Joyce and Ulysses.

dubtom

I've read a couple of Joyces works,portrait,dubliners and attempted ulysses twice. On both times I failed miserably at the court case chapter, no idea what it's called. I loved the book up to that point, it portrayed a Dublin I'd have loved to see and captured my imagination, up to the court case.Then for me, it turns into a meandering dribble of a book and I just don't get it. I understand, I think, what he was trying to portray, a character who talks and thinks and leaves it to the reader to figure out which is which. I often wonder, especially around bloomsday, when everyone comes out of the woodwork and proclaims Joyce a genius and Ulysses and work of art, did they read the same book that I did.
Can anyone here honestly say that Ulysses was not a chore to finish.If it wasn't, whats your secret.

LoLth: all part of the service

brianthebard

Just skip that chapter and move on. Or read it for the sounds, I'm afraid I haven't read through the whole book but read about half of it for final year. The first time I'd read a chapter I would just concentrate on the sounds and shapes of the language, and ignore the story. Then I'd read it again for the story. Its a really complex, big work as I'm sure you are aware and it wasn't made for easy reading, so you can't really approach it like a normal novel. Its worth working at though.

AJG

To be honest for me it didn't get really interesting until Molly Bloom's soliloquy. Thats (if memory serves) in the last couple of hundred pages. I always thought he never topped Dubliners.

BenjAii

I'm a big Joyce fan and have read Ulysses a couple of times over the years (and finished it!).

I think 2 things can help people appreciate it more and get more out of reading it.

Read a Joyce biography, Richard Ellman's is the best. More than any other writer I can think of Joyce has written his own life into his texts and Ulysses becomes richer and more rewarding to a reader when this can be appreciated.

Read about it. Again many allusions, references and technical details that are going over your head will become clearer. In many ways it's Ulysses triumph that it is a virtuoso performance in this regard and also it's greatest weakness. Many people would say novels shouldn't need another book to explain them, but Ulysses does.

dubtom

Ulysses may well be worth the effort, what bothers me is that Joyce uses a paragraph were a sentence would do and half the time I'm convinced he makes up half the words as he goes along.I actually read, just a little while ago, a book called I think Joyces Dublin.It explained the connection between places he lived/studied and people that were included in the writings. It made the rereading of a portrait more interesting. I'll look up the biography benjaii.
Pity it's never been made into a telly series like strumpet city,but in 700 parts:D it would be easier to follow I think.

John

dubtom wrote:

Ulysses may well be worth the effort, what bothers me is that Joyce uses a paragraph were a sentence would do

That's part of the charm in my opinion. I love the way all the action is meant to happen in one day but if you tried to read the book continuously you would be hard pressed to finished within 24 hours. He made a normal day in Dublin into a mythological event, short succinct sentences in my opinion would destroy that concept.

and half the time I'm convinced he makes up half the words as he goes along.

Again that's part of the charm. And if this bothers you, be wary of Finnegans Wake as there are so many made up words (Frankenstein concoctions from many different languages) that even with a guide and background reading is quite intimidating.

I actually read, just a little while ago, a book called I think Joyces Dublin.It explained the connection between places he lived/studied and people that were included in the writings. It made the rereading of a portrait more interesting. I'll look up the biography benjaii.

There's a nice A-Z of Joyce (here it is on Amazon) that breaks down the chapters of Ulysses and has short references for all the important details. I read through Ulysses once using it, it was hard work but when I read the book subsequently, I flew through it. It's just a question of breaking the book in and getting used to Joyce's over the top take on a normal day in Dublin. I haven't read the Ellman biography (but it's next in my "To read" pile) but there is a nice book about Joyce's life in Trieste (where he wrote Dubliners and started Ulysses) called The Years of Bloom by John McCourt. It's a short and interesting read that adds a lot to the reading of all his works.

Pyjamarama

I nearly finished the goddamn thing, think i had two episodes left and i lost the book and never got round to buying it again!

The first time i started reading it i gave up. The second time i took it episode by episode and had an addition that had a little summary of the main allusions in each episode which i read before each episode to keep stuff in context and get the most from it.

There was a chapter in Portrait which i just couldn't get through so i just had to skip it as if i didn't i would have never finish the book.

I say read up a summary of the episode that you are having trouble with and try reading it but skip it if it's still annoying you. You might love the next epsidoe which is the joy of the book as each one is so varied.

And i agree, i don't think half the people who have claimed to have read it actually have!

randylonghorn

Have tried Ulysses a few times, and never got very far. It just doesn't appeal to me at all, I'm afraid. Literary onanism, imho.

AnBealBocht

But, Finnegans Wake......now there's another story.

John

Currently reading the Ellmann biography, it really does add a lot to my understanding of the books. I knew Joyce was basing characters from all his books on people from real life but I didn't know it was to such an extreme extent.

BaZmO*

randylonghorn wrote:

Literary onanism, imho.

How ironic.

Karlusss

A well-annotated version helps too.

It's immense though, in all senses of the word.. Didn't enjoy it until my second try (I got about 4/5 through the first time) - but it's worth it.