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Ulysses Unbound: A Reader's Companion to James Joyce's Ulysses
Ideal for readers new to Ulysses and written with a depth of knowledge invaluable to scholars, “Ulysses� Unbound is a clear and comprehensive guide to James Joyce’s masterpiece from one of the foremost Dublin-based Joyce experts.
Terence Killeen discusses the novel’s eighteen episodes individually. For each episode, Killeen provides a brief narrative summary along with an account of the parallels from Homer’s Odyssey. Next, he devotes attention to the episode’s unique style, in recognition of the novel’s remarkable stylistic diversity. He also includes a commentary section that surveys the episode’s principal themes and function within the broader context of the development of the work as a whole. These sections are followed by notes that help explain some of the main characters and historical events in the text, illuminating the real people who provided so much of the book’s material. Glossaries define many of the foreign language terms that pepper the text.
Mindful of the needs of readers tackling Ulysses for the first time, Killeen begins his treatment of the episodes simply and expands his discussions as the novel’s text expands. He concludes with an overall reading of Ulysses that considers possible approaches to interpreting the book in its entirety. The guide also features a brief account of Joyce’s life and a description of the novel’s eventful textual and publishing history. Accessible and authoritative, “Ulysses� Unbound is an indispensable companion for both students and specialists.
A volume in the Florida James Joyce Series, edited by Sebastian D. G. Knowles
Terence Killeen discusses the novel’s eighteen episodes individually. For each episode, Killeen provides a brief narrative summary along with an account of the parallels from Homer’s Odyssey. Next, he devotes attention to the episode’s unique style, in recognition of the novel’s remarkable stylistic diversity. He also includes a commentary section that surveys the episode’s principal themes and function within the broader context of the development of the work as a whole. These sections are followed by notes that help explain some of the main characters and historical events in the text, illuminating the real people who provided so much of the book’s material. Glossaries define many of the foreign language terms that pepper the text.
Mindful of the needs of readers tackling Ulysses for the first time, Killeen begins his treatment of the episodes simply and expands his discussions as the novel’s text expands. He concludes with an overall reading of Ulysses that considers possible approaches to interpreting the book in its entirety. The guide also features a brief account of Joyce’s life and a description of the novel’s eventful textual and publishing history. Accessible and authoritative, “Ulysses� Unbound is an indispensable companion for both students and specialists.
A volume in the Florida James Joyce Series, edited by Sebastian D. G. Knowles
258 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2005
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373 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 27, 2022
It will not have escaped your attention that 2022 is � 100th birthday!
Should you be wishing to leap boldly into the unique exhausting but hilarious reading experience that is Ulysses, here is a great guide. Terence Killeen doesn't waffle on too much in the way that professors can and often do, those naughty academics who are all in love with the sound of their own voices. No. He is succinct. But most informative. And when he wrestles with the Difficult Bits (there are a fair few, but stiffen thy sinews) he sounds like a real reader. He doesn’t assume that everyone has a class A brain with memory already fully equipped with all the Greek Classics. Some of those professors will put you off your own breakfast, so they will.
So this is recommended!
MY OTHER FAVOURITE BOOKS ON JOYCE
Biographically I loved this old one
Can you imagine being Jimmy Joyce’s brother? And him forever short of a ten bob note?
Here is a lovely picture book
and here is a really great history of what happened to Ulysses after it was published � it had many adventures! It’s a real pageturner!
and finally a real obscurity � if you ever wanted to read about somebody’s truly grim-but-funny obsession with one single book �
If you ever thought of trying FW this will cure you. Poor Roland. (But Ulysses is a whole other thing! Give it a go....)
Want to read
October 31, 2018I was able to read a preview at Amazon: the Preface & Chapter I-III. Like many works of non-fiction the author's most pertinent task in preparing his information is trying to discern what level of erudition his potential readers may already have concerning the subject he wishes to elucidate. From what I was able to see Mr. Killeen tends to the side believing his audience to be naive and not particularly well read. The author's seeming obsession for highlighting parallels between Joyce and Homer is not really helpful. While his rather mis-guided fascination with the so called schemas (a weird sort of symbolic outline drawn-up by Joyce after Ulysses was published ostensibly to direct the thoughts of critics and commentators) is a total waste of time. Both tactics leading the reader away from rather than toward any understanding.
April 29, 2022
Good guide, very concise and serves the purpose.
September 25, 2020
I used this book as a pony to help me get through Ulysses, which I reread after many decades. I also used the huge Annotations by Gifford and Seidman, for more detailed help with foreign quotations, cultural allusions, geography, and a million other details, not all of which I really needed to know. Killeen provides a much shorter set of annotations on each chapter. It would be interesting to know how well you could get through the book with only these.
