tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962222688699015617.post7220577861961422063..comments2024-02-10T11:15:33.341-05:00Comments on Reading Envy: Reading Ulysses, Day 2Jenny Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01504838127259859300noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962222688699015617.post-53176593458941446122011-08-07T17:39:15.711-04:002011-08-07T17:39:15.711-04:00The Odyssey is pretty grand, but I was unexpectedl...<i>The Odyssey</i> is pretty grand, but I was unexpectedly blown away by <i>The Iliad</i> when I read it a few years ago. Achilles is the original anti-hero. He's a douchebag for most of the story, but then he does one of the most heroic things I've ever read and it's not for killing someone or defeating someone in battle or anything that was until then considered heroic. He recognizes the injustice of his whole culture and rejects it and all the fame and fortune it gave him and he tries to tear it down. It's an amazing metamorphosis of character and ethics, and it happened over a millennium before the Magna Carta.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13497641011271747852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962222688699015617.post-25983616420863411092011-08-06T19:13:58.614-04:002011-08-06T19:13:58.614-04:00Ulysses is one of the big scary ones for me, so we...Ulysses is one of the big scary ones for me, so well done for going for it! And it sounds like you're enjoying it at the moment too.<br /><br />However I have always wanted to read the Odyssey, maybe I'll get to it one of these days ....Sam (Tiny Library)https://www.blogger.com/profile/16375434438465319913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962222688699015617.post-69611008125676296732011-08-06T19:10:49.759-04:002011-08-06T19:10:49.759-04:00Excellent, the library where I work has all three ...Excellent, the library where I work has all three of these. <br /><br />As far as the different styles, I was completely thrown by the change to Leopold Bloom, actually. I was enjoying the tone of the Dedalus parts and Bloom thinks too much about really mundane things, at least so far.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00633712081197318104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5962222688699015617.post-71102716689330690232011-08-05T17:57:49.062-04:002011-08-05T17:57:49.062-04:00I think a passing familiarity with The Odyssey in ...I think a passing familiarity with <i>The Odyssey</i> in some form would be beneficial, but I don't think you need to have read it before reading <i>Ulysses</i>. There isn't much in the way of one-to-one character analogues between the two texts. It basically informs the overall journey, I think. That said, one of the chapters of <i>Ulysses</i> is basically the Lotus-Eaters from <i>The Odyssey</i>.<br /><br />The part I found most frustrating about <i>Ulysses</i> is how each chapter is written in a completely different style and each of those styles are basically imitations of other authors for the most part. Unfortunately, while those authors might be familiar to the well-read Irish or English reader of the latter 19th century/early 20th century, they were almost entirely unfamiliar to me in the 21st century. I think I had heard of a few of them, but I hadn't read any of their works, so I was completely befuddled by that whole aspect of the novel. Also, the abrupt changes in writing style from chapter to chapter was often disorienting. Just when I'd start to enjoy a chapter, the writing style would change, and it would be like starting with chapter 1 of a brand new book. I've been wondering if you'll even pick up on that in an audiobook. The ideal audiobook version, I think, should have a different narrator for each chapter. :-)<br /><br />For critical essays and commentaries, I recommend the book edited by Clive Hart and David Hayman, the book by Harry Blamires, and the book by Stuart Gilbert. There's also Gifford's <i>Ulysses Annotated</i> which is nothing but a humongous, phone-book-sized collection of footnotes explaining the text in minute detail, but I frankly didn't find that worthwhile reading and used it only as an occasional reference for the particularly obscure passage.Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13497641011271747852noreply@blogger.com