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TODAY – 16 JUNE – MARKS the day in 1904 that Leopold Bloom crossed paths with Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Bloomsday is usually marked with events at home and abroad but, similar to lots of other events during the pandemic, celebrations to Joyce’s masterpiece will be online this year.
Over his lifetime and beyond, Joyce’s work was celebrated internationally from his short stories in Dubliners through to Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man into Ulysses and the experimental Finnegan’s Wake.
At some stage, many of us would have come into contact with some of Joyce’s work in a classroom or come across a cheap copy of Dubliners in a book shop.
So, on Bloomsday we’re asking you: Have you ever read any James Joyce?
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I’m pretty sure James Joyce is the literary equivalent of revolut, those you have read it look down on those who haven’t and those who haven’t don’t see what the fuss is about.
@Gerard Martin: well said. It made me smile
@Gerard Martin: Revolut’s pretty handy though and I’m not exactly loaded
@Gerard Martin: it’s actually the opposite. Those who have had read Joyce are looked down upon by those who haven’t. And those who have read him understand what the fuss is about.
@michael: and those who said they have read and finished it are liars.
@Breda Kelly: Ulysses.
@Breda Kelly: Nice passive-aggressive sweeping statement. I’ve read it and finished it. Not all in one go mind. Am I a liar?
@Breda Kelly: absolute nonsense. I have read three times over a long period and ad a Dub enjoyed it hugely.
@Breda Kelly: There was no category for “tried but didn’t finish”. Had that been available, it might have been the top answer. For many of us “yes” is the technically correct answer to the question posed but “no” is the more honest answer.
@michael: Well said. People should maybe approach Ulysses through an audiobook. It’s a lot of fun :)
@michael: You just endorsed the comment Gerard posted.
People should try ‘Dubliners’ first, Ulysses is a far bigger challenge.
@James Walsh: Yeah, this is definitely a good approach.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a good read and Dubliners is a nice collection of short stories. Neither have the infamous ‘Joyce an prose’, that stream of consciousness style that is so difficult.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist do have stream of consciousness but not to the extent of Ulysses (or the impossible Finnegan’s Wake). They’re both really accessible and enjoyable to read.
Where’s the option for “I tried but couldn’t manage it and gave up”
Worth reading Dubliners and specifically The Dead even if you’re not inclined to try out the other novels.
YES
@KilkennyProud: I said I will yes.
NO
have read the Dubliners, the dead and half of ulysees; gave up on ulysees as whilst could admire the descriptive detail, book is just not enjoyable; the dead is similar but shorter; Dubliners much better read.
would compare joyce to uncle colm from derry girls, a lot of rambling stories with no real narrative an little interst to majority listening
@Steve Clancy: the Dead is one of the short stores in Dubliners, is it not?
A better poll would be:
1. “Have you ever started to read Ulysses?”
2. “Did you finish it?”
@Ronan Quinlan: I use my copy as a doorstop, always a silver lining.
I have read and loved Ulysses. The language is beautiful and evocative. I find all of the hype and hot air about Joyce around this time of year intensely irritating. Joyce himself probably would have had great fun making fun of the whole Bloomsday lark.
Parts of Ulysses are easily read and enjoyable. I particularly like the scene in the pub at Glasnevin where the Citizen (said to be based on Michael Cusack, a founder of the GAA) swears at Leopold Bloom for saying that Jesus had been a Jew.
@Patrick Brompton: The pub in the Cyclops episode of Ulysses that includes that encomtrr between Bloom and the Citizen is Barney Kiernan’s in Little Britain Street, sadly no longer a pub.. An empty shell of a building.
No but I’d like to (but will never bother).
Read The Dead and you will understand the fuss. Only 60 pages long.
Yes I’ve read Dubliners, it’s quite accessible and not difficult to read, plus it’s short stories so you can read it in bite sized pieces, as it were.
I got as far as halfway through the first chapter of Ulysses. I was proud of that.
half way through Ulysses audio book , quite an experience . really enjoyable.
Dubliners is very enjoyable. I read it first as a teenager and he highlighted all the traits I hated in adults.
Portrait of the Artist is the best place to start ..
So many characters in Ulysses of the type still thriving today. Joyce even anticipated the safe-in-their-bubble know-alls of the commentariat here who end their comments with a “Jesus Wept.”
This from Chapter 3 of Ulysses: His pace slackened. Here. Am I going to aunt Sara’s or not? My consubstantial father’s voice. Did you see anything of your artist brother
Stephen lately? No? Sure he’s not down in Strasburg terrace with his aunt
Sally? Couldn’t he fly a bit higher than that, eh? And and and and tell us,
Stephen, how is uncle Si? O, weeping God, the things I married into! De
boys up in de hayloft. The drunken little costdrawer and his brother, the
cornet player. Highly respectable gondoliers! And skeweyed Walter sirring
his father, no less! Sir. Yes, sir. No, sir. Jesus wept: and no wonder, by
Christ!
My mam was delighted I was born on Bloomsday yet neither of us have read it as far as I know – I certainly haven’t anyway
Would it be as hard to read as Tolstoy’s War and Peace? incidentally, Tolstoys original title to War and Peace was ‘War, What Is It Good For? Thats how the song came about!
@Pauline Gallagher: Easier character names than Tolstoy’s, there’s that.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: ah ok. I was joking about the book title btw.
The Most Dangerous Book in the World about how difficult it was to get Ulysses published is very interesting
Trying to read Ulysses at the moment. Cannot get the hang of it at all. I’ve three chapters read and it just appears to me to be the insane ramblings of a semi-senile old idiot. Nothing makes sense in it, no story line. Will probably finish it just to be able to say that I have read it. How it is regarded as the greatest novel of the 20th century is beyond me. Nora Barnacle was right when she said to him “why don’t you write books that people can read”. This book to me is totally unreadable. I dread to think what Finnigans Wake is like.
@John Cassin: if you want a traditional storyline there’s literally millions of other books to choose from, I think it’s safe to say that Joyce was trying something different with Ulysses. He wasn’t senile or old when he wrote it, it’s all very carefully put together. I’d recommend listening to the RTE audiobook first, but if you really hate it just don’t read it. Simples.
@John Cassin: I read it in a group at a library with a coordinator who was familiar with the book (and probably an expert). Pretty sure I would never have read it on my own. If you have to go it alone maybe read online summaries of the chapters first. You could probably skip a few and come back to them another time.
It’s ‘Finnegans Wake’ NOT ‘Finnegan’s Wake’. It was surely that apostrophe that hastened the good man’s end.
Yes, but I preferred Beckett.
Yes I said yes I have yes.
Ulysses..complete drivel….give me Irvine Welsh anytime
I actually read 1000 pages of it and gave up. Lets be franks, it is impenetrable b*ll*cks. You can clearly see why Joyce is lauded, but it really is just a trudge. My version of it had a 250 page introduction. There is also a stint without full stops for God knows how many pages.
Posters here seem to be mixing “read Joyce” with read Ulysses”
I have read Dubliners and really enjoyed it, got through 100 pages of Ulysses, kinda liked it but have a life so wasn’t motivated to read the final 899 pages, might do one day though.
have your say