Stephen Fry on Ulysses - James Joyce

www.whyilovethi... - One Minute Book Review Videos -
“I’ll tell you the book I have chosen as my favorite book. And it may make some people’s heart sink, because it is associated with difficulty, where in fact it should be associated with joy…”
[ Stephen Fry, 53, polymath, trader in words, entertainer, national embarrassment, London & Hollywood. ]

[@Hakiblack]

As a Dubliner preparing to read Ulysses, I did, I confess, read the book Dubliners along with the cliff notes, and watched The Dead directed by John Huston, it was worth the trouble. I also went to all the pubs mentioned in the book and got absolutely hammered and that was worth the trouble too.

[@glasgowgrad6277]

Ireland sober is Ireland stiff.

[@iqiwq]

hey, so did you read it?

[@mjw12345]

"I also went to all the pubs mentioned in the book and got absolutely hammered.." - nothing to boast about, 100,000s Dubliners have done this!

[@californianorma876]

I see you were quite dedicated to the project 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽😵‍💫😎

[@andrewmassanet8289]

It's hard to convey to someone who, for whatever reason of his/her own, is not familiar with this marvelous novel. I have spent my entire adult life with it. Feasting on it, grazing on it, loving it.

[@DDDD-hv3ub]

No you haven't.

[@sunkintree]

@@DDDD-hv3ub Well, not me personally but a guy I know. Him and Ulysses got. it. on.

[@gearaddictclimber2524]

Fry hits the nail on the head here. A great introduction, for its brevity, that I imagine would make any reader desire to, as he says, return to it again and again and again.

[@archer1949]

I found that Ulysses scans better if it is recited out loud, like a poem.

[@HumanoidCableDreads]

I find it works best when you read the outer dialogue out loud but read the internal dialogues in your head.

[@marcallan9069]

I actually read Ulysses when I cared for patients with dementia, and I found that in reading it out loud to the people I was caring for I was able to pick up on a lot more of the wordplay and rhythm of the piece.

[@rishabhaniket1952]

That’s what I have heard from many others. It has got something to do in the fact Odyssey was also written to suit the oral reciting form as that’s how stories were told and passed on in Ancient Greek.

[@cbooth2004]

In Stephen Fry's defense; the last phrase "and yes I said, yes I will, Yes" has the word recurring thrice (much as a brinded cat hath); if one thinks in terms of pitch and rhythm, we can see how the ever-delightful Mister Fry got to that mis-statement.... I am delighted to see this video. Thank you for posting it.

[@histman3133]

Started reading it last week for the first time, and I love it. I'm just moving on to chapter 2. I like it.

[@BarryHawk]

Ulysses is hilarious; that is what tends to be forgotten.

[@johnsharman7262]

Stephen Fry has given a nice sense of why the book is so good without drowning us with sesquipedalian logorrhea: nice touch comparing it with The Great Gatsby. Ulysses is The Great Gatsby of the novel form, which Joyce renewed, bringing to the novel a new form, an invigoration of content, the dying fall of the daily cycle, and a few choice, well chosen characters of Dublin life.

[@37Dionysos]

'Ulysses' is the 'Gatsby' of novels? Uh, what?

[@jamesb.8940]

"And it may make some people’s heart sink, because it is associated with difficulty, where in fact it should be associated with joy" ## An excellent description of Finnegans Wake. IMHO, Homer is beyond words. FW is beautiful, magnificent, filled with joy - if Ulysses is comparable to FW it must be very good indeed. But is anything as magnificent, as humane & compassionate & many-sided, as the glory that is Homer ? FW is a work of genius, and no mistake - it's more than a book; a quality it shares with Tolkien's great myth.

[@jamesb.8940]

***** I think all three of them are masterpieces, each in its own way. The Wake is definitely "something else". though. I'm thinking of reading Ulysses, if only to see how Joyce matches events in Homer to those of one day of one man in in Dublin.

[@37Dionysos]

"I doubt that I ever read anything to equal it, and I know that I never read anything to surpass it." An early critic on Joyce's completed "Ulysses"....

[@wlrlel]

That's a little bit too much.

[@37Dionysos]

@@wlrlel How so? Can you argue for another book that equals or surpasses 'Ulysses'? Honestly, I cannot.

