Ulysses

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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 Joyce's "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 you're willing to be buffeted, tickled, challenged, and (occasionally) vexed by Joyce's 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 literature's 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 Bloom's case) masturbate. And thanks to the book's stream-of-consciousness technique--which suggests no mere stream but an impossibly deep, swift-running river--we're 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 Joyce's prose. Dedalus's 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 Bloom's 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 Ireland's 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

Book Description

This revised volume follows the complete unabridged text as corrected in 1961. Contains the original foreword by the author and the historic court ruling to remove the federal ban. It also contains page references to the first American edition of 1934.

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The 1934 text, as corrected and reset in 1961. Ulysses is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. It was not easy to find a publisher in America willing to take it on, and when Jane Jeap and Margaret Anderson started printing extracts from the book their literary magazine The Little Review in 1918, they were arrested and charged with publishing obscenity. They were fined $100, and even The New York Times expressed satisfaction with their conviction. Ulysses was not published in book form until 1922, when another American woman, Sylvia Beach, published it in Paris for her Shakespeare & Company. Ulysses was not available legally in any English-speaking country until 1934, when Random House successfully defended Joyce against obscenity charges and published it in the Modern Library. This edition follows the complete and unabridged text as corrected and reset in 1961. Judge John Woolsey's decision lifting the ban against Ulysses is reprinted, along with a letter from Joyce to Bennett Cerf, the publisher of Random House, and the original foreword to the book by Morris L. Ernst, who defended Ulysses during the trial.

Customer Reviews:

Ulysses, great or not ?.......2007-09-20

Probably every avid reader feels compelled at some time in life to read "Ulysses", especially as it was voted the best work of fiction of the 20th century at the turn of this millenium.

The style of writing throughout the book is usually referred to as "stream of consciousness". This method has been subsequently employed in other works such as "To The Lighthouse" and "The sound and the Fury". However, in my opinion, these latter two works used the style much more succesfully than Joyce.

If you are currently reading "Ulysses" at the moment, expect a very patchy book. The second half is , in general, better than the first half, with the two penultimate chapters "Cabman's shelter" and "Ithaca" standing out from the rest. After that, the description of birth in "Oxen in the sun" is also excellent , as is the part dsecribing Paddy Dignam's funeral early in the book. As to the rest of the book, I believe there is little to recommend it.

Opinion tends to be polarized about "Ulysses" . Its severest critics suggest that it is only praised by those who are scared to be criticized for not understanding the book, a sort of "emperor's new clothes" scenario. There is, however, more than a grain of truth in this opinion. It does seem incredible that a book with so much "padding" could be so highly thought of. It might have made a very good book of around 200 pages, but one does have the sensation that Joyce is taking his readers for a ride in many parts. ( Of course, his ultimate send up of his readers was "Finnegan's Wake"! ). Furthermore, the much lauded sense of humour is overblown. At best, this is a mildly amusing book with one or two laugh out loud lines. To label it as "very funny" is pretentiousness itself. Most of the humour is also of the "toilet" variety.

On the positive side, there are some interesting passages as mentioned above. However, the main interest lies in seeing this new attempt at a style of writing , and to try to fathom out why this book has become the "darling" of the ( maybe "so-called" ) intellectuals. If you want to see a better example of joyce's talents, try "Potrait Of The Artist As A Young Man", or even "The Dubliners".

ULYSSES is Joyce's Retelling of the Homerian Epic . Massive, Maddening, Enigmatic and Priceless.......2007-09-13

James Joyce (1882-1941) was a tormented Roman Catholic who forsook his faith, picked up his pen and wrote the great novel "Ulysses" based on the epic poem "The Odyssey" by Homer. It is impossible to explain Ulysses or give it an adequate review in the short space alloted this reviewer. Howwver, I would offer the following thoughts for those brave souls eager to enter the labyrinthal complexities of a genius's mind:
Joyce tells the story of one day in the life of the people of Dublin, Ireland on June 16, 1904 (the day he first met his wife Nora Baracle). As he does so in eighteen chapters linked with similar episodes in "The Odyssey." During the day (about 900 pages) we follow the two chief characters on their peregrinations and adventures. Those characters are:
Stephen Dedalus-Named for the Greek mytholgical figure Dedalus who builds wings to fly in the sky; his son Icarus flies too close to the sun and perishes while Dedalus lands in Sicily. Stephen was the chief character in Joyce's "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." He is tormented by his failure to pray at his dying mother's bedside; tormented by the Roman Catholic Church's burden of guilt laid upon his soul. Stephen is an aspiring author. He is ambivalent in his feelings toward his native Ireland. As the novel begins he is living in the English built castle
The Martello Tower along with his friend Buck Mulligan and an Englishman named Haines. Stephen is a teacher who is supervised by the horrible Deasy a West Englishman who in an Orange Protestant. Deasy is a false Nestor to the callow Stephen. Stephen is an intellectual with biographical correspondence to the author James Joyce.
Leopold Bloom-A 38 year old advertising man who is married to the sensuous Molly. Bloom is a middlebrow who roams the streets of Dublin plying his advertising career engaging in arguments, dreaming about a sexy young thing on the beach and saving Stephen from trouble in the famous Nighttime section of the book. Leopold does not practice his Judaism. His father was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. The novel ends with Bloom returning home to his unfaithful wife Molly just as Odysseus returned home to his faithful wife Penelope in the Homeric epic. Bloomsday is celebrated worldwide on Feb. 2 each year (the date of Joyce's birth in 1882).
c. Molly Bloom-Her nearly fifty pages of stream of consciousness prose was until recently the longest sentence in the English language. She is a coarse, bawdy, serially cheating wife to Bloom.
I do not claim to understand everything going on in Ulysses. Joyce said it would take the professors and critics centuries to explore its rich minefield of literary allusions, jokes, and analysis of the human condition. Ulysses has been banned and blasted by literary critics as the same time it has been praised. You may find out yourself by giving it a close reading with a good commentary handy. Joyce plums the depths of the human mind. He is a great Irish genius whose work demands study.

A REAL FAILURE AS A NOVEL .......2007-08-03

As a devout modernist, I put off the pleasure of reading this book for years. I wanted to have the time and leisure to give it proper attention. I had taken a seminar with Anthony Burgess on ULYSSES at CCNY in the early seventies. We did a close reading of the Nighttown chapter and were supposed to read the rest of the novel on our own. I never did. But Burgess' enthusiasm was impressive and though I wasn't entirely convinced, I was certainly intrigued. In earlier years I had read DUBLINERS and PORTRAIT and even some of FINNEGANS WAKE and was especially impressed by Joyce's mastery of language and the poetic quality of his prose.

An early retirement offer finally had me reading the "GREATEST NOVEL OF THE 20th CENTURY" last month in Riverside Park. Some nice cigars added to the mix.

The first few chapters were stunning. The powers of description, the playfulness and musicality of language, the wit and intelligence of Stephen and Buck were a delight. I was obviously in the hands of a master. Shakespeare even came to mind.

