Ulysses

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Summary: this is THE desert island book
Review: As an avid reader, I've often thought, "Which book would I want to take with me to a desert island if I could only pick one book." Others like the Bible, or Dante's Inferno, or the Odyssey have crossed my mind, but in terms of revealing almost infinite possibilities, Ulysses is my pick, hands down. Recently I've reread some of it, but I read the book in a full in graduate school. For first time readers, my advice is, don't be intimidated! Unlike Finnegan's Wake which is not really "readable" by a normal person (okay, if you happen to be able to understand word puns in 27 different languages -- I don't mean to insult anyone...), I find that with some background preparation, Ulysses is very readable. As background, you should reread the Odyssey since each book is based on a corresponding book of the Odyssey. Then, you should get one or two guides to reading Ulysses (Gilbert has an easy to follow one) and try reading one chapter of Ulysses while keeping open the pages in the commentary (may remind some readers of biblical study). In fact, reading this book is the closest I think a non-rabbinical student will come to an exercise like reading Talmud (which comments on the Bible). The experience is infinitely rewarding and will teach you more about reading than any course you could take. The basic plot of the book is not at all hard to follow and there is an abundance of ribald humor. Lest you think Ulysses is "upscale" think again!

Let me be clear: this is THE masterwork of the 20th century. It holds up well as one of the greatest of all time. No serious writer has escaped its influence. When you tackle it, you will understand what a great literary achievement is. After reading it for the first time, I become a Joyce fanatic. I'd also recommend both the Ellman biography of Joyce and the even better (in my opinion) biography of his wife Nora. You'll learn lots about Ulysses by reading both of these books as well. Don't be intimidated -- jump in head first. You will not be disappointed.

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Summary: A Man From Ireland...
Review: James Joyce's Ulysses has been hailed as a masterpiece since its publication in 1922. This tale of the adventures of advertising salesman Leopold Bloom on June 16, 1904, in Dublin is a remarkable conflation of mythology, symbolism, philosophy, social realism, and humanity. Bloom's relationships with wife Molly and surrogate son Stephan Dedalus reflect the simple decency of the common man. There is no doubt that reading Ulysses places great demands on the intellect of the reader. Joyce's intentions in writing Ulysses, to present a totally realistic view of one day in the life of ordinary Dublin citizens, yet at the same time to weave into this a grand parallel with Homer's Odyssey and on a smaller scale to deal with issues as complicated as those of Irish politics and religion, mean that before they come upon the novel, it is necessary for the reader to have a wide base of knowledge. The act of interpretation becomes not a burden but an essential part of the act of reading Ulysses for without it the reader might not gain the sense that they are one of the people that the novel is addressed to, rather than just an observer of a finite experience...

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Summary: Quentissentially modern novel; difficult but rewarding
Review: Joyce's Ulysses has been called a lot of things, most of them not flattering. I think the reason most people don't like Ulysses is that is is unlike any other novel, and cannot be treated as 'ordinary.'

This day in the life of Leopold Bloom holds everything from insights into the nature of existence, opinions ranging from useful to mundane, and observations on, well, everything. Joyce manages to write a book which leads us through the minds of several characters as they live an ordinary, utterly unspectacular day. This technique is certainly unique, and utterly defines the concept of literary realism.

To appreciate this book is to take it on its own terms. To gloss over the passages in which Leopold is daydreaming about triffles (as he does, as we all do. And that is the point.) does not hurt the reader in terms of understanding the plot. You don't so much as read this novel, as much as experience it. The reader is intended to be bored when Leopold is bored, excited when he is, and vaguely aware in-between. As one reviewer pointed out, the book is best understood when read aloud. I'm not sure if this is by design or simply because of Joyce's lyrical prose, but it's a good strategy especially in the tough passages.

In all respects a classic, even if difficult at times. Influenced nearly everything else after it. Highly recommended.