This book provides a number of helpful scaffoldings. One is to summarize the plot of each chapter in some detail. This is surprisingly necessary, because the chapters that are stylistically dense and archaic are often difficult to understand even if you enjoy the linguistic games. Some of the events would have only been interpretable on a second or third reading, unless one had recourse to this or a similar aid. Another helpful aspect is the discussion of how each chapter connects to its corresponding chapter of The Odyssey. Often the chapters do not really recapitulate the original but play against it in an ironic way. For example, Penelope waits faithfully for Ulysses, but Molly Bloom deceives her husband Leopold, although the arc of both stories is about the hero’s return home after all his adventures. Details such as the significance of the marital bed in The Odyssey and the Blooms� bed would not be noticed without help.
The book also provides a discussion of the writing style of each chapter, which is essential, because the chapters are written in often very different styles, usually taking after some previous model of English or even Latin prose. The book also provides commonsensical discussion of how the writing style mirrors the personal style and thought of individual characters, which helps to explain the great diversity of approaches.
I found the book to be very helpful overall. I think it actually could have been a bit longer and especially at the end taken some time to discuss the main themes and how they interact. It also might have been helpful to read a bit about the influence of the book on 20th century English-language literature, which was immense. However, saying that you wished that a book was longer is a compliment, I suppose, and I’m glad I had it when I took on this project.
This book provides a number of helpful scaffoldings. One is to summarize the plot of each chapter in some detail. This is surprisingly necessary, because the chapters that are stylistically dense and archaic are often difficult to understand even if you enjoy the linguistic games. Some of the events would have only been interpretable on a second or third reading, unless one had recourse to this or a similar aid. Another helpful aspect is the discussion of how each chapter connects to its corresponding chapter of The Odyssey. Often the chapters do not really recapitulate the original but play against it in an ironic way. For example, Penelope waits faithfully for Ulysses, but Molly Bloom deceives her husband Leopold, although the arc of both stories is about the hero’s return home after all his adventures. Details such as the significance of the marital bed in The Odyssey and the Blooms� bed would not be noticed without help.
The book also provides a discussion of the writing style of each chapter, which is essential, because the chapters are written in often very different styles, usually taking after some previous model of English or even Latin prose. The book also provides commonsensical discussion of how the writing style mirrors the personal style and thought of individual characters, which helps to explain the great diversity of approaches.
I found the book to be very helpful overall. I think it actually could have been a bit longer and especially at the end taken some time to discuss the main themes and how they interact. It also might have been helpful to read a bit about the influence of the book on 20th century English-language literature, which was immense. However, saying that you wished that a book was longer is a compliment, I suppose, and I’m glad I had it when I took on this project.
June 15, 2022
I would go so far as to say this is a necessary companion. Ulysses is opened up and becomes highly accessible, and if you read a chapter in Ulysses and then the corresponding commentary in this book, you start to wonder why Ulysses has a reputation of being a difficult, unnecessarily long, and somewhat pointless novel. It is one of the greatest experiences in literature, and this book only helps solidify that fact.
Now if we could only get one of these for Finnegans Wake...
Now if we could only get one of these for Finnegans Wake...
March 12, 2018
I read this book over two days with my Ulysses text as a resource. I’ve read Ulysses four times prior, so I though I knew the text well. This pointed out a lot of things that I’ve missed in my readings of Ulysses. I will probably reread Ulysses again using Ulysses Unbound as the reference and Ulysses itself as the source work
August 16, 2016
Joyce was 40 yrs old when Ulysses was published, it is a day in the life of a husband and father of Joyce's age (at publication). Joyce loved Dublin and Ireland and though the book was written on the European continent - he wanted to memorialize his birth home (Ireland). The framework of Ulysses is Homer's Odyssey - The Roman Ulysses: 1 Telemachus, 2 Nestor, 3 Proteus, 4 Calypso, 5 Lotus Eaters, 6 Hades, 7 Aeolus, 8 Lestrygonians, 9 Scylla And Charybdis, 10 Wandering Rocks, 11 Sirens, 12 Cyclops, 13 Nausicca, 14 Oxen Of The Sun, 15 Circe, 16 Eumaeus, 17 Ithaca, and 18 Penelope.
Ulysses is the tale of a Modern-day Odysseus, Leopold Bloom in his personal existential/sexual quest. The conclusion of this quest is the quintessential affirmation of humanity, the fundamental family unit - the father, mother, son, and daughter. Like Odysseus, absent from Penelope, traveling the world, for many long years, Leopold Bloom is also absent from his Penelope (in Dublin). Like a traveler (Odysseus), Bloom is sexually absent (abstinent) from Molly �10 years, 5 months and 18 days� (736). Unlike Odysseus, the obstacles Bloom faces are psychological (modern) - internal travails instead of Odysseus' external travails. Bloom's only son’s death has become a psychological barrier; as Molly reflects: “we were never the same since� (778). Yet Bloom is optimistic throughout the work - in regard to the possibility of another child, again Molly: ”Ill give him one more chance� (780). Affirmatively (as we grow to know Molly) we find she has given and is willing to continue to give Bloom “one more chance�. Through the course of the (Dublin) day, Bloom experiences “deep frustration, humiliation, fear, punishment and catharsis� (Herring, p.74). Bloom needs to lead himself back, out of self-deception, fantasy, and frustration to Molly’s (and his marriage) bed.
