wonderfully described and i hope to "navigate" it again one day thanks....i had forgotten so much since a young irishman taught it us the one full year of college but it was a year where the town of the college took on the feel of Dublin, its streets and bars and talk all suffused with the mood joyce brought....later much later i read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on the advice of an older man, a lapsed Catholic who actually quit the priesthood early on as i wanted to know what the religion was all about the parts about scaring people with idea of hell the descriptions used by priests were over the top...many say itmis the best book of that century for its uniquely framed description of a young boy's growing awareness, a coming of age but never bluntly forced....caressed That it is a story the other Ulysses is a great reminder and now i will listen to Toibin why not? ha
I've always looked with some intimidation at Ulysses in my "never read" pile. Should, but don't. You've changed that with your essay. I can look forward to enjoying a great read as I could not before. Thank you.
Late to this part, but want to say that I love how Substack allows for this kind of literary criticism. Like Carol, I feel more receptive to this book than I have been in the past because of your essay. This is perhaps moot now, but I think there was an interesting confluence between modernism and the rise of the public university that enabled writers like Joyce to produce "difficult" texts. This has been making the rounds, so I'm not the first to say it, but Cormac McCarthy would likely hit a brick wall if he were trying to catch an agent's eye today. I think even something like Silko's Ceremony or Almanac of the Dead would not appeal to the consolidated publishing market today. So, as much as I appreciate the value of wrestling with these literary classics, I'm also troubled by the fact that few of us can write like this today with any hope of being read. That's why I prefer Cather's approach to modernism (not that it's a competition :) -- I feel I can still grow as a writer and be received by readers today by emulating her aesthetic sensibility, which tends toward the accessible and the spare. As Cather said, the higher levels of art are all about simplification.
Thank you, Josh--and you're not at all late. Following is the link to exactly your point about Cormac McCarthy and the fact that today his success would be virtually impossible. For one thing his first novel was found in a slush pile at a major house, now part of the conglomerate: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/opinion/cormac-mccarthy-publishing.html?searchResultPosition=1 "Cormac McCarthy: It Could Never Happen Now". And all this is another reason why Substack is the place to be, as @Castalia, our @Sam Kahn so eloquently explained in his "Thank You" "Anniversary" post here: https://castaliajournal.substack.com/p/anniversary xo ~Mary
Josh makes a sharp point about the "confluence between modernism and the rise of the public university." In relation to that and those observations about Cormac McCarthy's chances today, though, it's worth pointing out that Ulysses only got published, first, because it was serialized by the Little Review, an avant-garde journal with the motto “making no compromise with the public taste” and, then, as a book, not by any established publishing imprint but rather Shakespeare and Co., a bookstore. in a run of a thousand copies. With the ban against the book, it didn't receive a major U.S. edition for another 13 years, in 1935. The novel was not greeted at the prevailing cultural gates.
What a beautiful description and discussion - I haven't read Ulysses since college (yes one of the huge annotated editions) and would love to pick it up again, thank you for the inspiration. :) :)
Lovely! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment. I am so glad to have found you, your terrific Substack— and so looking forward to your post in this site soon, J. ~ big xo Mary
Oh, Mary! Thank you for this gift of a post. Your love for the book shines and inspires me. Maybe I'll dip my toe in now (with one eye squinted). Maybe I'll go back for more. That's far more than Ulysses would have gotten out of me otherwise, and that's because of you. :-)
A splendid summary, Mary! Useful for my anticipated reading. I'd probably read it as you recommend, by relishing the story first. In the Joyce bio I partly reviewed on Bloomsday, I felt that as great as Joyce's utilization of writing styles from many eras was, it's either 1) an extra dimension to relish during a second reading, most probably with the annotation book you mentioned; or 2) something for the handful of English literature professors emeritus to enjoy. Great for them, but not for most other people. Those dimensions of the book can be appreciated during any read of a book, first second third and so on. But that impressionable first time makes a huge difference.
There was so much I considered as commentary while I was reading this, Mary -- until I got to the Berger, with which I was unfamiliar. Oh, my goodness, is it deep and moving (and how he reads it, with that voice), a period larger than a word on all you were saying. How can anyone who hasn't read Ulysses, or read it as you advise, not do it now?
