Ulysses

Rating:
Summary: Most Overrated Drivel of the Twentieth Century
Review: The greatest novel of the twentieth century? Hardly. A babbling, senseless tome upheld by "literary luminaries" who fear being cast into the tasteless bourgeois darkness for dissent? Yes, that's the gist. Joyce rambles and, moreover, Joyce doesn't say a blessed thing (save what literary critics assign him -- but that's what literary critics do: They find profundity -- not to mention the occasional phallic symbol -- in the midst of absolutely nothing.) The poor trees who gave their lives that _Ulysses_ might gather dust on countless shelves would have been put to nobler use as toothpicks. As for L. Renner, who claims that Joyce's dull (if bedlam) world parallels our own - that "we are all Leopold Bloom": I deny that I am so uncouth that I would exhibit such behavior on a public beach - in the midst of a fireworks display, to beat all! (Perhaps some literary critics unwind by doing such things on public beaches . . . To tell the melancholy truth, it wouldn't surprise me.) And if I wake up one dark morning to a world gone Joyce . . . Why, you may then hand me my cup of hemlock!

That said, I do not recommend James Joyce's _Ulysses_. Being, however, a charitable chap (and a chap who'd rather not be tarred, feathered and ridden on a rail by an agitated gaggle of bas bleus and "lettered" gentlemen), I've given Joyce a single, shining star. Charity, though, ends here. What Dryden has said of Richard Flecknoe will serve for Joyce:

"This Flecknoe found, who, like Augustus, young Was call'd to empire, and had govern'd long: In prose and verse, was own'd, without dispute Through all the realms of Non-sense, absolute."

Rating:
Summary: Impossible to give a review--just go out and read this work
Review: Ulysses is one of the most well-known books of the 20th century. It is highly praised by some, and it is loathed by others. In this case there can be no middle road. If you like a good, gripping story, then this is not your cup of tea. If you like literature for the sake of fine language, then you are on the right track. Joyce is not out to make the journey through this book easy, in that respect one may get the idea that the story of Ulysses is really the story of the reader's struggle through the book. But there are much riches to be found in it. Perseverance is the key. A reviewer here thinks the GertyMcDowell part to be the best, indeed it is the most readable chapter in the book because it is a parody of cheap 'women's' literature. The other chapters have their own strengths, and it is not unimaginable that each reader will have his or her own favorite chapter (for example, Molly Bloom's incredible soliloquy at the end of the book, or the eerie 'play'-chapter). Go click and buy this work of art, try it, and if you hate it, put it away and return to it in a few years. You may find you savor it then.

Rating:
Summary: Brobdignagian, Triumphant
Review: Plot? There is no plot? Hath life a plot? I think not. Life is a continual process, ebb and flow, rising and falling, like plate tectonics, like the ocean:constant movement, sometimes building to grand, pulsing, God-quaking climaxes before receding back into everyday lifes slowly humming grey. But sometimes not. Don't approach Ulysses looking for a coherent arc of plot, you're going to be disappointed(again, it hasn't one). Approach it more like Lolita, less concerned with the subject matter than with the beauty of its language; each word is a live, crawling jeweled beetle gnawing and burrowing through the dung of a day in the life of ad salesman Leopold Bloom, flittering their wings, busszing and forminng new patters, cresting and swirling into a cone, a tetracylone around an ordinary day in the life of an essentially ordinary Man. It works like a silhouette:each word, like a wort, pimple, hair or other blemish on a face defines its shape, as does ulyesses a life in the context of a single day(cf Finnegans Wake), through long sonorous sentences and chapters brimming like a cistern full of noisy pink coffee, out of which meaning blooms like a bloody Liebestod-singing rose, grabbing you. Even still, there is no meaning-ordering modern life? There is no order."Der Inhalt ist in den Augen einer Eule". Using The Odyssey to parallel Blooms avoidance of Molly is but a simple ploy, an act of acceptance and defeat, a concession of escape and resignation-much like those little pimply puke potsmoke fourteen year olds who compare their lives to popular songs. Don't hide. The pure organic beauty-tragic, erotic, hilarious, pathetic, and ulimtately affirmative runs through this novel like a vein of gold ore. Pick it up. Enjoy it at length. Enjoy it many times over-the more you read it the more you get. Don't seek God in Ulysses-Joyce's brilliance could certainly back up his notoriously mammoth arrogance but he was no seer, no mystic, but a human, flawed just like any other-instead, enjoy its beauty, and in it(eventually, but with time you will)recognize yourself, and every other human being on Earth-for am Ende we are all Leopold Bloom(nee Virag)--therein.

Rating:
Summary: a gimmick and then some
Review: Thi' got to be the worst, I- I - I mean the worst ever written book ever. Know why? 'Cause he' such a showoff, know what I MEAN? He's ingenious I'll giv' 'em that, but ingenuity my friends tire and enervate. Get to the point and stick to it 's my motto. The best part of the book is without a question the scene with Bloom, Gerty McDowell and company, but once you've figured it out you've figured it out.

Rating:
Summary: An odyssey through Ireland
Review: The Greek hero Ulysses (aka Odysseus in The Odyssey) is on his way home from the victorious Trojan War. He has to pass through many dangers, including the cave of the giant one-eyed cyclops and the magical woman who turns men into pigs, before he can return home to his faithful wife and free her from her unwanted suitors.

