Joyce, James: Ulysses v.1.0, 2 Nov 2007

[sein]

James Joyce's masterpiece.

From Wikipedia:

"Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, in Paris. It is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature."

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[Patricia]

A great book. But shouldn't it be posted in the Sony lrf section?

[RWood]

Moved.

[Roy White]

James Joyce....

Completely inacessible! Or.. to use one of his own convoluted sentences using invented words that no one knows the meaning of but him.. (And its doubtful that even he knows...)

"It vibroverberates upon the tegmen and prosplodes from pomoeria."

Thats a direct quote from Finnegans wake and I'll give anyone a million dollars who can interpret that sentence!!!

[jmorton]

Originally Posted by Roy White

James Joyce....

Completely inacessible! Or.. to use one of his own convoluted sentences using invented words that no one knows the meaning of but him.. (And its doubtful that even he knows...)

"It vibroverberates upon the tegmen and prosplodes from pomoeria."

Thats a direct quote from Finnegans wake and I'll give anyone a million dollars who can interpret that sentence!!!

Not completely inaccessible, just difficult. The quote you chose is understandable in context. It's also sexual, so I won't get into it too deeply here, but here are the hard parts:

vibroverberates=quivering

tegmen=a superficial layer or covering usually of a plant or animal part (from MW, think Merkin)

prosplodes=typical Joycean portmanteau combining prolapse and explode (yeah, more sex)

pomoeria=this one is a little more abstruse. I'm guessing it's a variation on Pomerania--a land which no longer exists, meaning coming from someplace deep in the mythical and historical past (a lot of Finnegans Wake is concerned with myth and history) as well as deep within the mind and body.

Yeah, Joyce could have said all this in a much more straightforward way, but the book is working on many different levels (dreams, myth, history, the previous evening's events). Joyce was trying to find a way to convey pure thought (in Ulysses) and the dream state (in Finnegans Wake)with words. To what extent he succeeded depends on the reader.

The book posted here, is Ulysses, which is a walk in the park (sneaky FW reference intended), compared to Finnegans Wake.

Jim

[Roy White]

jmorton.
My post was tongue in cheek. It really was.

When i go to Art museums I'm completely flummoxed by modern art. That doesn't mean I think its trash, just that, I'm not getting it. Big deal I don't 'get' Alot of stuff.

I don't doubt that Joyce was a Genuis.

I don't doubt that I, am extremely average, and as such swing wildly at fastballs like Joyce that I can barely see let alone make a base hit as they go sailing along majestically over my head.

I'm still trying to understand 'twas brillig and the slithy coves do gyre and gimble in the wabe, all mimsy were the borogoves etc'

Oh. By the way. You win the million dollars. Be at the top of the Empire State building at midnight New Years Eve to collect your million.

Roy

[dhbailey]

James Joyce once said about Finnegan's Wake "It took me a lifetime to write it, it should take you a lifetime to read it."

Amazing amount of hubris, as if any of us should place Joyce's life above our own and spend our own life trying to understand his.

Quite a different sort of author by the time he was writing Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake from his earlier days when he was writing Dubliners.

[zerospinboson]

Not to offend participating writers here, but it has struck me that aspiring writers seem to think (summarizing the behavior of randomly met students at my university) that as long as they behave (or become, depending on how well they've internalized (affected) the perceived-required personality traits at that point) narcissistic(ally) enough, the talent will somehow follow
i don't know if that is because of the hero cult surrounding "artistry" that originated in Romanticism, or because writers need to "believe in the merits of their own thought(s)", but i can say the two seem to go hand in hand with quite a few of them.

[Greg Anos]

I'll take Winegan's Fake, thank you....