But then something happened. The humanity and poetry seemed to drain out of the thing as we were treated to yet another chapter of theoretical "experimentation in narrative technique". The idea of writing a novel, each chapter of which is written in a parodistic or borrowed style seems to me a doomed one. (And more postmodernist than modernist). Apparently even Ezra Pound objected. I found myself asking, "Couldn't Joyce have found his own voice and style to narrate this section?" An entire narrative chapter in the question and answer form of a Catholic Catechism seems affected at first. After thirty pages it is deadly and even embarrassing. And then another in the style of a men's sporting magazine, and then another in the style of a women's magazine? What's the point? (Other than showing off?) And the Freudian/Surrealist kitsch of the endless Nighttown chapter was downright infantile. Talk about dated! This is novel writing from the outside in. First you have an "experimental" concept and then you fit in some narrative stuff. It's no wonder academics use this book as major fodder. It seems to be written with them in mind.

Likewise the useless tie ins with Homer's ODYSSEY. One can't help thinking of them as a desperate attempt to add structure, incident and theme to a book fairly bereft of them. Not to mention adding a bit of literary pedigree to offset the "obscenity".

Which brings me to my last point. The fancy smorgasbord of styles cannot disguise that as a novel, ULYSSES is sorely lacking. All the criteria by which we judge a novel - character depth and development, involving narrative, thematic focus, depth of feeling etc., seem totally absent. Basically what we have here is a brief Balzacian "realist" sketch, padded out and styled-up beyond belief.

Now this is really a minority opinion: not only is ULYSSES a failure, but the reason I think it is a failure is that it is a transitional work. Joyce was obviously bored with novelistic narrative but still felt obliged to accommodate. With FINNEGANS WAKE, he hit stride and finally found his métier - a book as a place to play with language and psyche for his own pleasure, without regard for traditional novelistics.

A NOTE ON EDITIONS: The huge academic controversy about which edition of ULYSSES is "authentic" or "correct" is, as one might expect, much ado about very little. Serious textual issues are minimal. Most of the typos in the 1922 edition were corrected in 1960/1 by the editors of the Modern Library in consultation with Richard Ellmann. That text was also used for the Bodley Head and current Everyman editions. Gabler later went overboard, making some highly questionable decisions. His edition is also difficult to read due to small print, layout, line-numbering etc. Danis Rose's edition went even further and "corrected" Joyce's compound words etc. - a disgrace.

I ended up reading an online version edited by Jorn Barger - a very sensible amalgam of the best work of previous editors. It took some time and expense to print out, but it was definitely worth it.

Classic of Modern Literature.......2007-07-23

While this text is undoubtedly one of the most difficult that I have read, the sheer skill at manipulating language that Joyce demonstrates is remarkable. The result is a novel that offers a most intimate study into the human method of thinking.

Not for the faint of heart, however, because this is a text that requires dedication, as the games that Joyce plays with language and the thinking of his characters often obfuscates the meaning.

Well, it's a classic, it once earned deserved praise as new & original but..........2007-07-10

Many scenes stick in one's mind forever, for example when Leopold Bloom releases his bowels or when the coffin falls on the road. I finally came to understand the stream-of-consciousness technique and realized it's not Joyce's stream we're wading in but the carefully reproduced stream of the character's consciousness. I found this particularly effective and fun reading of Stephen Dedalus's morning at school. Other scenes like Molly Bloom's grand finale are simply beautiful and literally breathless, especially if you take punctuation as a breathing signal.

And I'm especially glad to read it now that I live in Dublin. I've lived in Ringsend three months, I've visited a friend in Mullingar, and I've shopped at Buckley's butcher shop, all of which are mentioned in Ulysses. I even bought my copy of the book at the Martello tower featured at the start of the novel.

But overall, one feels Ulysses is somewhat contrived. Crucify this humble critic if you will, but reproducing the structure of the Odyssey is a clever but artificial way of bringing epic grandeur to what is nothing more than a very ordinary day. Why go through all that trouble? I do agree with the lesson but find it rather long winded. In painting, a still life by Chardin is as realistic as an imperial coronation scene by David, but with much less fuss.

And then there are the inside jokes. References to Walt Whitman and to Edgar Allen Poe (which I got only because I remembered Tom Hanks reciting Poe's "To Helen" in The Ladykillers) and other writers abound. Shouldn't a great work stand on its own, at least where its intended audience is concerned? Ulysses fails utterly in this respect unless we restrict the audience to academics.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin

Ulysses: A Facsimile of the First Edition Published in Paris in 1922

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A beautiful edition of one of the most important books ever written
Best of best
Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish
It's the whole pie with jam in.
The book for a serious reader of Joyce

Ulysses: A Facsimile of the First Edition Published in Paris in 1922
James Joyce
Manufacturer: Orchises Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

A beautiful edition of one of the most important books ever written.......2007-09-17

James Joyce's Ulysses closely parallels the events of Homer's The Odyssey, but this journey is far more surreal than Homer could have ever dreamt. The story is set in one day, and mostly follows the principal character Leopold Bloom going through the day.
Ulysses does not follow typical conventions of literature, and therein lies its beauty and its freedom. The text is littered with puns and seemingly nonsensical and comical language, one of the highlights being the section written as a play in which all manner of chaos takes place. This text may at first appear to be senseless but perseverence will reward those who would spend time examining its language, which is often made up of multiple words, each constituent part of which relates to a wider topic. This is, in a sense, a scholalry text, as it is so much more than a story, and you need to have the willingness to at least attempt to understand the broader referential context, much of which I am also working on. If that seems like too much hard work, then I doubt Ulysses would provide much enjoyment to you, although that's not to say it can't be read without additional knowledge. It does help to know some of the things going on in Joyce's mind and the history/culture of his beloved Ireland.
The version being reviewed here is by Orchises Press, which is a fantastic reproduction of the very first edition of Ulysses printed by Shakespeare and Company. The binding is quite tight and the print quality superb. There is also plenty of space for literary scholars to scribble notes. As it is a sturdy edition, this is built to last. There is no introduction to the text or any essays, and some may prefer this. For first time readers, it can be better to read the text without any preconceptions, just like people who would have read it when it was first published. The cloth cover on this edition, as others have commented, appears a little greener than the original, but most surviving originals have aged to appear exactly like this anyway. As it so closely resembles a vintage copy, it is a very exciting prospect to read Ulysses in the same way its principal adoptors did in the early 1920s. As it is not a vintage copy, you do not need to worry about being ever so careful. Of course, it is still expensive and it is best to treat it with care, but if you had a 1922 copy, you would probably keep it in a cabinet, trying not to disturb its delicate state. For owners of the original who would love to read their vintage copy, but too afraid to, this may be a great solution. Ordering this from the UK from Amazon, it took about three weeks to arrive here from the US, and it was a really terrific moment when it arrived, removing the clingfilm and starting reading it. It is, as a side note, quite a shame that UK readers do not favour hardback editions of books. It is quite difficult to buy new editions of classic books on hardback, unless of course, you turn to the second hand market. It is just a shame that the UK does not seem to appreciate premeire hardback editions of classic texts. oh well...
In many ways the Orchises Press version suits both collectors and serious readers. Of course, it is more expensive than the paperback version, and recommended only to real enthusiasts. For me, this is a definitive edition because literary essays, introductions and annotations mean very little to me, as I like to derive my own impressions by reading and do my own research on specific things. As an MA Comparative Literature student interested in Joyce, I feel this edition can be used for serious research without the supplementary scholarly material because it leaves you free to have just the text and your impressions.
If this edition proves too dear, I believe the Modern Library (or was it Everyman's Luibrary) have an edition currently in print and should be available to order from most retail bookstores. I saw a copy in my local Borders for £13.99, and if you are considering getting a decent hardback edition, perhaps you could go for that edition, as the Modern Library has an excellent range of titles and deserves to be supported.

