Will I ever finish Ulysses?
The flu is back, unfortunately, so now might be as good a day as any to restart it!
Today being Bloomsday, I thought I'd share one of my favourite passages from it - and weirdly enough it was also the passage that was featured in today's Writer's Almanac email!
I wish I were in Dublin today, as they celebrate Bloomsday with a range of activities such as Joyce readings and dramatisations, pub crawls retracing Bloom's route around Dublin and apparently even marathon readings of the novel, lasting up to 36 hours. Now if there was ever a way to get the novel read once and for all, that would be it for sure! A bit hardcore, but maybe an option for me next year.
Viva Bloomsday!
~~~
"O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the
glorious sunsets and the
figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets
and pink and blue
and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and
geraniums and
cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the
mountain yes when I put
the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a
red yes and how
he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well
him as another and
then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked
me would I yes to
say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him
yes and drew him
down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his
heart was going like
mad and yes I said yes I will Yes."
- from Ulysses by James Joyce
UPDATE: Dovegreyreader has set up Team Ulysses! Head over if you want to join in.
Oh, I've always wanted to read Ulysses but it just seems so herculean at times- which, of course, it is...:)
ReplyDeleteI loved that passage when I read it today and I think it just may be the little kick in the pants I need to start it!
Oh, I do hope you get over your flu soon, hon... how miserable!
*hugs*
Oh, and I've never read ulysses... part of me doesn't particularly want to.
ReplyDeleteMy contribution to Bloomsday today was a conversation with my boss, Gordon including this part:
ReplyDeleteMe: Which would empty a crowded room quicker - an audio book of Finnegans Wake or the complete Ring Cycle by Wagner?
Gordon: That's a pub question, David, like "which would win in a fight: a crocodile or a shark?".
Me: The crocodile, obviously.
Gordon: Don't be stupid, David.
That was me told... Though he was tempted to date an invoice "16/6/1904" and see if anyone in Finance noticed...
yes I said yes I will Yes. I love that passage as well-- although, Lord knows, I've never attempted to read Ulysses. I also wanted to thank you for the kind link to my blog. It was such a nice surprise! I do love those Eliot sisters.
ReplyDeleteI was in Dublin around this time two years ago, but we missed Bloomsday buy almost 5 days! It's supposed to be completely and totally worth the trip. I love James Joyce :)
ReplyDeletehi!! i left u an award on my page :)
ReplyDeleteOK, so I seem to be the only one who has no idea what Bloomsday is. I'm going to check it on google.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that fragment from Joyce is indeed beautiful. I never read Joyce out of a kind of rebellion against all the literary snobbery according to which only by reading Ulysses (along with 2 or 3 other "difficult" books) one could prove to be a real ...I don't know, literate, let's say. I would have felt embarrassed to be seen reading this book at that time. Why do we have such complicated relationships with books? Even ones that we haven't even read? It's weird.
Lori, I agree. I also never read that book simply because I was told that I can't really know/love literature if I haven't read Joyce. It seemed foolish and snobbish, so I stayed away out of principle (and I still consider myself well-read). I remember when the Modern Library published their list of the top novels of the 20th century http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html, and Ulysses was at the top, some critics snickered and wrote that they doubted whether many of the people who voted Ulysses in at No. 1 had ever even read it.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, what other "hard" books have you avoided reading due to snobbery?
This is so interesting guys - I know I bemoan the fact that I have never read Ulysses in it's entirety, but reading your comments has made me think...why do I bemoan it? Is it because I genuinely want to read it, or is it because I feel I have to if anyone is going to take me seriously, as you pointed out Eleventryst? I must admit that I can't concentrate on it for long before I get a bit..well..bored!! I've now been trying to read it for a good ten years and always lose interest at some point, although there are some beautiful passages in it.
ReplyDeleteYou both raise excellent points about the whole "literary snobbery" issue, where you're made to feel less intelligent/educated if you haven't read certain books. And I liked what you wrote, Lori, about our "complicated relationships with books" - is it because what we read is a reflection of us, in a way? It's such an interesting issue. I admire you both for your principles.
There are certainly popular books (Twilight, etc) that I have avoided due to snobbery, but I can't think of any "difficult" ones I've avoided on principle. I'm sure there's a few though! Maybe when these flu drugs have worn off...what other books have you guys avoided, popular, difficult, or otherwise?
Ulysses is actually in the top 5 books that people PRETEND to have read! Which again opens up the issue of people thinking that they have to have read certain books to be taken seriously or be perceived as educated/intelligent. Here's a post I did on that:
http://greeninkgirl.blogspot.com/2009/03/literary-lies.html
Keep these great discussions going, I love hearing what you all think :D
In a world of 30 second spots, Twitter, and attention deficit disorder, there is something to be said for *finishing* something that requires a certain level of sustained effort.
ReplyDeleteThis goes for writing a difficult novel as much as it does for reading one.
Of course, whether or not Ulysses deserves finishing is a whole nuther debate...
Thank you for your lovely comment on my page! I'm still getting used to this whole Blogging thing but I'll definitely keep track of you. I'll be back! x
ReplyDelete