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A review by zachlittrell
Ulysses by James Joyce
3.0
Ulysses is the best damn example of whatever the hell it is. I don't think I'll ever read, or there'll ever be, another book like Ulysses, lord help us all. Certainly I reckon it's absolutely a work of genius, but so is Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, but I'm not likely to read that either.
Sometimes it's exciting, sometimes smutty (a character fantasizes cleaning chamber pots through an awfully unconventional method), chockfull of references that I get maybe 25% of if I'm being real kind to myself, and unapologetic. It's admirable and unbridled chutzpah to dedicate the entire third chapter to Stephen Dedalus's stream of consciousness rambling, when the only things that ACTUALLY happen in the chapter is he watches a dog pee, he writes a little, and picks his nose.
And that's long before an unnamed narrator spends a chapter grumbling about how he sure doesn't like one of the main characters and throws a tin at him, and a later a woman meditates on how large her lover's thing is.
I have no interest in ever re-reading, or revisiting, this nightmarishly long snapshot of someone's brain. But I don't think I have much choice, since I'll probably think about it for a long time.
Sometimes it's exciting, sometimes smutty (a character fantasizes cleaning chamber pots through an awfully unconventional method), chockfull of references that I get maybe 25% of if I'm being real kind to myself, and unapologetic. It's admirable and unbridled chutzpah to dedicate the entire third chapter to Stephen Dedalus's stream of consciousness rambling, when the only things that ACTUALLY happen in the chapter is he watches a dog pee, he writes a little, and picks his nose.
And that's long before an unnamed narrator spends a chapter grumbling about how he sure doesn't like one of the main characters and throws a tin at him, and a later a woman meditates on how large her lover's thing is.
I have no interest in ever re-reading, or revisiting, this nightmarishly long snapshot of someone's brain. But I don't think I have much choice, since I'll probably think about it for a long time.