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Ulysses
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Ulysses
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Ulysses
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Ulysses

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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An extraordinary look at an ordinary day—June 16, 1904—in the life of a middle-aged Jewish man living in Dublin, Ireland. Leopold Bloom, who is sure that his wife is being unfaithful, must come to terms with how that affects their marriage and whether it changes the nature of their love for one another. Richly detailed stream-of-consciousness narration immerses the reader in the thoughts and emotions of the characters as they deal with the normal events of daily life in Dublin, as well as grander issues like sexuality, prejudice, birth, and death. This is an unabridged version of Irish author James Joyce's groundbreaking modernist tale, which parallels Homer's Odyssey. It was first published serially in the American journal The Little Review between 1918 and 1921, and published in novel form in 1922 in Paris.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 1, 2016
ISBN9781512406559
Author

James Joyce

James Joyce (1882–1941) is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the twentieth century. After graduating from University College Dublin, Joyce went to Paris. During World War One, Joyce and Barnacle, and their two children, Giorgio and Lucia, moved to Zurich where Joyce began Ulysses. He returned to Paris for two decades, and his reputation as an avant-garde writer grew. Joyce’s works include the short story collection Dubliners (1914); novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939); two poetry collections Chamber Music (1907) and Pomes Penyeach (1927); and one play, Exiles (1918). Every year on 16 June, Joyceans across the globe celebrate Bloomsday, the day on which the action of Ulysses took place, proving Joyce’s importance to literature.

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Rating: 4.053643139304813 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Oh, that, "apathy of the stars." I am wistful and amazed.

    P.S. I have since read texts by Julian Rios and Enrique Vila-Matas who devoted novelistic approaches to Ulysses that ultimately steer the reader back to Bloom and Dedalus. I know of no other groundswell that continues to percolate and excite.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well worth wading through, if you have some annotations or at least Cliff's Notes on hand - at the very least to pick up on the references that don't make any sense to anyone who wasn't living in Dublin in 1916. The analogy that Joyce draws between the journeys of Odysseus to a day in the life of one ordinary man is very powerful, even though we work backwards through his life and at the end we probably know more about Leopold Bloom than perhaps any character in any book. The streams of consciousness that comprise most of the book seem appropriate to get a clear feel for Bloom's state of mind, and the play style of the hallucinogenic Circe scene works well. Perhaps the climaxes of the book occur when the ghosts of their dead loved ones visit both Bloom and Stephen Dedalus. But Joyce also drops in what appear to be random styles of writing, particularly in the Cyclops chapter, and the question-answer style of Ithaca is fairly difficult to follow. Does it add to the book? Not that I can see. There are also constant lists of what appear to be nothing in particular; other conspiracy-minded books (Focault's Pendulum, Illuminatus) hint at their respect for Joyce and provide similar lists; coupled with the coded letters that Bloom writes in the book I think it's pretty likely that at least some of the lists contain secret messages. Bloom is clearly a Freemason - I don't see how anyone could say otherwise. I didn't take the trouble to try to translate the messages but it seems a pretty good bet that the key to the code is in the line N. IGS./WI.UU. OX/W. OKS. MH/Y. IM., which is the coded address of the woman to whom Bloom sends letters.The long stream-of-consciousness of Molly Bloom that ends the book is also very telling concerning Bloom; a look at him through the eyes of the person who probably knows him better than anyone else. I'm not sure I find the hints of reconcilation convincing, but I don't see that a divorce or angry recriminations are in the Blooms' future either. And I'd be surprised if our Everyman hero ever has a huge resolution, or third act, an end to his drama, because I think that is precisely what Joyce tries to avoid. His hero will remain ambiguous forever. And in the end, isn't that what we really can expect?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    6stars? 100? My favorite book? Kinda. The book I've read the most? Definitely. This is a book you can read 10, 20 times and get something new out of it each time. There are dozens of books written about this book, and they add something too, but the thing itself is (really) thoroughly enjoyable. Still shocking in form after all these years, this is as good as a novel can be.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This recording is better than I ever would have imagined. A superb job by the readers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Inside the cover of this Second Hand copy a previous owner has written "June 2013, Got to page 12 Only". In some way it is the ultimate literary critique.I first read Joyce's book as a callow youth in my first year at Uni: Couldn't get into it - a way too intellectual, too self-indulgently, unleashing that 'stream of consciousness' prose style for my patience & understanding in that era of my life.Bought & read a copy in my thirties (decades ago) - it made much more sense, but there were still whole passages of Joyce's lyrical gallivanting with the English language that still had me perplexed & irritated.So, here am I (retired, time to take an in-depth, considered view on the alleged masterpiece) and read its 680 pages: Verdict - it's a damn clever piece of writing that really stretches the boundaries of word-play and its visionary erudition challenges almost every concept of what constitutes a literary novel - Joyce is extremely talented & this tome about one day bristles with extraneous vivid idiosyncratic bouts of words in scenes that need the most intense concentration to make sense of them: Is all that effort worthwhile? Is it genius at work?I'm not clever enough to make a judgement: I do know it figures in the top25 of most 'great' literature lists - BUT, for me it doesn't make my personal top50 'great reads' & there I suppose is something of the difference between the literary critics and the much wider, less intellectual readership of novels - if a reader struggles to make head or tail with many of the passages then that is NOT a 'great' read and nor is it necessarily an important literary read.James Joyce's Ulysses can be judged, I suspect, as TOO CLEVER BY HALF for many of us!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A brilliant book to read and reread, but not a book to love with the heart, more with the brains. Great variety in styles, themes, some experiments are a succes, others not. This is not about Dublin on 1 day, by 1 person, no, on the contrary, the multiple points of view are essential! It's kind of cubustic view on reality. A few of the topics Joyce touches: what is truth, what is reality? How can you know reality? And how, as a human, can you cope with this reality?
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Cacotechnous humbuggery.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Utterly perfect.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Impenetrable
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an experimental novel for it’s time that follows a Dublin school teacher, Stephen Daedalus through the events of June 16th, 1904. It is a pretty ordinary day. The cast of characters is large, with Molly Bloom and her husband Leopold dwelt on quite thoroughly. To sum up this is a major classic of English literature, and quite fun to read. First Published February 2, 1922.inished January 18th, 1971.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I get why this is such a famous book. But, much of the style, taboo topics, etc are no longer as striking. Joyce is a singular talent, but man this is way too long.This book makes Derrick Jeter seem under rated.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The magnificent, complex novel, detailing one day (16 June 1904) in Dublin. This is a magnificent, wonderful, detailed, human story. Nothing could be better, funnier, or sadder.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I am not afraid to admit that this book was as far over my head as the deep blue sky. I didn't understand it. I never knew what was happening. I did not READ Ulysses, I just looked at the words on each page, and this was not from a lack of effort. It's an interesting experience to go through this book, but I am not sure I would call it enjoyable.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I am free at last!