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Summary: x
Review: Preface by stating difficulty of full appreciation and fair comment on Ulysses on first reading. One proceeds ungrounded in the various contexts exposed to the author's unique and various styles wherein apparently Joyce attempts creation of reality by limiting his writing to the thoughts and communications of his characters without the crutches of traditional literature. Unknown to me why Joyce chose this particular style, though I speculate he must have wanted to illustrate the irrational nature of the thought process, and perhaps to show off the workings of his own mind. Joyce combines this method with what seems a deliberate effort of obscurity rather than clarity, complexity rather than simplicity, often degenerating into incoherence. He flits about continuously over dozens of subjects within the same page, and most often seems unwilling, or perhaps unable, to bring it all together causing frequent head scratchings for the skeptical reader. But in all this is an author so obviously brilliant that you chug on even when hopelessly lost, always expecting the bells to chime and lights to come on. There are many well done scenes, for me--the first chapter of young men bantering, the classroom in chapter 2, poignant expression of husband and wife relations with bloom and molly in the bedroom, and bloom back in bed after a night of carousing; an ending soliloquy that finally puts women in their place, and could that have been done more effectively--all rendered in writing flashing ability equivalent to the all time best. An imperfect book, but as many reviews note, it is a book on so many levels that generalization is impossible. I will appreciate Ulysses for what I believed it was, which is a lighthearted humorous thought provoking exposition in the style of the author of his own significant gifts.

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Summary: Ulysses reconsidered.....
Review: A few years back I submitted a highly negative review of this book, which irritated a lot of people. So, a few months ago, I decided to revisit the whole issue and went out and got Hugh Kenner's latest book on Ulysses, as well as the novel itself, and thoroughly enjoyed both of them for a month or so.

However, I can now offer an actual reason for my earlier reservation. As Kenner points out, Joyce's main innovation in this book was to leave out all expository writing. (Expository writing is typically scene-setting, introducing characters, and giving background information.) Joyce regarded this with utter distaste -- the author yapping about his characters rather than displaying them directly.

So: Ulysses begins (roughly) "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan descended the staircase..."

A more conventional novel might have begun (roughly): "In 1892, Stephen Dedalus and Buck Mulligan were sharing rooms in a ruined tower just outside of Dublin. "One Monday morning, Stephen observed stately, plump Buck Mulligan descending the staircase...." and so on.

Now, the problem with this new "direct method" is that a character who is bald and bearded can get up and go to a funeral without bothering to reflect on the fact that he is bald and bearded and going to a funeral. His behavior, though directly observed, remains (or can remain) utterly mysterious. He doesn't think about his beard because it's no surprise to him!

As a result of this, Joyce produced a book which we have been trying to figure out for more than fifty years, and scholars will tell you with a straight face that you really need the 1904 street guide to Dublin to figure out some of the finer points.

Around the same time, Marcel Proust published "In Search of Lost Time," a brilliant novel which continued to use the time-honored techniques of expository writing.

So, did Joyce's experiment work? Kenner, a good man, says "Yes." And there's no question that Joyce was a master of English.

I think there is room for legitimate disagreement on this subject. At the very least, I cannot see that novels lacking expository writing have taken over. I'm not sure I see a single imitator anywhere.

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Summary: Celebrating the Bloom in All of Us
Review: "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed." "Ulysses" begins with an easily understood sentence, identifiable actions and objects, and little of the puns, ambiguities (well, except for what word "stately" modifies) and symbols (ok, maybe the cross on the bowl of lather) for which Joyce is read, and, perhaps just as often, not read.

I think it's well worth reading; in fact, it's probably my favorite book (so far), one to which I return often. I think the key to enjoying--rather than just finishing--the book is that it can be read on many levels. One can choose to decode every historical, literary, and religious allusion, the staggering play of words, and sometimes barely comprehensible inner dialogue. I recommend decoding these selectively--they do add meaning and humor--but to also read this as a kind of tone poem, in which language itself is celebrated and elaborated, with passages of great humor and sympathy. A non-slavish interpretation of the book, enables one to laugh (out loud, even) at the rich humor, to identify with the struggles of every-person Leopold Bloom, and to savor, Zen-like, the sound soup without total comprehension. In addition to Joyce's mastery and subversion of the language, there are larger issues: A liberal critique of ethnocentrism, nationalism, dogmatism, and vanity. Criticized by some as degrading the human spirit (see Jeffrey Segall's "Joyce in America" for a very good review of critical reactions), it is really a celebration of it, finding dignity and soul in the flaws and triumphs of the "common" person.

