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Forrest's Reviews > Ulysses
Ulysses
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What I've discovered about myself from reading Ulysses:
1. I am good for only one "major" read in a year. I had set out wanting to read this and Proust this year. Alas, I was only able to make it through Ulysses.
2. It's okay to have another along to help you out the first time through. In this case, it was Blamire's The New Bloomsday Book.
3. I realize that Joyce was, indeed, a literary genius. I can see why some writers would quit writing after reading Ulysses, as he is a master of the written word. His flitting from voice to voice and style to style without losing the narrative is proof enough. That said, there are moments of tedium, some of them many pages long, that rival and exceed even the great for sheer boredom. When he's on, he's on, when he's off, he's drop-dead boring . . . and no academic pretense that you want to learn something about whaling (which you really don't, let's face it) will save you this time.
4. I realize that Joyce plays domestic angst in an excruciatingly understated way. He creates excellent tension by what he does not say, as much as by what he does say.
5. The funeral/underworld scene is an astounding piece of work. I felt sadness, pity, annoyance, and laughed aloud, all at once. Such a mixing bowl of emotions in that section. My innards are all tumbled around after that, like I don't know which way is, emotionally speaking, up.
6. Anyone who coins the acronym "K.M.R.I.A" deserves a statue. Or did he coin the term? Either way, he inspired to , which deserves a statue in its own way.
7. Jest on. Know thyself. may be all you need to know about Joyce and the notion of fiction as autobiography.
8. I love the "sirens" section, with its sing-song rich voice, which feels like it was written in the shadow of . It's one of my favorite places to be a brain.
9. I need to read all of Finnegan's Wake.
10. "-Tis a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance." may be the most clever pun I've ever heard. Ever.
11. I love the sections where Joyce is seemingly channeling Lovecraft, then Dunsany, then Wavy Gravy.
12. The sentence: "The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit." may be one of my favorite sentences of all time.
13. Good golly, Miss Molly!
14. I am lost and found somewhere betwixt Dedalus and Bloom, yet unbounded by one, the other, or both, inside their circle, outside their confines, them, yet me. Joyce's words, Dedalus' and Bloom's actions, my brain, my past, my hopes, my frustrations, my feelings.
15. Yes. Yes.
1. I am good for only one "major" read in a year. I had set out wanting to read this and Proust this year. Alas, I was only able to make it through Ulysses.
2. It's okay to have another along to help you out the first time through. In this case, it was Blamire's The New Bloomsday Book.
3. I realize that Joyce was, indeed, a literary genius. I can see why some writers would quit writing after reading Ulysses, as he is a master of the written word. His flitting from voice to voice and style to style without losing the narrative is proof enough. That said, there are moments of tedium, some of them many pages long, that rival and exceed even the great for sheer boredom. When he's on, he's on, when he's off, he's drop-dead boring . . . and no academic pretense that you want to learn something about whaling (which you really don't, let's face it) will save you this time.
4. I realize that Joyce plays domestic angst in an excruciatingly understated way. He creates excellent tension by what he does not say, as much as by what he does say.
5. The funeral/underworld scene is an astounding piece of work. I felt sadness, pity, annoyance, and laughed aloud, all at once. Such a mixing bowl of emotions in that section. My innards are all tumbled around after that, like I don't know which way is, emotionally speaking, up.
6. Anyone who coins the acronym "K.M.R.I.A" deserves a statue. Or did he coin the term? Either way, he inspired to , which deserves a statue in its own way.
7. Jest on. Know thyself. may be all you need to know about Joyce and the notion of fiction as autobiography.
8. I love the "sirens" section, with its sing-song rich voice, which feels like it was written in the shadow of . It's one of my favorite places to be a brain.
9. I need to read all of Finnegan's Wake.
10. "-Tis a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance." may be the most clever pun I've ever heard. Ever.
11. I love the sections where Joyce is seemingly channeling Lovecraft, then Dunsany, then Wavy Gravy.
12. The sentence: "The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit." may be one of my favorite sentences of all time.
13. Good golly, Miss Molly!
14. I am lost and found somewhere betwixt Dedalus and Bloom, yet unbounded by one, the other, or both, inside their circle, outside their confines, them, yet me. Joyce's words, Dedalus' and Bloom's actions, my brain, my past, my hopes, my frustrations, my feelings.
