Virginia Woolf ROASTS James Joyce

[@stanleydude3340]

She really just went "You're a third rate writer with a fourth rate book."

[@todd5640]

Kaiba out

[@eruno_]

she said he has talent, but misuses it.

[@sunkintree]

pure jealous

[@starlinguk]

No, she says he is a really good writer and therefore does not need to resort to writing pretentious drivel.

[@sunkintree]

@@starlinguk you havent read any Woolf if you think she's not pretentious lol

[@JoaoPessoa86]

"But as Joyce is nearly 40, it's scarcely likely" 🔥🚨🔥🚨🔥🚨

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

Let us all remember that Nora Joyce told James, "Why don't you write books people can actually READ?!?"

[@maxtravers1314]

For reference, £4 in 1922 is equivalent to about £188 as of February 2024

[@barbaralindhjem2488]

Thanks

[@MiScusi69]

WTF

[@angelacraw2907]

It was a banned book and had to be bought mail order. In fact the Paris publishers, ran by the indomitable Sylvia Beach at the time bankrupted herself keeping Joyce and his disfunctional family going during the years it took to publish the book. And although she had done this for him he took the book to an American publishers, after the ban was lifted, selling the rights from underneath her, which meant she could not recoup the losses incurred during Joyces' constant changes to the book. 'And so it goes.'

[@bleepbloop6234]

I would have been absolutely furious if I paid half that much for any of Joyce's books lmfao.

[@LOLquendoTV]

Tbf, if I paid thay much for any book and it wasnt an absolute favourite, id be upset too

[@anujmore8249]

The worst that she say is "No" Her:

[@RuthvenMurgatroyd]

😂 Bro, imagine getting rejected but it's done in her style of prose 💀

[@JeremyHelm]

Would it help YOU grow out of it?

[@jessef88]

Dude 😂

[@elizabethdouglas3417]

Read Ulysses in an English graduate class and my prof literally wished us all luck. I barely made it through. Utterly miserable part of the semester. Then we read Woolf’s To The Lighthouse, and my prof wished us luck again 😆😆

[@yvetteworrall8909]

God yes. Found them both insufferable, Wolfe just more tersely so.

[@neo-xy3fr]

I've STARTED To the Lighthouse so many times. Best I can do is 50 pages 😂

[@Blue_3987]

​@@neo-xy3fr same i read the same first 50-60 pages so many times cuz it's so beautiful then I don't understand anything lol

[@angelacraw2907]

I prefer Woolf's writing to Joyce. Dubliners is incredible, but I couldn't understand Ulysses. Whereas I love Woolf's writing. She is doing some wonderful things with stream of consciousness in her works especially in Mrs Dalloway.

[@notwerkinginthishouse8634]

Im about to read that book ​@@angelacraw2907

[@julyol119]

Damn! A burn so hot, it still stings after a century 😂

[@ConnorThompson-w2k]

I don't know who it's stinging, but they must be quite sensitive 😂

[@darthandeddeu]

It also fits Infinite Jest ...

[@jfurl5900]

I'm not sure that Joyce would have been bothered by her. After all he went on to write finnegans wake . She must have been in a real tizzy over that.

[@archer1949]

I find Ulysses scans better if recited out loud, like a poem.

[@canteventhough]

I needed that. The real rap battles of history.

[@richardfinestra9218]

After that I imagine she had a stroke reading Finnegan's wake

[@nedcassley5169]

Finnegans Wake

[@DoctorDisco42]

@@nedcassley5169 do they now?

[@nedcassley5169]

@@DoctorDisco42 Davenports may be slept on, but not Finnegans.

[@mingthan7028]

That's peer feedback for you 😂😂😂😂😂

[@Kisamon]

The historical "a pot calling a kettle." 😂

[@MrDeyzel]

Every short this guy posts is super interesting

[@bokononbokomaru8156]

Yes, but don't miss Joyce's profound, incisive, & intellectually provocative retort of "Your mother's so ugly..."

[@amberspecter]

Really?