Well, not exactly, as the car rental commercials say. Our hero is Leo Bloom, a Jew in Ireland married to an Irish sexpot named Mollie. The evil cyclops awaiting Leo is a big one-eyed antisemite, and the cave is a bar. The woman who turns men into pigs is a dominatrix. The faithful wife is in bed right now with a man named Blazes Boylan. And our droll hero is avoiding home because he gets a perverse pleasure out of the whole situation.

Then there's the language of James Joyce. Buss her, wap in rogue's rum lingo, for, O, my dimber wapping dell. isn't whether or not to get the Cliff Notes, the question is which to read first, one chapter at a time, the book or the explanation. If you read the book first, you're giving yourself the chance to get it yourself. If you read the notes first, you'll have a much better idea what you're reading.

In a book that sometimes makes you dislike humanity, as when some stupid antisemite (there are many, in fact almost everyone) gives Leo a little dig, the single most beautiful moment comes in the 14th chapter. I'm not referring to Send us, bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit, or to Hoopsa, boyaboy, hoopsa! The most beautiful writing in the book is when Mrs Purefoy has her baby.

Reverently look at her as she reclines there with the motherlight in her eyes, that longing hunger for baby fingers (a pretty sight it is to see), in the first bloom of her new motherhood, breathing a silent prayer of thanksgiving to One above, the Universal Husband. And as her loving eyes behold her babe she wishes only one blessing more, to have her dear Doady there with her to share her joy, to lay in his arms that mite of God's clay, the fruit of their lawful embraces. He is older now (you and I may whisper it) and a trifle stooped in the shoulders....And Doady, knock the ashes from your pipe... 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!

It makes you think that life might be worth living after all, and that maybe God will one day say the same to you.

Rating:
Summary: Not For Everyone
Review: This is a fascinating book for those who have the patience and time to explore its intricate chapters and themes. Yet, it should not be forced upon anyone as required reading or for that matter anyone under the age of 21. The richess and complexity of the Circe episode alone earns a 5 star rating. Other episodes such as Cyclops, Ithica, Nausicaa and (of course) Penelope are memorable. There were times (Oxen of the Sun, Scylla and Charrybdis) that I just did not have the energy required to continue, but on the whole, a worthy venture.

It particularly helps if you can identify with the eroding dreams of either Leopold Bloom or Stephen Deedalus. That is why it may appeal to those who their 20's just making their way out in life or those who middle aged such as myself, who reflect upon what has gone down and what is yet to come.

Rating:
Summary: Intellectuals Delight
Review: Ulysses is the one novel that all self-avowed intellectuals love to say is their favorite. When I started reading Ulysses I was ready for what I thought would be the most exciting, thought-provoking, and exceptional work I had ever read. Instead, what I found was a piece of "work" that seemed to have been written by a ten-year old. I must give Joyce at least an A for effort in trying to create an entirley new literary style. The risks of doing so are extremely great and the rewards usually come many years after the work (and worker) has been finished. I also must say that I am glad his new style did not catch on. It may have ruined an entire decade, or more, of quality literature. Ulysses is the literary equivalent of cubism. And while Picasso's distorted faces and harsh angles succeed on the canvas, Joyce's attempt to bring them to the written page falls flat. The shame of it is that underneath Joyce's broken and harsh style one gets the sense that there is a very important and worthwhile story waiting to be told.

Rating:
Summary: Most Sublime work of art of the century
Review: There are a few things you need to understand Joyce. A willingness to set aside race hatred is one. The ability to follow a poet even though he uses a number of different writing styles and narrative techniques. The capacity to explore religious ideas which may not rigidly conform to your own fundamentalist views. And most of all a heart which can feel compassion for all humanity, not just your own myopic tribe, sect, or church. If you have just one of these qualities you will find an unforgettable, life-altering adventure in between the covers of this book. If there is any book out there that has the power to restore one's love for the human race it is Ulyssess.

Rating:
Summary: I disgaree with Virginia Wolf
Review: Those who attack Joyce and this book today are like the people who attack Einstein and his theory of relativity simply because they're to addled to understand the chaos and unity behind the mathematical symbols. In my experience as a teacher of undergraduates and as a published writer of fiction as well, I would like to say in response to comments by a so-called Phd English student, that criticising a monumental work of art that deals with the need for a personalised fiction in the fragmentation of twentieth century alienation, reflects an ignorance that boggles the mind. It is better to remain silent on what one doesn't understand than convince the world of one's lack of, well, insight. My suggestion to those who want to fathom what Joyce is trying to do is to check out what writers like Burgess have to say. And as for comments about male 'post-modernist' stuff, please read Grass's 'The Flounder' on what excess feminism is all about and learn to grow.

Rating:
Summary: the absolute pinnacle
Review: this book, more than any other work in history, literay or otherwise, stands out as the absolute pinnacle of human expression. what joyce did, obsessively and quite possibly a little madly, changed the scope of literature and art forever. any one who truly "gets" him is forced to marvel at his genius and revel in his audacity. p-h-d's are not required; education is not required: if you can read and you have a mind capable of being challenged and an imagination capable of expanding, you are ready to be dazzled by the most vivid, accessible display of pure genius ever produced by the species. any criticism is feeble when faced with the reality of the work. if this book is ever equaled, that day will be marked as one of the most significant in all of human history. it's all here.