[@wlrlel]

@@37Dionysos Odyssee, Divina Commedia, Faust I + II, À la recherche du temps perdu...

[@37Dionysos]

@@wlrlel I guess we'd need a symposium to explore all the rivalries between 'Ulysses' and each/all of those masterpieces. The "greatest ever" judgment would surely come from the criteria for judging that we'd have to create first. Just that imho, none of them revels in their own and other languages quite as 'U' does. It leaves me with a greater sense of the totality of life/full range of human experience than do the others, nor do any of them have 'Ulysses'' core of sheer life-affirming humor in spite of darkness. Joyce's master was Tolstoy and we'd likely agree that he too is a major Joyce rival. Or it's all my Irish half's bias!

[@czgibson]

I've never heard Stephen talk about Ulysses before and it's pleasing to find we have the same favourite book. He's wrong about the ending, though: the book actually ends "yes I will Yes". Time to give it another read, Stephen!

[@MasterrFlamaster]

I read Ulysses in Polish and due to good translation I was stunned by the mastery of... well any aspect of writing I can think about. Joyce possessed unique talent which allowed him to change the style of storytelling, depending on what he needed to express and keep that formally complex book consistent. What I feel is the most outstanding about this book though is that it had all the potential to become a lame academy-oriented piece, instead it's actually the funniest novel ever written.

[@greenfish144]

I’m on page 300 now, and although it is terribly difficult and often illogical I have cried, numerous times, reading about Molly and Milly and the beauty of it all. The sexuality is quite liberating, I find. Also, McKenna and Morrison, as well as Monroe read it! Honestly, this is the most meaningful book ever. 🙂 Oh, and the poetry is so cutting! “Sea of the cunt”! (Excuse my profanities!)

[@LaymansHypothesis]

I spent twelve years building up to this novel, reading "easier" literature. Finally got round to it last year. Parts were opaque, other parts were confusing, and some were fucking magical.

[@mags102755]

What we were told when I was studying English Lit. in college, is that it was too difficult to read without help. I think I will follow Stephen's advice and read it again, just on my own.

[@eugemurts5903]

+Margaret Chase it is tough going in places but overall it's actually a lot of fun. Enjoy.

[@bunnymalone]

Read Dubliners first, then Portrait of the Artist, they'll teach you to read it. That was my experience, anyway. Either way they're all worth having read

[@DarkAngelEU]

My brother said the same thing, but he likes studying literature so for him it's not as much about the joy of reading as it is about what he can get out of it, to find structure. I'm more the feeling side of things and already made plans to read Homer's Odyssee and then let it sink so I can enjoy Ulysses by the time Spring comes around :)

[@nmaurok]

@@DarkAngelEU No need to read the Odyssey in advance, really, it's just a way to interpret the book and in no way should it be binding. As for reading it "without help", that's probably the best way to go about it initially - then you can immerse in the hundreds and hundreds of pages of annotations, interpretations and scholarship that you will find readily available.

[@DarkAngelEU]

@@nmaurok I know it's not necessary but that's the way I want to explore it, since I'm comparing the impact WWI had on modern literature to other wars and literature. I already read Eliot and Woolf from this perspective and it's alot of fun!

[@TeachUBusiness]

I am making a series of videos on "Reading Ulysses for Fun". Your comments are welcome. Once you've made it through, you may discover a great mental playground Joyce created for us.

[@michelletaylor-gill7484]

Chris Reich did you upload them?

[@Deborahblacoe]

100th anniversary of the publication this year. Yes, yes, yes to Melle Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Co Paris, for taking a giant leap of faith in its publication. Interestingly, when it was first published it was banned in many countries, except for Ireland. The authorities here said that “no one would bother to read it anyway”. Well, they got that one wrong…..

[@22grena]

His two favourite books written by an Irishman and an Irish American. I wonder what his favourite play is?

[@joshualyons2854]

22grena I heard he likes U2

[@TheClassicWorld]

And he played one of his heroes, an Irishman, Wilde on screen. Of course, Fry has no real attachment to Ireland or the Irish, so it doesn't mean anything, other than the simple fact that the Irish have been just as important as anybody else, at least regarding the English Novel, as it were. Some would say the most important. It's not shocking that some of the best writers and books, and indeed, plays, ever written were Irish.