[@bokononbokomaru8156]

​@amberspecter yes. It was in the epilogue on the promotional sleeve of Olsen's Standard Book of British Birds... the expurgated version (the one without the gannet)

[@plkrtn]

Virgina Woolf being condescending?! Perish the thought 😂

[@rulisa1131]

You have to read it like an Irish drunken poetic rambling. Then it's perfectly enjoyable 😂

[@oldvlognewtricks]

You’re going to lose you mind when you find out that ‘enjoyable’ has almost nothing to do with ‘good’.

[@ASingleSpaghetti]

​@@oldvlognewtricksSaying "enjoyable" has nothing to do with "good" has about as much weight as claiming "enjoyable" has EVERYTHING to do with "good". Both are extremely subjective blanket statements that lack any real nuance.

[@oldvlognewtricks]

@@ASingleSpaghetti That’ll be why there is so much argument for highly popular Hollywood entertainment behemoths being the best quality movies out there oh no wait. Orthogonal variables are orthogonal. Simply stating ‘nah’ isn’t sufficient as a rebuttal. Do you have a counterexample? I have plenty of enjoyable bad movies, and likewise excellent movies that are unpleasant to watch… rendering your point pretty toothless.

[@localabsurdist6661]

@@oldvlognewtricksthere is nothing like an objectively good book my guy

[@Ana_crusis]

Not at all

[@ripleycastle5668]

She paid basically the buying power of £300 in today’s money for a book and then burnt that shit without fire.

[@3-meo-2-oxo-pce]

£280 actually, but your point still stands

[@AdorableLady]

Woolf calling someone else’s writing pretentious and brackish is fucking hillarious.

[@wordsculpt]

She was innovative, and tried new ways of expressing herself, but was never, ever pretentious. Perhaps you haven't read her work? Or need to look up the meaning of the word.

[@AdorableLady]

@@wordsculpt She’s my favorite author but you can’t read the Waves (my favorite book) endless soliloquys and not find it a bit pretentious.

[@William.Kelly7]

​@@wordsculpt even your description is pretentious

[@antagonisticalex401]

​@@William.Kelly7Everything in the universe is a bit pretentious if you have an annoying enough attitude. Converse isnt ture tho. You dont have to be annoying to find a pretentious thing, well, pretentious.

[@Aengus42]

Pretentious? Moi?

[@Natashahoneypot]

Great short video. Your voice is both clear and informative yet relaxing. The silence of the libray is also relaxing. magical . 🌖 🌟 📙

[@naly202]

Look who's talking. Her and her characters who need an eternity to get to the flippin lighthouse.

[@slappy8941]

"She" and her characters.

[@feliloki7]

havent read her diary but i read she actually wanted to be friends with him after reading it. I've read it and it was great

[@Wakamolewonder]

What’s great about it.

[@Mr.Slinky]

@@Wakamolewonderit’s got loads of words in it, stuff like that yknow. and the words are on pages. pretty cool yknow

[@dingdongdickweed6288]

@@Wakamolewonder The writing. DERP

[@LM-fn6qb]

I absolutely love Virginia Woolf's diaries. Every page has a jewel of an insight or observation. And so funny and perceptive about the people she meets.

[@angelacraw2907]

Joyce had asked if Woolf's publishing house Hogarth Press would print Ulysses. He sent her the first 200 pages to read. However, they printed on a small press at home and could not have completed a print run of any size. They looked into getting an outside printers to complete the run but no British printers would touch it because of obscenity laws. They were lucky because the book bankrupted Shakespear & Company in Paris.

[@bilindalaw-morley161]

I've never been able to get through it. It's hard work, and I felt deficient in the deeper thought processes! By the way Tom, I noticed you were showing an apparently water damaged paperback. It would be interesting if you'd occasionally say if ever that sort of copy might be worth something? Perhaps even a few valuations on damaged books? As always, kudos n thanks

[@nebky]

"A first rate writer respects writing too much to be tricky" Pretty rich coming form the woman who wrote Mrs Dalloway.

