Ulysses - a review

What can I say about such a mind-blowing book? I could barely decide how many stars I would give it since it divided my opinion so. No wonder it's so controversial. There were a few chapters I absolutely hated (Scylla and Charbidis anyone?) and I thought I would end up disliking Joyce too for inflicting some of it and being such an arrogant know everything at times. Yet I find myself admiring him a great deal and wanting to re-read the book at some point if only to try and make some more sense of it. The technique astonishes, but I can't give it a glowing review because frankly I didn't like it that much. It grated in parts. Maybe that's why it's so revered though, and why I wanted to read it again, because it challenges in a way that very few other books manage. 

I'd like to read it with some proper guides handy so that I don't have to keep flipping to the end notes. Nevertheless, I've found some good guides online and will miss some of the guides as I carry along my way. No plans to read any more Joyce at the moment, maybe he will get on the next book bucket list.

I also still have to get around to listening to the broadcast at some point, and it will be interesting to compare the two experiences. 

Anyway, it got three stars in the end. I won't be going around boasting I've read it or attending the next Bloom's day, but I am glad to have read it and to have finished it, as I think if I'd given up half-way through I wouldn't have ever read it. Glad to have read it in the version I did as well, the free ebook was apparently broken! Also, it had been edited. I know the text I read was full of a lot of mistakes (it was the 1922 version), but I'd rather that than something that has been edited in too heavy-handed a way.

Notes on Notes

I managed to read the first three chapters of Ulysses last night and a forth chapter this morning. I had time last night to carry on reading, but felt satisfied after the three chapters I read. When I began, I was using the notes at the back a great deal, particularly with the third chapter (Proteus); however, I found that the notes sometimes interrupted the flow. Sometimes I want to know what it means, other times I just want to enjoy the ebb and flow of the language. At the moment, I am looking up a point if I need to, but I leave the chapter summaries until the end and don’t worry unduly if I don’t really ‘get’ it. I don’t think I’m supposed to, especially on the first reading. All those bloomin’ charts on who is supposed to be whom and the colours and organs and motifs for each chapter/episode? Too off-putting for a first reading. 

My response? I am half dazzled by the magnificent lyricism of the writing, half convinced of its insufferable pretention. I found the third chapter hard as some of the internet reviews warned, but I am not tempted to line up the study guides yet, and the fourth chapter (Calypso) thankfully normal service resumed. I can see how Joyce has influenced other writers, not just of the period but later as well (Infinite Jest springs to mind). It is a stunning use of stream-of-consciousness/interior monologue technique in the way that Joyce’s characters have distinct ‘voices’. 

Studying Classics and R.E at school and Classics modules at University has helped, having little knowledge of Irish history and politics has hindered. Nevertheless, I am pushing on. Glad that I never studied the book in University as I can see that it is not a book to be forced; you have to want to read it, and probably to re-read it time and time again to be able to fully explore the multitude of references.

Internet research has been fruitful and varied. Glad that there are people out there fence-sitting, I am intimidated by the rabid intellectuals screaming that it is the best book in the English language, and by the equally fervent haters who can’t understand why anyone would like it. I’d rather stay out of either camp, and I am particularly not reading it so that I can boast about the experience. Perhaps I am just one of those people out there who enjoy the masochistic thrill of the whole thing. I am bemused by the anecdotes of people treating it like some sort of Bible, making pilgrimages to Ireland.

The text is undoubtedly error-riddled, but I’m glad that I’m reading this particular edition as it is a facsimile of the original edition. It gives the experience of reading it as it was, minus the modern typefaces and corrections. 

I've taken this image from an article on Bibioklept 'How to Read James Joyce's Ulysses (and why you should avoid how to guides like this one)'. 

A helpful, enthusiastic yet not too deferential atricle. I like Blah Blah Bloomsday too (from the same site), good links and pictures.

The First Book

I've been thinking about whether to go easy or hard, or on what basis I chose when to read each book. Anyway, I've decided to set myself a challenge to start with. As there is a new BBC Radio 4 production of this text that aired yesterday, I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the link: Radio 4 Production of Ulysses
I haven't listened to the radio broadcast, but will consider it, although I would like to start reading it first. 
I've attempted Ulysses in the past but not got very far. The last time I tried it, it was a library book, which probably didn't help. Anyway, I have a charity shop copy I bought a while back but can't remember attempting. I also have the free downloaded version on the Kindle, but I've chosen to read a physical copy as this is a specific version of the text and knowing that this book has a reputation for being dense and difficult, I thought I'd be better off with a few footnotes to guide me on my way. 
The book is an OUP (World's Classics) version of the 1922 text published in 1998 edited by Jeri Johnson. The 1922 edition is supposed to be closest to the original text. This can be important, I know from reading D.H Lawrence's Lady Chatterly novels. Lawrence published several editions of the story which are quite different in tone to each other. 

The cover image is interesting, here is a small copy of it, which I have taken from The Tate Gallery Website. 
The name is The Transmogrifications of Bloom by Richard Hamilton (1984-5). Although I haven't found out much about it so far, I suspect that it may have been comissioned for a copy of the book or certainly heavily influenced by it. 
So far, I don't know that much about the book either, only that it is Modernist, set over a day in 1904 and that Joyce was unable to publish in England due to supposed obscenity. I haven't studied any Joyce before either. 
Anyway, I suppose I should start reading it!