To conclude, Joyce had an extraordinary imagination and wonderful command of the English language. He is a master of the English language and this is one of his most captivating work. Personally I prefer Finnegans Wake because if you persevere with it, past the first 100 pages, you find some side-splittingly humourous puns. In any case, I will leave my fondness for Finnegans Wake for another review. For now, grab a copy of Ulysses and enter the bizarre world of Joyce where the ordinary mundane things become surreal adventures, and language becomes so unfamiliar that it begins to start making sense again.

Best of best.......2007-08-03

The best edition of what's considered by many the apotheosis of English fiction. As mentioned in the front matter, "this book reproduces, as closely as offset printing will allow, Roger Lathbury's copy of the first edition of Ulysses published by Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare and Company in Paris in 1922. Broken type, signature numbers, and the colophon have been left as printed." Editorial slip-ups are therefore obviously included, adding a quaint historical nuance.

The perfect gift for any fan of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom, this edition is elegant, a pleasure to hold and read, and ideal for anyone new to and wishing to appreciate Ulysses. (Most mass market editions, while well edited, are otherwise cheap products.)

Two outstanding aids for appreciating Ulysses are Wings of Art: Joseph Campbell on James Joyce, and Stuart Gilbert's James Joyce's Ulysses.

Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish.......2007-05-19

The three previous reviews are right on: to my mind (and I confess that I am not unique in this) Ulysses is the greatest novel in world literature. It is unrivalled in style (who could rival it?) or in character. And who is not moved by the pathos and humor of the book, the sorrows and triumphs of L Boom? This lovely edition befits the novel itself. You may want to read and re-read and take notes in "corrected" editions. This is the one to stare at lovingly, longingly.

It's the whole pie with jam in........2007-02-20

Let's not mince words: Ulysses is one of the highest achievements of literary modernism. But it is also a book that must be read again and again (and again) if it is to be understood and enjoyed. Why buy a pulpy and cheaply made edition that falls to pieces on the second read? The Orchises edition, as a physical artefact, is not only aesthetically worthy of the text it presents (including the generous white space framing the text itself)--it also has the durability and weight you'd normally expect from a Bible.

Other reviewers have detailed how this book is a faithful facsimile of the 1922 editions. The only other thing I would add is that this is the edition whose colour scheme Joyce himself oversaw: The white text and blue background of the cover symbolise the pentelic marble of Greece and the greenblue of the Mediterranean respectively (which are also the colours of the Greek flag).

I thoroughly recommend this beautiful book for anyone who is serious about Ulysses.

The book for a serious reader of Joyce.......2001-04-19

The Orchises Press edition stands out for three reasons. The first is that it reproduces--with impressive attention to detail--the first edition of Joyce's novel. The second reason is that the large, widemargined pages add the pleasure of reading to the pleasure of reading Ulysses (there is something missing, after all, in the insubstantial, tinytype levity of the paperback editions). Finally, the weight of the paper, the strength of the binding makes this edition one that will last (and you will not, as with the paperback editions, be forced to transcripe all your notes from a book that falls apart after three readings). For those who seek the "authenticity" of a first edition, who admire Joyce or who will be studying the novel for years to come, this is the edition to buy.

Finnegans Wake (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)

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Keep looking
Greatest book ever written
A" wanderous", obscure book; "reveiling" the night: Proceed with Caution!
Hard, but good
Life Is Too Short For This...

Finnegans Wake (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
James Joyce
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141181265

Customer Reviews:

Keep looking.......2007-10-07

For those readers who have given up on Finnegans Wake, or alternately are convinced that its wordplay is a puzzle that can in some conclusive way be "figured out," my advice is the same Kant gave for recognizing the beautiful: Look again.

One of my favorite Joyce quotes is "The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole life to reading my works." FW may require a stack of other books as prefatory material but it is so, so worth it.

Greatest book ever written.......2007-06-14

Unbelievably complex book; possibly the last book you ever have to read & understand. Take 3 years to work on this masterpiece. A good grasp of Celtic and British history essential to its full appreciation. The story of creation, the theory of cultural evolution of civilization, the history & mythology of the Celtic people...what more could you possibly want?

A" wanderous", obscure book; "reveiling" the night: Proceed with Caution!.......2007-06-01

I'd like to address some of these other critical reviews, thought by thought, as most are intelligent people who are asking all the right questions but cannot accept the answers they are coming up with. Your right FW is not "readable", in the normal sense. If you must have a good, solid story, a "page turner", which entertains you and that you finally "get", a story where the meaning is clear: then STOP right now. This book is not any of those things. Its "intention" is to disorient and confuse, to produce an "aesthetic arrest" and to be an epiphany. FW will never be a blockbuster movie, Hollywood will not touch this. Finn again A WAKE is written, kind of, sort of, in english. One reviewer called it a crossword puzzle in novel form, she is partially right. You can read other [negative] comments from the more simple-minded reviews too, but time has and will prove these knuckleheads wrong. Some claim intellectual independence as a smoke screen but they are hiding behind a myopic view of art and they do not want to put in the effort to research the references and push for a bigger picture. Other reviewers say it doesn't mean anything, Isn't poetry or music but there is a personal hatred to their reviews that tells me they are mad at the art work for not revealing itself, clearly, to them. This group is reviewing and revealing their own frustrations at not being able to conceive of or make great art. True critics, I suppose. They want to defend their defination of what art is, for everyone. This group is quite adamant and takes FW personally, like they are on a crusade to inform the world. I suppose, Joyce has worked his Irish magic on them too.. their banner reads:

Books, ultimately, are read for the quality of the ideas they express, and the quality of the style used to express them.

critics want to define artistic "quality". In any case, the "ideas" of FW have universal essence and are of an epic nature. Unfortunately, some reviewers want the transcendent nature of life to be clear, right in front of them, religion is what other people do and everything is just as it seems. Look, some great works of art do not speak to all, [Picasso's - la guerre] but make no mistake; this book is an incredible work of word art BUT does not reveal itself easily OR to everybody and that is exactly what Joyce wanted, he wanted a few sensitive and intelligent readers to experience an epiphany about the cycles of death, life, myth, history, love, war, hate, sex[lots of sex], "social marketing", male female, brother, sister, mother father- how these patterns of archetype forces affect us, this is another "reality", parallel to ours but in dark matter; [Unconscious and subconscious]. FW is not describing these forces but placing us in them by disorienting us, making the reader become part of a jumbled up night world of myth and universal cycles. How these forces of life affect us is a confusing book during the day [James Joyce's Ulysses] but at night they really go off [Finnegans Wake]. People, It doesn't get any more insightful than that.

