Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208704 in Books
• Published on: 1958-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

Perhaps the Most Challenging Novel Ever Written
Some people like to go for a stroll on the beach. Others like to climb Mount Everest. Reading Ulysses is much more like the latter than the former.

I have now read this book four times. I must really be a glutton for punishment.

Actually, the rereading is quite rewarding. When I first read the book in my youth, the only edition available was the one with all the printer's errors in it. Those errors made a difficult novel, much more so. So I found that my understanding and appreciation rose substantially when I could read the original version.

As I grew older, I realized that I had had more experiences, read more books, and thought more thoughts. That meant that I found new layers of meaning in Ulysses.

I plan to keep rereading this book on a regular basis for the rest of my life. I hope you find it this engrossing as well.

What initially attracted me to the book was Joyce's ability to capture the inner dialogue that we all have. We alternate between thinking like angels and the basest animals. Joyce not only unveiled and portrayed that quality, he also imbued it with an elegance of expression that certainly exceeds my wit. It is almost as though an intellectual, well-educated literary comedian is invited along to make witnessing the internal dialogue more interesting.

Of even greater significance is the reaction that many have to the novel. They simply do not want to plumb into someone else's mind, unless perhaps it is the mind of a saint. But who knows what a saint really thinks?

The title, of course, is a dead giveaway (that few will need) that there are a literary analogy and symbolism involved. Those implications are enough to keep several Ph.D.'s busy for a career.

Mr. Joyce was a most learned and observant man. What remarkable things must have gone on inside of his mind!

If you are interested in extending your own ability to understand what is going on around you, I recommend Ulysses as a way to fill in the backdrop of what is not said when you are with others.

If you are more than satisfied with surface reality, then by all means skip this book. You'll wonder what all the fuss is about.

Perhaps the only exception to the latter is someone who loves a musical turn of phrasing, something Joyce excels in.

Enjoy your journey!

If you are like me, you'll find that it makes sense to keep your copy on the night table. You never know when you'll be ready for another trip to 1904.

Joyce rued this collaboration.
According to Richard Ellman's Joyce biography Joyce felt that the book by Gilbert was an "advertisement for Ulysses," and he rued the collaboration. Perhaps this shows how clear the book renders Ulysses, but it also shows that Ulysses is better read without consulting second texts so that it echoes in the unconscious as oppossed to being deciphered and merely understood.

Joseph Campbell says the best reference for Ulysses
During my initial reading happened to bump into this book in the university library; subsequently learned that Joseph Campbell considered it THE best reference for ULYSSES. My readings of exegetical references for ULYSSES since confirms his opinion.

Gilbert apparently was a close friend of Joyce, and was a mouthpiece for him in explaining the many dimensions and symbolic layers of the text. A definite must-have reference for reading ULYSSES.

Personally, have enjoyed it very much. Would also recommend Hugh Kenner's later commentaries.