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    Ulysses
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    Ulysses
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    Ulysses

    By James Joyce and Dermot Bolger

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Absurd, brilliant and profound, the Abbey Theatre’s production of Dermot Bolger’s adaptation of Joyce’s masterpiece is Ulysses as you never imagined it before: a superbly theatrical homage to Joyce’s chronicle of Dublin life and the greatest novel of all time. With his wife Molly waiting in bed for the nefarious Blazes Boylan, Leopold Bloom traverses Dublin, conversing in pubs, graveyards and brothels, enduring ridicule and prejudice as he steadfastly clings to his principles and subtly slays his dragons while drawing ever closer to his fateful encounter with the young Stephen Dedalus.

    As directed by Graham McLaren, Bloom’s odyssey is a pandemonium of live music, puppets and clowning; a production that, in the words of The Arts Review, “throws its arms wide open and bids everyone welcome”. Ulysses is bawdy, hilarious and affecting in celebrating Joyce’s genius for depicting everyday life in all its profundity, with The Sunday Herald remarking that “Dermot Bolger’s beautifully crafted adaptation (carefully and coherently selected from the fiction) has a palpable love for the sensuousness and abundance of Joyce’s language.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOberon Books
    Release dateJun 11, 2018
    ISBN9781786825605
    Author

    James Joyce

    James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882. He came from a reasonably wealthy family which, predominantly because of the recklessness of Joyce's father John, was soon plunged into financial hardship. The young Joyce attended Clongowes College, Belvedere College and, eventually, University College, Dublin. In 1904 he met Nora Barnacle, and eloped with her to Croatia. From this point until the end of his life, Joyce lived as an exile, moving from Trieste to Rome, and then to Zurich and Paris. His major works are Dubliners (1914), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegan's Wake (1939). He died in 1941, by which time he had come to be regarded as one of the greatest novelists the world ever produced.

