a conversation that I can't make heads or tails of while some dog skulks around. And Shakespiere seems to be a point of contension, but I can't figure out what the arguement is about on that topic either.
Hmmm. I'm befuddled. Is this the chapter with the old man who throws something at Bloom? I remember the dog in that part.
CHAPTER FOUR - cliff notes summaryThe fourth chapter of Ulysses begins at 8:00 a.m. with Leopold Bloom making breakfast in the kitchen of the Blooms' home at 7 Eccles Street. Bloom feeds the cat some milk, walks to Dlugacz's butcher shop to buy a kidney for his breakfast, and feels depressed as a cloud covers the sun. He returns home, where he brings in the morning mail (containing a letter from Boylan) to Molly, who is still in bed; he eats his breakfast, then brings Molly's breakfast to her (she is still in bed); Bloom hears church bells and thinks of the funeral for Paddy Dignam, which he must attend. The motif of food in the episode suggests a strong parallel between Bloom of "Calypso" and Stephen of "Telemachus," the two episodes taking place at the same time.
This chapter also parallels the Odyssey in that just as Odysseus (Ulysses) was held as a love captive for seven years by the beautiful nymph Calypso, so also is Bloom, in a sense, a prisoner of his wife, Molly. Bloom, however, seems to be a more willing captive than his Greek prototype, and even in his first appearance in the novel, Bloom's bondage is tinged with hints of masochism.
Marialyce -- you are quite right in regards to Judaism. It is the belief that you are what your mother is because you are certain of parentage by the mother, the father's identity can be doubtful!
On a quick note. I just finished watching the movie My Week with Marilyn(Monroe). There was a scene where they zoomed in on Marilyn and next to her was a small table with a book and reading lamp. The book, of course, was Ulysses!
Becky, The part I was talking about above ended with some sortof disagreement, Bloom (I think) escaped in a car. The next scene is Cissy, Gerty and Edy at the shore with some little kids and Gerty dreaming about men. It ends with a fireworks display a nd then we see Bloom wet and wandering all over the place in his thoughts. That transitions to a section written in archaic language, set in a castle, with Sir Leapold and Sir Steven etc around a board discussing theology. Does that tell you where I am?
Irene - Yes! The scene in the bar is Cyclops - Which is Episode 12. Bloom's friend gets him out of there and he goes to Sandymount to visit Dignam's widow. Episode 13 is Nausicaa, where they are on the beach.The archaic language is the beginning of Episode 14 - Oxen of the Sun. The chapter actually takes place in a hospital, and Joyce uses a chronological journey of different languages from Latin to modern slang as a metaphor for gestation. It is also considered one of the hardest chapters of the book. Also this is the first chapter where Bloom and Stephen meet.
CHAPTER FIVE Cliff notes summaryThis chapter begins at about 10:00 a.m. Bloom has walked approximately a mile from 7 Eccles Street to get to the Westland Row Postal Annex, where he will pick up his letter from Martha Clifford. A careful study of a Dublin street map reveals that Bloom has actually gone out of his way to get to the post office and that, in this chapter, his meanderings form a complete circle. Bloom's circuitous wanderings point both to his guilt over the clandestine correspondence with Martha and to his unwillingness to secure a communication from her that might commit him to take a definite step in their so-far platonic relationship. The wandering also fits in with the dreamy, confused, drugged atmosphere of this chapter, which describes, as it were, various types of "lotus eating."
In Homer's epic, Odysseus and his men come to the land of the lotus-eaters, a hospitable tribe who have a fault: they are generous to excess, offering Odysseus's men a food that makes them forget their quest to return home; some of the crew, of course, eat the flowers and must be physically compelled by Odysseus to leave the country of their soporific hosts. Joyce, as a parallel, saw Ireland as a veritable land of lotus-eaters, its people dwelling in lethargic bondage to the Catholic Church and to their own unrecognized (or unadmitted) sexual yearnings, and he fills this episode with various types of drowsy, sleep-inducing means of escape from reality.
CHAPTER FOUR - CALYPSOThis begins part 2 - Chapters 4-15, the Wandering of Ulysses. Leopold Bloom leaves his home and is trying to find his true home.