Another reviewer, a Mr. T.Powerless, who wrote a review of the "FW Skeleton Key", - keeps asking:

What you think this book is trying to say in its 600+ pages of indeciperhable ramblings (and some proof would be nice)

How he can write a review of a book about the meaning of FW and still keep asking this questions is befuddling. His theory is that it is all just random letters [never mind the puns and historical stuff] and there is no meaning and that all the smart people have been fooled, except him. Finnegans Wake is 95% "deciphered" but something is lost in trying to put this art book in sound bites or one-sentence sayings. Take the phrase "reveiling the night". It is "saying" several things at once, each makes sense but it is also mixed up, obscure and in the mystery of the conjoining of mixed up words, is the art. There are straight forward ideas that can be expressed from FW: one of my favorites- how we should strive for things and concepts that uplift the spirit and these will pull us together, because they inspires us as one people, not on material stuff that separate us, but- really, so what, another "good" idea but silly in a way. Like the "ideas" of Hamlet: often puerile, but with Shakespeare's brilliance take on new life. And, when JJ writes the brilliant connotations are imbued in his art. The art is lost in my translations. Yes, but the critic keeps asking, its not clear and What does it MEAN, - but... what is meaning and is meaning always clear?? The hackneyed haiku: the sound of one hand clapping?- what does it mean? The meaning is a paradox or another question. all those things that do not have a sound when struck, but what does that mean? It is not about the meaning of life it is about the feeling of being alive. If you must have a meaning rather than another perspective, understanding or an epiphany: Warning: stop reading FW before you get mad. Clearly, T.Powerless kept reading, couldn't find what it was saying and became irritated.

However, FW, as a bit of a mixed up crossword puzzle, demands an explanation, a guide, patience, translations and a key. The best starting points are John Bishop's book and Joseph Campbell's " A Skeleton Key to FW". In other words, FW MUST ALSO BE STUDIED LIKE A TEXT BOOK, clues must be researched and an adventure game like quality to the mysteries and the possible solutions can be fun. yes, for some tracking down the sources and uses of JJ words and relating it to the essence of a sentence or chapter is part of the mystery. Others see The historical period of FW reflected in the work: pre World War II. Freud and Jung going at it, Picasso and Matisse going off, it was a heady time for all the western cultures. AND to top it off Joyce dies sudenly 6 months after the book is published in 1941!!! Although Joyce hated FW to be called surreal, FW is an abstract work of art and as such, like any great conceptual or complex philosophy [Nietzsche or Wittgenstein] or abstract art, is extremely personal and open to much interpretation. One can get several versions of exactly what is being "said" from the same passage; this really upsets the material minded and if you are not prepared for this kind of art or thought or are resistant to abstract art then, chances are, FW will be/ is gibberish to you. As The above reviewer states correctly: a good work must have great style, FW has a style of immense complexity and quality but NOT great clarity, intentionly.

FW is a huge Irish joke about the cycles of human life, art and thought. There is a twisted sense of humor in this Irish consciousness making a sad joke of life; the punch line is about the Devine Comedy of existence. FW is also an intentional riddle with several answers; the 60 different languages, puns, portmanteaus [the crossword part] with historical and mythical referances as well. the reader can wander and wonder about this book of life for hours or years. At times, like any fine work of abstract art: it reveals the artist and viewer more than the "reality" of the subject. No, FW can not be translated into another "language", no it was not written in the way other books are, The 4 books were not written in order and can be understood as independent sketches on different and recurring themes. Yes, joyce had a comprehensive and firm intention when he wrote it. If you start to dig and study the text the book becomes an obscure magic workbook about the recycled archetypical nights of human consciousness. However, unless you are a scholar, you must study the philology or it becomes drivel and unless you have an open mind and can embrace obscurity the work quickly becomes irritating. The sound of the words can be helpful and so some find that FW is often less abstract if read out loud. In any case the puzzle must be solved in the dark as characters, stories, change, transmute; opposites are defined and then become one and need each other and then digress again. The simple "story" has been figured out, the references have exhaustedly been found and still there are mysteries to this work. Joyce intended this too and future generations will appreciate, miss understand and wonder, love/hate it, fight over and review this book!

No, not everything printed on paper is literature and not all words are found in a dictionary, not all communication is with words, from the dictionary, or for that matter verbal. So the one reviewer that says he doesn't dream in puns and his dreams are about "something" is confusing the description of a dream with the conjuring of the "reality" of a dream world, using language. the difference between going to the movies or describing the movie. Joyce is NOT trying to describe a dream; he is trying to put you in a dream cycle of life forces in motion. JJ is comunicating with strange english sounding words to make a language of dreams. Joyce's subconscious, night world is obscure, intentionally, like "real" dreams. This bothers people, just as their own dreams do. This night book has stages, like the night, but there is no meaning to the actual story or beginning or end, the individual dreams have "meanings" and there is a progression but, like reincarnation or purgatory, there is no end or beginning . How do you escape such a work of art? perhaps a third book about Nirvana or Paradise: a simple book, like the Paridiso of the Devine Comedy. Cambell thought this was in the works when JJ died.

I'm sure the greatest thing is NOT to listen or watch the defenders of FW. Although there are some fascinating works on the Wake and Dante, Vico, the Egyptian book of the dead, the book of Krells, Cabala, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Talmud and lots of dream consciousness-etc. My suggestion is to read or scan it, with JC's "Skeleton Key" so you can get a sense of what is being said, see which of the 4 books speaks to you and then start digging on your own, the best annotated guide is now on the internet, John Bishop's book is insightful. he also wrote the intro to the Penguin edition. Stop after a while, put it down, read some other stuff, pick it up later. I knew almost nothing of the philosopher Vico and had not read Dante. James Joyce was a true artistic personality and scholar and, as an eccentric, sardonic Irish scholar, he wanted to be obscure and drive all the other [Irish and non Irish] scholars nuts. This book is intentionally obscure and Joyce is known to have re written parts that were not obscure enough!! WHY? Again, dreams can have several meanings because the dreamer and the dream are one. the dreamer/reader must decide which meaning is pertinent to the story and to your own story and see if it fits. There is a subjective part to making something abstract and a subjective part to interpretation the art. Unfortunately, this vagueness plus the references and language threw the doors open to the cross winds of scholarly conjecture. At the end, however, Joyce is communicating something powerful, eternal [not about time] and wondrous but the reader/dreamer must be prepared to study, dig deep and interpret and sometimes just guess. A Warning label would say: it took him 15 years to write it. 1] There is no bottom 2] the journey is "reveiling". - if FW doesn't speak to you, that's cool; just don't say there is nothing there if you can't find or see it.

