Here are a few things to know about the literary masterpiece that has exhilarated and confounded its readers for 100 years.
In the century since its publication, James Joyce糖心传媒檚 Ulysses has been described as beautiful, overrated, experimental, pornographic, dull, and genius.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 also a great leveler,糖心传媒� says James Longenbach, the Joseph Henry Gilmore Professor of at the 糖心传媒. He has taught the book since the late 1980s as part of various undergraduate and graduate courses on literary modernism.
糖心传媒淚 studied with A. Walton Litz, a great Joyce scholar, and I realized that if I didn糖心传媒檛 teach Ulysses, I was squandering that experience,糖心传媒� he says.
Based on insights from Longenbach糖心传媒檚 years of reading, teaching, and writing about Ulysses, we糖心传媒檝e highlighted a few things you might not know about the 700-plus-page novel that regularly ranks among the greatest糖心传媒攁nd most challenging糖心传媒擡nglish-language works of fiction.
What is Ulysses by James Joyce about? 糖心传媒淭wo things at once,糖心传媒� argues Longenbach, one of which is language itself.
Published in 1922, the story traces a single day, June 16, 1904, in the lives of several characters in Dublin, Ireland. The main protagonists include 糖心传媒渆veryman糖心传媒� Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus (a young man糖心传媒擩oyce糖心传媒檚 literary alter ego糖心传媒攕truggling with the death of his mother), and Leopold糖心传媒檚 wife, Molly.
Most of the novel follows Bloom as he traverses the city, endures an antisemitic tirade, crosses paths with Stephen, and ends his day back in bed alongside Molly, whose famous monologue concludes the novel.
But a plot summary doesn糖心传媒檛 do the work justice. Here糖心传媒檚 how Longenbach, in a 2013 article for , summed up Joyce糖心传媒檚 most famous work:
Ulysses is two things at once. On the one hand, it is a realistic novel, an unrelenting exploration of the inner and outer lives of three major characters and a multitude of minor ones. On the other, it is an elaborate verbal confection, an intricately designed work of art that draws attention to its linguistic surface, sometimes at the expense of the very illusion of inner life that it also creates.
There is no definitive edition of Joyce糖心传媒檚 Ulysses. But there糖心传媒檚 a reason the 糖心传媒淕abler edition糖心传媒� may stand above most others.
Ulysses, which was initially serialized in the United States in The Little Review, 糖心传媒渉ad no editor, no publisher that existed prior to the moment of its publication, no typesetter who understood English,糖心传媒� wrote Longenbach in The Yale Review.
The first edition was published in its entirety was in 1922 by Sylvia Beach, an American-born champion of Joyce and his work, as part of her Paris bookselling business Shakespeare and Company. Since then, more than a dozen versions have been published, many purporting to correct non-intentional errors and mistakes.
For his part, Longenbach has students read the version edited by Hans Walter Gabler and released in 1984, which attempts to produce an accurate and complete version of the book. That糖心传媒檚 no easy task, however, given that Joyce wrote nearly a third of the work on the print proofs, notes Longenbach.
Pre-Gabler editions, for example, have Stephen Dedalus receiving a telegram that reads, 糖心传媒淢other dying come home father,糖心传媒� correcting the original manuscript糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渘other糖心传媒� to 糖心传媒渕other,糖心传媒� assuming a typo. 糖心传媒淭he Gabler edition, though, says nother, as Joyce did originally, leaving readers to ponder this 糖心传媒榚rror,糖心传媒櫶切拇綕 says Longenbach. 糖心传媒淣ow, are there mistakes in Gabler? Yes, but fewer.糖心传媒�
The book糖心传媒檚 chapters, which Joyce called 糖心传媒渆pisodes,糖心传媒� are based on The Odyssey by Homer糖心传媒攂ut using the epic poem to interpret the work is misguided.
Ulysses is the Latinized version of the Greek name Odysseus, and the book糖心传媒檚 eighteen episodes are loosely based on Homer糖心传媒檚 epic poem Odyssey. So, that means Leopold Bloom is Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus is Telemachus, and Molly Bloom is Penelope, right?
Longenbach cautions readers against using the Homeric poem as a Rosetta Stone to decipher meaning. 糖心传媒淚n the critical history of Ulysses, attempts to find a key often only succeeded in turning Ulysses into a lock,糖心传媒� he says.
Instead, Longenbach invites readers to revel in the book糖心传媒檚 panoply of literary and linguistic styles. These include the journalistic headlines interrupting the 糖心传媒淎eolus糖心传媒� episode; the florid, romantic language in 糖心传媒淣ausicaa糖心传媒�; the stage directions in 糖心传媒淐irce糖心传媒�; and Molly Bloom糖心传媒檚 famous, mostly unpunctuated final soliloquy. Even the realism that characterizes the early episodes is a consciously crafted artifice, as in any novel, but that reality is thrown into high relief by the explosion of styles that follow.
