Ulysses A Modern Library EBook by James Joyce - Reviews Not Of 1922 Edition

							 Ulysses: (A Modern Library E-Book)
           by James Joyce




                         Reviews Not Of 1922 Edition


Ulysses has been labeled dirty, blasphemous, and unreadable. In a
famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an
emetic book--although he found it sufficiently unobscene to allow its
importation into the United States--and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry
James Joyces cloacal obsession. None of these adjectives, however, do
the slightest justice to the novel. To this day it remains the modernist
masterpiece, in which the author takes both Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to
splendid extremes. It is funny, sorrowful, and even (in a close-focus sort of
way) suspenseful. And despite the exegetical industry that has sprung up
in the last 75 years, Ulysses is also a compulsively readable book. Even
the verbal vaudeville of the final chapters can be navigated with relative
ease, as long as youre willing to be buffeted, tickled, challenged, and
(occasionally) vexed by Joyces sheer command of the English language.
Among other things, a novel is simply a long story, and the first question
about any story is: What happens?. In the case of Ulysses, the answer
might be Everything. William Blake, one of literatures sublime myopics,
saw the universe in a grain of sand. Joyce saw it in Dublin, Ireland, on
June 16, 1904, a day distinguished by its utter normality. Two characters,
Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom, go about their separate business,
crossing paths with a gallery of indelible Dubliners. We watch them teach,
eat, stroll the streets, argue, and (in Blooms case) masturbate. And
thanks to the books stream-of-consciousness technique--which suggests
no mere stream but an impossibly deep, swift-running river--were privy to
their thoughts, emotions, and memories. The result? Almost every variety
of human experience is crammed into the accordian folds of a single day,
which makes Ulysses not just an experimental work but the very last word
in realism. Both characters add their glorious intonations to the music of
Joyces prose. Dedaluss accent--that of a freelance aesthetician, who
dabbles here and there in what we might call Early Yeats Lite--will be
familiar to readers of Portrait of an Artist As a Young Man. But Blooms
wistful sensualism (and naive curiosity) is something else entirely. Seen
through his eyes, a rundown corner of a Dublin graveyard is a figure for
hope and hopelessness, mortality and dogged survival: Mr Bloom walked
unheeded along his grove by saddened angels, crosses, broken pillars,
family vaults, stone hopes praying with upcast eyes, old Irelands hearts
and hands. More sensible to spend the money on some charity for the
living. Pray for the repose of the soul of. Does anybody really? --James
Marcus

I am glad that I read "Ulysses" by James Joyce as part of a graduate level
course so that I had a professor who could explain all the intricacies and
idiosyncracies of Joyce's masterpiece. Had I tried to read this novel on my
own, I'm sure I would've given up very early on. Its stream-of-
consciousness style not only defies the laws of narratrion, but Joyce
expected his readers to be as intelligent as he was, which is just not the
average case in today's society. It is easy to see why this novel has been
the center of such controversy and praise ever since it was published; it
truly stands alone in the pantheon of modern literature. As challenging
and frustrating as it can be, it is a rewarding and intriguing read.

So how does one sum up a nearly 800 page novel that follows the
seemingly mundance events of one day (June 16, 1904) in Dub lin,
Ireland? "Ulysses" is the tale primarily of two men, Stephen Dedalus and
Leopold Bloom, whose paths propitiously cross late within the book.
Stephen, a young intellectual, is stuck in an unrewarding job as a teacher.
Bloom, a half-Jewish worker, is stuck in an unhappy marriage and who
finds joy in the smallest and oddest of places. His day's journey through
Dublin takes him to a funeral, a bar where he very nearly gets into a fight,
a maternity ward, and a house of ill repute before he returns home for the
evening. Along the way, readers are introduced to a wide cast of
supporting characters who flesh out Bloom's adventures and play symbolic
roles based on Homer's "The Odyssey". Readers are also given a vast
insight into the history of the English language as well as questions that
concern the very essence of humanity. The novel finishes with the
perspective of Bloom's wife, Molly, who sheds some interesting light on
Bloom's fears and presentiments.

There is truly no other work like "Ulysses" in the history of the English
novel and there will likely never be another quite like it. Joyce's command
of the English language was phenomenal and his powers are at full display
in chapter after chapter, whether in parodies of various writing styles or
mocking the vapid putrescence of romantic literature. Leopold Bloom
springs to life and his journey, while challenging and difficult, is definitely
worth pursuing.

    For More 5 Star Customer Reviews and Lowest Price:
 Ulysses: (A Modern Library E-Book) by James Joyce - 5 Star Customer Reviews and
                                 Lowest Price!