[@anjalinarayanan6881]

SO REAL

[@wellesradio]

And Orlando. Still great books

[@naamadossantossilva4736]

It takes one to know one.

[@willing1043]

Holy crap imagine what she thought of Finnegans Wake!

[@4672m]

That’s rich coming from the queen of pretentious, insufferable writing

[@Dimebag91]

Ulysses was and still is not everyone’s cup of tea. It demands hard work from the readership because it’s unlike anything the reader has ever read or will ever read. Woolf’s “roast” is basically a rant birthed by frustration-Ulysses can frustrate the reader.

[@mrscsi6472]

as someone who just finished to the lighthouse, i have to say she’s talking out her ass

[@breadbunbun]

Nah.

[@wordsculpt]

The way that You express yourself explains why you had a problem.

[@breadbunbun]

@@wordsculpt Nah.

[@matthewotto8322]

I love her analysis of the book. It's my favorite thing by her.

[@emmanikitina8859]

😂

[@artangel4172]

Amazing! Hi Tom , any old editions of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre ? Thank You. 😊

[@tomwayling]

I posted a couple of videos about a first edition of Wuthering Heights back in the spring!

[@artangel4172]

@@tomwayling O I m sorry, thank you. I m new here! Really love your channel! I m an artist and illustrator and i m so glad I found your channel! Best Wishes.

[@tomwayling]

no problem at all!! Thanks for finding me :) @@artangel4172

[@etnijaveirija4901]

Thank you for interesting facts and stories that I would never known otherwise.

[@Lucia-pd6fi]

This is brilliant 😂

[@charlesboucher9533]

Finally! For many years now I have been embarrassed by my reaction to Ulysses. I'm reasonably well read and still an avid reader at 59, but I just assumed I lacked the sophistication to appreciate what is said to be the best of all books. Tosh, difuse... brackish. Well said Ms. Woolf! Thankyou for the post.

[@logikgr]

Not all books will jive with every person.

[@ValeriaPugliesiWashington]

Thank you for putting my thoughts and feelings into so precise wording.

[@BlueSaphire70]

I completely agree with you.

[@polylyth]

59 and still insecure.

[@ulch11]

To be fair, if Woolf says a book is terrible, that's really to be taken as a compliment. Seeing how horrendous her works are.

[@imanelahmoum3722]

She must check her own "To the lighthouse"

[@ericpalahniuk6013]

I love your content and the enthusiasm with which you present it.

[@ross6753]

Well, she was right about it: Ulysses is dreadfully boring. But then so was she

[@mingthan7028]

Indeed, literary enjoyment is derived from subjective taste, particular mood and age.

[@ross6753]

@@mingthan7028 Yeah. Some people like excitement, others like boredom. But a boring person who blames someone else for being boring, that doesn't make much sense

[@ilovepeoplebro]

​@@ross6753"boring" in your mind is "absolutely entertaining" for someone else

[@ross6753]

@@ilovepeoplebro I think I'm one among a very large crowd when I state that Ulysses IS definitely very boring. The crowd that finds it "absolutely entertaining" I bet is probably pretty slim

[@michaelsieger9133]

@@ross6753Ulysses is the funniest book I’ve ever read. The prose is so versatile that the work deftly alternates between highly humorous passages and moments of deep pathos. I don’t know… perhaps I can attribute my enjoyment of the work to my personal background. As someone who grew up in a Catholic family and attended Latin school, it’s not surprising that the tone and attitude of the piece resonated with me. But I would still hold, along with several other people whom I know to be of the same opinion, that Ulysses is one of the most engaging texts I have encountered. As opposed to many of the other works of modernism, whose style is difficult and whose content is oftentimes indecipherable, Joyce has a way of making his work both exuberant and fun-loving.

[@NcessNasya]

Still a better love story than twilight.

[@willowtdog6449]

I’ve only ever read excerpts for school assignments, but that’s because I didn’t enjoy reading it either. 😂

[@andrewbaertlein]

Has she read anything she’s written? She’s maybe the most tricky author I try to read regularly.