I adore John Berger. Used his "Art of Seeing" series when teaching Humanities. This, however, I had never seen. So good. So rich. Perhaps my favorite line, about his understanding of the lives of adults (after reading Ulysses) is that they were filled with awful stuff and "flecks of the divine"
I've loved the _Art of Seeing_ and began my love of Berger with _A Fortunate Man_ and adore his _Bento's Sketch Book_. The latter, both unusual and inspiring, as was Berger himself in this brief clip. Thank you, Jan,
wonderfully described and i hope to "navigate" it again one day thanks....i had forgotten so much since a young irishman taught it us the one full year of college but it was a year where the town of the college took on the feel of Dublin, its streets and bars and talk all suffused with the mood joyce brought....later much later i read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on the advice of an older man, a lapsed Catholic who actually quit the priesthood early on as i wanted to know what the religion was all about the parts about scaring people with idea of hell the descriptions used by priests were over the top...many say itmis the best book of that century for its uniquely framed description of a young boy's growing awareness, a coming of age but never bluntly forced....caressed That it is a story the other Ulysses is a great reminder and now i will listen to Toibin why not? ha
Yes, Tóibín is grand here and so are his novels and his new book of essays. Subscribe here and you'll find a brand new essay I've written for June 4.
was tempted to say its all Gaelic to me but long ago i got the Irish Writer bug and a worse case of the music (Mary Black, Planxty,Thin Lizzy etc.)😊🤪
k
I've always looked with some intimidation at Ulysses in my "never read" pile. Should, but don't. You've changed that with your essay. I can look forward to enjoying a great read as I could not before. Thank you.
So kind that you took the time to comment. I hope you post here when you do dive in.
Late to this part, but want to say that I love how Substack allows for this kind of literary criticism. Like Carol, I feel more receptive to this book than I have been in the past because of your essay. This is perhaps moot now, but I think there was an interesting confluence between modernism and the rise of the public university that enabled writers like Joyce to produce "difficult" texts. This has been making the rounds, so I'm not the first to say it, but Cormac McCarthy would likely hit a brick wall if he were trying to catch an agent's eye today. I think even something like Silko's Ceremony or Almanac of the Dead would not appeal to the consolidated publishing market today. So, as much as I appreciate the value of wrestling with these literary classics, I'm also troubled by the fact that few of us can write like this today with any hope of being read. That's why I prefer Cather's approach to modernism (not that it's a competition :) -- I feel I can still grow as a writer and be received by readers today by emulating her aesthetic sensibility, which tends toward the accessible and the spare. As Cather said, the higher levels of art are all about simplification.
Thank you, Josh--and you're not at all late. Following is the link to exactly your point about Cormac McCarthy and the fact that today his success would be virtually impossible. For one thing his first novel was found in a slush pile at a major house, now part of the conglomerate: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/opinion/cormac-mccarthy-publishing.html?searchResultPosition=1 "Cormac McCarthy: It Could Never Happen Now". And all this is another reason why Substack is the place to be, as @Castalia, our @Sam Kahn so eloquently explained in his "Thank You" "Anniversary" post here: https://castaliajournal.substack.com/p/anniversary xo ~Mary
Josh makes a sharp point about the "confluence between modernism and the rise of the public university." In relation to that and those observations about Cormac McCarthy's chances today, though, it's worth pointing out that Ulysses only got published, first, because it was serialized by the Little Review, an avant-garde journal with the motto “making no compromise with the public taste” and, then, as a book, not by any established publishing imprint but rather Shakespeare and Co., a bookstore. in a run of a thousand copies. With the ban against the book, it didn't receive a major U.S. edition for another 13 years, in 1935. The novel was not greeted at the prevailing cultural gates.
What a beautiful description and discussion - I haven't read Ulysses since college (yes one of the huge annotated editions) and would love to pick it up again, thank you for the inspiration. :) :)
Lovely! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment. I am so glad to have found you, your terrific Substack— and so looking forward to your post in this site soon, J. ~ big xo Mary
Oh, Mary! Thank you for this gift of a post. Your love for the book shines and inspires me. Maybe I'll dip my toe in now (with one eye squinted). Maybe I'll go back for more. That's far more than Ulysses would have gotten out of me otherwise, and that's because of you. :-)
Talk about making my day! xo
A splendid summary, Mary! Useful for my anticipated reading. I'd probably read it as you recommend, by relishing the story first. In the Joyce bio I partly reviewed on Bloomsday, I felt that as great as Joyce's utilization of writing styles from many eras was, it's either 1) an extra dimension to relish during a second reading, most probably with the annotation book you mentioned; or 2) something for the handful of English literature professors emeritus to enjoy. Great for them, but not for most other people. Those dimensions of the book can be appreciated during any read of a book, first second third and so on. But that impressionable first time makes a huge difference.
Just sail into it! I can't stop going back to it ... xo
There was so much I considered as commentary while I was reading this, Mary -- until I got to the Berger, with which I was unfamiliar. Oh, my goodness, is it deep and moving (and how he reads it, with that voice), a period larger than a word on all you were saying. How can anyone who hasn't read Ulysses, or read it as you advise, not do it now?
I adore John Berger. Used his "Art of Seeing" series when teaching Humanities. This, however, I had never seen. So good. So rich. Perhaps my favorite line, about his understanding of the lives of adults (after reading Ulysses) is that they were filled with awful stuff and "flecks of the divine"
ahh.... yes.
I've loved the _Art of Seeing_ and began my love of Berger with _A Fortunate Man_ and adore his _Bento's Sketch Book_. The latter, both unusual and inspiring, as was Berger himself in this brief clip. Thank you, Jan,
You're a treasure! xo