[@DarkAngelEU]

Irish people have a very humble notion of life, I have found whilst staying over in Belfast. They're alot like the English, just more likeable. They don't go smashing around glasses for instance "for fun", they rather go to the night shop and drink a gallon of milk and chug it when the pub's closed. Ah and the music! The Irish music scene is truly the best I have ever met in my life! Live music in every pub and none of em are shite! Talking about it makes me feel homesick.

[@paacer]

@@TheClassicWorld When I was growing up in Ireland we had a saying 'Island of Saints and Scholars'

[@lepidoptera9337]

I tried it in English... and I failed miserably back then. That was many decades ago and I was still a child, at least mentally. I should pick it up, again. The book is certainly true... but I am not sure how much of a joy it is to read unless English is truly your first language and your profession, which, of course, it is for Stephen Fry.

[@mrsterripurcell]

Well said sir, I'm a Dubliner and proud of it. If I had a problem with it, it was as you said how the style changes per chapter. But yes it was one great read

[@zthetha]

Yeah Stevie - but you can read and enjoy Ulysses without knowing any of the classical references and, yes, it is the most remarkable book that seems to offer something new with each successive reading, yeah, yeah, yeah...

[@NormanArches]

Joyce was a lower middle class socialist, cursed or blessed by his drive and genius. He was never an 'etonian' writer, ie a totem of the class elite, reflecting their values. Eliot, perhaps, Thackeray, Shakespeare, Waugh, obviously & lots of others but Joyce? Never. Ulysses is about the beauty of life uncontained and all the people in it, from whichever class or race. It's a profoundly socialistic and humanistic book. The opposite of elitist (apart from its refusing to be in any way dumb).

[@Dionysos37]

As Richard Ellmann said, "Ulysses" is the most difficult funny book and the funniest difficult one. Another said "I doubt I ever read anything to equal it, and I know I never read anything to surpass it." THE simplest key to really enjoying it is Ellmann's own little-known "Ulysses on the Liffey," which lays out patterns and themes etc. with perfect clarity. Yes, Yes, Yes! "Ulysses" rules!

[@platinumtank892]

Stephen Fry... He MUST have a photographic memory; he's such a genius. Or maybe his genius lies within being such a lovely human being.

[@NormanArches]

@edmund184 As Christian Moevs points out in his brilliant book on Dante, a work of art's greatness is measured in how the ideas it expresses can only be measured in the work of art. The exact qualities it has can't be accurately reduced to description without losing essential aspects. Ulysses is simply this: a massive immersion in an alternate reality. The patter of experiences wash over you to the point where it becomes as impossible to take in as life itself and it becomes an escape.

[@RickUmali]

Tonight, I finished reading Ulysses. It was book that I have been pecking at in fits and starts for three years. The middle part is extremely hard going, and I broke down and bought some guides (a Cliffs Notes, and Stuart Gilbert's book). That helped a lot, and I was able to get through the most entertaining chapters ("Circe", and "Ithaca"). Good luck to all who attempt it: it's one of the Mount Everests in modern literature!

[@LemonKushty]

Q : Why did Stephen reJoyce in the retellings of Bloompold Henry Flower? A : Inelecutably the delectable Stephen found harmonious the irascible and sensible muddled befuddlings of the Bloomflower made possible in oddest odyssey Oireland had ever scene. Cosmic delineations reeled him in realistically by comparing chapters of the novel to each individual body part O Yes that was the whole beauty of it all wheeling turning round round would I read it over again Yes I would and again yes and Yes.

[@june4783]

I think maybe the difficulty in reading this book is trying to read it from cover to cover. The best advice I ever had was just dip in and out of it and then it will appear easier

[@22grena]

Bloom is not really as Jewish as zio professional gay man makes out and in my opinion not the main character. Bloom is a non religious half Irish Jew born in Ireland with an Irish wife. Stephen Dedalus on the other hand has a whole other book about him and he is the main character because he is Joyce.

[@chrisjou42]

I just can't stand James Joyce's prose.

[@TeachUBusiness]

Want a fun video series to help you read Ulysses? kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3yWc5aif9mDh7s

[@Theramjam]

Yes

[@josephharley9448]

Haven't read Ulyses but he is dead right about Gatsby. Word perfect, inspired.