The Bloom's marriage is in tatters. Their infant son died in 1894, and they have been adrift since. Molly has been celibate for those years, but has just begun an affair with Blazes Boylan - a man she sings with.
BTW - Blazes is also a symbol for Oliver St. John Gogarty. In Joyce's mind, this guy was a combination of the irreverent Buck Mulligan and Blazes. Nice.
There is much in the chapter referring to cuckolds. The nursery rhymes, "then licking the saucer clean" from Jack Sprat could eat no fat (Jack sprat was an epithet for dwarf), "Thin bread and butter" from Little Tommy Tucker Sings for His Supper with a later line "How will he be married without a wife". Also the reference to "La ci darem la mano" is from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni where Don Giovanni attempts to seduce the peasant girl "Zerlina" from her fiance.
The potato was a little odd for me. It's a little metal talisman of a potato that his mother gave Bloom, symbolic of the continuity of life and the Jewish tradition of having a potato being the central dish in the ritual meal following a funeral. It's also a reminder of Irish history - it being a staple for Irish peasants, and the potato blight that caused the famine.
Different store names were stores that existed in 1904.
The painting "Bath of the Nymphs" is fictional, but it also refers to Molly as a Nymph, or Calypso. She is also mysterious, thus she has hidden the torn envelope under her pillow. Also her braiding her hair is a reference to this part of "The Odyssey".
Songs - many of the songs listed were popular during the period, "Seaside Girls", (funky in 1904 Dublin meant afraid, timid or excessively nervous), "Love's Old Sweet Song".
One of my reference books is by Frank Delaney - James Joyce's odyssey: a guide to the Dublin of Ulysses. Let me quote the opening paragraph:"Reading Ulysses is one of the pleasures of life. It is a vast, entertaining, funny, absorbing, exciting, complex, immensely enjoyable novel, a book to get lost in, a book to take to a desert island, a book to keep by your bedside and discover each day something new, a book to be quoted from, recalled, discussed, contemplated, bequeathed, bestowed, above all to be relished, savoured, a work of intelligence and delight. But ever since it was published on James Joyce's fortieth birthday, the 2nd of February 1922, generations of readers have faltered. "I will finish it this time!" muttered the cinemagoers when Joseph Strick's film of Ulysses was shown: Joyce's novel is still, to many, a literary obstacle course and the reader whose stamina fails often feels guilty."
Joyce's critics have been mixed from "He wrote nothing that wasn't a masterpiece" to "Mr. Joyce is a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples".
The views vary as wildly as the story does. It certainly is not for everybody. It can be a self inflicted journey through hell or a grand adventure. For me, this makes literature glorious.
Wow, I never caught the lotus-eating sleep-inducing sense. I also started to wonder about Molly. There were places where Bloom seems to speak about her as if she is a child, or at least a child when he first noticed her sexually. I began to wonder if Molly was his daughter and if he was vilating her. But, then I see other places that she is his wife. Was Molly supposed to be much younger than Bloom?
CHAPTER FIVE - LOTUS EATERSMeandering chapter as Bloom wanders around, trying to decide what to do.
Lots of references to genitals, and different flowers, drugs, herbs or teas to follow the lotus eater part of "The Odyssey". The part about different meanings for flowers was an elaborate Victorian tradition to express sentiment.
More references to stores and people who were in 1904 Dublin.
Bloom does stop in a church where Mass is being conducted. In my notes he was a Christian, but born a Jew. Reminds me of the Nazi's view of what Jewish was.
A few charachters from Joyce's previous book Dubliners pop up (Holohon, Bob Doran, Bantam Lyons, Mrs. McCoy, Mary Cunningham, Martin Cunningham).
The play "Leah" is "Leah the Forsaken", a translation by John Augustin Daly of the German play "Deborah" by Salomon Hermann Mosenthal was an attack on anti-Semitism. The actress Millicent Palmer was a noted American actress acclaimed for her flamboyant, operatic acting and she did play Hamlet.
As Bloom wanders he also thinks about different religions, Jewish, Catholic, Buddhism, Charlatanism, Protestanism. Also his standing in the church because he is a Freemason.