    This review will be all over the place, as I have so many conflicting thoughts regarding this book. While I did love certain sections, they just could not make up for the fact that the rest of the book was simply a form of literary torture. I don't think I've ever had such a roller coaster ride of a reading experience before. Joyce managed to make me laugh out loud one second, and the next I was sitting on my hands so as not to gouge out my own eyes. Am I glad that I read it? Absolutely. Will I read it again? Hell no.


    I found Recovering Your Story: Proust, Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner, Morrison by Brown professor Arnold Weinstein to be an immense help while reading Ulysses. 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. I've found that I love Bloom as a character (maybe it's the underdog thing) and I absolutely love being inside his head. My favorite episode was Hades, followed by The Wandering Rocks, Nausicaa, Penelope, and the first half of Circe (that one just went on way too long and it ceased to be amusing).


    Unfortunately, none of that was enough to make me actually enjoy this experience. And as much as I loved the final page, it was a bit anti- climactic - I felt like Queen's "We Are the Champions" should have been playing in the background as I closed the book (forever). Or at least the "We Did It!" song from Dora the Explorer.


  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I know this is supposed to be one of the greatest books of all time, but goodness did I struggle to get through it! Even when I was done I must admit I barely had a clue what had happened.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    WOW!Nuff said.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This novel (odyssey in fact) needs to be read with good notations and a focused mind, but is fulfilling and wonderful! I would recommend it a thousand times over! There are passages that I have laughed at and there are passages that I have skipped, but overall...there are no words to describe Ireland's 20th century epic!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A stunning book. I've talked with several readers who got stunned by the time they reached chapter 4 and quit. Most would-be readers I've talked to are stunned by its reputation and never even try. I've talked to several academic readers who take Ulysses oh so seriously--some of them had been knocked into a corner professionally and can't get out. I read it and was stunned silly.