[@rishabhaniket1952]

I kind of get but don’t get Gatsby. I mean it is a good breezy book but I don’t get the hype around it. I mean I have read more relatively more obscure books that are much more interesting and well written than Gatsby.

[@EzioAuditoreDaFirenze99]

@@rishabhaniket1952 I found Gatsby incredibly dull. I have studied it in depth as an adult for my course, I have read analyses and reviews, we had group discussions on it. I still find it dull and needlessly obtuse. Then I discover, when studying the life of Fitzgerald, that he deliberately made it obtuse to sell more copies, to make enough money to marry a woman, Zelda. Then suddenly I realise that the academic world has been taken for fools. It's not even clever. It's just boring. I read it 3 times over, it's still just boring. Everything is psuedo-intellectual symbolism and upper-class pontification, nothing is pleasantly descriptive, nothing makes me feel sympathy for the characters. It's a cold book.

[@rishabhaniket1952]

@@EzioAuditoreDaFirenze99 Yet some people argue that it’s meant to be cold to signify how plastic and emotionally dry those kind of upper class greed driven people were. But then again you can make that certain argument for so many other dull books as well. It seems even back in those times a reputation was built so much on hype and marketing. A great book dealing with similar themes but much more interesting is What Makes Sammy Run.

[@sunkintree]

@@EzioAuditoreDaFirenze99 People like to throw around this "they did exactly what people (interested in literatured) wanted and so it sold more copies so it's a big fraud!!!!!" but you can see how if take a step back and rephrase it as I did, how silly that sounds. It's okay to have a taste that excludes classic novels or classic authors, we don't have to objectively denounce them

[@Supertramp1966]

I love comments such as the one you posted. The fact that you went out to pubs and got "absolutely hammered" makes my day!! :-) You will need alcohol in your veins before you try to read this train wreck of a novel...

[@tombradford7035]

Or you can read Lady Don't Fall Backwards.

[@bobthompson3739]

There's a half dozen of Dicken's books that I would place above Ulysses, I can already hear the howls of derision and I am certainly not bothered about that, his masterpiece, Great Expectations is a cut above.

[@lepidoptera9337]

Different century. Different readership. I would also not concur. Drama aside... Dickens is like watching paint dry. OK, maybe Joyce was experimenting with even slower drying paint. I will give you that. ;-)

[@watchesvideosonline]

Agreed. Ulysses is overrated.

[@stephensharp3033]

Dickens wrote too much.

[@watchesvideosonline]

@@stephensharp3033 he was paid per installment, duh. At least his works are intelligible and not available exclusively to the Literati. Most people who enjoy Ulysses have to have it explained to them or have some type of supplementation with it. He should've made it like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man where most of the book is capable of being understood all by itself. Had he done this, I'd consider Ulysses a masterpiece.

[@sunkintree]

Dickens was too much of a cartoonist. I love Great Expectations but he writes too much like a cartoon. He's on the list of great authors but with a big asterisk, and below when you reference the asterisk it reads "Great for a cartoon writer". Don't even get me started on Oliver Twist. What a Disney cartoon man.

[@Frauter]

What a joy that he mentioned Dutch as his random example. Am reading the boldly retitled recent Dutch tandem translation "Ulixes" side by side with Joyce's original, even though I could read the English directly and purely -- oh the immortally childish pleasure of blasphemy!

[@gilbertpriet2015]

To that effect, fool, the last three words are 'I will yes.'

[@danielmoran9902]

I always have a gorgonzola sandwich with a glass of Burgundy when I'm in Ireland.

[@leonidasspartan9842]

If you can get over the fact that you won't understand all of it and aren't meant to it is the most enjoyable reading experience currently available.

[@needicecream100]

Yaaay i live a few doors down from where James Joyce was born, i pass his house every day.

[@sgtcrab1]

I hope you piss on the doorstep!

[@guitaoist]

the last three words are not "yes yes yes" its "yes i said yes i will Yes."

[@gallivanburwell3760]

I named my late lamented Labrador Retriever - born on June 16th, the date that Leopold & Stephen take their epic sojourn - Molly Bloom. She turned out to be a very faithful dog in spite of that.

[@polarbearing]

Wow, very well said. I took a college course years ago that surprisingly turned into a full-semester analysis of Ulysses. I think that without it, I might not have been able to enjoy other classical literature as much: I found out that Ulysses is definitely a hard read for a relative beginner. I've read it several times since then, and it remains one of my all-time favorite novels.

[@Somethingyoumayknow]

I feel the same 100%. A line that hasn't left me "They say a nun invented Barbwire"

[@KAGdesignsDOTnet]

The only joy I experienced from Ulysses was finishing it

[@bgill7475]

It’s something people revisit more than once in their lives.

[@jamesjoyce5542]

Im Back bitches

On the lash with Tim Finnegan again were ya?

[@EmpyreanSasarai]

Favourite line: Down the shelving shore flabbily their splayed feet sinking in the silted sand.

[@Smoochy44]

You deserve a medal, I think it's fair to say.

[@katelynna10000]

I am currently reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by Joyce, but I might have to read Ulysses now that I know Stephen loves it so much

[@johnwade7430]

I read Portrait whilst I was studying Lit at Uni. One of our books was Dubliners and so I dutifully read Portrait next but I was bored I must confess at the time. Now, much later I re-read it and it was mesmerising. Take note of how the Jesuit teachers at young Joyce’s school teach and how they maintain discipline - then read how Stephen teaches his class (Chapter 2 -Nestor) in Ulysses; quite interesting.

[@MyBittersweetTravels]

Keep reading, it's worth it. Cheers.

[@Paul1239193]

I tried reading it several times and I fall asleep despite my best efforts every time. Oh well.

[@davidsoael615]

Read it in the early afternoon

[@thomaswillans4085]

Ulysses transcends the book format. It cannot be contained

[@barryking9605]

This book captivates me. I have read this book line by line and then I'll read again. There is so much within this book that only reading a dozen times let's you scratch the surface of what it means. It amazes me after these many years. Banned it was, but banning a book is only due to true blind ignorance. If you don't understand it do one of 2 things. 1) Stop and put it away, or; 2) Read and study it until you get it.

[@sgtcrab1]

You are a sad person with a very sad life!

[@VaslavTchitcherine1]

The Last line of Ulysses actually reads: 'Trieste-Zurich-Paris, 1914-1921'.

[@shreddez]

You don't like the book and you explain that the widespread and enduring popularity of it as being based on an absurd theory that it is all due to nothing more than Gaelic chic? Weak sauce homie. I'm guessing that you haven't given a serious effort at even reading it in the first place.

[@rosiecider100]

Has anyone on here actually read it?

[@sgtcrab1]

Almost no one could put up with it to the end. It is drivel beyond anything I have ever attempted.

[@nickswilliamson]

If it is the re-telling of the Homeric Odyssey, why is the central episode, "The Wandering Rocks," an adventure from the voyage of Jason? It is, indeed, a mock-Odyssey, but of a thoroughly modern hero, Leopold Bloom, he who plays Milton's Satan in an episode based on Dante's Hell (please see my blog for fuller explanation: joyceanopusday.blogspot.com/). Anyway, thanks for your review. I agree with it for the most part, but would certainly place the realist Joyce above the symbolist Fitzgerald.

[@alannolan3514]

unheeded he kept by them as they came to drier sands, a rag of wolf's tongue red panting by his jaw

[@thomascollins3799]

Much of the book's reputation for difficulty (unjustly earned, I concur with Stephen) is mainly due to the specificity of its local color of Dublin, the places, people, and proper nouns that litter every page that are remote to American readers in the 21st century. The difficulty of deciphering these references has been greatly ameliorated thanks to the internet, but one can still ignore, if one chooses, the vast bulk of the opaque references and enjoy the richness of Joyce's prose and renderings of universal human consciousness. Upon first engaging with the work at the age of 40, it was the first novel that when reading I felt fully engulfed in the mind of the protagonists and author. It is the most stupendous novel ever written in the English language, one that you can return to again and again.

