What is your favorite Joyce's book? Don't tell me why, just name it, so I'll choose my first Joyce book! If I could make a poll...
What is your favorite Joyce's book? Don't tell me why, just name it, so I'll choose my first Joyce book! If I could make a poll...
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
I think you should start with Dubliners. The others are pretty hard. You might want to start with Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man and read the comments from when it was Book Club selection here at lit net.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
I agree that TPOTAYM would be the best place to start, as it isn't as confusing structurally compared to his other novels (from what I've seen - I haven't read them).
Why are you reading Joyce Bazarov?
“As Kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame . . .”
Why disqualify the rush? I'm tabled. I'm tabled.
I'm out of RussiansOriginally Posted by ShoutGrace
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
I'd start with Ulysses. I've been reading it, now, for over twenty years. I read a few pages at a time, and I am always better for it.
It'll be easy to see why many people consider it the greatest achievement in writtten English.
I agree with Virgil. If you want to read something for twenty years, work your way to "Finnegans Wake". But there are good reasons not to read "Finnegans Wake".
One day, Finnegan, I will read and UNDERSTAND you, ONE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But definatly, start with Portrait....
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
an example
from Ulysses:
here's an example- you'll find genius lkike this on nearly every page.
Hint: imagine you are walking along the beach.
"Listen: a fourworded wave speech: seesoo, hrss, rsseeiss, ooos."
I'm not familiar with Finnegans, I'll need to check it
thanks
re-v
Last edited by alennox21; 10-13-2006 at 10:36 PM.
So the Portrait will be...Thanks!
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
"Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" was the first Joyce novel I ever read. Years ago a good friend recommended it to me and I never took him up on the suggestion. Pity, but maybe the time was not right. I liked the book, but it is good to know something of the authors life first, in my opinion. Then I read "Dubliners" - the short stories. I love "The Dead". The ending lines are profound and paint a graphic image that is not easily forgotten. If you know anything biographic about Joyce and his wife, Nora, you will know that the story was taken from a real life account of a thwarted romance of Nora's before she met Joyce. The film by John Huston is wonderful. I highly recommend it...a recent purchase of mine. All the short stories are good. I especially like "Araby". That one goes right to my heart. I know someone who studied "Ulysses" and it was extremely difficult - sort of like solving a puzzle. It took a complete semester at college to do so. "Finnegans Wake" is suppose to be nearly impossible to understand. Starting with the easier novels and stories and working your way up would be the way to go. Remember, genius walks a fineline with maddness.
Good coincidence. I was just going to start a thread about the story Araby. I've just read it this morning and i think it was good, though i don't think it's one of the best stories i've ever read and it made me think Turkish author Sait Faik Abasiyanik is also a world class story writer.
Anyway, what did you understand from this short story? I think it's about poorness and helpless. The child goes to "Araby" and he wanted to buy a gift for the girl that he secretly loved. But as we see at the beginning of the story he's clearly poor. At the end of the story when he was at "Araby" he remembers he's poor (prices reminds him that) and when he wanted to buy a gift for girl, he loses his bravery (because of poverty) even though he wanted to buy the gift poverty blocks him.
I think this way. What's your comment?
Thank you for your suggestions, Poartrait was really nice novel!
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
If you need me urgent, send me a PM
Hello guys,
About two years ago I decided to read Joyce. I informed myself a bit and started with the beginning. I bought myself in this order: Dubliners, The Portrait, Ulysses. My native language being not English I thought I make myself a ‘favour’ and took the translated Ulysses.
I read in original language the short stories, the Portrait and there I stooped. You know, it’s a queer thing, when you hear about something being challenging you try to fortify yourself before you go to battle.
A few weeks ago I remembered that I still did not read Ulysses so I decided I am fortified enough to read the translated version. After reading the first 3 chapters I wanted to begin again from the very first page... namely reread Dubliners and Portrait. (I ordered in the meantime the English edition of Ulysses because Joyce is all about words and I noticed that reading a translation was just making everything darker instead of lighter.)
As the first time I read Dubliners I was fascinated by the power this new (for me at that time) writer had invested in his words. I liked the stories, the rhythm of the language, the slang, the tone, and irony. You know, great literature has power to captivate. They are easy to understand, I found, once you got over the barrier of language and tone.
Reading them again now, I discover their multiple facets. I search academic comments and notes about. And I find them not so facile anymore – The analogies, the metaphors, the symbols, and all the hidden meanings that words take. The entire fashion in which scholars underline Joyce’s new writing methods is totally overwhelming.
One hears always about Ulysses and Finnegans that they are puzzles, but even the most accessible, the short stories are puzzles. The difference is that the Dubliners can be read as it superficially appears, i.e. Araby, the story of a boy’s first infatuation with an elder girl, or, you can go in depth and find in it the despotic and destructive rule of the religious over the pure healthy sexual instincts of a boy stepping in puberty.
Now, one must invest time to grasp Joyce. And if we want to get the real Kick than we are bound to start with the first word.
In this world that we inhabit I lost my ability to wonder and I must see if Joyce can give it back to me. So I will go to the end for my survival rests on it.
What will you?
I'm afraid I don't see it that way at all. I think the story has more to do with the fact that this boy is hopelessly in love with a girl who could never consider him as anything more than her little brother's friend. Not only that, but he is as yet unaware of what love actually is, and has confused a wholesome, innocent infatuation with undying devotional love. The story has very little to do with money or poverty. It's not the fact that he can't find anything to buy for her with the money he has, it's that he comes to the realization of how futile it is to do so. It also has alot to do with the impatience of the young.
What do you think of this interpretation, Turk?
Bazarov: If you liked A Portrait, you could read Stephen Hero as an interesting comparison. I loved reading both of them. They are quite different takes on the same story. Stephen Hero is the surviving couple of hundred pages of an originally thousand page novel.
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
James Joyce, the pirate.Why don't you write books people can read? -Nora Barnacle
Insupportable claim: Reading my stories will make you a better person. Do your best to prove me right.http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=20367
Sorry, Sir, I didn't see you there for some reason. I appreciate your sentiments with regard to my favorite author.
Yes, I agree completely that the thing to do with Joyce is start from the beginning. I think that one of the major aspects of Ulysses that many people find difficult is that there is very little character development. Joyce relies greatly on his earlier works to provide a background for Ulysses, so reading the books sequentially is necessary.
In this world that we inhabit I lost my ability to wonder and I must see if Joyce can give it back to me. So I will go to the end for my survival rests on it.
Welcome to the forums, fellow devotee!
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
James Joyce, the pirate.
Insupportable claim: Reading my stories will make you a better person. Do your best to prove me right.
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