    I believe the book is a an immensely intelligent set of parodies within an even more staggeringly conceived parody. Ulysses isn't a retelling of the Odyssey, it's a magnificently upside-down parody of the poem. Leopold Bloom isn't a heroic wanderer, trying to get home and take his rightful place--much the opposite; Stephan Dedalus, unlike Telemachus, wants to avoid finding a father and certainly doesn't want to be like Bloom; and Molly Bloom/Penelope sure hasn't been waiting patiently or cunningly for her husband to return.

    Within the larger parody, each of the chapters is a parody of some writing style or publishing genre. Sometimes I was entertained and mentally exercised, sometimes I was bored, and sometimes I had no idea what was going on and had to go to the academics for help.

    Re-reading Ulysses must be very rewarding, but right now I've decided to settle for smaller rewards elsewhere. I'm wondering, though, if I'll ever be satisfied with any book in which the characters are less intimately drawn. It's a world I might be compelled to come back to because all other book worlds might seem sketchy, thin, and dull in comparison.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Yes. 'Unreadable' comes to mind. But I was listening to it on audio and I -still- couldn't stand it. I like to think I'm cosmopolitan in my reading and that I don't dismiss books because they're 'hard'.

    But this book seems to be nothing but free association. Definitely there are some beautiful 'word matches' but there is little to nothing else to give it any substance or ... anything.

    25% into the book and I know it's a no-go. At least for the near future. Gah!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake."
    "...Yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will yes."
    Gosto de uma frase do Faulkner, que diz “"You should approach Joyce's Ulysses as the illiterate Baptist preacher approaches the Old Testament: with faith." Muitas pessoas pensam em um clássico como um livro frio, sem emoções, fechado. Principalmente um clássico impossível [sic] como o Ulisses. É um livro difícil (mais difícil, diz a lenda, pra quem lê a tradução do Houaiss do que pra quem lê o original), e é um livro excitante, que prende o leitor como poucos. Quando eu o li sabia apenas que o livro se passava em um só dia e que tinha um paralelo com a Odisséia. Não sabia nem mesmo que cada capítulo é escrito em um estilo, ou que começa e termina com a mesma letra. Isso foi excelente, porque eu pude notar isso, achar incrível, morrer de vontade de reler o livro e aí sim começar a tentar entendê-lo melhor. É um livro que vou reler minha vida toda. O fato de que mesmo assim eu nunca vou entender metade dele não me surpreende: não tenho a pretensão de entender completamente qualquer livro. Creio que não só os especialistas, mas muitas vezes os próprios autores não chegam a entendê-los completamente – a autonomia de seus personagens requer isso. Mas é um livro que vou reler minha vida toda com prazer e querendo descobrir mais.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There are many books I have added to my list and for which, although I may have given them a rating, I have not provided a review. I have resigned myself to the fact that most of them will never have a review for it is unlikely that I will have the time. Tonight, though, I determined that I had to make the time to add some comments to Ulysses, for it is without a doubt one of the greatest of all books and deserves all the conversations possible with its readers.

    It was a comment by AN Wilson regarding Tolstoy that began the chain of thought that led me here. All writers, he said, lived in the shadow of Tolstoy. To be fair, it seemed that he was referring to writers of historical fiction but there are those who believe it to be true of all writers.

    All writers may well write in Tolstoy's shadow, but without doubt they labour in Joyce's light, which is a far more precious thing. For not only did Joyce shape the form, the consciousness and the soul of the modern novel, he did so with a skill of language and words that has rarely, if ever, been matched.

    George Bernard Shaw once remarked that it took talent to start a new trend in art, but a genius to end it. So it is with Joyce, except that he was more than just a talent, but a literary genius of such magnitude that we may well have to wait a very long time for a greater genius to come onto the scene and re-define the novel. Countless attempts have been made, of course, but none that could over-shadow Joyce's Ulysses.

    The secret to reading Ulyssses is not to take oneself seriously, and the book perhaps slightly less so. It is a book that reveals itself by simply reading it, letting it fertilise our intellect as we let the words wash over us. It is a song in which we can follow - albeit with difficulty at times - the literal words but which has beneath them, infused in them, a greater meaning altogether. Through sound, rhythm and pace, the words take on a new etymology that no dictionary could chart. They work together to create meaning and sense beyond the building blocks of language. It is the closest we have of prose as poetry.

