"STATELY, PLUMP BUCK MULLIGAN CAME FROM THE STAIRHEAD, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned..."
Wiki has a decent capsule study of the whole thing.
Tune into Radio Woodshed starting a noon EDT to hear the whole novel read aloud, unabridged, all 27+ hours of it.
And if you think Ulysses was hard to read or listen to, imagine writing a 265,000-word novel with a vocabulary of about 30,000 words that all takes place in a single day - it only took
Joyce seven years to write it, but has taken most people much more time to read and develop an understanding of it.
Culture, beeyoches, come get some!
Tried twice to read it.
ReplyDeleteHead exploded both times.
Ick.
I love "Ulysses" and re-read every few years.
ReplyDeleteWomb? Weary?
He rests. He has travelled.
Weird thing was, I struggled mightly to get through it. When I put it down I wanted to read it again.
ReplyDelete"god is a shout in the street"
ReplyDeleteConstant - I had the same experience. It took me more than a year to read and I can plow through your average thriller in an hour or two. Dense, dense, dense text. Same thing happens to me Thomas Pynchon.
I think I discovered an alternative to the old wake and bake trick. Listen to a chapter of Ulysses in the morning before coffee - it isn't quite the same thing, but I can almost guarantee nothing more confusing, enlightening or mentally challenging will happen to you all day. It certainly put you in a different frame of mind during the morning commute.
ReplyDelete