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Of that house A. Horne is lord. Seventy beds keeps he there teeming mothers are wont that they lie for to thole and bring forth bairns hale so God's angel to Mary quoth. Watchers they there walk, white sisters in ward sleepless. Smarts they still sickness soothing: in twelve moons thrice an hundred. Truest bedthanes they twain are, for Horne holding wariest ward.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Joyce is not for everybody. People like to be pretentious about Ulysses -- it's a difficult read.
I like the novel. I like the language of it and the play with interior monologue. But it's not one of my favorites.
The best place to start with James Joyce -- and for many readers the place to stop -- is his short story collection The Dubliners.
In particular, the story that ends the collection -- The Dead -- is one of my favorite short stories ever and one of the best pieces of literature ever written, imo.
If you really want to get into Ulysses, I suggest reading a commentary or reading guide along with it.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is somewhat of a prelude to Ulysses and a more approachable novel so some suggest starting with it, but it doesn't do much for me now that I'm no longer a brooding 17-year-old.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I agree that Dubliners is a good place to start reading James Joyce.
I have to admit that I enjoyed A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from the first time I read it, while I was in college, and have re-read it many times, and still love it. It was the first Joyce writing that I read.
I guess it's true that some people are pretentious about Joyce, but certainly not all. Some people are put off by the perceived pretentious, and never try Joyce at all. I happen to like the way he uses language, and many people I know share that enjoyment of his writing.
Ulysses, the book from which Bloomsday derives, is not as accessible as Joyce's earlier books. Most people find it easier to understand Ulysses with the help of one or more companion books, which explain many of Joyce's references, jokes, and allusions. The two that I have used are Ulysses, by Stuart Gilbert, and Ulysses Annotated by Gifford.
The entire book of Ulysses takes place on June 16, and Leopold Bloom is a main character of the book, hence the day has been designated "Bloomsday" by Joyce fans.
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000
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