Bloom’s travails come in the Circe chapter and it is imperative (for Joyce) that as readers, we recognize Joyce’s change from Homer's Odyssey - this is Joyce's major rework, deviating from his Greek predecessor. For Odysseus: insight, understanding, enlightenment, and all importantly direction come to Odysseus in his journey to the (ancient Greek) Underworld. For Bloom, the Hades chapter or “the other world� represents an “emptiness of mind�; Joyce was a man grounded (and devoted) to the present world of man's consciousness and unconsciousness. In Ulysses enlightenment comes in the Circe chapter: described though the Joycean technique of hallucination or the discoveries of the "unconscious mind�. Joyce's Circe chapter (a surrealistic one-act Ibsen-like play) is where Bloom finds self-possession - (Joyce makes) Bloom encounter his own psycho-sexual existential questions, rather than finding life's answers in the dead ghosts of his life (the ancient Greek Hades chapter of the dead past).
In the Circe chapter, Bloom confronts and overcomes every major obstacle in his existential/sexual quest: the Molly he serves in Calypso reappears as Bello the whoremistress, Molly’s letter from Boylan and his from Martha are reworked into a series of seductive letters ending in a trial, his sexual infidelities beginning with Lotty Clarke and ending with Gerty McDowell are relived (importantly balanced by Molly’s infidelities) and reconciled, and lastly, Bloom triumphs over whore, Virgin-Goddess, and most importantly himself. Joyce equanimously gives both Molly and Bloom extramarital sexual infidelities - infidelities known by each of the other (as early as the Calypso chapter) Bloom was conscious of what was to come. Of course there will be resolution in marriage, for Molly only needs to feel that Bloom is willing. As we read, Bloom has undergone the travails of his own mind and has emerged Victorious. He has succeeded in his psycho-sexual existential quest. He has arrived at Molly’s bed. Self-possessed. Victorious. Eager.
Molly "I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him...then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down in to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. (END)".
After publishing Ulysses, Joyce began FINNEGANS WAKE (FW) - Joyce largely stepped out of one work into his next (and last work). The change Joyce made in FW was instead of using Homer's Ulysses as a framework - FW's framework is Giambattista Vico's "La Scienza Nuova's" 4 cyclic stages of history.
Joyce realized that he ended Ulysses wrongly (not in accordance with the Universe) in Molly's bed - Joyce corrects his mistake in FINNEGANS WAKE by incorporating Vico's revelation of restart / recirculation. "HCE day" similar to Bloomsday (roughly 24 hrs): Chronologically FW starts with memories in "book I:3" of HCE arrested in front of his tavern/home, like Bloom unable to enter his front door (but HCE does not enter his home through the back door) - instead HCE is arrested for disturbances in hours before dawn. Then memories "book I:4" HCE's conscious/musings or unconscious/dream psychological travails of past guilts (underworld coffin, Ulysses ch Hades) while incarcerated in early hours of morning. Followed by memories "book I:2" HCE walks home through Phoenix Park accosted for the time of day (12 noon) which threatens (real/unreal memories, Ulysses ch Nausicaa) his innocent well-being. These 3 chapters in FW are Joyce's major rework to incorporate Vico's revelation of restart / recirculation into FW - Joyce rewrites 3 chapters of Ulysses: When He is denied Her front door, He is in Hell (on earth), when released (from Hell) His odyssey to Her begins again (with His ever-present accompanying internal travails) for She always knows when He is worthy of Her acceptance (their Paradise).
Then "book I:1" Finnegan's afternoon wake at HCE's tavern and retelling memories (books I:2-4). Inside HCE's tavern (his ship) his patrons talk about his family (Norwegian Captain and the Tailor's Daughter), truthful letters (ALP) and fabricated stories (books I:5-8 & II:3); while the children (Shaun, Shem and Iseult) are in and out of the family tavern/home all day taking their lessons (book II:2) and playing about with their friends (Shem's closing dream, book II:1); HCE, as proprietor, defends himself with a self-deprecating apologia before his intoxicated collapse late night (book II:3). HCE dreams on his tavern floor (book II:4); then dreams in his bed (books III:1-3); before intercourse with his wife ALP (book III:4). HCE & ALP's lovemaking dissolution dream (book IV) to awaken to a new day, Joycean Nirvana is attained by ALP's (& HCE's) unification with the Unmanifest (Creation, Incarnate conception) and Reincarnation (the baton has been passed on again), awaiting Joyce's God "thunderclap" at the beginning of FW's "book I".