[@BlantonDelbert]

I had to read Ulysses three times before I had any decent comprehension. Joycean stream of consciousness, fragments, poor punctuation, sometimes comma sometimes no yes maybe I go to Sandymount walk stand look see Gerty her legs........is just the oppostite of the clear, delcarative sentences of Hemingway. To me, Joyce is too much bullshit and Hemingway is not enough. It is interesting that Fry mentions F. Scott and The Great Gatsby. Here is a book in the middle of obfuscation and elementary

[@DuskAndHerEmbrace13]

That was very funny, I have to admit, but "What am I supposed to learn from Stephen Fuckwit Fry"? I'm not saying he's the most intelligent man on the planet by any means, but reading that, you sound amazingly arrogant by implying you're just above the feeble education of the world-class schools and universities he went to and his career of writing and intellectualism. He's not great, but I hold serious doubts as to wether your arrogance over him is in ANY way justified.

[@PresidentSunday]

Ulysses wasn't searching for his son, Ulysses' son was searching for Ulysses.

[@spom9898]

President Sunday well he was searching for a way home to his son.

[@Stereolabdream]

Can this lover of James Joyce also suggest Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. Peake has become famous in the last ten years, but actually READ by far fewer. I mention Mervyn Peake, because he and Joyce are the GREATEST writers in English at Prose/Poetry. Do yourself a favour, READ HIM.

[@PanterAmetal100]

If all the comments from Wikipedia were collected and rewritten in stream-of-consciousness manner, it'd be blast!

[@jestintzi]

There is hardly a wasted word in The Great Gatsby. It is a wonderfully written book, even though it can be considered dull by some.

[@DerekMcDow]

Agreed!

[@paddymourinho]

Don't criticise what you can't understand.

[@sgtcrab1]

Well you know that is very condescending! I would rather read a challanging novel that at some point I could understand. It is total mock erudition. Toatal crap. The worst novel ever in my mind Loius Lamour would be better!

[@wadiefaridhaddad7429]

Fantastique. On doit rire, on reste intéressé, et voilà, ne peut pas traduire. Absolument Ulysses par Joyce est bien le plus Covid19 suitable..

[@almubarak89458]

When a book critic chooses this book as the best thats kinda like a movie critic saying Citizen Kane or The Godfather is the best movie.

[@Supertramp1966]

Couldn't disagree more... But, one man's garbage (rubish) is another man's treasure, right..And so it goes..................

[@thomasmurphy6595]

One more reason to love Stephen Fry!

[@callumferguson1894]

@DuskAndHerEmbrace13 I ordered this book today, who cares if its deemed pretentious by people too dim witted

[@ladystardust2008]

I am grateful to Stephen for this explanation. I had to write about Ulysses for my degree. It was agony for me. I could not understand why anyone would write such a book, let alone read it. Actually I just didn't understand it at all. 30 years later I managed to complete it as an audio book just because I needed to finally grasp the meaning of the key text of modernism before I die. I still don't. It's an flat wall of nothingness to me, I hate it. At least from this video and the comments below I can get a sense why others enjoy and honour it so much.

[@carsonwall2400]

@Tony Cope

[@ambskater97]

Read it again. Read it out loud. You'll be glad you did.

[@ladystardust2008]

@@ambskater97 I listened to it on audio book. Still rubbish.

[@ambskater97]

@@ladystardust2008 Read what I wrote carefully. Read it yourself out loud.

[@ladystardust2008]

@@ambskater97 I honestly don't need to do that.

[@wadiefaridhaddad7429]

Sarcasme, encyclopédique, techniques littéraires, Google mapping bien avant son temps,

[@martinnolan88]

do you ask customers if they prefer gatsby or ulysses when you're taking their orders at mcdonald's?

[@chrish12345]

@RampageEndsHere I agree, although Beethoven's music is full of humour, its not exactly 'comic art'

[@Supertramp1966]

Have you ever considered how Joyce came across to his readers??? He's NOT "reader friendly"....

[@charlespeterson3798]

He covers himself by describing it as his favorite book, which is what it is.

[@davidmayhew8083]

Stop playing with your nose! Waugh said it was "gibberish".

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

The problem with Ulysses is that because of it's reputation as the "greatest work of literature ever," you gointo it primed for something serious and intellectual, whereas the book doesn't take itself seriously at all. When it shows you something that doesn't make sense, you're inclined to feel like you don't understand the joke when the joke is how incomprehensible it is. So I'm just reading it for the prose and pay no mind to the supposed plot because there isn't one. Or rather, I'm not missing much by ignoring it.

