Product Description

Ulysses has been the subject of controversy since copies of the first English edition were burned by the New York Post Office authorities. Today critical interest centres on the authority of the text, and this edition, complete with an invaluable Introduction, notes, and appendices, republishes for the first time, without interference, the original 1922 text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99915 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-07
• Binding: Paperback
• 1056 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ulysses has been labelled dirty, blasphemous and unreadable. In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book--although he found it not quite obscene enough to disallow its importation into the United States--and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession". None of these descriptions, 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 its own 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 astonishing 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 could 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 inforgettable Dubliners. We watch them teach, eat, loiter, 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 accordion-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 naïve 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

Synopsis
Ulysses has been the subject of controversy since copies of the first English edition were burned by the New York Post Office authorities. Today critical interest centres on the authority of the text, and this edition, complete with an invaluable Introduction, notes, and appendices, republishes for the first time, without interference, the original 1922 text.

From the Publisher
Redesigned edition of classic from leading Joyce expert
Ulysses is unquestionably one of the most celebrated novels in the English language, and the text most expressive of the psyche of modern man and woman. It tells the sadly comic story of Leopold Bloom, a good man led by love, who on an otherwise ordinary day is forced to contemplate the void of uncertainty in which we all stand. Danis Rose, one of the world's leading experts on James Joyce, has produced a timely reappraisal of the history of Joyce's writing - a Ulysses for our time. "A fine and loyal act of restoration" Robert McCrum, Observer; "This edition may be the handy, usable Ulysses that we have been waiting for" Fritz Senn, Director, Zurich James Joyce Foundation

Customer Reviews

Two men wander around Dublin
Interesting tale. Very offbeat. Set on 16th June 1904 in Dublin. Leopold Bloom deals with adverts in the local newspaper, but he is plagued by several things: He is aware that his wife (Molly Bloom) is having an affair with local "Casanova" Blazes Boylan, and they are due to meet at 4pm. He is in mourning over the recent death of his friend Paddy Dignam, and his son Rudy ten years earlier (Rudy was just a baby when he died), and also, his father Virag, who committed suicide some years ago. Mr Bloom broods over these matters as he wanders the streets. He does not want to return home, because that would remind him of his wife's adultery. He is very compassionate, kind, and opposed to violence, helping everyone he comes across, including a blind man whom he helps to cross the road, Mrs Dignam to whom he gives money. (Paddy Dignam used the life assurance to pay off a debt). Mr Bloom also visits Mina Purefoy in hospital, where she has been in labour for 3 days. Mr Bloom helps Stephen Dedalus, an aspiring writer who has lots of bizarre philosophical ideas, and often says enigmatic things, which are often not understood by the other characters! Stephen drunkenly proceeds to the red-light district and Bloom follows, to try and protect him. Stephen is also in mourning over the death of his mother, for which he feels at least partly responsible. Having rejected Christianity, Stephen refused to kneel down and pray, and he harbours a sense of regret. Stephen unwittingly gets into a fight with an English soldier (a metaphor, perhaps, for England's oppression of Ireland during the British Empire), and Bloom helps Stephen to recover. By this time, Stephen's so-called "friends" have abandoned him, and he has nowhere to sleep. Stephen and Bloom talk of many things, and the Ithaca episode is a Q&A written in an exaggerated parody of the scientific style. (Much of the humour derives from wordplay and exaggeration.) Finally, Molly has the last word, and she is a true optimist who finds pleasure in so many things, such as flowers and music. Ultimately, she realises that, in spite of his shortcomings, she still loves Bloom. Her final affirmation is a kind of saying "yes" to life itself.

There are many themes, including: ancient Greece, the father/son relationship, the human body, love, death, betrayal, language. One of the recurring themes is Home Rule. In 1904, Ireland was still part of the British Empire, and most Irish people wanted independence. In the late C19th, they had hoped that Charles Stewart Parnell would lead them to Home Rule, but he was discredited after his affair with Kitty O'Shea was made public.

Stephen's theory on Hamlet: Hamlet's father (the ghost) is Shakespeare. Hamlet is Shakespeare's son Hamnet (sic). Gertrude is Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare suspected his wife was unfaithful, and sought to recreate the son who had died as a baby using the fictional character of Hamlet. (Parallel between Shakespeare and Bloom. But remember that this is pure speculation, and Stephen himself is not entirely convinced by it.)

This book is worth reading with the aid of a study guide, a large dictionary (but beware: Joyce sometimes invents his own words!), and something like the Internet to look up the more important points. NB: "Ineluctable" just means "unavoidable". I was confused by Stephen's "ashplant". I thought he was carrying around a potted plant all day! Eventually, I found out an ashplant is a kind of walking stick made of ash!

Great book
Surprisingly witty, impressively erudite, justifiably famous and incredibly rich: use a good edition with notes (like the Oxford) and you'll find this one well worth it. Up there with the best novels.

Beyond Me
I've tried it and it wasn't for me. Reached the 200 page mark last night and felt weighed down by the 500 still to go. I haven't understood what I've read it isn't actually a pleasure. I'm very pleased I've tried, I'm disappointed in myself for not completing it but what would I achieve by reading something I'm not enjoying?

I'm not sure what Joyce was aiming for with the audience for this book but it isn't your average reader and I'm sure it wouldn't be the average reader of the times. Extremely challenging to follow and I think listening to this read on audio may make a big difference.