FW is aural (oral) history like Homer's Odessey and Celtic folktales - when one pronounces (phonology) FW's words (aloud) there are more languages than just English; also, when one reads (morphology) FW's words almost all the words are "portmanteaus / neologisms" which gives each of FW's "poly-syncretic" words many meanings (universal impermanence, Heisenberg uncertainty/obscurity), each FW syncretic sentence dozens of possible messages, each FW syncretic paragraph hundreds of possible readings, Joyce's rendering of a more expansive English language and multiplicating universal book with coalescing syncretic themes/stories (that responds/opens to each reader's inquiries). Joyce schooled in Christian Jesuit metaphysics (pushed down into the mindfulness of human consciousness) breathes in the spirit of expansive Celtic (Irish) democratic community tavern life where man's stories of life are told. Tavern life teaches the evolution of Joyce's ten God "thunderclaps" (one hundred lettered words) pushing man's evolution forward from cave man's tales to modern tv media tales. Inside the tavern man learns of the purely human (animal) fall, taken down by another human(s) - like animal taken down on the African savanna. A granular reading of FW can render FW as an updated John Milton's Paradise Lost (regurgitated knowledge from the tree, to affirm man's damnation); however, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species was published in 1859 and Joyce in FW book II clearly walks Shaun, Shem and Iseult through their earthly evolutionary lifetime travails, our mortality is a consequence of Life's evolution. Every page of FW speaks to man's evolution (unconscious biological, conscious social, aspirational personal) and to Life recirculating (West meets Dzogchen East a "meeting of metaphysical minds") that binds humanity together into the future. Dzogchen (beyond all dualistic polarities) the heart of human consciousness - Joyce's underlying (subcutaneous) arguments refute the "Western curse of metaphysical/mythological damnation", the curse does not exist in the Eastern mind. Like "counting the number of angels on the head of a pin" (Aquinas 1270) Joyce provides a granular/expansive reading of FW as a "defense against all Western adversity" for our conscious and unconscious Western travails. HCE's angst is caused by his community that imposes a Western curse (damnation) upon him that man is not guilty of...to experience Joycean Nirvana, a defense against this man-made guilt is required - for as Zoroaster revealed cosmogonic dualism, evil is mixed with good in man's universal everyday travails (even the Dalai Lama must defend Nirvana rigorously from the most populous authoritarian state in human history).
Joyce's FW celebrates the Joys of Christian/Buddhist diversity of humanity (expansive human consciousness: Gnostic Norwegian Captain, Shem, Archdruid), Brahma (Finnegan, HCE, Shaun), Divine Women (ALP, Iseult, Nuvoletta), his family - and the Sufferings of the inescapable "evil" of Shiva (Buckley), the debilitating harmful sterile intrusive authoritarian institutionalizing damnation (MaMaLuJo, St. Patrick) by Augustine, the manufactured clerical corruption identified by Luther (since 367 AD) and the burdens of "survival of the fittest" anxiety (modern commerce) met with a Dzogchen Buddhist stance. The (innocent infant) Norwegian Captain (Krishna, HCE), occasionally defensive (Shiva, HCE), though concretized (Brahma, HCE) by community family life (MaMaLuJo) - through spirits (drink) HCE can access his spirituality (dreams) and through spiritual (cutting through) love-making with ALP (direct approach) can access (their Krishnas) unification with the Unmanifest. Joyce was a Prophet who consumed Man's conscious and spiritual "thoughts and dreams, history and gossip, efforts and failings" - to reveal the joys (Nirvana) and sufferings (Saṃsāra) of Mankind.
Joyce's FW message: Christian/Buddhist omniscient compassion (Christ/Krishna) is eternally joyful and recirculating. Affirmative family (HCE/Brahma, ALP/Divine woman & children) existentiality: life's biological evolution (sex), modern survival (money), constraining community (Dharma, social evolution) are constantly assaulted by inescapable "aggressive insidious vile" corrupt soul(less/sucking) ossified demonic antipathetic attacks. Joycean Nirvana is attained via the Christian/Buddhist affirmative middle way, "beyond polar opposites" the path of Christ/Buddha.