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    Reviews for Ulysses

    4/5

    3,070 ratings109 reviews

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    • 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.
    • 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?
    • 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.
    • 5/5
      This recording is better than I ever would have imagined. A superb job by the readers.
    • 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!
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      I signed up for a lecture on how to enjoy reading Ulysses, and eagerly bought the book. I decided to start reading a few pages before the lecture....got to page 60 (of 933) and was notified that the seminar was cancelled! Nonetheless, I decided to proceed without professional help.The novel takes place over a single day as we follow Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dadelus on their meanderings in Dublin. There isn't much plot; the book is a character study of Bloom, modeled after Odysseus, and also an exploration of writing techniques to show how different ways of telling a story change the perspective of the reader and the characters themselves. It was more enjoyable than I'd expected and, several days having passed since I finished it, I am still coming to appreciate aspects of Leopold Bloom's character that I may have missed. Hard to rate....it's a masterpiece of style for sure, but sometimes confusing and so long!
    • 2/5
      "A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are portals of discovery."This novel has a remarkably simple story. It traces the paths of two characters on a single day in 1904 Dublin. Leopold Bloom, a middle-aged, Jewish man and Stephen Daedalus, a young intellectual.Bloom spends the day in the knowledge that his wife, Molly, is probably spending her day at home entertaining her lover. He spends the morning attending the funeral of a friend who had died suddenly whilst Stephen in contrast, spends his morning teaching before moving on to a newspaper office, a public library and finally a maternity ward where the two men's paths cross. Stephen invites Bloom to join him and some friends on a drunken spree, visiting a notorious brothel along the way and ends with Bloom inviting him back to his house, where they spend a number of hours talking and drinking coffee.In the final chapter, Bloom slips back into bed with his wife, Molly, and we get a final monologue from her point of view. This book is a notoriously difficult read and in fact resides in number 1 position on Goodreads '100 most difficult books to finish list'. It is not it's length, nearly 700 pages in my case, but Joyce's writing style that makes it so much hard work. In fact I was tempted on more than one occasion to abandon it. Firstly it is largely written in a stream-of-consciousness manner which whilst allowing the author to portray a unique perspective on the events, it also requires a fair bit of concentration and perseverance. But Joyce isn't content with finishing there. He also employs several other narrative and linguistic techniques. For example, he employs phonic representation in one chapter whilst another is laid out like a play. Joyce is trying to show is that there are more than one way to tell a story. The final chapter returns to the stream-of-consciousness process and is virtually devoid of any punctuation marks.Ulysses's experimental literary structure makes it a powerful but also incredibly taxing piece of work and whilst I am glad that I finally got around to reading I cannot in truth say that I particularly enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      Though this book has received some relatively low ratings, I feel the need to defend the book after having spent 6 weeks reading it.Ulysses isn't a book to recommend to someone who isn't a "reader;" it's a difficult book, and it would be extremely difficult to follow what is happening if you didn't have some background (we used the Ulysses Annotated to guide us, a book that is just as big as Ulysses itself).What Ulysses IS, however, is a book which recasts one of the most famous heroes of all mythology as the prototypical everyman. The story of the Odyssey, of Ulysses, Odysseus and Penelope, is recast, and Joyce attempts to Hellenize Ireland. That is only half of his project, however. The other half of the project is his attempt to "write a book that professors will be discussing for 200 years." It's nearing the 100 year mark (it will be in 2022) and I think it's safe to say that Joyce accomplished what he set out to do: when the time is taken to really understand what the book is saying, not to just read through it in an attempt to cross it off of some list, it becomes clear why this book is on the top of lists, and why it's so important, even if it is extremely frustrating at times.
    • 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.
    • 1/5
      Is somebody pulling me leg? This is considered by many to be one of the greatest literary accomplishments in human history. I am not ignorant, but I could barely make heads or tails out of this gibberish. I believe the intent of the author was to work in every word from the dictionary no matter how archaic - one way or the other. I did keep referring to a dictionary to see if he was even using words and I was amazed to find that he was not just making them up. I only finished reading it to be able to say that I did. Until I had read about 25% of the book I still believed my eyes would be opened, the curtain of my blindness would be lifted and I would have a spiritual awakening of some sort. I was bamboozled. Seriously, don't waste your time if you are considering reading what amounts to be a dictionary that was not written in alphabetical order.
    • 5/5
      Utterly perfect.
    • 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.
    • 3/5
      I became increasingly frustrated with this book on my first reading, and when I hit Molly's unpunctuated ramble at the end, I just felt like Joyce was screwing with me and resolved not to finish it. Five years later, I'm giving it another go, and enjoying it a lot. But I started out liking it the first time, too. We'll see where I end up this time.(A couple of weeks later...)I felt like I had more of the hoity-toity literary background necessary to enjoy Ulysses this time around. Did I enjoy it? Hard to say. I enjoyed it in the same way I might enjoy watching every episode of The Prisoner in sequence: there's some good stuff in there, but after a bit, it just became a feat of endurance.