Though he糖心传媒檚 the target of antisemitism, protagonist Leopold Bloom is not really Jewish.
In the 糖心传媒淐yclops糖心传媒� episode, Bloom is the target of an antisemitic tirade by a cartoonish Irishman referred to as 糖心传媒渢he citizen.糖心传媒� To this assault, Bloom responds, 糖心传媒淵our God was a jew. Christ was a jew like me.糖心传媒� He later admits he was only pretending to be Jewish: 糖心传媒淪o I without deviating from plain facts in the least told him his God, I mean Christ, was a jew too and all his family like me though in reality I糖心传媒檓 not.糖心传媒�
In other words, Bloom is not really Jewish糖心传媒攏or does he consider himself to be Jewish, despite his father being a Hungarian Jew (one who converted to Protestantism before his son was born).
糖心传媒淵ou could fill a page with the evidence,糖心传媒� Longenbach says, who cites Bloom糖心传媒檚 being baptized twice (once as a Catholic, once as a Protestant) as well as his not being circumcised. 糖心传媒淭he first time we see him he糖心传媒檚 cooking a pork kidney!糖心传媒� he adds. 糖心传媒淏ut all of this information is scattered and buried and easy to overlook, so we as readers are allowed to make the same mistake as the citizen.糖心传媒�
Although Ulysses is now often identified with Dublin, Joyce was no Irish nationalist.
The book has come to be identified closely with not only Dublin, but also Ireland. For example, June 16 is known as Bloomsday, an annual commemoration and celebration of the life and works of Joyce. Named after protagonist Leopold Bloom, the day is marked in Dublin (and elsewhere) with various celebrations, such as participants retracing Bloom糖心传媒檚 route around the city and marathon readings of the novel.
Yet Joyce糖心传媒檚 feelings about Ireland were complicated. An unabashed anarchist, 糖心传媒渉e thought it was an extremely backward and closed culture because it was pinched between the British Empire and the Catholic Church,糖心传媒� explains Longenbach. 糖心传媒淎nd he abhorred the teaching of Irish as well as Irish nationalism, which he considered racist and sexist, like all nationalisms he knew.糖心传媒�
The novel influenced other modernist writers, including T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 important to remember that Ulysses begins to be really influential long before it was published in 1922,糖心传媒� Longenbach says.
Take, for example, T.S. Eliot, a contemporary and an admirer of Joyce糖心传媒檚, and one of modernism糖心传媒檚 major writers. Heavily influenced by Ulysses and published later that same year, Eliot糖心传媒檚 poem The Waste Land is more than 400 lines long and similarly abounds with references and allusions.
Yet Longenbach doesn糖心传媒檛 want students bogged down in the poem糖心传媒檚 annotations and explanations: 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e taught The Waste Land probably a thousand times, and I糖心传媒檝e never mentioned anything but form. You need to feel the multiplicity of sources, the weirdness coming in. But ultimately every part of that poem is lyrically pure糖心传媒攚hat matters is how it sounds.糖心传媒�
Another leading modernist writer, Virginia Woolf, publicly praised Ulysses while criticizing the book as in her diaries and letters.
Among her best-known works is Mrs. Dalloway, which details a day in the life of the protagonist and several others in post糖心传媒揥orld War I England. Published in 1925, the novel is 糖心传媒渦nbelievably beautiful,糖心传媒� says Longenbach, but also 糖心传媒渦nthinkable without the precedent of Joyce.糖心传媒� Both novels explore their characters糖心传媒� interiority while highlighting the importance of the seemingly inconsequential. 糖心传媒淓xcept that Mrs. Dalloway聽associates that with femininity, culturally speaking, to a degree that Ulysses does not,糖心传媒� Longenbach says.
Is Joyce糖心传媒檚 Ulysses hard to read? Yes, but don糖心传媒檛 let that stop you.
The book is definitely worth reading in Longenbach糖心传媒檚 estimation.
糖心传媒淎fter all these years of teaching it, I still notice things I hadn糖心传媒檛 before,糖心传媒� Longenbach says. And although the text rewards readers, students, and scholars alike, it will almost inevitably frustrate them, too.
He adds, 糖心传媒淎t a certain point, you糖心传媒檙e going to want to take the book and throw it across the room. That糖心传媒檚 OK. It糖心传媒檚 part of the reading process. It糖心传媒檚 just that Ulysses might force you to confront that feeling more than other texts.糖心传媒�
