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Stop calling Ulysses challenging
It turns people away from the book. Is it an entirely easy read? No. But it’s difficult shouldn’t be the main defining characteristic.
For so long all I’ve heard about this book is that it’s sooo hard and soooo difficult and you need a guide and it’s pretentious and blah blah. The myth of its rigor has now exceeded its own storytelling prowess which is an insult to its wit.
I’m loving my read of it but all the hubbub about it being difficult and challenging is…bizarre. It’s definitely referential and you might have to look a few things up - particularly Latin - as you read but so what? Yes, later chapters are bonkers but that’s not inherently difficult.
I am finding it utterly delightful. It’s an experience and I’m reading it without a guide. The length isn’t scary especially compared to War and Peace.
Honestly the storytelling is fascinating and a delightful introduction to modernist literature. Reading it I realize I’m already a modernist in my thinking. Anyone with basic chops in modern art classics and especially film should be primed to read Joyce.
For example you should be familiar with In Media Res if you’re a fan of The Godfather or other similar films. it’s really no different than The Godfather. You’re introduced to all these characters at the films introduction: Some go by titles like The Don/Vito, Sonny/Santino, Fredo/Frederico. You’re given larger context into what’s going on despite it happening mid-wedding and as it paints the scene. The only major difference here is that Joyce doesn’t use an outside character like Michael to explain context but the story unfolds by itself. It’s the same as classic New Hollywood storytelling where it gives context down the line but in written format. I now see where Coppola and others got that type of writing and it’s obvious they adapted the modernist literature to the screen. Joyce isn’t writing a classic traditional novel like Wuthering Heights or Count of Monte cristo where they explain all the inner dialogue and context and backstories and et al immediately. He’s painting a picture and letting you soak everything in.
I think a big problem is that many people prime themselves by reading Joyce first rather than wetting their beaks with other modernist works in other mediums particularly film. You might realize you’re actually already familiar with modernist storytelling and the book should click right then.
The book isn’t challenging. What makes it challenging are ideas we have in our head about what a novel should be like.
Great work Joyce. The book just screams I’m alive as Dublin scrawls itself across the pages.
Magnificent stuff.
#entertainment
source
It turns people away from the book. Is it an entirely easy read? No. But it’s difficult shouldn’t be the main defining characteristic.
For so long all I’ve heard about this book is that it’s sooo hard and soooo difficult and you need a guide and it’s pretentious and blah blah. The myth of its rigor has now exceeded its own storytelling prowess which is an insult to its wit.
I’m loving my read of it but all the hubbub about it being difficult and challenging is…bizarre. It’s definitely referential and you might have to look a few things up - particularly Latin - as you read but so what? Yes, later chapters are bonkers but that’s not inherently difficult.
I am finding it utterly delightful. It’s an experience and I’m reading it without a guide. The length isn’t scary especially compared to War and Peace.
Honestly the storytelling is fascinating and a delightful introduction to modernist literature. Reading it I realize I’m already a modernist in my thinking. Anyone with basic chops in modern art classics and especially film should be primed to read Joyce.
For example you should be familiar with In Media Res if you’re a fan of The Godfather or other similar films. it’s really no different than The Godfather. You’re introduced to all these characters at the films introduction: Some go by titles like The Don/Vito, Sonny/Santino, Fredo/Frederico. You’re given larger context into what’s going on despite it happening mid-wedding and as it paints the scene. The only major difference here is that Joyce doesn’t use an outside character like Michael to explain context but the story unfolds by itself. It’s the same as classic New Hollywood storytelling where it gives context down the line but in written format. I now see where Coppola and others got that type of writing and it’s obvious they adapted the modernist literature to the screen. Joyce isn’t writing a classic traditional novel like Wuthering Heights or Count of Monte cristo where they explain all the inner dialogue and context and backstories and et al immediately. He’s painting a picture and letting you soak everything in.
I think a big problem is that many people prime themselves by reading Joyce first rather than wetting their beaks with other modernist works in other mediums particularly film. You might realize you’re actually already familiar with modernist storytelling and the book should click right then.
The book isn’t challenging. What makes it challenging are ideas we have in our head about what a novel should be like.
Great work Joyce. The book just screams I’m alive as Dublin scrawls itself across the pages.
Magnificent stuff.
#entertainment
source
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