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WEEK 4 - Ulysses BY James Joyce


February 14 �� February 22: around 174 pages
o Episode 13: Nausicaa
o Episode 14: The Oxen of the Sun
o Episode 15: Circe

Episode 13.
For the first time we have a 'woman's perspective'- that of young Gerty who is meant to be a typical representation of all women. Definitely a man's view on a woman's perspective- the idea that all women exist to entice men. Honestly!

Episode 14:
I think this might be the chapter that Linda was referring to. Joyce employs 9 different dialects (in chronological order) for a conversation occurring between the young doctors, Bloom and Steven while a woman gives birth. 9 is meant to correspond with the months of a pregnancy. (thank you Sparnotes)
Actually really enjoyed listening to this. Particularly the evangelical preacher.

Episode 15: Circe
Not much “really�� happens in Episode Fifteen, though it is the longest. THANK YOU Sparknotes!

Loads of hallucinations between Bloom and Stephen revealing unconscious material: Blomms are sexual, violent and defeating in nature; Steven's center around religion.
And all of this occurs in a brothel.
Well, at least the two are now united.

Episode 13: Thank you, Joyce for inserting another "readable" episode!!! I liked this one from Gerty's perspective, even though, like you said, Lisa, it is a woman's perspective that was definitely written by a man. At least the writing was "easy" enough that I could tell what was going on and get back into the "flow". I do have to say that when it switched from Gerty back to Bloom I quickly started losing interest again, and much of that is due to the difficulty in writing style that comes with Bloom's thoughts. This episode is my second favorite behind the funeral scene, I think.

Episode 14: WHAT ON EARTH...?!?!?!

Ya, this was where I've been stuck and through some Herculean effort I finally just made myself plow through this weekend. I fell asleep through both reading and audio so many times its not worth counting anymore.

I honestly got nothing out of this episode except a few snippets, and thought SparkNotes was lying for parts of it. I'll believe them, but this was nearly impenetrable for me, and not really worth my time to delve deeper.

Lisa - I applaud you, seriously. You not only blew through this on time, but also "enjoyed" listening to the audio version.

Episode 15:

This episode was long and VERY convoluted and yes, nothing "real" happens. Weirdly, though, (shock from episode 14 still?) I was able to sit down and finish it this weekend with zero sleeping! I think 14 finally beat me into submission with Joyce, and I stopped looking for a serious and meaningful plot and just read it for the sake of reading. And, interestingly, I was able to pick out a lot of what SparkNotes considered the episode highlights! Go me!

Don't know that I liked this episode particularly, but at least I was able to read it and understand much of it.

And, more importantly, I just finished the longest episode of Ulysses, completed part II, and am sitting at a cool 78% completed on my kindle. I CAN FINISH THIS BEAST!!!

I think I enjoyed all the styles of 14. I was also listening in traffic so anything to distract me.
C'mon Kaycie, the end is in sight.

You all are doing great! I'm stuck about halfway through.

Finally made it through Episode 14! Still
Have one to go for this section (Circe, so that's hopeful.) I thought this section was interesting because of all the writing styles employed. Joyce was really showing off his chops!
And like the rest of you, I'm now reading for the sake of finishing rather than trying to extract meaning. Meaning does flash through here and there. Yes, thank God for Spatknotes!