JCB
Ulysses is the tale of a Modern-day Odysseus, Leopold Bloom in his personal existential/sexual quest. The conclusion of this quest is the quintessential affirmation of humanity, the fundamental family unit - the father, mother, son, and daughter. Like Odysseus, absent from Penelope, traveling the world, for many long years, Leopold Bloom is also absent from his Penelope (in Dublin). Like a traveler (Odysseus), Bloom is sexually absent (abstinent) from Molly �10 years, 5 months and 18 days� (736). Unlike Odysseus, the obstacles Bloom faces are psychological (modern) - internal travails instead of Odysseus' external travails. Bloom's only son’s death has become a psychological barrier; as Molly reflects: “we were never the same since� (778). Yet Bloom is optimistic throughout the work - in regard to the possibility of another child, again Molly: ”Ill give him one more chance� (780). Affirmatively (as we grow to know Molly) we find she has given and is willing to continue to give Bloom “one more chance�. Through the course of the (Dublin) day, Bloom experiences “deep frustration, humiliation, fear, punishment and catharsis� (Herring, p.74). Bloom needs to lead himself back, out of self-deception, fantasy, and frustration to Molly’s (and his marriage) bed.
Bloom’s travails come in the Circe chapter and it is imperative (for Joyce) that as readers, we recognize Joyce’s change from Homer's Odyssey - this is Joyce's major rework, deviating from his Greek predecessor. For Odysseus: insight, understanding, enlightenment, and all importantly direction come to Odysseus in his journey to the (ancient Greek) Underworld. For Bloom, the Hades chapter or “the other world� represents an “emptiness of mind�; Joyce was a man grounded (and devoted) to the present world of man's consciousness and unconsciousness. In Ulysses enlightenment comes in the Circe chapter: described though the Joycean technique of hallucination or the discoveries of the "unconscious mind�. Joyce's Circe chapter (a surrealistic one-act Ibsen-like play) is where Bloom finds self-possession - (Joyce makes) Bloom encounter his own psycho-sexual existential questions, rather than finding life's answers in the dead ghosts of his life (the ancient Greek Hades chapter of the dead past).
In the Circe chapter, Bloom confronts and overcomes every major obstacle in his existential/sexual quest: the Molly he serves in Calypso reappears as Bello the whoremistress, Molly’s letter from Boylan and his from Martha are reworked into a series of seductive letters ending in a trial, his sexual infidelities beginning with Lotty Clarke and ending with Gerty McDowell are relived (importantly balanced by Molly’s infidelities) and reconciled, and lastly, Bloom triumphs over whore, Virgin-Goddess, and most importantly himself. Joyce equanimously gives both Molly and Bloom extramarital sexual infidelities - infidelities known by each of the other (as early as the Calypso chapter) Bloom was conscious of what was to come. Of course there will be resolution in marriage, for Molly only needs to feel that Bloom is willing. As we read, Bloom has undergone the travails of his own mind and has emerged Victorious. He has succeeded in his psycho-sexual existential quest. He has arrived at Molly’s bed. Self-possessed. Victorious. Eager.
Molly "I saw he understood or felt what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him...then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down in to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. (END)".
After publishing Ulysses, Joyce began FINNEGANS WAKE (FW) - Joyce largely stepped out of one work into his next (and last work). The change Joyce made in FW was instead of using Homer's Ulysses as a framework - FW's framework is Giambattista Vico's "La Scienza Nuova's" 4 cyclic stages of history.
Joyce realized that he ended Ulysses wrongly (not in accordance with the Universe) in Molly's bed - Joyce corrects his mistake in FINNEGANS WAKE by incorporating Vico's revelation of restart / recirculation. "HCE day" similar to Bloomsday (roughly 24 hrs): Chronologically FW starts with memories in "book I:3" of HCE arrested in front of his tavern/home, like Bloom unable to enter his front door (but HCE does not enter his home through the back door) - instead HCE is arrested for disturbances in hours before dawn. Then memories "book I:4" HCE's conscious/musings or unconscious/dream psychological travails of past guilts (underworld coffin, Ulysses ch Hades) while incarcerated in early hours of morning. Followed by memories "book I:2" HCE walks home through Phoenix Park accosted for the time of day (12 noon) which threatens (real/unreal memories, Ulysses ch Nausicaa) his innocent well-being. These 3 chapters in FW are Joyce's major rework to incorporate Vico's revelation of restart / recirculation into FW - Joyce rewrites 3 chapters of Ulysses: When He is denied Her front door, He is in Hell (on earth), when released (from Hell) His odyssey to Her begins again (with His ever-present accompanying internal travails) for She always knows when He is worthy of Her acceptance (their Paradise).
