Synopsis of ULYSSES
Leopold Bloom: Blazes Boylan. He. My wife he. This very afternoon, he. My house, he. She. As I cruise around town. Must remember that soap. Kidneys taste of urine. Not a damn thing can I do about it. Yet her, my love still. You know.
Stephen Dedalus: My father is the meanest old man who ever lived, the meanest old man and oh my beloved mother died so tragic and oh curse the Church. Oh, hello, Leopold, how's it going and aren't I the most precious young man you ever did meet while strolling the streets of Dublin.
Molly Bloom: Yes, yes, oh yes.
(Note, I'm only on page 387 out of 783, so the above is adapted from a discussion in Jane Smiley's 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A NOVEL and wearing your eyeballs out if said novel happens to be ULYSSES)
Stephen Dedalus: My father is the meanest old man who ever lived, the meanest old man and oh my beloved mother died so tragic and oh curse the Church. Oh, hello, Leopold, how's it going and aren't I the most precious young man you ever did meet while strolling the streets of Dublin.
Molly Bloom: Yes, yes, oh yes.
(Note, I'm only on page 387 out of 783, so the above is adapted from a discussion in Jane Smiley's 13 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A NOVEL and wearing your eyeballs out if said novel happens to be ULYSSES)
posted by Richard Lewis at 3:24 PM
10 Comments:
Oh dear. Maybe you better make it longer. And put all the nouns and verbs the right way around.
Molly seems nice.
Heh! M.G., I think he did just fine!
The things I remember about Ulysses:
1) that kidneys taste like urine
2) that more professors should channel Sally Kellerman's reading of Molly's "Yes" scene in Back to School.
That tears it.
I'm gonna read this damn thing too.
And what sort of doofus eats kidneys while they're still full?
.
.
.
Wait... that's not right...
You're going to read it, too? Gosh, golly, gee, E. Ann, we could start a Ulysses reading group. Everybody take 100 pages, try and explain what they read. We'll string it all together at the end, sell it for a buck a pop to plowed under college kids.
Yes, Molly seems nice. Leopold Bloom seems off his meds. Nobody should eat kidneys. They're full of cholesterol.
I think I read it while I was in college. At least, I roughly followed the synopsis and I remember have long tormented conversations about it going into the wee hours on weeknights before 8 a.m. classes. I remember opening it and pointing to something and then bloviating about it, or being bloviated at about it.
Actually, that doesn't mean I read it. That just means I carried it around with me. Which is far more likely.
Heck, if I have to read it again I'm getting it in an audio book.
I started reading it x 5. I gave it up for Portrait of the Artist - at least it was shorter. It's far easier to take the Ulysses tour around Dublin. More fun too!
Good luck! You're already way farther along than I ever got. I've had the book for about 15 years and still haven't managed to get past the first chapter. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Haha! nice synthesis! but if you are reading ULYSSES for the first time i suggest to grab a copy of Harry Blamires' THE NEW BLOOMSDAY BOOK which practically guides you through the long winding non narrative style of Joyce. I just finished reading Ep. 9 and i was so delighted to hear Stephen discuss father-son relationship which is one of the central themes in the book.
Post a Comment
<< Home