    Ulysses bursts with life, with humour, with optimism, with sensuality and a sheer delight in being human, including the painful parts of that condition. It is raw and sophisticated, delicate and brutal but never dull. I cannot recall reading it and finding a paragraph that didn't contribute or offer something.

    Molly's soliloquy is one of the finest human reflections in literature since Hamlet and in its sheer essential humanity, and even greater comment on existence.

    It would be folly and arrogance to assume that I could add anything of real value to what has already been written about Ulysses. All I can say is that this is an astounding book that has lit the way for every writer and every reader since.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic, amazing, poignant, funny, daring, excruciating, provocative. Read it once on your own, and then read it again in tandem with Burgess' guide. Read it one hundred times and you will always find something new. Best. Novel. Ever.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I read it. I read the whole thing. Every frickin' word. Do I appreciate some of the inroads he has made for literature? Yes. Do I appreciate his language play and knowledge? Yes. Do I nod knowingly at his allusions and historical awareness? Yes. Do all of these combine to give this book such high praise? NO. It feels like someone you are vaguely acquainted with telling you about their dreamscape. Save your time and select a different classic into which to delve.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In fall 2012 I took a seminar class on James Joyce, and of course no class on Joyce would be complete without reading Ulysses. We spent the last half of the semester on Ulysses, and now that I've reviewed both Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist, I think it's finally time for me to talk about my experiences with Joyce's most famous/infamous novel.Ulysses picks up approximately one year after Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ends, and begins with our old friend Stephen Dedalus, who is navigating the world of Dublin, working as a teacher, and still trying to be an artist in a place that continuously leaves him feeling isolated, alone, and without a home. While the first three chapters focus on Stephen, the rest of the book focuses on a new character, the famous Leopold Bloom, a Dublin Jew who, after eating a breakfast of mutton kidney, leaves the house to go about his daily business, all-the-while knowing that his wife, Molly, is planning an affair later that afternoon. That knowledge, the isolation he feels from his fellow Dubliners, the death of his young son ten years ago, and many other things weigh on his mind as we follow him about the affairs of his day. His path crosses and recrosses that of Stephen, and eventually the two outcasts finally meet and have a real conversation. Taking place in slightly less than 24 hours, Ulysses is an epic of the ordinary, a single day that contains every conceivable high and low.Now, if you've ever heard anything about Ulysses, I'm sure you've heard that it's nearly impossible to read. It has gained a nearly mythic status in the bookish world as an impenetrable wall of stylistic experimentation and dense allusion. The only hope for the intrepid reader is to consult many guides and source-books that will lead them through the labyrinth. To be honest with you, this is partially true. There were plenty of times when I didn't know what was happening, and I assure you that I missed most of the allusions and references to historical events. And yes, I did use a guide when I read it, which was a big help. More importantly, I also had a class full of people to discuss each chapter with and to keep me on schedule. (I do recommend reading this book with a friend. It's more fun that way.) But I want to make one thing very clear:The myth is only partially true.Because while I did not catch many of the allusions and references, I mostly understood what was happening in terms of plot and location. While I may not have understood the meaning of every sentence, I did understand the meaning of most paragraphs. And while I didn't always see exactly how each stylistic invention connected thematically to Bloom's journey, I could certainly appreciate the beauty and craft of Joyce's writing. Reading Ulysses is like being at the ocean; you have to let the waves of text wash over you without trying to analyze every single piece of sand. Understanding every single allusion is not necessary to enjoy the novel as a whole. You might miss a few of the jokes, but I promise you will be ok. The guide I used and which I would highly recommend, James Joyce A to Z, had brief summaries of each chapter in terms of plot and any major thematic elements, and that is all I needed in order to thoroughly enjoy myself. I think that oftentimes we as readers get too caught-up in "getting" the book that we forget to really read it. Ulysses is, first and foremost, an experience. If you get too caught up in trying to "understand" it, you'll miss all the fun.Fun? Yes, fun, because Ulysses is a deeply funny, witty, engaging, and beautiful book. First of all, Joyce is a phenomenal writer, and it would be a challenge to find a novel with more beautiful or more varied writing than