Bloom is wandering because he can't decide what to do about whether or not to pursue the affair with Martha Clifford, but he's also mulling over religion, several references of "Who is the Man" from a painting Joyce wrote about, and parts of the Mass, and Rossini's "Stabat Mater".
Several references to Guinness - the plant and Lord Iveagh, Edward Cecil Guinness, earl of Iveagh. (This book always makes me want to savor a stout).
Wraps up by cleansing himself at a turkish bath.
Irene wrote: "Wow, I never caught the lotus-eating sleep-inducing sense. I also started to wonder about Molly. There were places where Bloom seems to speak about her as if she is a child, or at least a child w..."Leopold was born in 1866, and Molly in 1870. She was 18 when they were married, and he was 22. Molly's stage name is Marion Bloom. I think because of the celibacy after the death of Rudy, he wants to think of her sexually, but doesn't know how to begin. A lot of his journey is to get home, home to her as truly his wife and sexual partner, and home past the hurt of the death of Rudy, their infidelities. He wants her to be his Penelope.
They do have a daughter, Milly. The Molly/Milly bit sometimes confused me. Bloom adores Milly and is very proud of her. Nothing amiss there.
Chapter 6 SummaryThis episode begins at about 11:00 a.m. outside the house of the deceased Paddy Dignam in Sandymount. Bloom is entering the carriage, which will follow behind Dignam's hearse, together with Martin Cunningham, Mr. Power, and Simon Dedalus (who appears here in person for the first time in the novel). The carriage, which is littered inside with the crumbs of a picnic and, in addition, has mildewed leather, passes an old woman who is peeking at the funeral procession through a window in her house. Bloom spies young Stephen Dedalus, and the other men look at him, Bloom noticing his mourning hat; Simon Dedalus speaks up and curses Buck Mulligan, who he thinks is ruining his son. The carriage also passes Blazes Boylan Oust as Bloom is thinking of him), and it also passes a small coffin holding the corpse of a child. The ceremony at the graveside records Bloom's thoughts about death — the contemplations of one who is outside of Catholicism. The chapter ends (still in Glasnevin Cemetery) with Bloom's telling the solicitor, John Henry Menton, of a dent in his (Menton's) hat and being rebuffed for his remark. Menton was defeated by Bloom (by luck) at a game of bowls 17 years previous (with the young, unmarried Molly looking on), and Menton still holds a grudge.
The conversation of the four men in the funeral carriage relates to several motifs in Ulysses. For example, Bloom's memories of his father's suicide, thoughts brought on by Mr. Power's rambling comments, reinforce the father-son theme; and old Rudolph Bloom's dying request that Leopold take care of his dog, Athos (a parallel to Odysseus's faithful old dog Argos), suggests the novel's god-dog concept; the word Athos, in fact, contains a hint of the word theos — that is, God. Also, the men discuss the son of Reuben J. Dodd, who tried to drown himself because his father insisted that the son end an unsuitable love affair. A boatman saved young Dodd, and his parsimonious father gave him only a florin tip for his troubles; Simon Dedalus's comment, "One and eightpence too much," typifies the personality of this stiff, but often humorous, Micawber-like father. At the graveside, the men see a mysterious 13th mourner, a man wearing a Macintosh coat; this is a visitant whose identity will never be disclosed in Ulysses, although he will appear in the newspaper report as being one of those at the burial.
Mod
It is so nice to be able to read those and think "ah, so that is what that meant!" :o)
I just finished chapter 7 tonight, and now I would like to know what is up with all the Titles every few paragraphs? None of the other chapters so far have had Titles (not sure what else to call them) all through the chapter. Why this one?
I thought of them as headlines, since a chunk of the chapter takes place at a newspaper office. Spark Notes suggests that their placement is indicative of someone outside of the text being responsible for its order. Personally, the headlines made me think of divisiveness, which this book makes me think of frequently. In this case, the divisiveness that comes from newspapers and their "slants" in modern society--and differing political slants are something that I've always associated with Ireland. Another possibility that occurred to me is that it's a comment on how we use text. Journalists are a group that are expected to keep to a particular style of organization and even a certain vocabulary. Conversely, Joyce (clearly) can do whatever he wants with text.