Then "book I:1" Finnegan's afternoon wake at HCE's tavern and retelling memories (books I:2-4). Inside HCE's tavern (his ship) his patrons talk about his family (Norwegian Captain and the Tailor's Daughter), truthful letters (ALP) and fabricated stories (books I:5-8 & II:3); while the children (Shaun, Shem and Iseult) are in and out of the family tavern/home all day taking their lessons (book II:2) and playing about with their friends (Shem's closing dream, book II:1); HCE, as proprietor, defends himself with a self-deprecating apologia before his intoxicated collapse late night (book II:3). HCE dreams on his tavern floor (book II:4); then dreams in his bed (books III:1-3); before intercourse with his wife ALP (book III:4). HCE & ALP's lovemaking dissolution dream (book IV) to awaken to a new day, Joycean Nirvana is attained by ALP's (& HCE's) unification with the Unmanifest (Creation, Incarnate conception) and Reincarnation (the baton has been passed on again), awaiting Joyce's God "thunderclap" at the beginning of FW's "book I".
FW is aural (oral) history like Homer's Odessey and Celtic folktales - when one pronounces (phonology) FW's words (aloud) there are more languages than just English; also, when one reads (morphology) FW's words almost all the words are "portmanteaus / neologisms" which gives each of FW's "poly-syncretic" words many meanings (universal impermanence, Heisenberg uncertainty/obscurity), each FW syncretic sentence dozens of possible messages, each FW syncretic paragraph hundreds of possible readings, Joyce's rendering of a more expansive English language and multiplicating universal book with coalescing syncretic themes/stories (that responds/opens to each reader's inquiries). Joyce schooled in Christian Jesuit metaphysics (pushed down into the mindfulness of human consciousness) breathes in the spirit of expansive Celtic (Irish) democratic community tavern life where man's stories of life are told. Tavern life teaches the evolution of Joyce's ten God "thunderclaps" (one hundred lettered words) pushing man's evolution forward from cave man's tales to modern tv media tales. Inside the tavern man learns of the purely human (animal) fall, taken down by another human(s) - like animal taken down on the African savanna. A granular reading of FW can render FW as an updated John Milton's Paradise Lost (regurgitated knowledge from the tree, to affirm man's damnation); however, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species was published in 1859 and Joyce in FW book II clearly walks Shaun, Shem and Iseult through their earthly evolutionary lifetime travails, our mortality is a consequence of Life's evolution. Every page of FW speaks to man's evolution (unconscious biological, conscious social, aspirational personal) and to Life recirculating (West meets Dzogchen East a "meeting of metaphysical minds") that binds humanity together into the future. Dzogchen (beyond all dualistic polarities) the heart of human consciousness - Joyce's underlying (subcutaneous) arguments refute the "Western curse of metaphysical/mythological damnation", the curse does not exist in the Eastern mind. Like "counting the number of angels on the head of a pin" (Aquinas 1270) Joyce provides a granular/expansive reading of FW as a "defense against all Western adversity" for our conscious and unconscious Western travails. HCE's angst is caused by his community that imposes a Western curse (damnation) upon him that man is not guilty of...to experience Joycean Nirvana, a defense against this man-made guilt is required - for as Zoroaster revealed cosmogonic dualism, evil is mixed with good in man's universal everyday travails (even the Dalai Lama must defend Nirvana rigorously from the most populous authoritarian state in human history).
Joyce's FW celebrates the Joys of Christian/Buddhist diversity of humanity (expansive human consciousness: Gnostic Norwegian Captain, Shem, Archdruid), Brahma (Finnegan, HCE, Shaun), Divine Women (ALP, Iseult, Nuvoletta), his family - and the Sufferings of the inescapable "evil" of Shiva (Buckley), the debilitating harmful sterile intrusive authoritarian institutionalizing damnation (MaMaLuJo, St. Patrick) by Augustine, the manufactured clerical corruption identified by Luther (since 367 AD) and the burdens of "survival of the fittest" anxiety (modern commerce) met with a Dzogchen Buddhist stance. The (innocent infant) Norwegian Captain (Krishna, HCE), occasionally defensive (Shiva, HCE), though concretized (Brahma, HCE) by community family life (MaMaLuJo) - through spirits (drink) HCE can access his spirituality (dreams) and through spiritual (cutting through) love-making with ALP (direct approach) can access (their Krishnas) unification with the Unmanifest. Joyce was a Prophet who consumed Man's conscious and spiritual "thoughts and dreams, history and gossip, efforts and failings" - to reveal the joys (Nirvana) and sufferings (Saṃsāra) of Mankind.
Joyce's FW message: Christian/Buddhist omniscient compassion (Christ/Krishna) is eternally joyful and recirculating. Affirmative family (HCE/Brahma, ALP/Divine woman & children) existentiality: life's biological evolution (sex), modern survival (money), constraining community (Dharma, social evolution) are constantly assaulted by inescapable "aggressive insidious vile" corrupt soul(less/sucking) ossified demonic antipathetic attacks. Joycean Nirvana is attained via the Christian/Buddhist affirmative middle way, "beyond polar opposites" the path of Christ/Buddha.
