Title: Happy Bloomsday!!
Post by: Floyd-the-k on 17 June, 2004, 04:30:46 AM
Post by: Floyd-the-k on 17 June, 2004, 04:30:46 AM
It`s a little late, but it must still be Bloomsday in the UK. 16 June is the day James Joyce`s fantastic novel Ulysses was officially finished. I think it was the date on which he first had it off with Nora Barnacle. Bloom is the name of the novel`s hero.
Joyce`s difficulty is much overrated. Dubliners is a book of brilliant short stories. There are some very good poems called Pomes Pennyeach (one made into a song by Sid Barrett from Pink Floyd). Ulysses is much over rated as a difficult book. MOst of it can be read by anyone who can read a big book, the really difficult parts can be skipped.
Finnegan`s Wake is ridiculously difficult - like every cryptic crossword clue written in the last decade jammed together. It has some nice passages.
How to celebrate Bloomsday:
- drink Guiness
- eat offal
- have a marathon reading of Ulysses
- punctuate the 7000 word sentence at the end
happy Bloomsday!
Joyce`s difficulty is much overrated. Dubliners is a book of brilliant short stories. There are some very good poems called Pomes Pennyeach (one made into a song by Sid Barrett from Pink Floyd). Ulysses is much over rated as a difficult book. MOst of it can be read by anyone who can read a big book, the really difficult parts can be skipped.
Finnegan`s Wake is ridiculously difficult - like every cryptic crossword clue written in the last decade jammed together. It has some nice passages.
How to celebrate Bloomsday:
- drink Guiness
- eat offal
- have a marathon reading of Ulysses
- punctuate the 7000 word sentence at the end
happy Bloomsday!
Title: Re: Happy Bloomsday!!
Post by: Dudley on 17 June, 2004, 04:46:53 AM
Post by: Dudley on 17 June, 2004, 04:46:53 AM
Tis genuinely a good book. Just skip the Circe chapter if you're finding the rest of it difficult.
And it's one of those rare books that just keeps getting better and better the more you study it.
And it's one of those rare books that just keeps getting better and better the more you study it.
Title: Re: Happy Bloomsday!!
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 18 June, 2004, 12:19:46 AM
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 18 June, 2004, 12:19:46 AM
Aye. In Dublin, Bloomsday's official home, the sun was splitting the rocks and people were getting pissed in a gentlemanly way in the pubs mentioned in the book. And yeah,it really isn't that difficult (except for some bits that can be skimmed through). As Dublin's biggest Joyce-freak, senator David Norris's advice is best: 'If in doubt, read aloud'. A lot of it's like music made into words, see. And so is Finnegans Wake - it's not meant to be understood as a story, but it's meant to be heard. I recently bought a recording of Joyce himself reading an extract, and it's really good. Think Lewis Carroll's 'The Jabberwocky' but much longer and weirder.
Mind you, I needed to buy a book called 'Introducing Joyce' before I read his stuff. It's illustrated, too, I think by an ex- Deadline artist (or was it NME?) called Carl Flint.
Mind you, I needed to buy a book called 'Introducing Joyce' before I read his stuff. It's illustrated, too, I think by an ex- Deadline artist (or was it NME?) called Carl Flint.
Title: Re: Happy Bloomsday!!
Post by: Floyd-the-k on 18 June, 2004, 03:52:17 AM
Post by: Floyd-the-k on 18 June, 2004, 03:52:17 AM
Anthony Burgess wrote some really good books about reading Joyce. They are fun to read in their own right and make Joyce more accessible.
Floyd (who has been reading the Wake quietly for months now, dammit)
Floyd (who has been reading the Wake quietly for months now, dammit)