read Ulysses

Well….compared to Episode 9 at least, it was a piece of cake. I didn’t have to pick up as much “Irish Pop Music Of The 1900s” as I thought I might need to when I started; finding the lyrics to a handful of songs seems to have sufficed.

The narration is turning a little bit wacky. So it may turn out that the silly epitaphs/punning in Episode 9 have a long-run purpose after all…? Things are becoming disjointed and blended at the same time.

Reading Ulysses still feels like doing crossword puzzles. I’m mentally stimulated, but emotion is lacking. Aesthetically, he’s going for something that isn’t quite persuasive. I’m particularly bugged by the “overture” at the beginning; it serves absolutely no purpose, other than filling up a couple of pages and confounding the reader. Even having read the whole episode and understanding what it’s supposed to mean doesn’t make it any more than a cacophony of syllables. It’s “musical” only in the sense that, oh John Cage is musical. I’m sure that appeals to some, but definitely it doesn’t to me! (Actually, the better analogy is this nonsensical Strong Bad e-mail, which is composed of one single word from each of the previous 124 e-mails.)

Still, there is something nice about bronzelid, minagold, bloom crying into bluehued flowers. When it works, it really works.

This seems like it could be quite a challenge. I read some basic chapter synopsizes which I think will help me follow along a little better.

When I was 20 and taking a college English Lit class, the Professor called me into his office to pick my brain. I mentioned that I just finished James Joyce’s “Portrait of an Artist…” and my next novel was Ulysses. At the time I was more of a book nerd then now. My Professor laughed, asked my age, and told me that a novel like Ulysses is something a well read person does not touch until they are at least 30 years old. Well I’ll be 30 at the end of this year. Then I’ll pick up the novel.

Episode 10 was a much welcomed respite, being (relatively) conventional in style and content. The care with which Joyce has drawn Dublin is proved here. Instead of being stuck intimately in Steven or Bloom’s head, I feel whisked to a much wider view of the proceedings, and now have a better feel of the society in which the action takes place. It reminded me of that Simpson’s episode “22 Short Films about Springfield”. That was a good episode!

Started a few pages of #11. It looks….interesting…?

So utterly worth it! This book is fantastic. Who knew? Totally gets easier as you go, too. I recommend The Bloomsday Book by Blamires as a companion to get you started.

The background reading helped, though that still required an awful lot of research. I really hope for a few easy episodes after that. I like the ending the best: crooked smoke of burnt offerings, going up to the nostrils of the gods. Steven’s delicate, logically crooked attempt to argue a mystical theory, going up in smoke.

After some of these episodes, I feel energized. But not this one. It’s too much reference to obscure texts, not enough creativity.

—Or, if there is the spark of creativity in it I said delightingly blindingly, I failed to see it.

I love the classics, always have my head buried in a book, and even studied English literature at University – but I just can’t manage Ulysses. Let’s see how I go on this attempt…

I started once, it is not an easy read. Let’s see. When shall it be done? Before 2008 has ended.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read any Shakespeare. I’ve never really liked him, and always felt a little guilty about not seeing the worth many others find in the pages of his thick portfolio.

I was half hoping that my added maturity would give me insight into the magic of Shakespeare, but it didn’t at all. Hamlet was as melodramatic, long, and corpse-strewn as an opera. And yet I like opera. I like the way opera takes life and puts it into an alien world chock full of heartbreak and arias. Shakespeare tries to do the same, but with poetry. Shakespeare’s poetry, however, doesn’t give me the visceral thrill as does music. It requires hard, conscious thinking to puzzle out the lines. Undoubtedly some couplets are great gems, and he is rightfully quoted. But he is rightfully quoted in small doses, as all his gems are on the couplet scale. Seen as a whole, Hamlet wasn’t particulary coherent. What is Hamlet’s tragic flaw? Why is he mad sometimes and not, other than for the sake of plot? What great insight, retribution, catharsis arises from so many dramatic murders? It seems Shakespeare has chosen drama over meaning too many times, and the poetry isn’t strong enough to make up for it.

In terms of Ulysses, however, I’m really glad I reread it. There is a true similarity between Hamlet’s mad dialogue and the interior monologues of Ulysses—a certain casual connection between thoughts, a similar syntax even. And there is the whole father/son issue going on as well.

1. The Republic
2. Nicomachaen Ethics
3. “The Bible’s Greatest Stories” (surrogate for Bible)
4. Aquinas (Collected Writings)
5. Hamlet

Back to the program…

I am halfway to it. Unfortunately, I can’t figure much out :-(