    • 2/5
      I've tried it and it wasn't for me. Reached the 200 page mark last night and felt weighed down by the 500 still to go. I haven't understood what I've read it isn't actually a pleasure. I'm very pleased I've tried, I'm disappointed in myself for not completing it but what would I achieve by reading something I'm not enjoying? I'm not sure what Joyce was aiming for with the audience for this book but it isn't your average reader and I'm sure it wouldn't be the average reader of the times. Extremely challenging to follow and I think listening to this read on audio may make a big difference.
    • 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.
    • 1/5
      I can definitely respect Joyce as an author, but I just LOATHE the stream-of-conscious technique! And Leopold Bloom makes a great character, but Stephen Dedalus is such a whiny mess. I always knew I wanted to read this to say that I have, but it was like a punishment. Modernism is easily my LEAST favorite movement. James Joyce is amazingly talented and I can appreciate his impact on literature, but this book just doesn't do it for me.(Sidenote: I much prefer Dubliners.)
    • 5/5
      So let's see. This book really isn't all as difficult as its cracked up to be, only one chapter really stumped me (Chapter 3, if I remember correctly). And past honors courses in high school I don't have much of an English education to speak of, so I don't think I'm speaking from an ivory tower of smartness either. The trick is to not worry if you don't catch a line (or paragraph), but to instead just pick up what you can, and what I could pick up was well and enough for me to understand what was going on most of the time and enjoy it thoroughly. The prose is rather wonderful in its loopy perambulations about the city, and the words are great for people who like words. I find the more straightforward chapters work for me better than the more gimmicky chapters (e.g. "let's write this chapter as newspaper articles!", "let's write this chapter as a Q&A!"). The more straightforward chapters are really some of the most beautifully organic prose I've come across, encompassing more of the various vagaries of everyday human existence than most other folks try. That one doesn't understand bits and pieces all over is only fair; if one was dropped into someone else's mind all of a sudden, there'd be lots of bits they wouldn't get as well. This is a book pointing toward a new way of writing books, of writing prose. Its 7:25 in the morning and I approve!
    • 1/5
      Impenetrable
    • 5/5
      I was able to knock this out in about 5 weeks, on my first try. I used an old copy of A Reader's Guide to James Joyce by Wm Tyndall for reference, along w Sparknotes. If I could only have one book on a deserted island, this would prob be it.Still quite confused by the whole book. Each chapter having a different writing style is a bit unsettling. It is imperative to read it until the end, because the last two chapters really give you perspective. I read most of it on a Kindle, and kept pace in a Gabler edition.My favorite character was Bloom. What a whack job, what a silly man. Stephen didn't do much for me. Have to process the story a bit more, because it was intense. JJ makes up some crazy/funny words.
    • 4/5
      Yes, Ulysses is all that has been said about it, great piece of literature and just difficult enough for the reader is required at least some effort to get something out of it - getting it all would be impossible, so do not bother too much. Maybe it was too difficult or maybe I didn't try hard enough, but although I got the "greatness", Ulysses didn't touch me as anything else than part of the history of humankind. But I'm willing to try again, maybe after twenty years.(I just have to add that I read the Finnish translation and although Ulysses is considered "impossible to translate", Pentti Saarikoski's translation was beautiful and he was in his element playing with the vocabulary and language, and I got the feeling that translating Ulysses wasn't even difficult for him, he simply enjoyed it too much to let the difficulties bother him.)
    • 5/5
      This book was FABULOUS. A book with an undertone of conflict and suffering (conflict against the state, against religion, against the fellow man) (and suffering in guilt, ennui, and isolation). The collective subconscious and stream-of-consciousness writing is brilliant.
    • 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?
    • 1/5
      Well, I tried but I have to declare that I am abandoning my attempt to read Ulysses. I gave it a good go, 200 pages (well over my usual 100 page limit), but I've come to realise that I JUST DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS. Reading it has become a chore, and reading should NEVER be a chore. Maybe the mistake I've made has been to read the thing while sober,because it dawned on me that the whole thing is like the ramblings of a drunk in a bar. (Given the legends surrounding Joyce and his penchant for booze it's not a huge leap to suggest that that is exactly what this book is.) Anyway, while on the one hand I feel a certain degree of failure at not being able to see this thing through, there is also the relief in knowing that I don't have to read it ANYMORE.
    • 5/5