JCB
Read
May 23, 2024Under recommendation of GoodReads user Paul Byrant's massively entertaining review of Ulysses I used this as my companion to my read of Joyce's beast of a novel. This proved absolutely vital, as the summaries provided gave me some idea of what was going on through all the literary curveballs, but also didn't reveal everything, so I still felt like the experience of reading this was robbed from me. The glossary provided for each episode on person, places, things, or foreign phrases helped contextualize the namedrops that happen everywhere in the novel, and the "correspondence" section makes (a bit) clearer the Homeric parallels, which can often be quite abstract, especially as things move on. This even gives a solid glimpse into some basic criticism on the novel itself, with commentaries on the style and content provided for each episode, as well as some for once you finish the novel. So, I'll have to pass on the recommendation, and say this is extremely useful for reading Ulysess, and you should use it if you plan on reading it too.
December 10, 2022
While I feel that summaries and commentary are always helpful with Ulysses, I felt this guide overstepped and that in itself can be damaging to a reader (I believe this is an argument with reading Hugh Kenner on Joyce). It didn’t always acknowledge when there is hot debate over certain things/facts (“It really does look for all the world as if Haines has arrived in the room in Holles Street and is addressing the gathering. Again though, further experience of the episode’s development will make it clear that this is merely a scene that Mulligan conjures up (‘Malachias’s tale�); it does not happen in the ‘real time� of the ‘Oxen of the Sun� episode�)…I thought that was debated� I think the blamires+Gifford guides combo was hard to beat anyway which I did on my first read of Ulysses.
I found the intro section on Joyce’s life illuminating and helpful. It’s also pretty easy to read and includes summary, relation to the odyssey, commentary, and annotations for each episode and it’s still only less than an inch thick so a good glossing of all the many things that go on so a reader gets a sense. The annotations leave out some of the best things though and I’d hate someone to think “that’s all she wrote.� I also found parts of the commentary could be elaborated on, especially “the end of Ulysses confirmed that Joyce’s response to the paralysis he initially diagnosed as a condition of Dublin was not to escape from it, but rather to go further into it, to realize all its dimensions, especially its circularity.� Then again you could probably write a whole book just on that sentence.
I found the intro section on Joyce’s life illuminating and helpful. It’s also pretty easy to read and includes summary, relation to the odyssey, commentary, and annotations for each episode and it’s still only less than an inch thick so a good glossing of all the many things that go on so a reader gets a sense. The annotations leave out some of the best things though and I’d hate someone to think “that’s all she wrote.� I also found parts of the commentary could be elaborated on, especially “the end of Ulysses confirmed that Joyce’s response to the paralysis he initially diagnosed as a condition of Dublin was not to escape from it, but rather to go further into it, to realize all its dimensions, especially its circularity.� Then again you could probably write a whole book just on that sentence.
November 7, 2024
Extremely helpful and insightful.
May 22, 2022
I read this book alongside the penguin classic of Ulysses. It was invaluable and I don't think I would have finished Ulysses without it.
January 5, 2019
I used this book as a first time reader's guide and found it a good choice for this purpose. Each episode is broken into a number of sections; plot "Summary", "Correspondences", which gives a comparison to The Odyssey and alludes to the Gilbert schema, "Style" and the author's "Commentary" or opinions. This is followed by "Biographical/historical" references and "Select glossary", which essentially translates most of the foreign language references. There is also a nice summary of Joyce's life and a brief history of the writing and publication of Ulysses, and an "Afterword" that gives some commentary on the book as a whole.
This book is probably of limited use to the Joyce scholar as its analyses barely scratch the surface, but it makes a nice reference guide that's almost as good as Gifford (I'm Irish so I'm familiar with the historical period and didn't need much help with Dublin slang or colloquialisms, so other opinions may vary on this). For me, I got most out of the "Biographical/historical" references and "Select glossary" and paid little attention to "Correspondences" and "Style", which I think is appropriate for a first time read. The "Summary" was useful as a bailout when I got lost in some difficult passages, but you can find this in free online cliff notes.
If I had to buy only one guide, it would probably be Gifford's , but Ulysses Unbound got me 95% of what I wanted and is a lot easier to carry around!
This book is probably of limited use to the Joyce scholar as its analyses barely scratch the surface, but it makes a nice reference guide that's almost as good as Gifford (I'm Irish so I'm familiar with the historical period and didn't need much help with Dublin slang or colloquialisms, so other opinions may vary on this). For me, I got most out of the "Biographical/historical" references and "Select glossary" and paid little attention to "Correspondences" and "Style", which I think is appropriate for a first time read. The "Summary" was useful as a bailout when I got lost in some difficult passages, but you can find this in free online cliff notes.
If I had to buy only one guide, it would probably be Gifford's , but Ulysses Unbound got me 95% of what I wanted and is a lot easier to carry around!