Hard, but good.......2007-04-27

This is a fun book to read, and has many life lessons in it along with myths that are easy to decode throught its pages. I don't know why people are so quick to dismiss this land mark. If you don't understand the language fine, I don't understand most of the words, but Joyce did say to understand this book to read out loud, and with an Irish accent. I did this, and it was much simpler for me to read the story. Another thing you have to think of are circles, every paragraph tells basicly the same story except in a different way with different sounds. And with that comes a structured whole. For all you people that hate learning things, I would stir clear of this, or you may end up having your mind exband to new harizons.

Life Is Too Short For This..........2007-03-27

As one of the reviewers noted in his review, I too have given many postive marks to those who have given five-star reviews for this novel; because some reviewers have made very good arguments in defense of this novel. [I never give negative marks on anything, even if I don't like a review, but I do give plenty of positives] Therefore, before you begin to throw the bricks and sling your arrows at me, please let me try and explain why I gave this book such low marks. First of all, I have tried to read--or at least decipher "Finnegans Wake" on four different occasions. I see from some of the reviews that anyone who attempts to disagree with this novels merits gets pelted with negative marks. For those of you who enjoy this novel, good for you! I do not profess to be as knowledgeable as some of you may be on this books merits. But I DO KNOW WHAT I LIKE! And I did not like this novel.

I first tried reading "Finnegans Wake" when I was in High School [it was not required reading] because I heard so much about it that I wanted to read something challenging. And challenging was an understatement. Realizing I was young, I attempted it much later while in the military. As if military life were not frustrating enough. It was not until I entered college, where I was reguired to read the novel, that I did so with true earnest: Due to the fact that I had to write an essay on the novel. I did receive an A minus on the paper. However, to be honest, this was after profusely littering the paper with as much b***s***, that to me Joyce littered his novel with. My professor must have seen some great merit in this essay---at least I felt so at the time.

However, wanting to truly understand the novel, I decided to REALLY try and capture what Joyce was trying to write. This too led to my dislike of the novel. Not so much with the books difficulty [although that was a problem], but with the simple question: Is it really worth reading? My answer? No! For me a novel has to give me that quality of enjoyment that makes the journey a delightful one. It has to capture my soul! This novel never did capture my soul. Give me unabridged editions [the only ones I read] of "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Dumas, "Les Miserables" by Hugo, "War and Peace" by Tolstoy [once is enough please] and more importantly, my favorite author, Dostoevsky, "Notes From the Underground," "Crime and Punishment," and "The Brothers Karamazov." These novels have given me something back in my life for the efforts that I put into reading them. They were profound and affected me deeply. They ALL gave me something in my life.

In conclusion, to those who find this novel worth the high praise it has garnered, I respectfully disagree. There are many great novels from which to choose to spend and evening, afternoon, or morning perusing. And while I do not look negatively on your opinions; if this book gives you enjoyment, then great for you. For me, however, the book gave me nothing. Nor do I wish to spend what little time we are alloted in our short life to spend it on this type of reading. That is my honest opinion. I am sure a 5 star review will give me many positive marks, but that is not why this review exists, or what I am about. This is just my honest opinion.

Today I am going to start reading two novels that I have been wanting to read for some time, but have put off until recently. "Growth of the Soil", by Knut Hamsun, and "The Master and Margarita," by Mikhail Bulgakov. I hear they are good novels; and after laboring over "Finnegans Wake" for too many hours in my life, I will begin to start on that reading list of mine. I'll let you know how these two novels work out. One thing I am pretty sure of, however, is that they will probably not frustrate me as much as "Finnegans Wake" did; and in fact, no other novel has been more of a disappointment to me than Joyce's so-called masterpiece.

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Irish Stew
Beautifully written but underwhelming
Great Vignettes Of Dublin Life and A Great way to introduce yourself to James Joyce
Untitled
Frustratingly short short stories

Dubliners (Oxford World's Classics)
James Joyce
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0192839993

Book Description

'I regret to see that my book has turned out un fiasco solenne' James Joyce's disillusion with the publication of Dubliners in 1914 was the result of ten years battling with publishers, resisting their demands to remove swear words, real place names and much else, including two entire stories. Although only 24 when he signed his first publishing contract for the book, Joyce already knew its worth: to alter it in any way would 'retard the course of civilisation in Ireland'. Joyce's aim was to tell the truth - to create a work of art that would reflect life in Ireland at the turn of the last century and by rejecting euphemism, reveal to the Irish the unromantic reality the recognition of which would lead to the spiritual liberation of the country. Each of the fifteen stories offers a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Dubliners - a death, an encounter, an opportunity not taken, a memory rekindled - and collectively they paint a portrait of a nation.

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Dubliners was completed in 1905, but a series of British and Irish publishers and printers found it offensive and immoral, and it was suppressed. The book finally came out in London in 1914, just as Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man began to appear in the journal Egoist under the auspices of Ezra Pound. The first three stories in Dubliners might be incidents from a draft of Portrait of the Artist, and many of the characters who figure in Ulysses have their first appearance here, but this is not a book of interest only because of its relationship to Joyce's life and mature work. It is one of the greatest story collections in the English language--an unflinching, brilliant, often tragic portrait of early twentieth-century Dublin. The book, which begins and ends with a death, moves from "stories of my childhood" through tales of public life. Its larger purpose, Joyce said, was as a moral history of Ireland.

Customer Reviews:

Irish Stew.......2007-09-07

Because "Ulysses" is so imposing with its epic length and pages of solid, tiny text I decided to get my feet wet with "Dubliners," which is not quite half the other's length. From what I read with "Dubliners", I'll have to give "Ulysses" a shot in the near future.

Normally I'd do an obligatory plot summary, but that would be a pointless exercise because A) There are 15 short stories that comprise the book and B) None of them really has a traditional "plot" to speak of. Rather, "Dubliners" is a serious of what we in modern parlance would call "character sketches." Think of it as each story being a portrait of some person or scene done in painstakingly vivid detail. Each story focuses on some small moment that often leads the character to discovering a melancholy truth about life.

The first stories focus on children encountering the harsh realities of the adult world--a priest dying and an encounter with a creepy, crazy old man--and then move on to teenage love and then more adult problems of marriage, family, and politics before a final meditation on death in the aptly-titled "The Dead."

The way Joyce captures the humanity of each character is so stunning; he taps into the soul of these people to expose the secrets, wishes, hopes, and fears that reside within each of us. It's hard not to see a part of yourself in one or more of these characters, almost as if Joyce knew you over 90 years ago better than you know yourself right now. Because while the technology may change, the human psyche remains the same.

The reason I can't give this four stars is that like any short story collection there's a fatigue that sets in upon reading "Dubliners." The longer the collection goes on, the more similarities can be seen in the characters and the situations, the descriptions and the dialog. It's like listening to an album of music and noting that song 10 sounds a lot like song 5, which sounds a lot like song 2. There's really no way to avoid that fatigue unless the writer uses a completely different style each time.

