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<br><br>July 24, 2003<br><br><br><br>I agree with those who said the novel is very boring and difficult to understand. I think people who write that way are not much interested in "communicating" (except in a very elusive way). <br><br>Should people knock themselves out hanging on every word and reading <br>ten meanings into even the most trivial and boring detail? People like that are know-it-all's and have an enormous ego. Just because that's so <br>doesn't mean their writing style should be worshipped.

<br><br>July 24, 2003<br><br><br><br>I agree with those who said the novel is very boring and difficult to understand. I think people who write that way are not much interested in "communicating" (except in a very elusive way). <br><br>Should people knock themselves out hanging on every word and reading <br>ten meanings into even the most trivial and boring detail? People like that are know-it-all's and have an enormous ego. Just because that's so <br>doesn't mean their writing style should be worshipped.

This novel is really complicated ,boring and difficult to understand.I think it is for those who like the language of liliture.Although I'm doing my degree it's really difficult to understand you have to read it twice.

At first, books are to be read at least twice. The first time you simply read the story unless you´re a specialist and even so it would be difficult. Great writers don´t write just for your entertainment. Maybe the book Joyce seems so difficult not because he doesn´t want to communicate but because people are getting more and more lazy. Reading is also a way to improve our understading and communicability. Youngersters have had no patience to improve themselves. I pity them but you can still do something in what concerns you.

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Originally Posted by driowlet

At first, books are to be read at least twice. The first time you simply read the story unless you´re a specialist and even so it would be difficult. Great writers don´t write just for your entertainment. Maybe the book Joyce seems so difficult not because he doesn´t want to communicate but because people are getting more and more lazy. Reading is also a way to improve our understading and communicability. Youngersters have had no patience to improve themselves. I pity them but you can still do something in what concerns you.

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I totally agree with you driowle. Joyce writings are not for fun but go deaper in human's soul and thoughts. This novel was not written to show Joyce's ego's superiority but to discuss some aspect of human life. That eternal fight between the man and himself. I'v read the novel just once and I'm now repeating it. So I wont go into details about the novel becose I don't yet understand some aspects of it and the meaning included between lines. But in general, the novel is a great work and a master piece. It's not for me or you as biginners to judge its quality. But it was judged so. If you find it boring, the error is your's not Joyce's.

You know, I don't think Joyce's intent in this book (or any of his works) was ever to "communicate". He's not telling you anything, and he's certainly not telling you how to interpret his works. He's showing instead, and leaving the reader to make what they will of it.

reading twice means double pleasure, right??!!

pcockey, I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding your post - do you mean that it's a good thing that Joyce is showing the reader and leaving it up to them, or a bad thing? Personally, I think it is wonderful, because half the joy in reading is thinking about what I've read and why I've come to the conclusions that I have. But, regardless of whether you are pro/anti "showing," I do have to disagree with you on your other point. I don't think "communication" is always a direct line from A to B in which the author tells the reader exactly what to think or how to feel. Just because Joyce intends the reader to supply her/his own thoughts doesn't mean that he wasn't communicating something.
And, of course, to Mary and everyone who followed that disliked Portrait, that's understandable. Joyce is not for everyone - he's a bit heavy, and stream of consciousness can be difficult to follow. Heck, I loved Portrait, but I wouldn't touch Ulysses with a ten foot pole. Regardless of that, though, I'd like to suggest that everyone who wants to discuss how awful the novel is sticks to one thread rather than everyone post a separate thread about how much s/he hates the book. (There are about six separate listings, most with no replies.) It would be a lot easier for everyone to navigate...