What does everyone else think of the titles/headlines of chapter 7?
Thanks for the summaries. I was confused about the Molly, Marian & Milly Bloom names. I was not sure if they were the same person or different persons. This is helpful. I am also finding the way thoughts and conversations and descriptions get interrupted by different sets of thoughts or descriptions. I sometimes can't figure out what happend in the distant past, what is going on at the same time in a different place, what is simply musings. For example, the young man that tried to drown himself just seemed to come from no where and I could not figure out why he was thrown in. Nor could I figure out why we were suddenly at a Catholic Mass. I knew that we were on the way to a funeral and thought it was possibly the funeral Mass, but then there is no funeral. Is Bloom deliberately trying to disorient? to blur time? to confuse what is happening inside and outside the head of characters? I am also finding conversations confusing. When there are multiple speakers, I often find it confusing who is speaking. The use of incomplete sentences (which I understand is how people talk) leaves me floundering. I also find myself lost by the use of expressions or vocabulary that is unfamiliar.
Good luck! I love Ulysses I've read it three times. The first time in High School for an after school reading group. My favorite chapter is Oxen and the Sun where they go through the history of the english language- it's really cool. Good luck!
Wow, Tyler, You read this in high school. I really feel stupid now. I can't even understand HS reading material.
Lol, Don't feel stupid at all. It wasn't for the general curriculum, you had to be invited by the teacher, get your parents permission and we read a chapter a week for the entire spring semester, I used lots of support material and then we had a weekly discussion about everything. I couldn't have read it without
and
I wrote and post-it'd that think like there was no tomorrow- I can read it now without those books, but only because the margins are covered in pencil additions and flags with Latin translation and Hamlet references. There was also an awesome internet sight back then James Joyce portal something, prior to reading Ulysses after school we did read Dubliners and Portrait for class- everyone had to read those, the reading group started with 30 students and only 5 of us actually finished it. There's also a cute 90's animation we found amusing in class- warning spoilers at the link :) http://thattherepaul.com/features/ufo...
Stick with it though! It's totally worth it, especially the catechism episode- Ithaca- its great once you get to that point that things can be so easy and straight forward. I just love that book! I may have to start reading some of my favorite parts of it this weekend :) Enjoy!!!
Cassie wrote: "I thought of them as headlines, since a chunk of the chapter takes place at a newspaper office. Spark Notes suggests that their placement is indicative of someone outside of the text being responsi..."They are supposed to be newspaper headlines, every chapter has a different literary structure that is used. There are sub-references upon sub-references upon sub-references in Ulysses, my fave is Episode 14 Oxen and the Sun it goes through the history of written english language- Episode 17 Ithaca is catechism
Ya, Well, I would never have gotten into such an elite reading program. And, I have to chuckle. No internet when I was in HS, we were learning punch cards. So, I am now feeling old and stupid. Hahahahahah
Almost finished with the Hades part and the death and dying and murder sure is a big thing. I know that the Irish are pretty well known as religious yet superstitious people. I had to think how very morbid the section was (not that there really has been much yet that I feel to be uplifting.) It is the concern for death and dying that is inherent in the section, although treated in a off handed and sometimes humorous way (bury people vertically and eventually their heads might stick out) Joyce flirts with the concept almost being reverential in one sentence or phrase followed by a phrase that is frivolous and trite. He respects death yet fears it and the religious piece it plays in the ceremony of death is made fun of yet, he does include it. This book is a study in dichotomies I think.
Later... I finished but I did not pick up on the antisemitism as much as the notes seem to indicate. I did see though how the men seemed to only tolerate Bloom. He was not part of the click.
Chapter 7 SummaryThe episode begins at noon in the newspaper offices of the Weekly Freeman and National Press and the Freeman's Journal and National Press. The sprawling building also houses the Evening Telegraph, all of the above papers being under common ownership. After the burial of Dignam, the funeral coaches have taken the mourners to the center of Dublin, and Bloom has gone directly to the printing works of the combined newspapers in connection with the advertisement for Alexander Keyes.