this one. Some passages are just heart-stopping in their elegance. I literally stopped and reread some passages just so I could hear them again; they were that beautiful. Others were incredibly technically impressive, showing Joyce's amazing command of the English language (and others). Joyce's amazing skills as a writer mean that he is capable of making the wittiest puns and the funniest satires I have ever read. No, really. From the pub to the graveyard, from political arguments to prostitution, from the romantic novel to the epic catalog, there is nothing that Joyce can't laugh at. I never thought I would say this, but Ulysses literally made me laugh out loud. But of course this novel isn't all fun and games. There are tender, honest moments here more touching than nearly anything else put into print. There is heartbreak here, not of the cheesy faux-tragic kind that you find in a Nicholas Sparks novel, but honest emotion felt by ordinary people in situations that are all too real. Though Ulysses very often made me laugh, on a number of occasions it also made me cry. It touched me, because it spoke to that part of me (and, I think, of many of us) that knows what it's like to feel alone, regretful, and lost. That realism, that honesty of emotion and situation, is what sets Ulysses apart. The strange style, the encyclopedic allusions, the weird diversions, all of these serve to represent reality in all of its complexity, beauty, and sadness. Ulysses is funny, crafty, beautiful, and heartbreaking, but it is all of those things because it is real.If you've ever read my reviews before, you'll notice that this one is rather different. This time I haven't talked very much about technique or writing style, though really this would be the perfect novel to do that. And part of me does want to pull out my analytical brain and tell you all about Joyce's tricks and techniques and themes. I would feel accomplished for breaking down such a complex novel, and you would maybe feel like you learned something. But I don't think I'm going to do that this time. This time I think I'm going to focus on other things.Because despite all the intellectual enjoyment I got from untangling and discussing the themes and techniques, and despite the aesthetic enjoyment I found in Joyce's language, what struck me the most about Ulysses was its emotional honesty, especially in the characterization. For the first three chapters I felt nothing but empathy and pity for Stephen. I wanted to be his big sister, to comfort him, to let him know that he wasn't alone and that he could make it. And then I met Leopold Bloom, and slowly, cautiously, not without reservation, I fell for him, completely and utterly. Not in a romantic way, but as a human being, an all-too-real human being who had emotions and quirks that I could see and understand like those of an old friend. I fell in love with the way that he always tries to figure things out, to calculate, explain, and reason, even if his explanations are often incorrect, more pseudoscience than real science. I fell in love with his desire to please everyone, to make everyone happy, to avoid conflict wherever possible. I love that he maintains his optimism despite everything that happens to him. I love the way he always walks on the sunny side of the street, is conscientious about his money, and loves to eat good food. I wanted nothing more in the world than for him to actually meet Stephen, because I needed to see what would happen when these two characters whom I cared so much about finally met. And yes, sometimes Bloom creeped me out a little with his thoughts about sex or bodily functions. Sometimes I got annoyed with him for being so passive, and I yelled at him to stop being such a pushover already. But when he had the chance to finally show some courage, I cheered him on with all of my heart, and when he stood up for Stephen my heart nearly burst I was so proud of him. Leopold Bloom was so lonely, so hopeful, and so real, and in the end it was the force of his character (and, to a lesser extent, Stephen's) that really made Ulysses shine.Ulysses is a novel that takes place in a single day, and yet somehow seems to encompass the whole world. It's strange and difficult and sometimes frustrating, and to be honest I wouldn't recommend it to those who don't like their books to be a puzzle or who get frustrated when they don't understand what is going on. But if you do like a challenge, then I think you'll find that every frustration in Ulysses is paid back a thousand times over in beauty and enjoyment. I promise that you won't catch everything on your first read-through; I know I didn't. But that did not take away from my enjoyment of the novel in the slightest. I know I'll come back to it some day, maybe a chapter at a time here or there, and that no matter when or how often I return it will always have something new to offer me.Rating: 5+Recommendations: Don't get too weighed down with guides. Just read it and enjoy it, and check chapter summaries or historical events if you get lost. Ulysses is an experience, so just dive in.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Three stars. I can't help but chuckle while clicking on the respective star, as it seems such an utterly absurd rating for a book that is really anything but mediocre.

