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 H. G. Wells 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.
#3722726 in eBooks 2016-05-30 2016-05-30File Name: B01GF9SG4G
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