The episode corresponds with the Odyssey in two main respects. In Homer's epic, Aeolus, the custodian of the winds, gave Odysseus a great boon: all adverse winds, which could hamper his return to Ithaca, were sealed tightly in a leather bag. Within sight of home, Odysseus's men, out of curiosity and greed, opened the bag as their leader dozed, and both the crew and the commander were blown back, off their course. In Ulysses, the newspaper headlines, reproduced in large type, parody the often windy, empty journalism that makes up the daily news. And Bloom, within sight of "home" — that is, successfully negotiating the Keyes advertisement — is foiled in his attempt by the demanding Keyes and by the irritation of Bloom's own boss, Myles Crawford, the editor.
Bloom's movements in "Aeolus," form, as it were, a mini-odyssey by themselves, and they must be carefully traced. At the beginning of the episode, it seems that Bloom will have no trouble with the Keyes advertisement. Red Murray cuts out a past version of it and tells Bloom, who is to take the snipped-out square to the Telegraph wing of the building, that the Freeman's Journal will indeed run a paragraph (gratis), calling attention to Keyes's establishment.
Trouble begins, though, when Bloom meets Councillor Nannetti, the business manager for the Freeman's Journal. Nannetti is an Italian and, like Bloom, he is an outsider, but Nannetti has succeeded in making himself accepted by Dubliners and is a member of the Dublin city council. (In fact, the actual Nannetti — Joseph Patrick — served as mayor of Dublin in 1906 and 1907.) Nannetti agrees to print the paragraph about Keyes's establishment, but only with the condition that Keyes guarantees to run the advertisement for three months. Bloom explains that Keyes wants the design of the advertisement changed to a rebus of two crossed keys, a design that appeared in a Kilkenny paper (the Kilkenny People) and, furthermore, he will go to the National Library to track down this particular design. This journey will place Bloom in the library at the same time that Stephen is there in "Scylla and Charybdis."
Cassie wrote: "I thought of them as headlines, since a chunk of the chapter takes place at a newspaper office. Spark Notes suggests that their placement is indicative of someone outside of the text being responsi..."Hey Cassie - Each chapter is a different style - so like Tyler said, Chapter 7 is supposed to be like a news room.
Tyler wrote: "Lol, Don't feel stupid at all. It wasn't for the general curriculum, you had to be invited by the teacher, get your parents permission and we read a chapter a week for the entire spring semester, I..."Tyler - I so agree! I used the same references, and spent two months and loved every minute. I've been having fun with this group bringing up some of the references I think might be helpful. But it is soooo dense! Love it!
Also have you checked out Frank Delaney's podcast "Re: Joyce" (pronounced rejoyce)? Glorious.
Sorry - behind on the subsequent notes for chapters 6 and 7. I'll try to get to those in the next couple of days.
I also did not pick up on the antisemitism in that section. Honestly, I found the conversation in the carriage impossible to make heads or tails of. I could not figure out who was talking or what they were trying to say. I think that was the first place where my brain started to shut down and I felt as if I would never make sense of this book. I wonder if I need to re-read in a different format. I am reading a copy from Book Share. It is being read via computer software that simply converts text into speech. Pronounciations are not always accurate. Punctuation can get missed. There is no way to identify the start of a new line of dialogue or paragraph break easily. I am wondering if this is simply inadequate to the task of this dense novel. Maybe I need to find a audio book version which is well narrated. Does anyone know of one? If not, maybe I need to go to the Library of Congress Braille library for a Braille version which may allow me to read with more accuracy.
Becky Colorado wrote: "Tyler wrote: "Lol, Don't feel stupid at all. It wasn't for the general curriculum, you had to be invited by the teacher, get your parents permission and we read a chapter a week for the entire spri..."Becky I am loving Frank Delaney, I downloaded the first 20 episodes and am going to listen to it on my commute, so excited :)
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Do you have a digital book player?
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Books mentioned in this topic
South of Broad (other topics)Middlemarch (other topics)
Fifty Shades of Grey (other topics)
Moby-Dick or, The Whale (other topics)
Ulysses (other topics)
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Pat Conroy (other topics)Frank Delaney (other topics)
Hang in there - and thank you for your indulgence - I really love this, it brings out my lit nerd side.