[@lindahl458]

I've only read Orlando, but didn't find it too tricky? Could you clarify? (A serious question)

[@thegreaterconundrum]

It seems she’s mostly commenting on the fact that he has a really wonderful idea that was just executed lazily

[@ticketyboo2456]

Yes. I love her.

[@Of_infinite_Faith]

Woolf is much easier to read than Joyce.

[@Lin-1785]

Wow. I had a tough time sometimes convincing my students that beloved and famous writing was also disliked, often by others in the same anthology!

[@nedcassley5169]

I enjoyed it. The advice I'm glad I followed was to keep reading when you know you are missing things. Once you get to the end, you'll either want to read it again -- and you will struggle less -- or you will put it down never to pick it up again but never wondering if you had quit on it too soon.

[@BenOnSports]

Poor Henry Lamb caught a stray one there.

[@ritaparker478]

I so like the fact that in this day and age you are such an insightful collector of literature. I apologize for my ageism bias. It seems so many young people I meet are only interested in the digital world.

[@XIIchiron78]

Her description also accurately summarizes my perception of a lot of media today. All flash and no substance, more concerned with high handed pretention than with just actually being worthwhile

[@seanisnotjohn]

What makes you think that Ulysses has no substance?

[@terminallyonline5296]

The most scathing review of a novel is to say it could be oh so much more

[@larriyrnir5756]

the irony is palpable

[@BlueSaphire70]

Thank you to Ms. Woolf for writing such an accurate description of one of the most grossly overrated books in literature. What she wrote 101 years ago still holds true. And thank you, Mr. Wayling, for posting this!

[@crimson8606]

i haven't read Ulysses but more people should talk about how his previous work (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) is much simpler and easily one of the best (and one of my favorite) books ever written

[@Evelaneful]

Thanks!

[@xTheUnderscorex]

Well if that's what she thought of Ulysses, I need to hear her take on Finnegans Wake

[@Kingcobra6699]

She destroyed Joyce. Today he could sue her back to Ireland.....

[@TheSmilerGroganCase]

to be fair... i couldn't make it through Ulysses OR Mrs Dalloway.

[@jaylewis3665]

I just finished portrait of an artist as a young man, and it was hard to get through. Not because i thought it was pretentious or anything, i just didnt care about the story. Probably will be a long time before i attempt anything else joyce

[@markchambers3833]

You should consider reading 'Dubliners', probably the most normal thing Joyce wrote. An excellent book.

[@AngeIofContempt]

"hard ti get through" how old are you, i understood it as a teen.

[@hopscotchoblivion7564]

Imagine thinking story is important in a book

[@suzanneknibb3501]

having read the book, I totally agree with Ms Wolf

[@dominicgodfrey8015]

Reminds me of vladimir nabokov 😂

[@SonjaMorrison-i7j]

Virginia was never shy on being narcissist

[@FeminineRose]

Hahahaha im reminded of a few former classmates of mine!

[@merlinsclaw]

I've always loathed Virginia Woolf, and now I have another reason.

[@KThyme]

It's funny to me that these are also 2 of my favorite authors!

[@jackieking1522]

Thank you...and Virginia.... I've not much time left and always wondered if I was about to miss out. Maybe I'll just start watching Marvel movies for the last few whatever.

[@ricucci-hillmusic]

I actually haven't read Ulysses but I did use the very end of it has the opening of a Chamber Opera that I wrote a couple years ago. Lends itself very well to music surprisingly

[@isabellacarta1120]

I went to translate the Word "tosh" wich I did't know and I couldn't believe It. 😂😂😂

[@KellyWatts1302]

I could not read it and agree with her so much 😂😂😂

[@seanisnotjohn]

"I could not read it" leave it at that

[@piotrmyszka7596]

Mam pytanie. Dużo z tych książek czytasz?

[@williamarndt9465]

I've held the manuscript of Ulysses... well part of it ... Where I worked.