      Begad!, what a novel to have to write a review for! Robert Anton Wilson got me interested in James Joyce. Throughout "Ulysses" I had little notion as to the linear sequence of events, though as I progressed, I did become somewhat acclimated to the setting, characters, and their stories. I was more fascinated by the seemingly subjective soliloquies; the potently magical meter; Joyce's amaranthine repertoire of words. Like hallucinogens, truffles, and moon bathing, the experience of "Ulysses" is quite hard to put into words. I argue that the story of Bloomsday—that so many annotations, critiques, study guides, etcetera, elaborate on—is not the most important thing to understand. It is the way in which the story is told that is important to experience, and that in itself is widely varied and extremely 'novel'.During much of the novel I experienced a great number of synchronicities in waking life. This is likely, in part, due to the immense number of subjects divulged upon in "Ulysses". "Ulysses" could easily be a novel in which one could study... quite a very long time. If you are one of such mind, I suggest picking up several foreign language dictionaries to aide you in your reading of "Ulysses". As I mentioned, there is a plethora of books to go along with "Ulysses". I own a few and may even read one one day, should I get bored.In the end, I feel a bit saddened. Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, consumed by their intellects, plagued by their desires. Molly, consumed by her desires and too stupid to be plagued by anything but hemorrhoids and old age...Life is tragic. James Joyce died of a perforated ulcer, lapsing into a coma after surgery, to wake, and die at 2 a.m. on 13 January 1941. Why are we here? To evolve intellectually, sexually, spiritually? Yes.Read this novel and be affected greatly in a mysterious way and an obvious way.
    • 4/5
      I have come to my own conclusion that this book is like being presented with a puzzle. Perhaps more like a crossword puzzle. The fun, apparently, is in deciphering it. It has taken me a very long time to work through the book using a combination of Wikipedia and an ebook version with “Whispersync” in order to have someone smarter than me figuring out the lack of punctuation. I’m not going to give up. After a (long) break from it, I will attempt a further investigation via an annotated version. Maybe.
    • 3/5
      I don't really know what to say—perhaps: I "read" all of it, "got" maybe half of it, "liked" less than a quarter?For the reading, I approached it with trepidation, as words like "unreadable" and "incomprehensible" have often been bandied about. I didn't find it unreadable. It was difficult at times—the constantly changing writing styles, the profusion of pronouns instead of names, the common use of foreign languages, the...umm, irregular?...punctuation—all make this tough sledding at times, but it's difficult to read, not unreadable.As for the getting, I think that much of the novel simply shot right past me. I'm reasonably familiar with The Odyssey and was able to follow that macro structure of the book. However, I know that much of the allusion and innuendo simply did not register in this book about which Joyce once said he "put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant." I understand that there are entire books...large books...devoted to explaining what is going on in Ulysses. Well and good, but that's more work than I'm willing to put into a book I didn't enjoy that much.And, as for that, the truth is that I like stories in my stories, and I didn't enjoy Joyce as a story teller. There's no real question he's good at limning characters. There's even less doubt that the man had a command of the English language that was not short of dazzling. However, we never established a rapport with each other as writer and reader. I would find a portion of it interesting or funny and start to immerse, only to run into twice as many pages of text that I found mind-numbing in their opacity.Does the fault lie with me? I'm willing to concede that it does simply because I cannot judge. I don't have the knowledge or training to decipher this work. I can only say much of the reported depth escaped me, evidently lost in unseen allusions and obscured by experimental writing techniques. For those familiar with Clarke's maxim on advanced technology and magic, here is my own variant: "Any literature, sufficiently abstruse, is indistinguishable from the un-profound."In the end, I'm glad I read it so that I have an opinion rather than just hearsay. I would suggest that readers try it and decide for themselves, even if that means invoking the 50 Page Rule—it is, after all, often billed as one of the greatest books ever. However, for me it was neither moving, nor enlightening nor enjoyable. I'm content to be a cultural Philistine on this one.
    • 5/5
      You can’t accuse James Joyce of myopia. His vision of the city of Dublin on June 16, 1904, encompasses the entire universe. At times abstruse, Joyce’s masterwork is never obtuse—I am sure that he felt every single word was necessary and had been placed exactly where it was required. Of course he may have been utterly freaking insane.Ulysses has often been called the greatest modern novel ever written. It is a fascinating book, a towering bulwark of extreme literature, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it is not a great novel, not at least as we traditionally think of them. Given that all 783 pages take place in the span of a single day, there is not much linear space for major character development. Things happen, but they are the minute daily things that make up a life. Any life. And that’s the point. Ulysses is definitely a whole other cup of meat as compared to most of the other works that populate such discretionary lists.The myriad in-jokes, puns, and allusions to other texts both ancient and modern, make the experience of navigating Joyce’s mind a tough one without a couple of other books at arm’s length. I found Don Gifford’s Ulysses Annotated very helpful as I went along. I later added Harry Blamires’ The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses when I got bogged down in the hallucinatory trip through the Nighttown brothels.Ulysses doesn’t reveal its charms without some give and take. You have to put in the work. But once in a while, usually when you aren’t expecting it, the veil is lifted and the diamond-faceted lattice of reality is glimpsed for a moment. The superstructure that holds up the thrill ride is divulged for a split second right before the next plunge, and in that moment it all becomes worth it.Or maybe I have gone utterly freaking insane.
    • 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.
    • 5/5
      Were I trapped on a desert island with only two books, I'd want one to be the Bible and one to be Ulysses. And if I got to have three books, I'd want one of those books that helps you interpret Ulysses.