The Book As World: James Joyce's Ulysses [Paperback]

Marilyn French (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1993

First published in 1976 to critical acclaim, The Book As World guides readers through the labyrinth of Joyce's prose. French's provocative thesis is that the "Ulysses" of Joyce's title refers not to a character in the novel, but to the reader. Therefore, the act of reading the novel is a journey of self-exploration. The varied narrators, with widely differing points of view, styles, and tones, serve as guides for the reader on the internal journey. A new Introduction offers readers an overview of one of the richest works of modern fiction.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 295 pages
• Publisher: Marlowe & Co (May 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569249334
• ISBN-13: 978-1569249338
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars USEFUL AND PROVOCATIVE SUPPLEMENT TO THE DIVISIVE BODY OF COMMENTARY SURROUNDING "THE GREATEST NOVEL OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY", October 9, 2007

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C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Book as World-James Joyce (Paperback)

French does a powerful job in presenting her views on this novel. Often in the opening section she leaps magnificently and jarringly from episode to episode within the same paragraph, leaving the breathless reader wondering what are we discussing now, as more often she dismisses too easily other commentators while expressing her own views upon her own authority without providing objective proofs from the novel. Her section by section analysis leaves one only slightly less breathless.

Nevertheless, as in all things Joyce, this commentary provides more than substantial food for thought and opens interesting areas for contemplation of this magnificent and eternal work.

In the opening episode of Ulysses we find Stephen paraphrasing Mr. Wilde by calling Irish art the cracked looking glass stolen from a slavey. And thus each commentator views the depths of their own soul within the novel, and presents their perspectives as solidly based within the novel, when it is only after all a personal impression, like seeing a woman's hand in a passing small cloud. French's other forte is women's issues.

Very much like a whale.

And so my perceptions from the novel after repeated readings of Ulysses (Gabler Edition) and hearings of the Ulysses recording by Donal Donnelly, may differ quite strongly from those so forcefully stated by French, and I may provide chapter and verse to disprove some of her statements, or provide skepticism regarding others' absolutism.

Nevertheless, I find her insight and expressions bracing cold water cast upon the nodding, napping complacency of my own solipsistic impressions and provide a parallax most useful in coming to see what is really going on here in the Dublin of June 16, 1904, and what is going on here within each reader's soul who must construct meaning from this myriad great novel, including my own.

Thus I recommend this learned if for me slightly flawed commentary to any reader of James Joyce, a lifetime avocation, as one supplement to the already Talmudic body of commentary which has gathered, and which must ever be read, as tea leaves in a cup, as clouds above, as smoke arising from a turf fire.

Read this book, and do read The Book, Ulysses, and every single other commentary you can find, of which several may be found quite favorably here upon the amazon.