[@gongboy83]

"That book was so bad it makes me want to take a swim."

[@joebykaeby]

Very fancy way of saying “damn this guy needs an editor”

[@patcomerford5596]

Thank you.❤❤❤❤❤

[@MethodiousMind]

Scathing. That’s how I felt about catcher in the rye, but then I think that was on purpose.

[@Lynwood_Jackson]

I love James Joyce. I read all of his works last year. That's really disappointing to think that she thought so lowly of him and his work.

[@nefariouspurplebadger]

I agree with her. That book is awful

[@seanisnotjohn]

What's awful about it?

[@h-Qalziel]

I wonder if she read Finnegan's Wake. I haven't managed to get past page 10!

[@davidmichael9034]

Oh, I didn't know this. There videos are always interesting.

[@Passageofsky]

Ironic that this book is studied to this day, whilst most people have not read Virgina Wolfe's work.

[@dwp6471]

I have read the first five chapter many times and put it down everytime. I didn't care about the characters enough to continue. One of the few books I have ever put down without finishing.

[@DrTHC]

Yeah, that's a good roasting. Lol

[@eskybakzu712]

Well, now we now that Ulysses is the most influential novel of the 20th century ... like, by far

[@agentwrench]

And as someone who was forced to read Ulysses in university, I love her for that

[@gwae48]

She nailed it. 👍🏻👏🏻

[@SapphireSandwichBoys]

Tom, whats YOUR opinion on Ulysses? Any advice for someone whos never read it.

[@paxtonplato9771]

Go the whole way. Buy the latest version that comes with notes. Buy nabokovs ‘Lectures on literature’, his summary of the book is fantastic for showing you the main themes and devices to pay attention to. The ‘Joyce’ biography by Richard Ellmann helps also. It’s a book that absolutely has to be read at least twice to get any enjoyment or sense from.

[@muggedinmadrid]

Its important to have read at least some literary criticism of Ulysses before reading the novel. His Finnegans Wake makes Ulysses look like an Enid Blyton book. Joyce was god-like in his literary visions. He will never be matched.

[@Tvianne]

I never could stand VW writing, but here I cannot disagree with her.

[@nihil1]

Well, she was absolutely right about her prediction, for whatever Ulysses is, Finnegan's Wake is more.

[@davidbrown7883]

She hated the Irish. 😮

[@petermorhead4160]

If that were true she would not have read the book in the first place.

[@davidbrown7883]

@@petermorhead4160 There's examples of her racism in writing, she didn't hide it. She was of her age.

[@Guitarbarella]

@@petermorhead4160 she was racist against the Irish so prob read it to critique.

[@sjenner76]

She summarized very well my own feelings on Ulysses. It’s a work I want to like. But I can’t.

[@so-um7dm]

That's £230 today!

[@Robert_St-Preux]

I made it a hundred pages before I tossed it aside, furious with Joyce for having made it so deliberately unreadable.

[@nikinnorway]

She stops short of calling him an "upstart crow", but a bit of the same energy.

[@zenomex1289]

last book I’ve ever read was the hatched in middle school and I want this to be the first book I read after all their years… out of spite my question is what should I do

[@ravenhill4331]

I have to agree with Virginia!

[@jandocherty5834]

Ulysses is great, The Waves is great.

[@petermorhead4160]

I could not agree more.

[@theleanders2010]

I felt the same way reading it!

[@37BopCity]

Virginia Woolf was full of crap. If anyone wrote "tosh" it was her, she'd know all about it.

[@mamaahu]

And she spoke the truth!

[@sophitsa79]

This is what I thought of Cloudstreet (Winton)!

[@celbesus3654]

It's powerful that her narration about it seems less like a critique and more like a lament as if the poor writing is not just an unfortunate mistake but a tragedy.

[@rennytothe4727]

she basically said “you’re a lost cause” 😭💀

[@jenniestevens1166]

Dragging Joyce is my favorite pastime. Good to know I have something in common with Woolf.