My thoughts can be summarized in 4 points:
* It’s brilliant!
* I have no idea what I am reading!
* Boy, it’s a bit of a slog to get through!
* This is the most Irish thing I’ve ever read!
The first 3 chapters – Buck Mulligan is funny but a bit of a jerk. Later in the book, some of the characters in the carriage on their way to the gravesite make fun of Buck Mulligan and his ‘aunt’.
Chapter 4 (I think) where Stephen goes through his depression and talks about a dog on the beach was a bit weird.
Is it just me or is Leopold Bloom a bit of a player? Letter from a mysterious woman, checking out women as he walks along the street?
I can see why the book created a stir back when it was released. It’s pretty filthy.
The antisemitism is a bit uncomfortable to read in 2023 but that’s how people talked about it so casually back then (“because we never let them in”).
The chapter I just finished where the characters (Stephen, Buck, John, etc) are debating Shakespeare plays (Hamlet is him, etc etc) tested me a lot because I don’t know Shakespeare as well as I would like to.
Truthfully, I’m finding it hard to get through just because the whole work is so massive. I am taking frequent breaks from it. It’s also hard sometimes because it is such a stream of consciousness to it and it can turn into rambling upon rambling.
Any thoughts or things I should prepare myself for for the rest of the book?
by RivetCounter
3 Comments
I always try to advise people going through or thinking about going through Ulysses that unless it’s actual course work, don’t worry about “getting” all of it. As in, don’t worry about catching every reference, plot point and literary device, especially on a first read/listen, and instead just go with the flow and enjoy the prose. There’s so much beautiful prose in it, but it seems like some readers miss out on those moments because they are too worried about annotations and cross references.
For example: “A dwarf’s face, mauve and wrinkled like little Rudy’s was. Dwarf’s body, weak as putty, in a whitelined deal box. Burial friendly society pays. Penny a week for a sod of turf. Our. Little. Beggar. Baby. Meant nothing. Mistake of nature. If it’s healthy it’s from the mother. If not from the man. Better luck next time.”
This should be experienced, whether you know the exact geography of the streets of Dublin and the history of English literature or not.
I think you meant Chapter 3, where Stephen walks on the beach and contemplates creation, his own life, and remembers his years in Paris. I’d recommend you reread it sometime because it truly is a beautiful chapter and one of the best in the novel if you go slow with it.
Yes, Leopold Bloom is very much a “player.” He is messaging someone named Martha Clifford under the pseudonym Henry Flower. In the last few chapters the significance of this might make more sense to you. Joyce is creating a portrait of a very Irish marriage. Both partners cheat but deep inside cannot withhold their affection from one another.
The antisemitism being uncomfortable is very much the point–time has not changed this, it was meant to be shocking in its day. Once you get to Chapter 12, you will understand the genius of Joyce’s satire. He was very much a racist or an anti-semite. A large part of Joyce’s literary oeuvre is about mocking Irish nationalism, in a way that feels very contemporary (read “After the Race” if you’re interested in this).
The Shakespeare chapter is rough. If going gets too hard for you, reread, again and again, or just focus on the music of the words. That’s something everyone can appreciate.
My advice–read slowly, reread, have a copy of the book in your hands (if possible) when listening to the audiobook. Look for what interests you–don’t try to understand it all. Remember that, first and foremost, *Ulysses* is a book about life, beautiful, brilliant, funny, sad everyday life. It’s an incredibly human book beyond the dense prose. Focus on that human aspect, in the end you’ll find it very rewarding, and I almost guarantee that the last passage will be one of the most beautiful, human things you’ve ever read, and you will not regret any time spent with Joyce.
I mean you’re listening to Ulysses, you’re not reading it.