Ulysses by James Joyce

Ulysses by James Joyce
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Joyce’s so-called novel is a complete rambling of life in early twentieth-century Dublin which follows the life of Leopold Bloom as he tries to survive in the world of journalism, though the people he interacts with all seem to be Irish Unionists intent on ridding the world on anything that is not Irish. It is on an parallel with Homer’s Odysseus. The only bit I really understood was Bloom’s dream of his ascension to sainthood, which is a very self-centred version of a future utopia; and that was due Joyce’s decision to switch from a narrative to a play script! The last narrative is clearly a rant of pure conscious and is of no narrative value whatsoever, and I can only conclude what is said occurs during intercourse such as it is with its climax ending. How it got so acclaimed is a complete mystery to me. Perhaps I wasn’t drinking Guinness when I was reading it?

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