I can also recommend some books to negotiate the complexities of the book, especially "Ulysses Annotated" (by Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman), "The Ulysses Guide" (Nicholson), "James Joyce: A to Z" (Fargnoli and Gillespie), and "Ulysses, Portals of Discovery" (McCarthy). (All of these available at Amazon.) While I kept the Gifford and Seidman book handy, and think it enhanced my appreciation of "Ulysses,"it is definitely not necessary to solve every allusion and ambiguity. In fact, appreciation of ambiguity is just one of the book's many facets. Just embrace and enjoy "Ulysses"; it is one of the funniest and wisest books you'll read.

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Summary: Readers Are Idiots
Review: I didn't think I'd be writing books reviews 30 years after leaving school. But... There is a certain class of author -- George Meredith was one of the first to express this viewpoint -- who has the opinion "if you can't figure out what this is all about in the first chapter, you are intellectually unworthy to read my book." That is arrogance of the first order. Joyce, Faulkner (in some cases), and others of the "I'm too deep for you, dummy" school have massive good press from academics. Books like this keep them in tenure, one can devote a whole semester to explaining what is happening on Bloomsday. If you don't have to read this book, you shouldn't bother. Good books don't have to be 'literary', just have to be readable and make sense. There are of course good moments in Ulysses, especially if you have ever been to an Irish pub, but you really have to dig for them.

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Summary: The definitive modernist text
Review: A stylistically sprawling, richly symbolic, discursive fresco, "Ulyssess" remains the one book that has pushed the form of the novel to explorative extremes. Not to be perused at leisure, but to be studied with diligent effort, it will be regarded as a death sentence by the average reader, but for the genuine lover of literature it's a treat. "Ulyssess" is an elephantine, pedantic, sometimes self-indulgent novel. At first reading, one might feel intimidated by it, which is why student guides and annotated editions are so essential. In reality, it's a very touching and candid book and not as bullying as it seems at all, but an encounter with the most familiar and daily incidents, embedded in the intimacies of lived experience. For all his dense allusiveness and linguistic acrobatics, Joyce's message is so simple that it almost seems a commonplace: the human need to love and be loved. At the same time, though it has been proclaimed as possibly the most individual and innovative novel of the century, one will discover that it's neither individual (with its polyphonic multiple registers) nor innovative (with its reliance on mining pop culture, Celtic traditions, literary precedents -- which were already extant). The really innovative novel of this type was "Tristram Shandy".

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Summary: Nothing short of astounding
Review: I often compare Joyce to an epoch: The Ancient Greeks (collectively), Shakespeare, and Joyce. These are the masters that produce works whose breadth is overwhelming. It is a shame, on the one hand, that a mind such as Joyce's only surfaces every few hundred years. However, it is fortunate (especially for Literature majors and graduate students) that the frequency is so minimal. When I first read Ulysses, I had prepared myself with years of literary training and hours upon hours of reading. The first impression was numbing yet inspiring. In the aftermath of having read the work, I find myself reflecting back upon this work more than any other (this is saying quite a bit coming from a student of American literature). Be prepared with numerous secondary sources, including Ellmann's biography, and expect nothing short of extraordinary for this is one work a reader can never overestimate and one can never relive the first encounter with Ulysses.

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Summary: Too little for too much
Review: Clearly, Joyce's work is a tour de force, an everyman's epic day hidden in grand literary style. The langauge varies from beautiful to impenetrable, with allusions galore. The themes were shocking in 1922, and portrayed in all of life's gory detail. But is it worth it?

The time involved in reading (let alone understanding) this book is enormous, easily on the order of fifty hours. What does this steep admission price buy? Simply put, not enough. Their are a multitude of insights one can draw from Bloom's day, but their are none that aren't easier to gleen from other writings. The language, while beautiful at times, does not justify the investment, in my opinion. For a passionate lover of English langauge and literature, this book may be for you. But for the everyday reader, who reads for simpler pleasures and knowledge, you will probably get little out of this book but the right to say 'Yes, I have read Ulysses, Yes!'