July 24, 2014
I was plowing through Ulysses, and a little over halfway through, realized I wasn't getting everything I could out of it, and picked up this companion. After I read the first chapter, I realized how much I'd missed, and started over (sigh).
It's organized like this: an introduction explains the history if the novel, and provides an overview of the strategy and organization. Then there is a chapter for each if the 18 episodes. Each has five components: a summary of the events, correspondences to the Odyssey, commentary, biographical/historic notes, and a glossary explaining obscure and foreign phrases. The chapters are concise (5-8 pages), and reading them before and after each episode didn't really slow my progress through the novel. I found the commentaries to be very insightful.
Sadly, it appears to be out of print, but worth hunting down.
It's organized like this: an introduction explains the history if the novel, and provides an overview of the strategy and organization. Then there is a chapter for each if the 18 episodes. Each has five components: a summary of the events, correspondences to the Odyssey, commentary, biographical/historic notes, and a glossary explaining obscure and foreign phrases. The chapters are concise (5-8 pages), and reading them before and after each episode didn't really slow my progress through the novel. I found the commentaries to be very insightful.
Sadly, it appears to be out of print, but worth hunting down.
May 20, 2022
The guide is direct and clear. Each chapter is divided into 4 parts:
* Summary
* Correspondence (to the Odyssey)
* Style
* Commentary.
The Summary and Correspondence walked me through the content of each chapter as the events unfolded (often described in Joyce’s highly stylised prose, which can be confusing and elusive).
The Style and Commentary dives into the layers of each chapter, covering some of the reasons and logic behind each chapter’s unique writing style.
As a person who has never done any higher lit classes, I was able to understand and engage in Ulysses thanks to this guide. If you’re considering reading Ulysses for the first time, Ulysses Unbound is perfect company.
* Summary
* Correspondence (to the Odyssey)
* Style
* Commentary.
The Summary and Correspondence walked me through the content of each chapter as the events unfolded (often described in Joyce’s highly stylised prose, which can be confusing and elusive).
The Style and Commentary dives into the layers of each chapter, covering some of the reasons and logic behind each chapter’s unique writing style.
As a person who has never done any higher lit classes, I was able to understand and engage in Ulysses thanks to this guide. If you’re considering reading Ulysses for the first time, Ulysses Unbound is perfect company.
March 30, 2025
Surely a companion book is very much needed –indispensable� in order to read Ulysses: here we find, divided in quite reasonable sections, a narrative account on the action of the chapter, its relationship to the Odissey, a comment on it, a list of the most bizarre words and another list on the characters named. Perhaps its best point is that nothing written here is useless or over the top, no digressions are allowed; this really is nothing but a guide, albeit introductory, to one of the most important books ever written.
August 5, 2023
Unless you have the time to read and re-read Ulysses over and over, a resource like this is invaluable, especially if you have no one to pore over the details with you. This book arrived when I was already half way through Ulysses and so I had to catch up to my current chapter. I think it must be noted that Ulysses will always be hardworking and you don't have to be a martyr and trudge through it blind. This only enhanced my experience !
February 2, 2022
This is an essential companion to reading James Joyce's Ulysses. It is a clear and concise guide to each of the eighteen episodes in detail highlighting the parallels to Homer's Odyssey and the historical events that underpin the narrative.
An excellent guide
An excellent guide
November 4, 2024
A really useful reference detailing the main critical lines Ulysses, the history of the book, and episode summaries that have sections on the content, style, Homeric parallels, and general commentary as well as glossaries of persons and foreign words.
May 20, 2020
extremely helpful!
May 11, 2022
Probably the best guide to Ulysses for most readers, the author breaks down Joyce’s work in understandable English and without getting too bogged down in biographies of characters
June 5, 2022
A fantastic companion to Ulysses.
July 7, 2022
Bought it because of updates for 100 year anniversary. Clear guide to chapters with emphasis on their being a narrator for each - as with all good theories on Ulysses it almost fits.
September 1, 2022
Very nice companion to Joyce’s Ulysses.
September 17, 2022
I’d never ever finish Ulysses and understand even a little bit of it without this book.
September 15, 2023
Literally indispensable while reading Ulysses. Would not have survived. Genuine lifeline. Shoutout to my homie Terrence Killeen.
December 19, 2023
this is a great guide - considered, intelligent but still enthusiastic - to a novel that does benefit from a helping hand. it increased by enjoyment and calm significantly.
February 1, 2024
A useful guide that also touches on modern readings of Joyce, as well as older ones too
March 12, 2024
I’ve read a few Ulysses companions now and this one is definitely the best and most helpful for English Literature studies - so well organized - insightful and clear!
June 16, 2024
Decided to take a pre-Bloomsday look at this one. Ended up reading straight through. More than just a guide through Joyce's masterpiece, this is a well-written, lucid piece of literary criticism.
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