Ulysses (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Declan Kiberd (Introduction) "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed..." (more)
Key Phrases: absentminded beggar, quaker librarian, charming soubrette, Buck Mulligan, Martin Cunningham, Father Conmee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Written over a seven-year period, from 1914 to 1921, this book has survived bowdlerization, legal action and controversy. The novel deals with the events of one day in Dublin, 16th June 1904, now known as "Bloomsday". The principal characters are Stephen Dedalus, Leopold Bloom and his wife Molly. "Ulysses" has been labelled dirty, blasphemous and unreadable.In a famous 1933 court decision, Judge John M. Woolsey declared it an emetic book - although he found it not quite obscene enough to disallow its importation into the United States - and Virginia Woolf was moved to decry James Joyce's "cloacal obsession". None of these descriptions, however, do the slightest justice to the novel. To this day it remains the modernist masterpiece, in which the author takes both Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. It is funny, sorrowful, and even (in its own way) suspenseful. And despite the exegetical industry that has sprung up in the last 75 years, "Ulysses" is also a compulsively readable book.

About the Author

James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882, but exiled himself to Paris at twenty as a rebellion against his upbringing. He only returned to Ireland briefly from the Continent but Dublin was at heart of his greatest works, Ulysees and Finnegans Wake. He lived in poverty until the last ten years of his life and was plagued by near blindness and the grief of his daughter's insanity. He died in 1941.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1040 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141182806
• ISBN-13: 978-0141182803
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,677 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book of All Time?, July 17, 2006

By	james "hank" (Toronto, ON, CAN) - See all my reviews

I have frequently heard Ulysses proclaimed the best book ever written, but I could never understand why. I purchased this edition of the novel three years ago, and since then it sat on my shelf, a mighty 900 page undertaking that I kept putting off. I was reluctant to read it, for I have often heard how difficult it was to get through. Finally, I have read it, and though I believe it presumptuous to call any one book "the best book of all time", I certainly believe that Ulysses could claim that title. First off, it is not a difficult read. If you could get through A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, you can get through Ulysses. I heartily recommend this edition because of the brilliant introduction by Declan Kibard. Before I read Ulysses, I could not understand how this could be the best book of all time. According to my understanding, it was a novel detailing, in 900 pages, one day in the life of a Jewish Irishman, Leopold Bloom. A totally unremarkable day at that. After reading Kibard's introduction, I was fiercely eager to begin the novel. In his introduction, totally some 70 pages, Kibard answers the precise question I had: Why would this book be called the best of all time? This book is never boring, and is actually a quite enjoyable read. It is arranged in 18 chapters, and to me, the most astounding aspect of this piece of literature is the fact that every chapter is written in a different style. Joyce wanted to show that "originality" in terms of style was merely a new arrangement of previous styles, and so shows his brilliance as a writer by changing his technique and method completely in each chapter. It is indeed difficult to believe they were written by the same person. The styles are listed as: Narrative (Young), Catechism (Personal), Monologue (Male), Narrative (Mature), Narcissism, Incubism, Enthymemic, Peristaltic, Dialectic, Labyrinth, Fuga per canonem, Gigantism, Tumescence detumescence, Embryonic development, Hallucination, Narrative (Old), Catechism (Impersonal), Monologue (Female). Some chapters, such as the Cyclops, done in Gigantism, are deliciously satirical and overdone, while others, such as the Lotus-eaters, are sharp and direct. Though Joyce is often called a "stream of consciousness writer", only a few chapters are the truly chaotic stream of consciousness, such as the Oxen of the Sun, the Proteus, and the Sirens. The culmination of absurdity and abstraction occurs in the massive Circe chapter, a play styled as a hallucination in the brothels of Dublin. This novel is nearly impossible to take in with just one reading, and I will be reading it again shortly. On this note, I would say that I heartily recommend reading Ulysses straight through in its original form, rather than labouring under the weight of the hefty annotated edition. A true masterpiece, one of the best books I've ever read, and yes, quite possibly the best book ever written.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Irish to English to universal, August 8, 2005

By	Massimiliano Celaschi (Graffignano, Viterbo Italy) - See all my reviews

A book deserving to be thoroughly studied and a milestone in development of English language currently known, but a common reader like me can afford but a hasty and superficial eagle eye, and most references and connections would have been lost to me without the diagram by Stuart Gilbert quoted in the introduction of Penguin edition.
A full and unique mastership of language results in a wonderful balance between fictional and technical , at ease with each employed style besides the contrasts between the different narrative techniques employed in the various chapters, which depicts the wide variety of microcultures composing the fragmented Irish society during British occupation.
Many years ago I read a book, whose title The Cardinal, by Henry Morton, about the career of a Catholic American priest with Irish origins. The first half of the book is set in the Boston Irish community, and I have been impressed by how many "Irishnesses" in the book (which I read in an Italian translation) can be traced back to Joyce's Ulysses (I still remember the pun Rows of Cast Steel = Rose of Castille).
An example of how a local tale becomes universal literature, and a mandatory step in understanding English language.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great edition of it, July 23, 2004

By	makaveli771 "lesane_crooks_7" (Canada) - See all my reviews

The introduction of this book is wonderful, it helped me understand, not only the book itself, but also Joyce's state of mind while writting it. The book itself is one of the most amazing literary achievments, but if you haven't read any Joyce before, I suggest you read A Portrait of The Artist As a Young Man first to get a feal for the style and Joyce's writting. This a very long book (933 pages-the introduction is around 50) but I can almost gaurentee you will find something you absolutley love in the book unless you didn't understand it at all. Well if you do finishing reading this and want more of the same style of book, try to read Gravity's rainbow, but take a pen and paper so you can take notes on the more then 400 characters so you'll remember them near the end of the book, and also try to pay attention to who is narrating because of the constant and occasionally abrupt changes from character to character. Well anyway I hope you find this reviews helpful. And if you read this book for nothing else, read it for the sake of saying you've read it You won't regret it.