    Truth is: From my small-brained point of view there are brilliant passages and chapters that I devoured (if one can devour in baby-spoon portions, as this is the only way this book can be read I suppose), sometimes poetic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes just mind-bending.
    There are other chapters my brain appreciates for the intellectual stunt they are performing but they aren't necessarily a pleasure to read. In fact they are hard, painful labour. And then there are chapters that might have caused irreversible damage to my brain.

    To me, this book is the crazy, courageous, very clever and sometimes - yes it has to be said - extremely tiring attempt to turn every piece of dust on the streets of Dublin into a cross reference for the entire cultural history of mankind in general, and that of Ireland in particular while changing literary style chapter by chapter. Chapeau.
    I am not sure this book is for reading though. It might be for studying, and one could do so for the rest of a lifetime. One day, when I am old and wise and have gained an unearthly tolerance to 400 out of 1122 pages of complete incomprehensibility I might pick this up again. Maybe sooner. For now I will happily lift the 1785g of German Annotated Ulysses back into it's shelf and watch it from a respectful distance.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Is this the best book ever written in English? Maybe not, but it does have a freshness and a sense of daring after all this time. Spending so much time seeing the world through the eyes and other senses of the characters is something only a few authors could pull off, and the places where this works here are dazzling.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Ulysses" by James Joyce (1934) is a novel about the interaction of social responsibility and personal desires. It focuses primarily on three characters: Stephen Dedalus a self-absorbed scholar attempting to find his artistic voice, Leopold Bloom who tries to meet his social responsibilities in a culture that is not completely accepting of him, and Molly Bloom (Poldy's wife) who struggles with her feminine destiny. The novel parallels the structure of Homer's "Odyssey" that chronicles the 10 year struggle of Odysseus to return from war in Troy to his home in Ithaca. Ulysses, the Latin translation of the Greek name Odysseus, is Leopold (Poldy) Bloom who travels the streets of Dublin one Thursday on June 16, 1904. His goal is to accomplish his daily task of meeting his family's economic needs, forming social alliances with Dubliners (including Stephen), and satisfying his own drives for understanding and fulfillment. Odysseus sought to reunite with his wife and assess her fidelity in his absence, and Bloom looks forward to the end of the day when he returns to his home at 7 Eccles Street, concerned about his wife's unfaithfulness. "Ulysses" is remarkable in its descriptive detail of the physical and psychological environments of Dublin and its characters. The feelings related to immersion in the living Irish city are so strong that there may be some irrational fear of being unable to return to current life. The entrance into the reality of the lives of Stephen, Molly, and Poldy is uncanny as readers become physically and psychically connected to characters. It is a matter of proximity. You lose your own personality as you accompany these people when they converse, walk the streets, visit stores, drink and philosophize, reveal themselves in stream of consciousness monologues, argue, pursue bacchanalian extremes, and have private battles with loss and melancholy. The reader `sees' everything that day, the external locations and the inner worlds of the characters, with the "ineluctable modality of the visible." This is the direct and complete experience of Joyce's art without the restriction of our own frame of reference, history, obligations, and wants. It is intimidating to realize that your own life is changing, that part of your personal history now contains a new day of your own existence - you have extended your life for a day. Many people throughout the world celebrate a second birthday on June 16 (Bloomsday). After publication of "Ulysses," I believe that James Joyce (like a few other artists) spent the rest of his life amazed at his creation. As he lay dying in hospital waiting for his wife to return to his bedside, he had to wonder where his inspiration originated, where he summoned the ability to give the gift of another day of life to us all. The reader can benefit most from "Ulysses" by preparing to read it. Read (re-read) Homers "Odyssey." Pay close attention to the structure, the symbolic content, and the psychology of Odysseus. Odysseus was a flawed hero, externally brave but also self-serving and blind to parts of his own personality (like Bloom). Use "Ulysses Annotated" by Don Gifford to help guide you through the detail of theology, philosophy, psychology, history, rhetoric, and the physical layout of Dublin. This reference work is very good because it allows readers to have their own experiences by providing only supplementary content (facts) that help to understand the myriad allusions presented in the text. I suggest that you enjoy the many beautiful styles of prose presented in the 18 episodes pausing to quickly glance at the definitions in your opened copy of "Ulysses Annotated." Then before reading the next episode, go back and read the complete explanatory entries in this reference book. Give yourself a couple of months to enjoy the novel and add this new day to your life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've read Ulysses many times and every time I need inspiration I go back to it. It remains unsurpassed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book--read it when your cretivity is low and you need to get inspiried.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have given this book 4 stars because I realise that although it is a difficult book to 'enjoy' it must have been written by a brilliant mind. This is one of those books that we are all told we should read before we die. I am hoping to finish it by then - I have been reading it for about 2 years and I am nearly to the last section.