By "serious" do you mean sincere? If so, how do you know Joyce was being sincere when talking about his novel?Originally Posted by Mr.lucifer
By "serious" do you mean sincere? If so, how do you know Joyce was being sincere when talking about his novel?
Ulysses is an ideal, a dream, a fantasy of a writer, and yet nobody, except for those out of conceitedness claim they have understood fully and delighted the reading. People can comprehend the book if one reads analytically and gradually. Any great book, classics, epics, theologies, even the most intricate mathematic and scientific systems or methods can be intelligible if we read through them with patience. There is no such thing we cannot fully grasp through a careful study and paused revision in point of fact. If any book is unintelligible even after reading it several times that book must be drivel. I do not mean Ulysses is drivel. all the same, there are a few writers, professors who out of arrogance claim this book is perfectly readable and enjoyable.
James once said he had put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant".
This is self explanatory and the purpose of the reader is to nonplus his readers and there is a convention of keeping readers mystified and that think would establish them as successful writers and James Joyce out f that frame of mind might have intricately written the book. The more the book is difficult the better he is in society. I have of late made an endeavor to read Of Grammatology by Derrida and in a while I got exhausted and I thought if I simply run after such multifariously complex texts I will simply bamboozle myself. I do not know why the evaluators put him on the top list among modern authors. He is experimental, did something hitherto untried, so was I told. Was he successful in his experimental works to entertain and instruct simultaneously? Many times the same thing articulated. He is rich in words, and style? So what? His pedantry is not useful and he cannot entertain most and can not teach the majority of readers except those university professors or a few self claimed readers or writers. While I always choose to read great classics in life I do not want to waste my time trying to read something unreadable in substance
“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””
“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
Is the Bible enjoyable? Is it brilliant? I'm not saying that Ulysses is the Bible, but answer those two questions.
Never can Ulysses cultivate the values and reverences the Bible can. The Bible is indeed full of beautiful stories and though there is aesthetic excellence it intelligible to us. The Bible is a better piece of literature than a book of Verbosity like Ulysses and it sets a good example that the tougher the text the better it is in philosophy and literature. It is the sheer conceitedness of James Joyce and the rest of his followers who are obsessed with intricate styles call that literary, masterpiece and the like. If you take a poll, the majority of readers find the book cumbersome or unreadable. Some professors vaingloriously prescribe the book in the syllabus. I cannot understand what does Ulysses teach and entertain its readers. There are so many choices and why should I pick up a book that simply fatigues me and in the end of the day leaving me as a proud reader among my circle where I can as a braggart claim I have read the most difficult book in the world of literature.
As he James Joyce has said he had got the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant he had something to present with the motive of shocking his reader with his conceited highbrow literary disposition
“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””
“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
So...is the Bible enjoyable?
Is it brilliant?
I'll go ahead and toss out: is it difficult?
Lady Gaga is loved by a majority of listeners (as opposed to say: Tom Waits). She also entertains. Would you consider her brilliant? Talented? Any of her works a masterpiece?
Ulysses entertains in its brilliant rendering of the sights, sounds, and smells of early 20th century Dublin. Its characterizations are pointed and complex. Its representations of the consciousnesses of its leading characters is compelling and innovative. Not to mention the pleasure gained from the ironic juxtaposition between the plot of its Dublin citizens with the plights of the Greek heroes.
That's an unfair comparison. There are many authors who are considered great *and* straightforward reads - certainly compared to the Bible and Ulysses!
For instance, in lists of great books compiled by serious critics, Shakespeare, Dickens,Tolstoy, Cervantes, and several other authors, often appear ahead of the Bible and Ulysses. So how do you choose which to read?
Why not try reading head to head? Take two great classics, read the first few pages of each, then keep on reading the book you *really* like. After finishing the book you like, try a new head to head between the rejected book and another book.
Prediction - Ulysses will still be head to head after a hundred appluication of this method - or in the charity shop.
This plan may not work if you put Ulysses and the Bible head to head or are unlucky enough to find a bad list with equally unreadable books (Kant, Heidegger, ...) So apply some common sense when necessary...
Well my point was: a lot of things that are popular may not be great. Is greatness determined by accessibility? Now there's a good argument for you. Staying on the music theme, we could talk about the Beatles and their work.
Hmm...I really don't know the answer. Again, this argument is so subjective. However, I would suggest that you actually finish Ulysses before you dismiss it.
You're still going to get a subjective result. We've almost talked ourselves into a corner. But I can't tell you how many times I've read two, or three, books at a time and invariably one is just utter crap IMO. I still try and get through it. See, to me, I found The Things They Carried more difficult than Ulysses because I just didn't like it. I struggled with one or two pages at a time.
I guess my point is, you can find value in something you may not personally care for. I seriously doubt I'll ever read the entire Bible (sorry, Ma). But I certainly understand its importance. I've read Kant, I've also read stuff about quantum physics--doesnt' mean I "enjoyed" them.
There's another topic: do we read for entertainment, or for knowledge? Both?
OK, I think I've exhausted this topic.
Hope I didn't come off as a snobby pr1ck.
What does redaction mean in that context?
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