As well, reading a book written over 90 years ago that's set in Ireland can be a challenge for a modern (not quite 90) year old American. Footnotes and such can be helpful, but it also interrupts the flow of the reading.

Still, Joyce's uncanny knowledge of humanity is well worth any fatigue or nuisances.

That is all.

Beautifully written but underwhelming.......2007-07-31

I enjoyed four of the fifteen stories in this book immensely. The others were great for their prose, depiction of people at certain junctures in their life, and reflection of Dublin at the turn of the Century, but otherwise not compelling.

"The Dead," his most enduring and evocative piece of short fiction, did nothing for me. I loved A Little Cloud, Couterparts, A Painful Case, and Eveline.

I read the Barnes&Noble Classic edition. The maps at the beginning of each story added no value.

After reading this book I'm ready for some contemporary fiction.

Great Vignettes Of Dublin Life and A Great way to introduce yourself to James Joyce .......2007-03-30

Admittedly Joyce's better known works can seem quite daunting to the uninitiated but here in these short character sketches a reader can begin to understand what all fuss is about and enjoy some wonderfully written short stories in the bargain.

The stories are consistently good and from the very first where a young boy encounters the death of someone he knows for the first time the tales and the characters are engaging. Highly recommended !

Untitled.......2007-02-01

I don't really have anything thoughtful to say exept that after reading this book multiple times, I think that it is tight, but breathes, and is choreographed as best as a human being could do, and in that regard, it is very much like a Beatles album, and should be esteemed in like manner.

Frustratingly short short stories.......2007-01-05

I had given up on James Joyce after finding "Ulysses" too murky and disorienting. When I mentioned this to a young handsome literature student in a Dublin pub, he suggested I try "Dubliners" instead. When I got back home I checked a copy out of the library and found it hard to believe this collection of stories was written by the same man who confounded me before. I found each story almost instantly engaging (except the one about the election; too far removed from my modern American experience, I guess), and most seemed to end abruptly. This may be why another reviewer wrote that the stories had no climax, but I simply wanted more. I'm here on Amazon to buy a copy because I still want more.

So did Joyce write these stories and then hit the Absinthe before writing "Ulysses"? Or am I thinking of Oscar Wilde...?

Joyce Annotated: Notes for Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

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Great Joyce Notes

Joyce Annotated: Notes for Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Don Gifford
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520046102

Customer Reviews:

Great Joyce Notes.......2006-02-28

This book provides excellent and clear references to otherwise obscure persons, locales, Irish slang, and turn-of-the-century (19th to 20th) Dublin culture that are so integral to the Joyce stories. Well worth the purchase.

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Quare Joyce

Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Much of the most influential work on Joyce over the last decade has been devoted to the study of gender representation, performance, privilege, and anxiety. Among other results, this work has made the heterosexual imperative visible as an arbitrary ideological limit. Now, in Quare Joyce, some of the most prominent scholars of Joyce address themselves directly to questions of homoerotic desire in Joyce's work, drawing on and furthering queer theory in a dazzling set of essays.

Beyond simply locating another layer of cultural import in Joyce's endlessly rich oeuvre, this project reconstructs a whole other creative and critical history for his writing. The twelve essays, organized in pairs under the headings "Intersexualities," "Rethinking the Closet," "Homophobia and Misogyny," "Homocolonial Relations," "Joyce's Lesbian Other," and "Recent Controversies," explore the range of Joyce's work, from "An Encounter" through Finnegans Wake, and take on three related tasks: to redress the compulsory heterosexuality that has traditionally hampered even the most sophisticated and progressive scholarship on Joyce; to import a queer theory perspective; and to take up the manifold question of homosexuality as it pertains to the always slippery articulation of Joyce's life and work.

Quare Joyce will directly interest not only Joyceans, modernists, and students of Irish literature, but also scholars in the fields of postcolonial and queer theory, gay and cultural studies. As the only book on its subject, it will be necessary reading for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students and will prove useful in the classroom.

Joseph Valente is Associate Professor of English and Interpretive Theory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Joyce Is Meant to Be Read Aloud
Dublin digitally discerned and declaimed

Dubliners CD
James Joyce , Colm Meaney , and Stephen Rea
Manufacturer: Caedmon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0060789565
Release Date: 2005-05-10

Book Description

The fifteen stories that make up this brilliant audio roam over a human landscape that stretches from the bleakest of despair to the most blinding of epiphanies. First published in 1914, the stories are as lucid and accessible as they are memorably poignant.

Dubliners is an audio experience that will only grow in richness with each time you listen. The stories and performers are:

The Sisters • Frank McCourt
An Encounter • Patrick McCabe
Araby • Colm Meaney
Eveline • Dearbhla Molloy
After the Race • Dan O'Herlihy
Two Gallants • Malachy McCourt
The Boarding House • Donal Donnelly
A Little Cloud • Brendan Coyle
Counterparts • Jim Norton
Clay • Sorcha Cusack
A Painful Case • Ciaran Hinds
Ivy Day in the Committee Room • T.P. McKenna
A Mother • Fionnula Flanagan
Grace • Charles Keating
The Dead • Stephen Rea

Customer Reviews:

Joyce Is Meant to Be Read Aloud.......2007-10-04

James Joyce was absorbed by music, people, languages, acting and actors, and though an exile from his native country and city, his literary consciousness was forever embedded in Dublin. He had an unerring ear for Dublin dialogue.
At night I turn out the lights and listen to these CD's, to the cadences of the people talking, and to me these Dubliners endlessly gossiping are in the room with me. Joyce's narrative adroitness, his choice of words, his lyrical descriptions, and above all, his sense of place are brilliant facets of a genius.
Stephen Rea's sensitive reading of "The Dead" is worth the price of this set of fifteen stories read by fifteen different mostly Irish personalities. The characters in the stories live and breathe, become real. Joyce was meant to be read aloud. It's good talk, conversations that you become a part of.
In these stories Joyce is very accessible. In Finnegan's Wake he became Jackson Pollock--obscure and difficult. In "The Dead" you can feel, touch, hear, and taste the snow that is falling outside the house while inside two old sisters are giving their annual bright and cheery party. It's a story of tenderness, love, regrets, and lost lovers, but it is mainly full of life, good times, fellowship, and above all humanity.

Nine Lives Too Many
The Daemon in Our Dreams
The Rice Queen Spy

Dublin digitally discerned and declaimed.......2006-10-16

Handsomely produced, elegantly assembled, and consistently engrossing: these actors read the stories with appropriate sensitivity, wit, pathos, and distance. The detachment of Joyce in his "voice" on the page is re-created well. When I have taught students "Araby" or "The Boarding House," the chance to hear the language repeated as its author would have meant it to be rendered makes these stories come alive for a classroom six thousand miles and a century away from early 20c Dublin.

Although all of the stories succeed, those in the center of the book emerged when conveyed aloud most enlighteningly. Clay, A Mother, A Painful Case, and most of all Two Gallants, After the Race, and Counterparts all hit my ear with more force than they had when I had only read them. These stories are often overlooked compared to the others, but the skill that the actors brought to these more prosaic, less lively, and more nuanced examples of Joyce's careful craft deserve special acclaim. The packaging keeps the CDs securely in place, is itself compact and well-designed, fitting its outwardly austere & Edwardian yet subtly decorated and inviting contents.