15. Yes. Yes.
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Reading Progress
January 1, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 1, 2015
– Shelved
January 1, 2016
–
Started Reading
January 5, 2016
–
4.6%
"Bloody brilliant. I can see why some read Joyce and never write again."
page
36
January 13, 2016
–
8.3%
"Joyce plays domestic angst in an excruciatingly understated way. He creates excellent tension by what he does not say, as much as by what he does say."
page
65
January 15, 2016
–
9.2%
"Feels like I read way more than 7 pages since my last update. Joyce packs it in!"
page
72
January 17, 2016
–
11.11%
"This is more transgression than I imagined it would be, and that is a good thing. Bloom, you naughty, naughty boy. You will have to be punished! I can see why the censors took offense at the book. I'm not nearly so prudish, but I can see why."
page
87
January 27, 2016
–
11.24%
"Now I'm glad for the ancestry chart in Blamire's book. I would have been totally confused without it!"
page
88
January 31, 2016
–
14.81%
"The funeral/underworld scene is an astounding piece of work. I felt sadness, pity, annoyance, and laughed aloud, all at once. Such a mixing bowl of emotions in that section. My innards are all tumbled around after that, like I don't know which way is, emotionally speaking, up."
page
116
February 9, 2016
–
16.09%
"Trying to figure out what Joyce thinks of journalists and academics. Curious if his character's remarks reflect his own thoughts or not."
page
126
February 26, 2016
–
18.77%
"Oh, so that's where "K.M.R.I.A" comes from. Was that a common Irish phrase before Joyce, or did The Pogues pick it up from him?"
page
147
March 24, 2016
–
23.5%
"The section on blindness is pure brilliance of insight. It's a bit strange that this section, more than any others before it, has allowed me to keep cadence with Bloom's stream of consciousness narrative. I'm finally starting to pick up the rhythm, to learn some steps in the Joycean dance."
page
184
March 27, 2016
–
25.54%
"I think I might understand Finnegan's Wake better than this literary argument around Shakespeare. I'm a little lost."
page
200
April 25, 2016
–
27.97%
"Jest on. Know thyself. may be all you need to know about Joyce and the notion of fiction as autobiography."
page
219
August 15, 2016
–
31.67%
"Kind of amazing how you can put this book down for a month, pick it back up, and not really miss a beat. A testament to Joyce's "flow"."
page
248
August 17, 2016
–
33.21%
"Now, in the "sirens" section, we move into the rich voice that I love, a shadow of Finnegan's Wake. I like wallowing in this singsong. It's one of my favorite places to be a brain."
page
260
September 2, 2016
–
37.29%
"Some thoughts:
Rappers should read Joyce. Homeboy was a mixmaster.
Working theory: The bar scene I just read was from the perspective of a really, really drunk Bloom. It reads with the internal logic of a drunk's conversation with himself in his own head.
This book is a speeding bullet from Dubliners to Finnegan's Wake and it's gaining velocity.
Joyce and Beckett drank from the same well."
page
292
Rappers should read Joyce. Homeboy was a mixmaster.
Working theory: The bar scene I just read was from the perspective of a really, really drunk Bloom. It reads with the internal logic of a drunk's conversation with himself in his own head.
This book is a speeding bullet from Dubliners to Finnegan's Wake and it's gaining velocity.
Joyce and Beckett drank from the same well."
September 8, 2016
–
38.57%
"In the darkness spirit hands were felt to flutter and when prayer by tantras had been directed to the proper quarter a faint but increasing luminosity of ruby light became gradually visible, the apparition of the etheric double being particularly lifelike owing to the discharge of jivic rays from the crown of the head and face.
Whoa . . ."
page
302
Whoa . . ."