[@sunkintree]

You're thinking of Finnegan's Wake, which to this day people debate whether or not there is a plot in that book, and the people that agree there is a plot in it still argue about what the plot actually is. There's no debate whatsoever about whether Ulysses has a plot. It has a plot, lmao. Come back in 10 years when you're up for it you'll understand

[@guitaoist]

you are very right! i have some vids analyzing him, type in finnegans wake or ulysses or even his name on my channel and tell me what you think.

[@Supertramp1966]

Please explain your comment. Which book are you giving more weight?

[@37Dionysos]

Best book to read with "Ulysses" is Richard Ellmann's "Ulysses on the Liffey"---it's short, very clear and specific, and it opens up the central themes and meanings beautifully. In a phrase, "Casual kindness overcomes unconscionable power."

[@DuskAndHerEmbrace13]

...Don't particularly now what you're on about, if I'm honest.

[@seasikjellyfish]

Essentially it's "Yes, yes, yes."

[@stephen-of4oq]

I prefer my booky wook by Russel Brand

[@terenceshannon4731]

+stephen EEJIT

[@TheFallibleFiend]

I like Fry a lot, but Ulysses and Great Gatsby are among my least favorite books. I've passed more enjoyable time staring at my dentist's nose hairs than reading Ulysses. It was only through determination I was able to finish. Perhaps my mind was not ready for it. I may try again some time - but not too soon.

[@NormanArches]

Yeah. What did you think of the Radio 4 adaptation yesterday?

[@watchesvideosonline]

I love Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man but HATE Ulysses. The content of the plot is great but it's way too difficult to read. I wish Joyce had written it differently.

[@guitaoist]

Name calling automatically means im right, whos irish? Get ur insults right before you start typing.

[@Guedingen]

when it's good it's sublime and when it's bad it's shite.

[@barryadams243]

Joyce's Ulysses is a frauds annalist of Robyn Williams Billy connoly Ernest Hemingway my ex girlfriend and I just loved it

[@MrUndersolo]

Need him to talk about “Finnegans Wake”. Just finished “A Shorter Version Of...” edited by Anthony Burgess and I need help...

[@cohenhand]

I would say have a little more confidence in your own abilities. Literature is for everyone, not just for people who have elite educations. You're not going to get every single reference, but no one is expecting you to: that is why the book attracts scholars who try to outdo themselves explaining odd references. I've read it twice and I don't have a degree in literature or anything. Curiousity will get you further than any academic training.

[@shreddez]

Man, I'm not here to educate you, your education is up to you. There is an ENDLESS amount of opinion on this book and it is well documented elsewhere. You haven't read it, so why not read it and see what you get out of it yourself? If you don't think you'd enjoy it or you don't want to be bothered with reading it, how could you expect anyone to respect your opinion about it or take you seriously if you won't read it?

[@reggiedavis2803]

Writing is about communicating a string of ideas as clearly as possible. Any writing that fails to clearly articulate itself sells itself short. James Joyce sold himself short when he decided to promote the publication of Ulysses as is. More readers would enjoy it if it was written with less thought for how he wanted to come off and more thought for how accessible it would be to readers. And...come now, can you really compare Ulysses to The Great Gatsby--one is a story, the other one is not.

[@cipher22]

He chose them because of their literary merit. Not because everyone has read them and it makes him seem smart or a "Man of the people". You wouldn't say Beethoven's 5th isn't as good a piece as a more contemporary and wholly unknown composer would you? Just because everyone's heard it before, all the genius and beauty associated with it is now null and void? Ulysses and The Great Gatsby are heralded because of their greatness. Stephen likes the books, why should he choose anything different?

[@Supertramp1966]

Joyce was a fatuous drunk. This is well documented and may even rival other alcoholic literary giants such as London and Hemingway, the former being the worse case senario. Finished ULYSSES recently and thought it was horrible. Maybe I just don't appreciate Joyce' "stream of consciousness" style of writing, but this book was even harder to read than Milton's PARADISE LOST (never thought I'd say that). Reading ULYSSES was a true war of attrition, and Joyce won. It was purely (contin.)

[@guitaoist]

its was both it was really as funny as it was deep, i kind of tragedy comedy union.