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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 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
'After more than seventy years of editorial corrections, specialists will buy the 'uncorrected' edition for its accuracy. Others should choose it as much for Johnson's excellent introduction and notes.' Tim Kendall. Hertford College, Oxford. Notes and Queries
`For anyone coming to this 20th century classic for the first time, this paperback version could well make the going a little easier.' Lancashire Evening Post (Preston)
`Already got a copy of Ulysses. Well, chuck it out and get this ... this is the one, a reproduction of the original 1922 Shakespeare and Co edition ... has extensive notes at the back to explain references and correct gaffes ... Also astonishingly cheap.' Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian
`now the cheapest annotated paperback available and comes with a splendid introduction from Jeri Johnson, a map of contemporary Dublin, and a comprehensive set of explanatory notes ... As such, it should appeal both to those who are familiar with Joyce's book, and those who are approaching it for the first time.' Yorkshire Post (Leeds)
`hilarious, poignant, exhilarating ... The excellent guide, editor Jeri Johnson, refuses to allow short cuts for first-time travellers ... The detailed notes are useful ... the ideal way to set off on your personal odyssey.' The Times
`For anyone coming to this 20th century classic for the first time, this paperback version could well make the going a little easier.' West Lancashire Evening Gazette
`For anyone coming to this 20th Century classic for the first time, this paperback version could well make the going a little easier.' Yorkshire Evening Post (Leeds) Midweek section, 9 July 1997
'WHERE do you begin in this?' Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative Genius Unbound.,
By
This review is from: Ulysses (Hardcover)
We're approaching the 100th anniversary of the action in Ulysses and I've taken my copy out and began to reread it. No other book I know of has more power to inspire or instill creative thought. His symbolism and skill is simply astounding. Anthony Burgess once said that many times he'd think of Ulysses and then think about his own work, "Why bother?" I know what he meant, but the power of the characters and style gives everday writers like myself something to strive for. This book is worth more than ten creative writing courses in the Ivy League. Even if I wanted to, I could never forget it.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
--Introibo ad altare Dei,
By "the_perennial_philosophy" (SJ, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ulysses (Hardcover)
I wrote this review previously w/ my other Amazon account but now that I changed email addresses, I'm going to publish this review in this accountUlysses is considered by me to be the greatest book ever written. Now the following review is just the very basic storyline, in order to even begin to fathom the magnitude of it's magnificence, you need to read the other reviews and so here it is. It describes in florid detail a single day in the life of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly and Stephen Dedalus, a young would-be-writer -- a character based on Joyce himself. Bloom, a Jewish advertising salesman, spends the day wandering through the streets and offices, pubs and brothels of 1904 Dublin
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
My patience are exhausted,
By
This review is from: Ulysses (Paperback)
I bought the Ulysses (Gabler Edition) edition of this book recently as we were reading Ulysses as part of an online book club. The advantage of that edition is that it is popular edition and also has line numberings so that as part of a group you can immediately locate a piece of text.Joyce edited and added bits and pieces to the text over the years much to the chagrin and frustration of his publishers, so you can expect minor variations between editions, yet they may be 95-99% similar. "Ineluctable modality of the visible." There are certain passages that no dictionary will help you with, and that is why you may need a companion book, such as Ulysses annotated, which explains the many allusions, whether to Latin, parallels with the Bible, with the Odyssey which this story loosely parallels, to Latin, British Rule, historical context, local maps, Hamlet, mythical search for the missing father, Shakespeare and the Bible. The further you get into this book the better it gets. At once this book is inpiring yet challenging, sometimes perplexing yet ultimately rewarding. Full of inventive wordplay that sometimes defies instant comprehension. I have read entire pages that turn out to be word salad at first. Every chapter has a different narrative style, such as inner monologue, narcissistic, catechism, stream of consciousness. Sometimes this book is brutal to read, sometimes a joy. I can understand why this book is so influential, and the words nibble at the edge of your consciousness forcing your mind to expand itself. This book has changed the way I think about writing, as I have never seen som many different narrative devices used in a single book before. The final chapter with Molly Bloom in bed, with its runon sentences is simply hilarious. And if you search you can find free online chapter summaries of chapters to speed your comprehension. I hope you found this review helpful.
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