Students, the curious newcomer, the experienced teacher, and those who read the book out of delight and not duty: all will benefit from the music on the page that by a technology Joyce himself spoke into at its early gramaphone stages is now digitally preserved so that those of us all over the world and a vastly changed world later can be entertained and instructed. I think JJ might have been pleased at this version of his pioneering, eloquent, yet accessible and moving, accounts of his imagined neighbors and municipal counterparts.

New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses/Keyed to the Corrected Text

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A Great Guide
A Miracle of Literary Criticism.
Highly Recommended (Except maybe if you want to become a Joyce Purist)
Avoid
very useful

New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses/Keyed to the Corrected Text
Harry Blamires
Manufacturer: Routledge Kegan & Paul
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415007046

Book Description

The New Bloomsday Book is a crystal clear, line by line running commentary on the plot of James Joyce's Ulysses which illuminates many symbolic themes and literary structures along the way.

Since 1966, readers new to James Joyce have depended upon this essential guide which makes this intimidating novel accessible. Designed to help the student and the general reader to find their way quickly about Joyce's formidable novel, The New Bloomsday Book will enable someone approaching Joyce for the first time to reach an understanding of the novel which otherwise might have taken several readings.

"It remains, the only commentary in which paraphrase is largely employed without detriment to one's sense of the interest of the novel." --Books Ireland

To ensure that Blamires' classic work will remain useful to new readers, this third edition contains the page numbering and references to the three most commonly read editions of Ulysses: the Gabler `Corrected Text' (1986) editions, the Oxford University Press `World Classics' (1993), and the Penguin `Twentieth-Century Classics (1992).

From the Preface: " Ulysses must not be made to appear more difficult than it is. Joyce's text is a highly organized one, and it only requires a little attention to the network of thematic linkages which undergirds the work to make the reader feel at home in Joyce's world." --Harry Blamires

Customer Reviews:

A Great Guide.......2007-02-12

I like the Bloomsday guide because it helps the reader understand Ulysses. It is good to see crossreferences and interpretations. He is very strong on religious symbolism, but Blamires helps get through the book Ulysses.

A Miracle of Literary Criticism. .......2007-01-08

This book is an excellent example--if not THE example--of why literary criticism exists; it is a concise but amazing classic. I was first introduced to it in college and today I just read it for the third time. Its pages enhance Ulysses and in no way detract from the art and beauty of the most complex and scholarly book ever published (in my humble opinion). Blamires is a serious man who wastes few words or sentences in his sterling discussion and recapitulation of Joyce's masterpiece. His narrative features extraordinary erudition, yet it is quite readable. Nowadays, most people are not familiar with the intricacies of Latin, Greek, and the symbols of Christianity, but Blamires makes such mysteries obtainable. The effect of his analysis is to magnify both our enjoyment and our education. Literary criticism, in this new millennium, seems to be about everything other than the text with its omnipresent, and opaque, references to the troika of class, gender, and race. Luckily, Blamires is above all forms of trendiness and non-sense. The Bloomsday Book brings us closer to the truths James Joyce meant for us to discover, and there is no better service with which the author could have provided.

Highly Recommended (Except maybe if you want to become a Joyce Purist).......2006-06-20

I took Ulysses as part of a course, and The New Bloomsday Book was a tremendous help in my enjoying Ulysses.

I read up to the Cyclops episode without Blamires, and, though I was basically comprehending the book, I was losing a lot of the significance of what I was reading.

My practice from there on in was to read the episode, read Blamires's guide for that episode, and then read the episode again - a bit tedious, you might think, but Joyce is all in the details and the repeated reading.

There are some arguments against having a guide: clearly, part of the reason for Joyce's style was to disorient the reader, to make the reader work, to make the reader give up the dream of total comprehension, of "licking up the cream of thought", to use the phrase of Joyce's protege, Beckett.

On the other hand, why torture yourself! If you read it concurrently with Ulysses, episode by episode, it really doesn't ruin anything plotwise (there's not much plot to speak of!), but it opens up a the world of significant details that otherwise might have passed you by.

I say Blamires accomplishes what he says he aims to do: to reveal the significance of details of Ulysses' on the first read that would normally only come to be seen on a second or third read through.

Avoid.......2005-06-10

A first reading of Ulysses is much more enjoyable without the blather of Blamires. If you absolutely cannot grasp the intricacies, sybmols, themes, etc. of Ulysses without outside help then read the cliffs notes of sparknotes or if you are devoted then get Gifford's Ulysses annotated. Blamires provides either too much information in some instances or not enough. The book has too much plot transcription and not enough GOOD (and up to date) analysis (he relies on readings of Ulysses by 1940s critics and not upon more recent scholarship and trends). Blamires tells toooooo much in the beginning. He prejudices the reader to think about or know certain things that he or she should only know as they are revealed by the author. For example, Blamires gives a bias to the reader by making him or her believe that Molly has been unfaithful many times before. Yes there is a list of former lovers in Ithaca (I think it's Ithaca) but most scholars believe that Molly's tryst with Blazes is her first. You don't need an "authority" to guide you through one of the greatest novels. Simply pick up Joyce and begin reading. To get the same effect of reading Ulysses with Blamires, just read Ulysses twice--it's much better the second time anyway!
(Another more pragmatic reason for not buying it is that the price of this book is at least double Ulysses--not worth the mostly hum-drum plot summary.)

very useful.......2005-05-12

This isn't exactly a work of criticism, and certainly not a "Cliff notes" guide to Ulysses: it's somewhere in the middle.

It's basically a paraphrase of Joyce's novel, roughly 260 pages, which tells the story of Bloomsday in plain language. So it's basically an understandable version of the novel in straightforward, unclouded prose.

It is not strictly a paraphrase, however, as now and then Blamires will tell you what is supposed to symbolize what. But it certainly doesn't list the characters or themes of "Ulysses" in any organized way, and there is no extended commentary.

Provided you understand this, the book can be immensely useful -- especially on your first reading of "Ulysses."

I should note that those who already have their sea legs with Joyce's book will, for this very reason, find Blamires's effort to be of limited use, for it largely tells a story you already know.

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Brilliant
A Classic Biography
Best biography in English language in 20th century
When Irish Eyes Exile
Prolegomena to Ulysses

James Joyce (Oxford Lives)
Richard Ellmann
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195033817

Amazon.com

Although several biographers have thrown themselves into the breach since this magisterial book first appeared in 1959, none have come close to matching the late Richard Ellmann's achievement. To be fair, Ellmann does have some distinct advantages. For starters, there's his deep mastery of the Irish milieu--demonstrated not only in this volume but in his books on Yeats and Wilde. He's also an admirable stylist himself--graceful, witty, and happily unintimidated by his brilliant subjects. But in addition, Ellmann seems to have an uncanny grasp on Joyce's personality: his reverence for the Irishman's literary accomplishment is always balanced by a kind of bemused affection for his faults. Whether Joyce is putting the finishing touches on Ulysses, falling down drunk in the streets of Trieste, or talking dirty to his future wife via the postal service, Ellmann's account always shows us a genius and a human being--a daunting enough task for a fiction writer, let alone the poor, fact-fettered biographer.