September 28, 2016
–
42.15%
"-Tis a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance. may be the most clever pun I've ever heard."
page
330
October 1, 2016
–
43.42%
"Four distinct voices: art criticism, sensationalist journalism, medieval formality, and biblical verbosity - all in 8 pages. Well done, Joyce, well done. I am, as they say, gobsmacked."
page
340
October 22, 2016
–
48.28%
"Bloom is at ease with his utter depression, it seems. In some ways, Ulysses is just heartbreaking."
page
378
October 24, 2016
–
49.55%
"What blows my mind is Joyce's ability to switch in and out of very different voices and convincingly sustain each."
page
388
November 7, 2016
–
51.47%
"I need to add Finnegan's Wake to my TBR list. The parts of this that are the most nscrutable are also the best."
page
403
November 17, 2016
–
78.29%
"I'm hoping that _Finnegan's Wake_ is like this last section, but less silly. Anyone know?"
page
613
November 21, 2016
–
84.93%
"No way will I be able to review this. It will be either a sentence or two, or a dissertation, and I don't have time for a dissertation. I shall have to think carefully about this sentence (or two) . . . very carefully."
page
665
November 24, 2016
–
89.4%
""The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit."
Wow, what a sentence! 700 pages might have been worth it for that sentence alone, as a reward."
page
700
Wow, what a sentence! 700 pages might have been worth it for that sentence alone, as a reward."
November 25, 2016
–
Finished Reading
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Nov 25, 2016 05:01PM
YEAH! Glad you liked it and yes "Good golly, Miss Molly!" That's was my favorite part personally.
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I'd give you an extra like for the Pogues reference if I could.
Morgan wrote: "YEAH! Glad you liked it and yes "Good golly, Miss Molly!" That's was my favorite part personally."For me, it was just so unexpected. I'm looking for a denouement of some kind, and she just blew things up. It really ratcheted up the gearing of the entire novel.
Jason wrote: "I'd give you an extra like for the Pogues reference if I could."I saw them live, at London's Wembley stadium, back in '87 along with Lou Reed, Lone Justice, and U2. Ostensibly, I was really there to see U2, but after seeing Shane MacGowan's ravenous, drunken performance (he fell over the drum kit getting on stage, for a start), I left more of a Pogues fan than a U2 fan. Bono's got nothing on Shane MacGowan!
That's great you made your way through this classic. Very ambitious of you. Also hats off if you tackle Finnegan's Wake.
You must know that the Irish refused to publish Dubliners--with very good reason. The NYT always advertises, "See Joyce's Ireland" which proves the travel Yippie for Eire! (not exactly--see my rev of Dubliners)
Glenn wrote: "That's great you made your way through this classic. Very ambitious of you. Also hats off if you tackle Finnegan's Wake."Thanks,Glenn. I've read portions of FW and am excited to tackle the whole thing. Probably after I read Proust, though!
Congrats for making it through! The companion really does help. I think the Molly soliloquy is the reward for making it through.
tanisha wrote: "well wrote"Thanks!
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Congrats for making it through! The companion really does help. I think the Molly soliloquy is the reward for making it through."Thanks! Molly is . . . complicated. :)
I'm still waiting to make it through Finnegan's Wake. Great review/
Inna wrote: "I'm still waiting to make it through Finnegan's Wake. Great review/"
Thanks, Inna!
Oh dear! What a lovely review to end my day with! I am so glad to see you have befriended Joyce with such enthusiasm, Forrest. And to relive that feeling, of exhilaration and tedium, all over again, through your heartfelt ruminations, was a sheer pleasure. Thank you.
Seemita wrote: "Oh dear! What a lovely review to end my day with! I am so glad to see you have befriended Joyce with such enthusiasm, Forrest. And to relive that feeling, of exhilaration and tedium, all over again..."Thank you, Seemita! That is very kind of you. I wish I had something profound and groundbreaking to say about the book, but all I've got for now is my visceral reaponse. I'm glad it brought good things back to you!
This most certainly belongs in the 'to reread' list, for me. Loved it a lot when I read it, but would be nice to remember in more detail why XDGreat review :)
7jane wrote: "This most certainly belongs in the 'to reread' list, for me. Loved it a lot when I read it, but would be nice to remember in more detail why XDGreat review :)"
Thank you! It will be a while before I reread this one. First, I need to read FW (along with the 20-odd books staring at me from my to-read pile).
A excellent review, Forrest. I made one of Ulysses in spanish with the remains of my brains. This year, I'll read Finnegan's Wake. And God help me...
Fernando wrote: "A excellent review, Forrest. I made onew of Ulysses in spanish with the remains of my brains. This year, I'll read Finnegan's Wake. And God help me..."
Thank you! Curious to see what you think of FW.
