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James Joyce's "Ulysses"
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| R.j. |
Barely 20 pages in, and it already is ing killing me!
Any tips, suggestions about approaching this book?
Has anyone round here read it? Should I read The Odyssey first? Anything?
Thanks. |
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| Project-K |
| He switches narrators constantly. Make a mental note whenever you start a paragraph as to who is actually talking. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
doooo noooot seeeek the treasure...
its a bushwack! |
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| PETRAN |
I want to read this book for quite some time. I want to read it NOW! :whip: :whip:
p.s. Also read Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" because its short, deep,direct, dark and beautiful. Well, if you haven't already! |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by PETRAN
I want to read this book for quite some time. I want to read it NOW! :whip: :whip: |
Well, here it is.
Apart from the bit about "history being the nightmare from which he wants to wake up", I'm indifferent to this book. |
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| Faj27 |
You need to be patient with his writing, and pay close attention to details - he has an interesting way of tying things together.
Also remember, James Joyce is well known for writing in the style of a "stream of consciousness" - basically a narrative style that attempts to portray a character's perspective through their thought process. It's like A.D.D. on paper.
I personally have not read Ulysses, but Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man were fantastic novels imo. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| ive read homer's version but resented being taught fairytales in ancient civilisations as some kind of historical importance. |
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| RJT |
| quote: | | The ineluctable modality of the visible... |
:stongue:
Give me a ing break.
I tried once, and I will never try again. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
I haven't read it. I don't really know if it's worth the effort. Its peculiar style makes it more difficult to tell whether people who talk about it actually know anything. I enjoyed Portrait, though.
My favorite modern novelist is probably Nabokov.  |
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| RJT |
I really struggle with why anyone holds "Ulysses" in high regard at all when it was just Joyce having a bit of a pisstake.
There is no substance what-so-ever, and the joke is on those who actually work their way through it all for no reward. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
I don't know if I would call it a "pisstake." He worked at it for sixteen hours a day for several years, becoming the paradigm example (along with Proust) of the literary artist who "sacrificed" himself for the sake of literature. I think what you get out of it will depend on if you're the sort of person who derives an unusual amount of amusement from etymologies, puns, and obscure allusions. I like that sort of stuff myself, but I don't think I could take a whole book of it...
:p |
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| RJT |
OK, so if I grant you that it wasn't a pisstake, then it's the work of someone who is clearly insane.
And to me, Proust only barely escapes similar connotations - but that's just because I'm 100% sure I'm not intelligent enough to "see the forest for the trees" when it comes to his work. |
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