Book Description

Richard Ellmann has revised and expanded his definitive work on Joyce's life to include newly discovered primary material, including details of a failed love affair, a limerick about Samuel Beckett, a dream notebook, previously unknown letters, and much more.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant.......2007-02-13

For those of you interested in a biography of James Joyce that's as erudite as his works themselves, then Ellmann's "James Joyce" is most definitely for you. This is a product of years of interviews and correspondence with many of Joyce's friends and family members; and Ellmann's love for both the writer and the man radiate through every page. His sections on the key themes and events that inspired both "Ulysses" and "Finnegans Wake" are invaluable. Moreover, you'll find yourself chuckling a great deal of time, and even shedding a few tears, as I did. My only critique of the book, albeit fairly minor, is not so much directed at the author as it is at the publisher: there is little room in the margins for notes, as well as very sparse flyleaves; hence for those of you who like to engage a book with gushing pen in hand, then you'll find the layout of this book quite restraining, as I did. One might counter this critique, however, with the perhaps granted point that it leaves all the more canvas space on which to overlay layers and layers of brush strokes much needed when attempting to paint the life of this very complex, gifted, and charming man.

A Classic Biography.......2006-10-05

In all things about James Joyce, no one has exhibited more of an acute understanding of the man and his works than Richard Ellmann. He is the bridge by which readers who have not read Joyce or do not understand what they have read by him to the inner workings of the artist and his life.

This biography, "James Joyce" has been around for decades, virtually unchallenged. He presents to the reader all the facets of Joyce's life and personality. This is no mere star-gazing. Along with all the great things about Joyce, he also examines his weakness: his superstitions, his drinking, his occasional selfishnes, his sexual complexities, and his failure to really take care of his family. We get to see Joyce in all his dimensions and from several perspectives. That makes this book not only the best biography of James Joyce but one of the classic biographies of all time.

Best biography in English language in 20th century.......2006-06-20

Richard Ellmann's biography of James Joyce is hands down among the three best or the best biography written in the 20th century. For anyone with a serious interest in Joyce or his writings, will truly enjoy getting to know Joyce and his writings through this book.

I've read maybe a few thousand reviews of other titles on this website but this is the first book I've felt I needed to comment on. I comment mainly because I noted that two reviewers gave this book "4 stars". What unmitigated gall!

When Irish Eyes Exile.......2005-10-11

Richard Ellmann's biography is the most definitive and complete examination of James Joyce that has been written. This extensive work examines Joyce's life from his birth to his death. Ellmann's narrative derives from Joyce's letters as well as accounts from Joyce's brother, Stanislaus. The book is most revealing in offering an understanding of the process it took for Joyce to come up with his most monumental works, ULYSSES AND FINNEGANS WAKE. Ellmann states that Joyce intentionally made it difficult for anyone to understand what he wrote. He wanted to keep his critics, academics and scholars, guessing of what significance his nonsensical gibberish creation represented. In addition, Ellmann intertwines events that occurred in Joyce's life that show how they closely resemble the characters in the works he produced, such as his early work, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN.

James Joyce most likely can be considered a "starving artist." He would go without a new pair of shoes until they wore down to the soles, but looked debonair and sophisticated with non-matching suits. In the beginning, he aspired to be a work within the realms of Jesuit studies, but later opted for a writing career that would take him from Trieste, Paris, and Zurich. Joyce struggled with poverty through out his life even as his most famous works were published. Monetary problems and health conditions that affected his eyesight never hindered his creative process. If he lost his eyesight, he probably would have continued to write blind. Joyce appeared to be an eccentric and stubborn man. However, Ellmann shows a caring and supporting man who loved his wife and children, and most of all, his father, John Stanislaus Joyce.

In terms to history and literature, Ellmann constantly references Joyce's fascination with Shakespeare, ancient civilization and history. This is best displayed in ULYSSES, but one significant footnote is that he did not appear to care for American history. He makes a minute reference to Ulysses S. Grant in ULYSSES, but he did not even know who the man was; Joyce loathed the United States. Also, Ellmann offers a birds-eye view of what his cohorts thought of his work. Gertrude Stein as well as Ernest Hemingway praised and envied Joyce's contributions to Modernism.

Ellmann examines a tremendous amount of information within his narrative. When one completes JAMES JOYCE, what else do you need to know about this genuine writer who used his craft as a means of getting back home, but never quite made it there? But he preferred Zurich and its snow-capped mountains as home rather than the complexities of his former Dublin. JAMES JOYCE is the springboard one needs when beginning a study of Joyce the man and his works, which should begin with PORTRAIT and ending with WAKE.

Prolegomena to Ulysses.......2005-06-14

I would agree that this is a masterful biography but be warned that it is neither lightweight nor a short read. What I would add is the thought that it it is wonderfully helpful in preparing oneself for a read of the major novel itself. That's something I had begun a dozen times in the last forty years, my furthest-on bookmark being about page 200. With this and the New Bloomsday Book, I finally read Ulysses through. It is an astonishing literary achievement, just as they say, and before your reading is over you've got to do it or it'll be like missing Hamlet. Reading this first is a good head start.

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

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Casebook was a good guide
A good guide

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195150767

Book Description

This casebook offers a comprehensive introduction to this landmark in modern fiction. The essays collected here will help first-time readers, teachers, and advanced scholars gain new insight into Joyce's semi-autobiographical story of an Irish boy's slow and difficult discovery of his artistic vocation. Mark Wollaeger's introduction provides an overview of the composition and early reception of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as well as a survey of some of the recurrent issues debated by literary critics. Essays by Hugh Kenner and Patrick Parrinder offer both indispensable overviews of the entire novel-its themes, structure, and idiom-and close attention to specific interpretive cruxes. Other essays include classic responses by Wayne Booth, Fritz Senn, Michael Levenson, Helene Cixous, and a newly revised and expanded version of Maud Ellmann's groundbreaking "Polytropic Man." Together the essays bring into focus the wide range of questions that have kept A Portrait fresh for the new millennium.

Customer Reviews:

Casebook was a good guide.......2006-03-09

The casebook on Portrait was very helpful to me. I had to use if for a project in my English class and it was nice to have such a wide variety of criticisms in one place. I also liked that each cricicism was labeled so I didn't have to scan through it to know what it focused on.

A good guide.......2003-11-13

James Joyce's A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN is arguably one of the defining works of 20th century modernism. It set the standard that many writers who employed stream of consciousness narration (Woolf, Faulkner, et al.) would follow. This collection of essays is a good way to familiarize yourself, not only with the novel, but with the Joycean scholarship that followed. Some essays are better than others: Ellman's stands out as particularly good. Some essays drag. Still, I would recommend this to anyone embarking on "A Portrait".

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